The DWP is urging residents across Northeast Los Angeles to conserve water after a power outage has interfered with the utility’s water pumping system and may have resulted in reduced water pressure. Customers in Mt. Washington, Hermon, Monterey Hills, Cypress Park, Glassell Park and Montecito Heights are asked to”use water only for drinking and sanitation purposes only,” according to a DWP release. “Water should not be used for washing dishes, laundry and outdoor irrigation.”
* Update at 3:45 p.m.: Power to water pumps has been partially restored and the “immediate threat to water supply in this area has passed,” said the DWP in a statement. However, the agency asks residents to keep conserving water if at all possible through Friday.
Despite a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon, an estimated 650 people attended this year’s Arroyo Arts Collective Discovery Tour, according to the L.A. Times. Arts and crafts were displayed at about 60 locations, ranging from the Audubon Center at Debs Park to private homes and artist’s studios. Martha Benedict was there to captures images of the art and art lovers across Eagle Rock, Glassell Park, Highland Park, Montecito Heights and Mount Washington.
Has that run down house next door been painted in shades of olive green or gray? Has the rusty chain link fence been replaced by unpainted, horizontal wood slats? Is the front door now a shiny red, orange or chartreuse? Then it looks like you got a house flip on your block, according to a recent Spot.us story headlined “House Flipping Wave Transforms Northeast L.A. The story looks at the large number of investors and speculators who purchase, fix up and then soon after sell houses in what is known as a flip. The story features flipper Steve Jones of bettershelter,* one of the “boutique developers” that have been busy buying and selling homes across Highland Park, Glassell Park and other Northeast neighborhoods. He and the author take a tour of Northeast L.A. in search of homes displaying the signs of a flip. They are not hard to find, the story says:
“There’s another one,” Steve Jones said under his breath, as he spotted the work of a competitor. “Hilarious.”
When Jones started flipping homes here three years ago, as principal of his design company Better Shelter, he was one of few people in the area doing this work. Today, a flipped home can be found on nearly every block in the neighborhood, thanks to at least a dozen small developers or individual flippers getting in on the game.
The houses aren’t difficult to spot. They usually follow some variation of the following pattern: gray or greenish-gray paint, with white or brick red trim, and a colorful door – mint green, orange, red – and sometimes a colorful accent mailbox. Instantly recognizable horizontal wood-slat fencing tops it off.
The large number of flips being remodeled in the same style may lead to the neighborhoods, the author said, “getting remade in a uniform, ‘Ikea-like’ style.”
* Bettershelter homes have been advertised on The Eastsider.
One of the highlights of a new Caltrans-sponsored exhibit honoring the Arroyo Seco Parkway, aka Pasadena Freeway, is a short video clip that contrasts scenes of the parkway when it opened in 1940 against contemporary views of the same locations. Caltrans posted a version of the video – “The Arroyo Seco Parkway: Then & Now, 1939 and 2010″ – on their site but it’s tiny. The Eastsider asked for a version of the clip and posted the larger version seen above.
The cars and trains (don’t miss the smoke-belching locomotive crossing over Highland Park) may have changed but there are landmarks that have not, including the Southwest Museum, the South Pasadena sign and the hills of Northeast Los Angeles.
The Arroyo Seco Parkway, commonly known as the Pasadena Freeway, today was honored with the opening of a museum-style exhibit, “Arroyo Seco Parkway: Dawn of the Freeway Age.” It’s the first-time state highway builder Caltrans has showcased a freeway in an exhibit, said spokeswoman Judy Gish. The exhibition at Caltran’s regional headquarters in downtown Los Angeles comes after L.A.’s first freeway, which winds across Northeast Los Angeles, turned 70 in December. What is there to see in a freeway exhibit? Inside Seven, an agency newsletter, explains:
“Exhibit visitors can view archival photos, historic survey equipment, an impressive bronze plaque created for the freeway’s 50th anniversary in 1989, and two videos created by Steve Devorkin, videographer in the district’s Graphics Unit. The videos include wonderful archival footage of the early days of the freeway, contemporary footage shot in the past few months … “
The agency has been criticized in recent months from preservationists upset over a safety improvement project that has resulted in the demolition of some of the parkway’s original features. Caltrans, however, lead an effort to have the Arroyo Seco Parkway listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Caltrans official Alberto Angelini told Inside Seven that the exhibit serves as a belated birthday present for the parkway. “This is a way to celebrate that important milestone,” .
The exhibit is open weekdays during business hours at Caltrans’s District Seven headquarters, 100 S. Main.
Frowny median (above); smiley median (below) | Photos by Martha Benedict
Motorists driving on the Arroyo Seco Parkway in recent months have seen several notable changes to L.A.’s first freeway, including a new concrete center divider stamped with sections of a line that swoops up and then down. What is the undulating pattern supposed to represent – if anything? Officials with state highway builder Caltrans said the decorative median – part of a $16 million safety improvement project – was inspired by the arches in the bridges over the parkway (commonly known as the Pasadena Freeway), according to Northeast L.A. residents who attended an agency presentation in 2009.
But Caltrans’ decorative touch has fallen flat with some neighborhood preservationists, who say the median motif median resembles nothing more than six miles of alternating frowny and smiley faces. Activist Martha Benedict, who was at the Caltrans meeting in 2009, said the frowny-smiley design prompted one neighborhood council leader to dub the freeway the “bipolar parkway.”
The L.A. Times today reports that Councilman Jose Huizar, whose 14th district ranges from Eagle Rock to Boyle Heights, once ranked the support and influence of neighborhood leaders, police officers, activists and groups on a seven-point scale, with “3″ being the highest score and a “-3″ the lowest. The Times posted a copy of Huizar’s Community Power Analysis for Northeast L.A., which was provided to the Times by Huizar’s election opponent, Rudy Martinez. The Northeast L.A. lists ranks more than just people, The Times found:
Even municipal buildings were assessed. One list gave Fire Station 55 on York Boulevard a 2 out of 5 in terms of political clout. Another ranked the Eagle Rock Public Library as a zero, which meant it was not on the radar politically, the list reads.
Early morning rain and clouds gave way to sunny and crisp weather today just in time for art lovers to view the work of more than 100 artists displayed in homes and studios across Northeast L.A. The North by Northeast: The 18th Annual Discovery Tour, sponsored by the Arroyo Arts Collective, featured a wide variety of artists and venues. The stark-white studio of Michael Arata on Monte Vista Street featured bold and bright red spirals and forms (pictured above). Meanwhile, on Abbott Place, a traditional home hosted several artists. Photographer Martha Benedict was there to capture these images of neighborhood artists and creativity.
Caltrans is seeking the city’s support in declaring the Arroyo Seco Parkway, also known as the 110 Pasadena Freeway, a national historic monument. On Thursday, the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission will review a staff recommendation to support having the West’s oldest freeway listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But the state highway agency’s effort to designate the freeway a national historic monument comes only months after it angered the Highland Park Heritage Trust and other preservationists by demolishing sections of the freeway median and other features for a safety improvement project. Preservationists had tried to block the construction project to find a way to save what were viewed as the historic features of the freeway, which opened in 1940 as a scenic highway linking downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena.
The Highland Park Heritage Trust said it supports the nomination. But the group said in a statement that it was concerned about “the nomination’s lack of clarity” about what features of the highway contribute to its historic status and make them worthy of protection. “Not enough was written in the nomination to easily understand all the elements that are part of the road, how much is still intact and can/should be preserved going forward,” said Highland Park group said.
A common complaint in Echo Park is the sight of overflowing trash cans on Sunset Boulevard. City officials have over the years recommended against installing more trash cans because there was no money to pay workers to empty them out. Well, at least in Boyle Heights and other Eastside neighborhoods, money seems to be available. Today, the City Council will review a motion by Councilman Jose Huizar asking to spend nearly $35,000 to empty out trash cans across his district – which ranges from Eagle Rock to Boyle Heights - up to three times week (Echo Park is split between Council District One and 13).
The contract with non profit agencies covers more than 50 trash cans alone in Boyle Heights. An additional 120 trash cans will get cleaned out along Figueroa Street and York Boulevard in Highland Park, Huntington Drive in EI Sereno and Yosemite Drive in Eagle Rock.
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Early morning rain and clouds gave way to sunny and crisp weather today just in time for art lovers to view the work of more than 100 artists displayed in homes and studios across Northeast L.A. The 
Caltrans is seeking the city’s support in declaring the 
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The Eastsider publishes stories and news from the northeast corner of the City of Los Angeles and neighboring East Los Angeles. Who is the Eastsider? Where does the Eastsider roam? 