Echo Park, Los Angeles, California
Encyclopedia
Echo Park is a hilly neighborhood in Los Angeles, California
, northwest of Downtown Los Angeles
and southeast of Hollywood.
Echo Park was named Edendale
before the construction of the park itself. The original name survives through the U.S. Post Office
Edendale branch and the Edendale branch of the Los Angeles Public Library
.
The Los Angeles film industry was centered in Echo Park (then called Edendale
) before the studios moved to Hollywood, just before World War I
. Mack Sennett
's studio was in Echo Park until the end of the silent era
, and a large number of silent comedies were shot in the neighborhood, as were several Laurel and Hardy
, Charlie Chaplin
, Our Gang
, Ben Turpin
, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Charley Chase
, Chester Conklin
, Three Stooges
shorts, and perhaps most notably: the first pie-in-the-face short. Tom Mix
also built his studio just over the hill in the Silverlake area, and many Westerns were shot in hills of Echo Park, East Silverlake and the Elysian Hills. Some of the earliest screen performers, including Gloria Swanson
and Tom Mix
, bought homes in the Angelino Heights and surrounding neighborhoods before moving to Hollywood and other areas.
The area has continued to be used as a location for films such as Chinatown, Echo Park
, Kentucky Fried Movie, Mi Vida Loca
, Tending Echo Park, Quinceanera
, Columbus Day
and Drive
. The 1960s television series Gilligan's Island
was shot in the area as well as scenes in Michael Jackson's
1983 music video
Thriller
, as were parts of the original 1953 film version of The War of the Worlds
. The Manor
, a house in the television series Charmed
, is also located here. The area is popular with modern filmmakers for the pre-World War II
look of some districts. Several references in the NBC TV series Chuck
place Chuck Bartowski's fictional apartment in Echo Park.
Before World War I, Echo Park was a middle-class neighborhood, nicknamed "Red Hill" for a concentration of political radicals living there. (Itinerant folksinger Woody Guthrie
lived on Preston Avenue at Ewing St. in the 1930s.) Since its earliest days, the neighborhood has been known to attract the creative, underground, independent, and iconoclastic elements of society. Postwar "white flight
" to the suburbs resulted in the area becoming largely Latino
, although there have been Latinos living there since the founding of the city in the late 19th century. Many working-class Chinese immigrants also settled in Echo Park due to its proximity to Chinatown, and the area overlaps the Historic Filipinotown district of Los Angeles, home to thousands of Filipinos; plus a small enclave of African-Americans were noted to live just east of Alvarado St. and west of Bonnie Brae Street, since the 1920s. Renowned 1970s beauty queen, actress and model Veronica Porsche, third wife of boxer Muhammed Ali, came from this neighborhood. The Echo Park/Silverlake Food Conspiracy
, an impromptu food coop run by former college and professional radicals, offered weekly political discussion groups as well as cheap groceries from 1969 through about 1980. Since the early 2000s, artists, actors, musicians and gay couples of all races have flocked the neighborhood for its relatively affordable housing and alternative feel, making it one of the most diversified communities in the United States.
Famous artist residents have included such luminaries as writers Leo Politi
, Carey McWilliams
, John Fante
and Ayn Rand
; painters Carlos Almaraz
and Philip Dike, famed muralist Kent Twitchell
, and film art director Albert Nozaki
; actors Shia LaBeouf
, Luis Cuevas, Anthony Quinn
, Steve McQueen, Leonardo DiCaprio
, Alessandro Nivola
, Jack Webb
, Ann Robinson
, star of The War of the Worlds
, and Charles Gemora
, king of the Hollywood "gorilla men"; architect Richard Neutra
and disciple Harwell Hamilton Harris
; book seller and art dealer Jake Zeitlin; famed wood engraver Paul Landacre
; opera singer Marilyn Horne
and her husband, conductor Henry Lewis; jazz great Art Pepper
; film director John Huston
; filmmaker Monica Gazzo; African-American playwright, poet and screenwriter Lemar Randle Fooks; Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lance Allan Ito, of O. J. Simpson
trial fame (his mother was a kindergarten teacher for many years at Elysian Heights elementary school in Echo Park); as well as Edward Middleton Manigault
, who organized the nation's first exhibition of modern art. The painter Jackson Pollock
also made his home near here as a child. The singer Elliott Smith
lived in this neighborhood in the final years of his life. Some residents during the 1960s and 70s era include J.D. Souther & Glenn Frey
of the Eagles, Tom Waits
, Jackson Browne
, and Frank Zappa
. The writer and poet Charles Bukowski
was known to frequent the local dives, as did actor and Reservoir Dogs
real-life tough-guy Lawrence Tierney
.
Mystery writer Roger L. Simon
lived in Echo Park and set many of his Moses Wine detective stories there.
Elysian Heights Elementary school was home to "Room 8 the Cat" http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7374255&pt=Room%20Eight and Echo Park lake was home to "Pete" the Pelican, a wild pelican who made the lake his home for many years during the 1920s and enjoyed a great degree of fame at the time.
Echo Park was also home to famed hot-rod and race car builder Art Ingels
, who in 1956, along with neighbor Lou Borelli, built the first Go-Kart in history using a surplus McCulloch West-Bend 750 lawnmower engine. Professional baseball player Luis (Lou) Gomez, who had been an outstanding prep star at Belmont High School
, and played for the Minnesota Twins
, the Toronto Blue Jays
, and the Atlanta Braves
during the 70s and 80s, resided here as well. Baseball immortal Babe Ruth
himself maintained a bachelor's pad at the Crown Hill apartments in South Echo Park for much of the 1920s and 30s.
Jerry Rubin
, American social activist and member of the Chicago Seven
, lived here and ran a legal and civil rights office on the southwest corner of Echo Park Avenue and Sunset Blvd. for much of the 70s and 80s. In 1993, the movie Mi Vida Loca
, written and directed by Echo Park resident Allison Anders
, was filmed in Echo Park; detailing the Latino girl gang culture in the neighborhood at the time. In 1999, the diary film Tending Echo Park by experimental filmmaker Monica Gazzo was completed and presented at the Egyptian Theatre and the Director's Guild, Hollywood. The film has also screened at the Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, numerous venues in California, including Echo Park Film Center, and at film festivals nationwide.
The commercial district along Sunset Boulevard
suffered greatly in the 1950s from the condemnation of the residences in nearby Chavez Ravine
. The buildings were condemned for the purpose of building low-income public housing, but after the bond funding for the project failed to be approved, the ravine property was sold for one dollar by the city of Los Angeles to Walter O'Malley as the location for Dodger Stadium
.
In 1969, Keith Barbour recorded a song titled "Echo Park". In 1997, The Blue Stingrays
recorded the album Surf-N-Burn
, with a cut titled "Echo Park". In 1977, Linda Ronstadt
recorded the Warren Zevon song "Carmelita" on the album Simple Dreams, wherein she mentions the Pioneer Chicken stand on Echo Park Avenue. In 1980 Gary Numan mentions Echo Park in his single "I die: you die" and The Eels
mention Echo Park in their 1996 album Beautiful Freak
. British band Echo Park Orchestra produced their first album in 1995. Ryan Cabrera
wrote a song titled "Echo Park" that is part of his mainstream debut album, Take It All Away
. The song "Who Would've Thought" by punk rock band Rancid off the album Life Won't Wait is about Echo Park, and the obscure Heavy Metal ballad "Echo Park, After Dark" was recorded by Alfred Corpuz and the Alleyheads in 1980. British band Feeder also named their third album Echo Park released in 2001.
Poetry and literature readings have been a tradition with Echo Park and its residents since the early 1920s. Beginning in the late 1970s, the Temple Street Poets brought many diverse groups together for spoken-word gatherings at the Travellers Cafe on Temple Street. Unfortunately, faced with repeated attempts by Hollywood glitterati and their entourages to infiltrate the group, the Temple Street Poets disbanded by the middle 1980s rather than be co-opted. Spoken word readings, however, still continue in and around the neighborhood to this day; most specifically at the Little Joy Bar where the Echo Poets could be found reading and playing on Sunday nights until 2010, when they started meeting at nearby Silverlake Lounge. During the 1970s, the Travellers Cafe was frequented by Lawrence Tierney, Glen Frey, Tom Waits, Kent Twitchell, Carlos Almaraz, Doy Mercado, Linda Ronstadt and Charles Bukowski.
There is also a Cuba
n festival held annually on the Sunday closest to May 20,to commemorate Cuba's Independence from Spain and also to honor Cuban poet and patriot José Martí
, who has a statue in the park.
Bordering the park are the cathedral of the Episcopal diocese of Los Angeles and the famous Angelus Temple
, a large Foursquare Gospel
church built by Canadian-born Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson
in 1923.
The first totally enclosed film stage and studio in history , Keystone Studios
, built by Mack Sennett
in 1912 at 1712 Glendale Blvd in the Edendale quarter of Echo Park, still exists in all its structural entirety, though now passes time as a public storage facility. Some of the studio's original auxiliary buildings are also still standing ( with modified facades) on both sides of Glendale Blvd. An obelisk monument and bronze plaque commemorating Sennett's studio was located for many years in the patio area behind one of the Bert-Co Paper Company's buildings on 1855 Glendale Boulevard (which was actually the site of the Selig Polyscope studio), but was demolished, along with the Bert-Co plant, in September 2007 and the plaque stolen by vandals.
s as well as other local residents.
The program was "designed to create in the Southern California community an increased awareness of the contributions to our culture by Asian Americans," stated in the 1973 second annual program. Some of the masters of ceremonies during the early years included George Takei
, Tritia Toyota
, Sam Chu Lin
, Victor Sen Yung
and Mario Machado
.
The festival itself came under criticism by locals in 1979, when festival directors refused to let the local garage band, The Alleyheads, which consisted of Asians, Latinos, and whites, play at the festival, yet allowed several tame white and Asian "pop" groups approved by the city, perform. The community was outraged that the festival directors did not let the Alleyheads play in favor of out-of-town performers. The Alleyheads persisted for three more years, but each time were refused by the festival committee and city managers. Complaints mounted until the city and festival committee dropped their ban on rock bands in the middle 1980s, but ironically hired only all-white rock bands at first, none of which were indigenous to Echo Park itself. This situation has since changed, however, and the festival now showcases a wide range of diverse musical acts and performers that better mirror the demographics of the City of Los Angeles and Pacific region to which it belongs.
Echo Park is and continues to be home of the world famous, Echo Park Ducks, originally formed in 1967 as a loosely organized social, sports & community activist club, and which attracted many of the hippies and free spirits of the area at the time. They were immortalized when Billy Shire began selling the now famous Echo Park Ducks T-Shirt out of his Sunset Blvd store, The Soap Plant, in 1972.
Currently, Echo Park is home to many unique businesses, such as the Barragan's Restaurant, Echo Park Film Center
, The Echo & The Echoplex, Machine Project
, The Echo Park Time Travel Mart (see 826LA
), Vlaze Media Networks, Inc. (vlaze.com), Epitaph Records, Taix French restaurant, Origami Vinyl, live music venues and art galleries including the Echo Curio Curiosity Shop & Art Gallery. Many small independent boutiques and coffee shops have blossomed along Sunset Blvd and the northern most part of Echo Park Boulevard going up into the hills. Echo Park Avenue is featured in the 2009 Train music video, "Hey Soul Sister."
Echo Park is also home to community-service organizations including El Centro del Pueblo, and religious institutions including Angelus Temple, and the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles
' Cathedral Center of St. Paul.
Echo Park was chosen due to "its historic architecture, breathtaking hillside topography, walkable and pedestrian-friendly streets, and engaged residents who have worked hard to protect and preserve their community," according to an APA release. Echo Park is a diverse community home to working class families and blossoming artists, and has had to work twice as hard as other communities to create, maintain and advocate for their great community. The community is remarkably dynamic with countless ethnic groups at all income levels. Today, Echo Park is home not only to the annual Lotus Festival, the Cuban Festival, and Historic Filipinotown but also 4-star dining alongside spectacular burrito stands. The area features perfectly preserved craftsman-style homes, as well as modern architecture, great schools, parks and libraries. APA Executive Director Paul Farmer said "the neighborhood has a long history of citizen activism that has inspired not only spirited public debate, but also committed and motivated residents who are helping to keep Echo Park a great place to live."
Western Boundary (starting from Beverly Blvd going North): Benton Way to Waterloo Street then continue moving north where it hits Glendale Blvd. and up Allesandro St.
Northern Boundary: Riverside Drive, Fargo Street
, California State Route 2(Glendale Blvd North exit)
Eastern Boundary: Beaudry (north of Sunset Blvd),
Harbor Freeway (the area south of Sunset Blvd.)
Southern Boundary: Beverly Blvd.
Echo Park itself consists, in whole or in part, of the neighborhoods of Echo Park (the area immediately surrounding the lake and extending approximately a mile north on Echo Park Avenue), Angelino Heights, Colton Hill/Belmont Heights, Victor Heights
, Edendale, Elysian Heights, Temple-Beaudry, Historic Filipinotown, and Sunset Heights.
Station 20 is in the area.
Los Angeles Police Department
operates the Rampart Community Police Station at 1401 West 6th St., 90017.
operates the Central Health Center in Downtown Los Angeles
, serving Echo Park.
The United States Postal Service
Edendale Post Office is located at 1525 North Alvarado Street.
Echo Park is zoned into the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Residents are zoned to Logan Street Elementary School, Clifford Street School, Mayberry Street Elementary School, Elysian Heights Elementary School, Betty Plasencia Elementary School, Rosemont Avenue School and Union Avenue School.
Most residents are zoned to Thomas Starr King Middle School and Belmont High School
.
Others get accepted to Downtown Magnets High School
which consists of 3 magnets: Business, Electronics, and Fashion.
In 2007, LAUSD used eminent domain to remove 50 homes in order to build a new school.
operates Our Lady of Loretto Elementary School, located at 258 North Union Avenue since 1921, and St. Teresa of Avila.
operates two branches in Echo Park: Echo Park Branch and Edendale Branch.
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, northwest of Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
and southeast of Hollywood.
History
At the end of the 19th century, when the hills were still covered with native vegetation, a horse-drawn streetcar line served the dirt road that is now Echo Park Avenue. The community of Echo Park was founded by Thomas Kelly, a carriage maker turned real estate developer. In the late 1880s Kelly teamed up with a group of local investors, selling off pieces of what they called "the Montana Tract." Legend says that the lake got its name after workers building the reservoir remarked that their voices echoed off the canyon walls.Echo Park was named Edendale
Edendale, Los Angeles, California
Edendale is a historical name for a district in Los Angeles, California, northwest of Downtown Los Angeles, in what is known today as Echo Park, Los Feliz and Silver Lake....
before the construction of the park itself. The original name survives through the U.S. Post Office
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
Edendale branch and the Edendale branch of the Los Angeles Public Library
Los Angeles Public Library
The Los Angeles Public Library system serves the residents of Los Angeles, California, United States. With over 6 million volumes, LAPL is one of the largest publicly funded library systems in the world. The system is overseen by a Board of Library Commissioners with five members appointed by the...
.
The Los Angeles film industry was centered in Echo Park (then called Edendale
Edendale
Edendale may refer to:*Edendale, former name of Eden Landing, California*Edendale, Los Angeles, California, historical district in Los Angeles*Edendale, Merced County, California, former community*Edendale, New Zealand, town in the Southland region...
) before the studios moved to Hollywood, just before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy"...
's studio was in Echo Park until the end of the silent era
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
, and a large number of silent comedies were shot in the neighborhood, as were several Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
, Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
, Our Gang
Our Gang
Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...
, Ben Turpin
Ben Turpin
Ben Turpin was a cross-eyed American comedian and actor, best remembered for his work in silent films.-Personal life:...
, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Charley Chase
Charley Chase
Charley Chase was an American comedian, actor, screenwriter and film director, best known for his work in Hal Roach short film comedies...
, Chester Conklin
Chester Conklin
Chester Cooper Conklin was an American comedian and actor. He appeared in over 280 films, about half of them in the silent era.-Early life:...
, Three Stooges
Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe,...
shorts, and perhaps most notably: the first pie-in-the-face short. Tom Mix
Tom Mix
Thomas Edwin "Tom" Mix was an American film actor and the star of many early Western movies. He made a reported 336 films between 1910 and 1935, all but nine of which were silent features...
also built his studio just over the hill in the Silverlake area, and many Westerns were shot in hills of Echo Park, East Silverlake and the Elysian Hills. Some of the earliest screen performers, including Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
and Tom Mix
Tom Mix
Thomas Edwin "Tom" Mix was an American film actor and the star of many early Western movies. He made a reported 336 films between 1910 and 1935, all but nine of which were silent features...
, bought homes in the Angelino Heights and surrounding neighborhoods before moving to Hollywood and other areas.
The area has continued to be used as a location for films such as Chinatown, Echo Park
Echo Park (film)
Echo Park is a 1986 comedy-drama film, set in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The plot follows several aspiring actors, musicians and models.-Cast:...
, Kentucky Fried Movie, Mi Vida Loca
Mi Vida Loca
Mi Vida Loca is a 1993 American drama film directed and written by Allison Anders. This film includes Jason Lee's first performance as an actor in a small role alongside director Spike Jonze as a drug buyer....
, Tending Echo Park, Quinceanera
Quinceañera (film)
Quinceañera is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. It was released as Echo Park, LA in UK. Set in Echo Park, Los Angeles, the film follows the lives of two young Mexican American cousins who become estranged from their families: Magdalena...
, Columbus Day
Columbus Day (film)
Columbus Day is a 2008 crime drama starring Val Kilmer, Marg Helgenberger and Wilmer Valderrama.-Plot:A thief has just one morning to fix the damage done during the biggest heist of his career, all while attempting to repair his relationship with his ex-wife.John survives, and meets with his...
and Drive
Drive (2011 film)
Drive is a 2011 American crime neo-noir drama film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Ryan Gosling as the principal character, with Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, and Albert Brooks...
. The 1960s television series Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
was shot in the area as well as scenes in Michael Jackson's
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
1983 music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
Thriller
Thriller (song)
"Thriller" is a song recorded by American recording artist Michael Jackson, composed by Rod Temperton, and produced by Quincy Jones. It is the seventh and final single from his sixth studio album Thriller. It was released on January 23, 1984 by Epic Records...
, as were parts of the original 1953 film version of The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds (1953 film)
The War of the Worlds is a 1953 science fiction film starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It was the first on-screen loose adaptation of the H. G. Wells classic novel of the same name...
. The Manor
Halliwell Manor
Halliwell Manor is a fictional house, an important setting for the WB television series Charmed. Members of the Halliwell family have owned the Manor property for four generations...
, a house in the television series Charmed
Charmed
Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
, is also located here. The area is popular with modern filmmakers for the pre-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
look of some districts. Several references in the NBC TV series Chuck
Chuck (TV series)
Chuck is an action-comedy/spy-drama television program from the United States created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" named Chuck, played by Zachary Levi, who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working for the Central...
place Chuck Bartowski's fictional apartment in Echo Park.
Before World War I, Echo Park was a middle-class neighborhood, nicknamed "Red Hill" for a concentration of political radicals living there. (Itinerant folksinger Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
lived on Preston Avenue at Ewing St. in the 1930s.) Since its earliest days, the neighborhood has been known to attract the creative, underground, independent, and iconoclastic elements of society. Postwar "white flight
White flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...
" to the suburbs resulted in the area becoming largely Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
, although there have been Latinos living there since the founding of the city in the late 19th century. Many working-class Chinese immigrants also settled in Echo Park due to its proximity to Chinatown, and the area overlaps the Historic Filipinotown district of Los Angeles, home to thousands of Filipinos; plus a small enclave of African-Americans were noted to live just east of Alvarado St. and west of Bonnie Brae Street, since the 1920s. Renowned 1970s beauty queen, actress and model Veronica Porsche, third wife of boxer Muhammed Ali, came from this neighborhood. The Echo Park/Silverlake Food Conspiracy
Food Conspiracy
Food Conspiracy is a term applied to a movement begun in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1968 in which households pooled their resources to buy food in bulk from farmers and small wholesalers and distribute it cheaply. The name came to describe a loose network of autonomous collectives which shared...
, an impromptu food coop run by former college and professional radicals, offered weekly political discussion groups as well as cheap groceries from 1969 through about 1980. Since the early 2000s, artists, actors, musicians and gay couples of all races have flocked the neighborhood for its relatively affordable housing and alternative feel, making it one of the most diversified communities in the United States.
Famous artist residents have included such luminaries as writers Leo Politi
Leo Politi
Leo Politi was an Italian-American artist and author who wrote and illustrated some 20 children's books, as well as Bunker Hill, Los Angeles , intended for adults...
, Carey McWilliams
Carey McWilliams (journalist)
Carey McWilliams was an American author, editor, and lawyer. He is best known for his writings about social issues in California, including the condition of migrant farm workers and the internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II...
, John Fante
John Fante
John Fante was an American novelist, short story writer and screenwriter of Italian descent. He is perhaps best known for his work, Ask the Dust, a semi-autobiograpical novel about life in and around Los Angeles, California, which was the third in a series of four novels, published between 1938...
and Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
; painters Carlos Almaraz
Carlos Almaraz
Carlos Almaraz was a Mexican-American artist and an early proponent of the Chicano street arts movement.-Childhood and education:...
and Philip Dike, famed muralist Kent Twitchell
Kent Twitchell
Kent Twitchell is an American muralist who is most active in Los Angeles. He is most famous for his larger-than-life mural portraits, often of celebrities and artists. His murals are realism not photorealism according to Twitchell.-Biography:Twitchell's father was Robert Twitchell who was a farmer...
, and film art director Albert Nozaki
Albert Nozaki
Albert Nozaki was an art director who worked on various films for Paramount Pictures. He is perhaps best known for his memorable design of the Martian war machines from the 1953 film The War of the Worlds and for his art direction on the epic The Ten Commandments...
; actors Shia LaBeouf
Shia LaBeouf
Shia Saide LaBeouf is an American actor who became known among younger audiences for his part in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens and made his film debut in Holes . In 2007, he starred as the leads in Disturbia and Transformers...
, Luis Cuevas, Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
, Steve McQueen, Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...
, Alessandro Nivola
Alessandro Nivola
Alessandro Antine Nivola is an American actor, perhaps best known for his roles in the films Best Laid Plans, Jurassic Park III, Face/Off, and the first two films of the Goal! trilogy.-Personal life:...
, Jack Webb
Jack Webb
John Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...
, Ann Robinson
Ann Robinson
Ann Robinson is an American actress and stunt horse rider, perhaps best known for her work in the film, The War of the Worlds and in the 1947 to 1970 radio and television series, Dragnet, in which she starred opposite Jack Webb....
, star of The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds (1953 film)
The War of the Worlds is a 1953 science fiction film starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It was the first on-screen loose adaptation of the H. G. Wells classic novel of the same name...
, and Charles Gemora
Charles Gemora
Charles Gemora was a former Hollywood makeup artist renowned as "the King of the Gorilla Men" for his prolific appearances in many Hollywood films while wearing a gorilla suit.-Biography:...
, king of the Hollywood "gorilla men"; architect Richard Neutra
Richard Neutra
Richard Joseph Neutra is considered one of modernism's most important architects.- Biography :Neutra was born in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Vienna, Austria Hungary, on April 8, 1892. He was born into both-Jewish wealthy family...
and disciple Harwell Hamilton Harris
Harwell Hamilton Harris
Harwell Hamilton Harris, FAIA was a modernist American architect, noted for his work in Southern California that assimilated European and American influences.-Biography:Harris was born in Redlands, California in 1903...
; book seller and art dealer Jake Zeitlin; famed wood engraver Paul Landacre
Paul Landacre
Paul Hambleton Landacre was one of the outstanding printmakers of the modern era. His distinguished body of work was largely responsible for elevating the wood engraving to an art form in twentieth-century America...
; opera singer Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
and her husband, conductor Henry Lewis; jazz great Art Pepper
Art Pepper
Art Pepper , born Arthur Edward Pepper, Jr., was an American alto saxophonist and clarinetist.About Pepper, Scott Yanow of All Music stated, "In the 1950s he was one of the few altoists that was able to develop his own sound despite the dominant influence of Charlie Parker" and: "When Art Pepper...
; film director John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
; filmmaker Monica Gazzo; African-American playwright, poet and screenwriter Lemar Randle Fooks; Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lance Allan Ito, of O. J. Simpson
O. J. Simpson
Orenthal James "O. J." Simpson , nicknamed "The Juice", is a retired American collegiate and professional football player, football broadcaster, and actor...
trial fame (his mother was a kindergarten teacher for many years at Elysian Heights elementary school in Echo Park); as well as Edward Middleton Manigault
Edward Middleton Manigault
Edward Middleton Manigault was an American Modernist painter.Manigault was born in London, Ontario on June 14, 1887. His parents were Americans originally from South Carolina...
, who organized the nation's first exhibition of modern art. The painter Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
also made his home near here as a child. The singer Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith
Steven Paul "Elliott" Smith was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and resided for a significant portion of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity...
lived in this neighborhood in the final years of his life. Some residents during the 1960s and 70s era include J.D. Souther & Glenn Frey
Glenn Frey
Glenn Lewis Frey is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Frey formed the Eagles after he met drummer Don Henley in 1970 and the two eventually joined Linda Ronstadt's backup band for her summer tour. The Eagles formed in 1971 and...
of the Eagles, Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
, and Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
. The writer and poet Charles Bukowski
Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles...
was known to frequent the local dives, as did actor and Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
real-life tough-guy Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney was an American actor, known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and hardened criminals, which mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law....
.
Mystery writer Roger L. Simon
Roger L. Simon
Roger Lichtenberg Simon is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is currently CEO of Pajamas Media. He is the author of ten novels, including the Moses Wine detective series, and six screenplays...
lived in Echo Park and set many of his Moses Wine detective stories there.
Elysian Heights Elementary school was home to "Room 8 the Cat" http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7374255&pt=Room%20Eight and Echo Park lake was home to "Pete" the Pelican, a wild pelican who made the lake his home for many years during the 1920s and enjoyed a great degree of fame at the time.
Echo Park was also home to famed hot-rod and race car builder Art Ingels
Art Ingels
Art Ingels is known as 'the father of karting'.In 1956, while he was a race car builder at Kurtis Kraft, a famous builder of Indy race cars during the 1950s, he assembled the first Go-Kart in history out of scrap metal and a surplus West Bend Company two-stroke cycle engine...
, who in 1956, along with neighbor Lou Borelli, built the first Go-Kart in history using a surplus McCulloch West-Bend 750 lawnmower engine. Professional baseball player Luis (Lou) Gomez, who had been an outstanding prep star at Belmont High School
Belmont High School (Los Angeles, California)
Belmont Senior High School is a public high school located at 1575 West 2nd Street in the Westlake community of Los Angeles, California. The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.-History:...
, and played for the Minnesota Twins
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
, the Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball 's American League ....
, and the Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
during the 70s and 80s, resided here as well. Baseball immortal Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
himself maintained a bachelor's pad at the Crown Hill apartments in South Echo Park for much of the 1920s and 30s.
Jerry Rubin
Jerry Rubin
Jerry Rubin was an American social activist during the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1980s, he became a successful businessman.-Early life:...
, American social activist and member of the Chicago Seven
Chicago Seven
The Chicago Seven were seven defendants—Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner—charged with conspiracy, inciting to riot, and other charges related to protests that took place in Chicago, Illinois on the occasion of the 1968...
, lived here and ran a legal and civil rights office on the southwest corner of Echo Park Avenue and Sunset Blvd. for much of the 70s and 80s. In 1993, the movie Mi Vida Loca
Mi Vida Loca
Mi Vida Loca is a 1993 American drama film directed and written by Allison Anders. This film includes Jason Lee's first performance as an actor in a small role alongside director Spike Jonze as a drug buyer....
, written and directed by Echo Park resident Allison Anders
Allison Anders
Allison Anders is an American film and television director. Anders has directed many independent films, on which she frequently collaborates with fellow UCLA film school graduate Kurt Voss.-Biography:...
, was filmed in Echo Park; detailing the Latino girl gang culture in the neighborhood at the time. In 1999, the diary film Tending Echo Park by experimental filmmaker Monica Gazzo was completed and presented at the Egyptian Theatre and the Director's Guild, Hollywood. The film has also screened at the Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, numerous venues in California, including Echo Park Film Center, and at film festivals nationwide.
The commercial district along Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
suffered greatly in the 1950s from the condemnation of the residences in nearby Chavez Ravine
Chávez Ravine
Chavez Ravine is an area in Sulfir Canyon that is the current site of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California.It was named after Julian Chavez, a Los Angeles Councilman in the 19th century.-History:...
. The buildings were condemned for the purpose of building low-income public housing, but after the bond funding for the project failed to be approved, the ravine property was sold for one dollar by the city of Los Angeles to Walter O'Malley as the location for Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium, also sometimes called Chavez Ravine, is a stadium in Los Angeles. Located adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers team since 1962...
.
In 1969, Keith Barbour recorded a song titled "Echo Park". In 1997, The Blue Stingrays
The Blue Stingrays
The Blue Stingrays were a late 1990s rock band that played surf rock, incorporating some country and western elements, with an overall Hawaiian atmosphere. The band was composed of the members of The Heartbreakers, Tom Petty's backup band, who took a short break from their work with Petty to record...
recorded the album Surf-N-Burn
Surf-N-Burn
Surf-N-Burn was a 1997 surf-rock album by The Blue Stingrays. Its tracks express a variety of moods, from the secret agent intrigue of "Russian Roulette" and "Goldfinger" , to the soft surfing themes "Surfer's Life" and "Green Sea", to the beach-shack rave-ups "Monsoon" and "Super Hero",...
, with a cut titled "Echo Park". In 1977, Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
recorded the Warren Zevon song "Carmelita" on the album Simple Dreams, wherein she mentions the Pioneer Chicken stand on Echo Park Avenue. In 1980 Gary Numan mentions Echo Park in his single "I die: you die" and The Eels
Eels (band)
Eels is an American indie rock band formed by singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E...
mention Echo Park in their 1996 album Beautiful Freak
Beautiful Freak
Beautiful Freak is a 1996 album by musician Mark Oliver Everett, his first using a full band and the name Eels...
. British band Echo Park Orchestra produced their first album in 1995. Ryan Cabrera
Ryan Cabrera
Ryan Frank Cabrera is an American pop rock musician. In 2004, Cabrera debuted with his single "On the Way Down", a top ten hit in the U.S., and album Take It All Away...
wrote a song titled "Echo Park" that is part of his mainstream debut album, Take It All Away
Take It All Away
Take It All Away is the debut major-label studio album from American pop rock singer-songwriter Ryan Cabrera, and was released in 2004 on Atlantic Records...
. The song "Who Would've Thought" by punk rock band Rancid off the album Life Won't Wait is about Echo Park, and the obscure Heavy Metal ballad "Echo Park, After Dark" was recorded by Alfred Corpuz and the Alleyheads in 1980. British band Feeder also named their third album Echo Park released in 2001.
Poetry and literature readings have been a tradition with Echo Park and its residents since the early 1920s. Beginning in the late 1970s, the Temple Street Poets brought many diverse groups together for spoken-word gatherings at the Travellers Cafe on Temple Street. Unfortunately, faced with repeated attempts by Hollywood glitterati and their entourages to infiltrate the group, the Temple Street Poets disbanded by the middle 1980s rather than be co-opted. Spoken word readings, however, still continue in and around the neighborhood to this day; most specifically at the Little Joy Bar where the Echo Poets could be found reading and playing on Sunday nights until 2010, when they started meeting at nearby Silverlake Lounge. During the 1970s, the Travellers Cafe was frequented by Lawrence Tierney, Glen Frey, Tom Waits, Kent Twitchell, Carlos Almaraz, Doy Mercado, Linda Ronstadt and Charles Bukowski.
Attractions
Local attractions include Echo Park and its small lake, which at one time was said to contain the largest planting of lotuses outside Asia. The lotus plantings suffered significant die-back between 2005 and 2008, and have been completely gone since then; plans for re-planting (including solicitation of contributions) have apparently been put on hold, as of 2010-2011, pending some clearer understanding of the cause.There is also a Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n festival held annually on the Sunday closest to May 20,to commemorate Cuba's Independence from Spain and also to honor Cuban poet and patriot José Martí
José Martí
José Julián Martí Pérez was a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. In his short life he was a poet, an essayist, a journalist, a revolutionary philosopher, a translator, a professor, a publisher, and a political theorist. He was also a part of the Cuban...
, who has a statue in the park.
Bordering the park are the cathedral of the Episcopal diocese of Los Angeles and the famous Angelus Temple
Angelus Temple
Angelus Temple was the central house of worship of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, California....
, a large Foursquare Gospel
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel
The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, commonly referred to as the Foursquare Church, is an evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination. As of 2000 it had a worldwide membership of over 8,000,000, with almost 60,000 churches in 144 countries. In 2006, membership in the United States...
church built by Canadian-born Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson , also known as Sister Aimee, was a Canadian-American Los Angeles, California evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s. She founded the Foursquare Church...
in 1923.
The first totally enclosed film stage and studio in history , Keystone Studios
Keystone Studios
Keystone Studios was an early movie studio founded in Edendale, California in 1912 as the Keystone Pictures Studio by Mack Sennett with backing from Adam Kessel and Charles O. Bauman, owners of the New York Motion Picture Company...
, built by Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy"...
in 1912 at 1712 Glendale Blvd in the Edendale quarter of Echo Park, still exists in all its structural entirety, though now passes time as a public storage facility. Some of the studio's original auxiliary buildings are also still standing ( with modified facades) on both sides of Glendale Blvd. An obelisk monument and bronze plaque commemorating Sennett's studio was located for many years in the patio area behind one of the Bert-Co Paper Company's buildings on 1855 Glendale Boulevard (which was actually the site of the Selig Polyscope studio), but was demolished, along with the Bert-Co plant, in September 2007 and the plaque stolen by vandals.
Lotus Festival
Given the large number of lotus plants that used to thrive and bloom in one end of the lake up until 2007, Echo Park has been the site of the annual Lotus Festival (originally called the "Day of the Lotus Festival"), a pan-Asian celebration complete with Chinese dragon boat races. The event has been held since 1972 and it showcases a different Asian ethnicity (such as Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Bangladeshi, etc.) every year. It attracts Asian AmericanAsian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
s as well as other local residents.
The program was "designed to create in the Southern California community an increased awareness of the contributions to our culture by Asian Americans," stated in the 1973 second annual program. Some of the masters of ceremonies during the early years included George Takei
George Takei
George Hosato Takei Altman is an American actor, author, social activist and former civil politician. He is best known for his role in the television series Star Trek and its film spinoffs, in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the...
, Tritia Toyota
Tritia Toyota
Tritia Toyota is a former Los Angeles television news anchor and a current adjunct assistant professor in anthropology, Asian-American studies and the media at the University of California at Los Angeles.- Early life and education :...
, Sam Chu Lin
Sam Chu Lin
Sam Chu Lin was an American journalist. Born in Greenville, Mississippi, Lin died, at the age of 67, in Burbank, California on March 5, 2006. In the 1960s, he was one of the first Asian Americans to appear on both radio and television, eventually working for all four major broadcast networks...
, Victor Sen Yung
Victor Sen Yung
Victor Sen Yung was an American character actor. He was given billing under a variety of names, including Sen Yung, Sen Young, Victor Sen Young, and Victor Young.- Career :...
and Mario Machado
Mario Machado
Mario Machado is the Eurasian eight-time Emmy Award-winning television and radio broadcaster who made television history when, in 1970, he became the first Chinese-American on-air television news reporter and anchor in Los Angeles and perhaps in the nation.-Television:Machado’s television career...
.
The festival itself came under criticism by locals in 1979, when festival directors refused to let the local garage band, The Alleyheads, which consisted of Asians, Latinos, and whites, play at the festival, yet allowed several tame white and Asian "pop" groups approved by the city, perform. The community was outraged that the festival directors did not let the Alleyheads play in favor of out-of-town performers. The Alleyheads persisted for three more years, but each time were refused by the festival committee and city managers. Complaints mounted until the city and festival committee dropped their ban on rock bands in the middle 1980s, but ironically hired only all-white rock bands at first, none of which were indigenous to Echo Park itself. This situation has since changed, however, and the festival now showcases a wide range of diverse musical acts and performers that better mirror the demographics of the City of Los Angeles and Pacific region to which it belongs.
Local organizations
Echo Park was home to the Metropolitan Street Hockey League (MSHL) from 1971 until 1977, one of the first organized street and roller hockey associations in the Los Angeles area, and which produced the Preston Avenue Sharks, winners of the Los Angeles street hockey City Championship in 1974, 1975 and 1976, the Atwater Open in 1974, the Melrose Open in 1975 and Echo Park Opens in 1973, 1975 and 1976, the Echo Park Jets, which won the City Championship in 1977 and Echo Park Open in 1974, and the Stadium Way Rangers, winners of the Atwater Open in 1975, the Melrose Open in 1976, and the City Championship in 1973. Another team from the league, the Coronado Terrace Mustangs, won the Echo Park, Melrose and Atwater Opens in 1977, becoming the only "Triple Crown" winner in history, and in 1978, won the Echo Park Open as an independent/at-large entry.Echo Park is and continues to be home of the world famous, Echo Park Ducks, originally formed in 1967 as a loosely organized social, sports & community activist club, and which attracted many of the hippies and free spirits of the area at the time. They were immortalized when Billy Shire began selling the now famous Echo Park Ducks T-Shirt out of his Sunset Blvd store, The Soap Plant, in 1972.
Currently, Echo Park is home to many unique businesses, such as the Barragan's Restaurant, Echo Park Film Center
Echo Park Film Center
The Echo Park Film Center is a Los Angeles-based not-for-profit arts organization and volunteer-run media arts center founded in 2002. They are located in the Alvarado Arts building at the corner of Sunset Blvd and Alvarado Street in Echo Park, California, next door to the Downbeat Cafe.EPFC offers...
, The Echo & The Echoplex, Machine Project
Machine Project
Machine Project is a Los Angeles based not-for-profit arts organization and community event space dedicated to making specialized knowledge and technology accessible to artists and the general public...
, The Echo Park Time Travel Mart (see 826LA
826LA
826LA is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills and helping teachers inspire their students to write. Programs are structured around the beliefs that great leaps in learning can happen with...
), Vlaze Media Networks, Inc. (vlaze.com), Epitaph Records, Taix French restaurant, Origami Vinyl, live music venues and art galleries including the Echo Curio Curiosity Shop & Art Gallery. Many small independent boutiques and coffee shops have blossomed along Sunset Blvd and the northern most part of Echo Park Boulevard going up into the hills. Echo Park Avenue is featured in the 2009 Train music video, "Hey Soul Sister."
Echo Park is also home to community-service organizations including El Centro del Pueblo, and religious institutions including Angelus Temple, and the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles
Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles
The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is a community of 85,000 Episcopalians in 147 congregations, 40 schools, and 18 major institutions, spanning all of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties, and part of Riverside County....
' Cathedral Center of St. Paul.
Milestones
Echo Park was named one of the Top 10 Great Neighborhoods for 2008 by The American Planning Association (APA).Echo Park was chosen due to "its historic architecture, breathtaking hillside topography, walkable and pedestrian-friendly streets, and engaged residents who have worked hard to protect and preserve their community," according to an APA release. Echo Park is a diverse community home to working class families and blossoming artists, and has had to work twice as hard as other communities to create, maintain and advocate for their great community. The community is remarkably dynamic with countless ethnic groups at all income levels. Today, Echo Park is home not only to the annual Lotus Festival, the Cuban Festival, and Historic Filipinotown but also 4-star dining alongside spectacular burrito stands. The area features perfectly preserved craftsman-style homes, as well as modern architecture, great schools, parks and libraries. APA Executive Director Paul Farmer said "the neighborhood has a long history of citizen activism that has inspired not only spirited public debate, but also committed and motivated residents who are helping to keep Echo Park a great place to live."
Boundaries and Neighborhoods
According to the Echo Park Historical Society (EPHS), there are no official boundaries for LA's Echo Park neighborhood. It is documented that the southern part of Echo Park was separated from its northern section by the construction of the 101 freeway in the 1950s. Also, the 2 Freeway cut off a large western section of the neighborhood on its most northern part. History proves, however, that there are some general boundaries:Western Boundary (starting from Beverly Blvd going North): Benton Way to Waterloo Street then continue moving north where it hits Glendale Blvd. and up Allesandro St.
Northern Boundary: Riverside Drive, Fargo Street
Fargo Street
Fargo Street is in Los Angeles, California and is thought to be the steepest street in Los Angeles, and perhaps in all of California. Bottom of the hill is .-External links:*Linthicum, Kate . "". Los Angeles Times....
, California State Route 2(Glendale Blvd North exit)
Eastern Boundary: Beaudry (north of Sunset Blvd),
Harbor Freeway (the area south of Sunset Blvd.)
Southern Boundary: Beverly Blvd.
Echo Park itself consists, in whole or in part, of the neighborhoods of Echo Park (the area immediately surrounding the lake and extending approximately a mile north on Echo Park Avenue), Angelino Heights, Colton Hill/Belmont Heights, Victor Heights
Victor Heights
Victor Heights, nicknamed "Forgotten Edge" by long time residents, is an eclectic and hilly neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles making up the most eastern section of Echo Park, a neighborhood located just northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. It is situated north of Sunset Blvd., northeast of...
, Edendale, Elysian Heights, Temple-Beaudry, Historic Filipinotown, and Sunset Heights.
Government and infrastructure
Local government
Los Angeles Fire DepartmentLos Angeles Fire Department
The Los Angeles Fire Department is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Los Angeles....
Station 20 is in the area.
Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
operates the Rampart Community Police Station at 1401 West 6th St., 90017.
County, state, and federal representation
The Los Angeles County Department of Health ServicesLos Angeles County Department of Health Services
Health services to over 10 million residents in the Los Angeles County are provided by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Mental health services are provided by the County Department of Mental Health...
operates the Central Health Center in Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
, serving Echo Park.
The United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
Edendale Post Office is located at 1525 North Alvarado Street.
Public schools
Residents are zoned to Logan Street Elementary School, Clifford Street School, Mayberry Street Elementary School, Elysian Heights Elementary School, Betty Plasencia Elementary School, Rosemont Avenue School and Union Avenue School.
Most residents are zoned to Thomas Starr King Middle School and Belmont High School
Belmont High School (Los Angeles, California)
Belmont Senior High School is a public high school located at 1575 West 2nd Street in the Westlake community of Los Angeles, California. The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.-History:...
.
Others get accepted to Downtown Magnets High School
Downtown Magnets High School
Downtown Magnets High School is an alternative magnet high school located in the downtown area of the Los Angeles Unified School District ....
which consists of 3 magnets: Business, Electronics, and Fashion.
In 2007, LAUSD used eminent domain to remove 50 homes in order to build a new school.
Private schools
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los AngelesRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the archdiocese comprises the California counties of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura. The diocesan cathedral is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the...
operates Our Lady of Loretto Elementary School, located at 258 North Union Avenue since 1921, and St. Teresa of Avila.
Public libraries
Los Angeles Public LibraryLos Angeles Public Library
The Los Angeles Public Library system serves the residents of Los Angeles, California, United States. With over 6 million volumes, LAPL is one of the largest publicly funded library systems in the world. The system is overseen by a Board of Library Commissioners with five members appointed by the...
operates two branches in Echo Park: Echo Park Branch and Edendale Branch.
Notable residents
- Darwin William TateDarwin William TateDarwin William Tate , who went by Darwin W. Tate, was a member of the Los Angeles, California, City Council between 1933 and 1939 and chief of the California Division of State Beaches and Parks from 1939 to 1942.-Biography:...
, Los Angeles City Council member, 1933–39 - Los Angeles Derby DollsLos Angeles Derby DollsThe L. A. Derby Dolls is Los Angeles' original women's quad-skate banked track roller derby league. It was founded in October 2003 by Rebecca Ninburg and Wendy Templeton . The league is composed of more than 120 women divided into five teams who skate on a banked track.LADD plays real, unscripted...
- Roy HamptonRoy HamptonRoy Hampton was an attorney, ex-Marine and former journalist who was a member of the Los Angeles, California, City Council from 1939 to 1943...
(ca. 1901–1953), Los Angeles City Council member, 1939–41 - Elliott SmithElliott SmithSteven Paul "Elliott" Smith was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and resided for a significant portion of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity...
See also
- List of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Silver Lake, Angelino Heights, and Echo Park
- Mi Vida LocaMi Vida LocaMi Vida Loca is a 1993 American drama film directed and written by Allison Anders. This film includes Jason Lee's first performance as an actor in a small role alongside director Spike Jonze as a drug buyer....
- Quinceañera (film)Quinceañera (film)Quinceañera is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. It was released as Echo Park, LA in UK. Set in Echo Park, Los Angeles, the film follows the lives of two young Mexican American cousins who become estranged from their families: Magdalena...
External links
- Echo Park Chamber of Commerce
- Echo Park Historical Society
- The Eastsider LA A primary news source for Echo Park and surrounding neighborhoods
- Echo Park Now News and Information about Echo Park happenings and history
- Echo Park Online - The social networking site and blogging platform for residents, businesses, non-profits, causes and activists in L.A.'s oldest neighborhood
- Short history of Echo Park
- Edendale Farm CSA and Learning Center