Highland Park circa 1905. (Click to biggify.)

Before this blog goes to sleep, want to include this never-before-seen photo of Highland Park circa 1905.

This view is looking Northeast up toward the San Gabriel Mountains from where today is the upper parking lot of the Southwest Museum on Mount Washington. On the left is the The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, that we know better today as The Metro Gold Line. On the right is Figueroa lined with power, trolley, telegraph poles and Echo Street running east to Avenue 52. In the foreground are homes of Professor’s Row on Sycamore Terrace. The large buildings to the left are Occidental College on Figueroa Street at Avenue 50.  On the other side of the railroad tracks along between Avenue 50 and 51 where court apartments are today is a very large government-like structure that I can only assume was part of Occidental college. Also, next to the tracks on the south side of Avenue 50 is a building where today is that empty lot with a cement slab and steps to nowhere. In the distance on the left around Avenue 55 is another large building I’m guessing is Saint Luke’s Methodist Church. The hills around Highland Park are largely undeveloped. If this photo were in color we could likely see patches of orange on Poppy Peak to the left.

On the right side of the photograph, just as automobiles do today, the blur of a horse and buggy can be seen speeding down the hill on Figueroa Street (Then Pasadena Avenue) in front of the newly built Pillar of Fire church building. The building closest building to the camera is now where the Arroyo Seco Magnet School is. At this point in 1905, the branch of Arroyo Seco creek has already been graded and bridged over by the Attison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, and Figueroa Street. Just across Figueroa from Professor’s Row, it looks like there was a park where the Hillside Baptist Church is between Avenue 50 and Echo. Way off in the distance on the right is The Raymond Hotel (the new 1901 one) in South Pasadena. Along Figueroa, what looks like little bushes are growing, those will become the towering palm trees we see there today. The photo is similar to one found in the LA Library photo archive dated 1908, taken near the same spot, but I haven’t seen this particular photo anywhere before. It’s amazing how many of the homes are still there. Amazing how familiar this place looks. It looks like home, it looks like a place with a history, a place awaiting its future.

The LAMTA "Crying' J Streetcar 3002 on February, 8th 1963 on Pacific Blvd near Vernon-Huntington Park soon after the end to streetcar service was announced. Photo by Alan Weeks via The Metro Transportation Library and Archive.

LAMTA Crying J Streetcar 3002 on the last month of service, March 6, 1963. Photo by Alan Weeks via The Metro Transportation Library and Archive.

Resolutions. –That is what the New Year is for. Resolving to do something different. So too has come time for me to do something different here at the 90042 Blog.

"Goodbye Forever Old Sweethearts and pals!" The LAMTA J Line Crying streetcar at Pico & Grand on March 6, 1963. Photo by Alan Weeks via the Metro Transportation Library and Archive.

This blog started out as an effort by me, Waltarrrrr, as a way to sharpen my abysmal writing skills (paired with dyslexia) while documenting my Highland Park experiences. I soon found out readers actually came to depend on whatever information and perspective I had on this place in Northeast Los Angeles.

The very last Los Angeles streetcar rolls out of service. April Fools Day 1963. Photo by Alan Weeks via The Metro Transportation Library and Archive.

All-too-often I posted the only notices of shootings or murders in our community that real media outlets ignored. I’m quite proud of what I managed to accomplish over the past four-and-a-half years. Stories that would have otherwise never been told, were shared, and history was remembered. I feel the community was better off for whatever contribution was made. I tried to keep it interesting and avoided being too self-indulging. (Sorry, my blog, my indulgence.) So many stories I wanted to do but never had enough time. As small as this zip code seems, or as non-affluent as it may seem, I could have written a story about it every day and never fully told the story of this place we call home.

Los Angeles Transit Line "W" Streetcar on the last day of service on top of Figueora Street at Buena Vista Terrace in Highland Park on April 17, 1958. Photo by Alan Weeks via The Metro Transportation Library and Archive.

Some people I have to really thank for inspiring me, and making this blog what it is. Pasadena Adjacent, your encouragement and interest was always appreciated. The local neighborhood bloggers that kept me from seeming like a howling madman in the wilderness: El Chavo!, Chimatli, El Random Hero, and the other fine folks at LA Eastside. Above The City, Ryan? from York Blvd wherever you disappeared to. LA City Nerd and Militant Angeleno for reminding me place matters. (Especially when it is the best place on Earth!) Scott Beale at Laughing Squid. Sean Bonner (where this WordPress Vigilance theme was first seen), Will Campbell and the rest of the folks at blogging.la. Micheal Schneider at Franklin Avenue (the original L.A. neighborhood blogger as far as I can tell) Highland Park historian, Charles Fisher. Charlie Lummis who spoke to me in my dreams. Thanks to Jesus Sanchez and The Eastsider LA, despite the cartography-challenged view of the Eastside from what is really the Westside, they ALWAYS gave props, credit, and the very important Hat-Tip; which made it worth while. Thanks to the “Repo Man 90042 Scavenger Hunt Team” that inspired the name for this blog. Thanks to Marino Pascal and Christopher Howard for starting the NELA List in 2001. Pat Griffith, Eliot Sekuler, Bill Murray, Martha Benedict and the ASNCAlert List. And special thanks to transportation photographer extraordinaire, Alan Weeks whose photos on the Metro flickr stream inspired me to research and discover Highland Park’s rich history as a streetcar suburb. Last, but never least, the amazing editor who never missed an opportunity to correct me, my darling wife and muse, Cris.

The last streetcar out of the downtown L.A. subway tunnel at Toluca Yard, heading for Glendale on June 19th, 1955. Photo via the Metro Transportation Archive and Library.

May or may not write more about the March Elections. Or express my opinion on York Blvd., the Highland Park Transit Village or other local developments. Can’t say. What I can say is this blog is going to sleep for a while. The weekly posts just won’t be there anymore. Instead, I plan to focus on my first love, Art. I’m a painter by trade. As a byproduct of putting my efforts into writing and researching this blog, I haven’t actually made a painting in some time. In my studio sits a pile of blank canvases awaiting my attention. This year I resolved to start painting rather than writing, to start sketching rather than tweeting. I’m a craftsperson, a maker. At this juncture I need to create tangible objects more than web posts.

It has been a fun trip, but the time has come to put the blog to rest. Thanks for sharing the ride.

Scrap pile 1956.

Peace.

-Waltarrrrr

The project has been approved. The road work is funded. The only problem now is how to configure the extension of bike lanes from Avenue 55 to Figueroa Street as planned?

View Larger Map

Option 1: Remove one of the two westbound motorized traffic lanes, leaving one traffic lane heading west, a turn slot in the middle, two eastbound lanes for motorized traffic, and a lane on each side for bicycles.

Option 2: Remove both a westbound and eastbound lane, leaving one motorized traffic lane each way with a turn slot in the middle and bike lanes on each side of the boulevard, exactly as it is configured west of Avenue 55.

The good news is that no boulevard parking will be removed for either option.

The beginning of the current York Boulevard Bike Lanes at Avenue 55.

Personally, I’d prefer the maximum road diet of Option 2. It promotes a safer, slower boulevard that’s better for cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers. According to LADOT, the peak amount of cars on York Boulevard is about 1000 per hour heading east (to The 110?) during the morning commute. A thousand cars per hour per lane is considered to be a lane’s capacity. So reducing traffic lanes to one each east of Avenue 55 shouldn’t have adverse effects to the ebb and flow.

What reducing the lanes should do, is increase business and quality of life for the stores and homes on York Boulevard. Narrowing streets in municipalities the world-over has proved to better develop a community’s sense of place, and create more village-like atmosphere where people shop and live, rather than just drive through. While returning to the original York Boulevard design with two traffic lanes and two trolleys in the middle may be decades off, reducing to two lanes and adding bike lanes seems to be about the best York Boulevard improvement one could hope for at this time. As for now, no decision has been made on what to implement and won’t likely be made until after a certain someone is done with the March 8th Election.

*Thanks to City of Los Angeles, Bicycle Advisory Committee, Bikeways Subcommittee Chair, Joe Linton for the tip.

Rudy Martinez' Marty's Bar soon after opening in 2007. Note the street tree.

Martnez' Marty's Bar in 2008. Tree removed and sidewalk planter cemented over.

Rudy Martinez's Bar on York Blvd and the cemented over sidewalk planter where a tree once stood. Yes Rudy, the choice IS clear.

You can tell a lot about a candidate by how they treat the community. In this case, how they treat community property. Namely, a city tree.

It is election season in Highland Park once again; this time the seat for Los Angeles City Council District 14 is being contested by a number of candidates, most prominently, Northeast Los Angeles entrepreneur, Rudy Martinez.

Mr. Martinez opened his bar, Marty’s at 5137 York Boulevard in 2007. When he opened there was one of the many York Blvd Bottle Brush street trees out in front of his place. Not much of a tree really. Trimmed as small as possible, but healthy. It was a place where a pedestrian could get some shade on a typical hot Highland Park day. Soon after the photo above was taken, the tree was surreptitiously removed, and the city’s sidewalk planter space was cemented over to prevent the replanting of any other trees in front of Mr. Martinez’ business.

Flash forward to 2011, Mr. Martinez now wants to be the head of our community in the roll of Los Angeles City Councilmember for the 14th District. A district that serves the diverseness of Highland Park, Mount Washington, Eagle Rock, El Sereno, Boyle Heights, Downtown Broadway and smaller neighborhoods between. Among the challengers to incumbent, Jose Huizar, Mr. Martinez has the largest war chest, making him the front-runner and only true threat to unseat Councilmember Huizar. The bulk of his campaign funding has come from his house flipping, mortgage, and restaurant businesses, as well as contributions from members of the real estate industry. According to the LA Weekly, his largest in kind contribution has come from an attorney for an Australian developer that is at odds with Downtown Broadway historic preservation.

Apparently, Mr. Martinez decided to run against his former friend when the city required him to remove an over-sized smoking patio behind Marty’s. So now we have this candidate with a vendetta, who according to reports, has a misdemeanor conviction for battery, and doesn’t seem to care about community property or preservation, while being in the hip pocket of developers.

It would be nice to give Mr. Martinez a chance to tout his qualifications as a community leader, or civic experiences if there are any. But the only news that comes from Mr. Martinez are accusations being made against his opponent. Look at his Twitter stream. It is mostly mud being slung at Councilmember Huizar. My question is, what has he done for Council District 14? How has he personally improved our community beyond his businesses here?

Mr. Martinez’ campaign reeks of someone who just wants to get back at somebody and gain a powerful position with one of the highest-paid elected positions in the country. Rather than represent and fight for all the people of the 14th, his victory would be likely be victory for those that would want to demolish our heritage and flip out stucco boxes for maximum profit. His election would likely mean more laissez-faire capitalism, and less protection for people who live here, the people who walk the avenues, the people who seek shade on a hot summer day.

So where’s the tree Rudy?

Arroyo Seco Library bookshelf by cRis_cRis via flickr.

Do you love libraries? Well do you???

Did you know that it has only been in the recent 100 years of civilization that libraries have been public and “Free?” Before that, libraries were secluded and relegated to only wealthy scholars. Libraries weren’t for common people. But then at the turn of the previous century, people started noticing how awesome and advanced a society could be if libraries were open and free for everyone. Our very own Arroyo Seco Branch library was originally built by a wealthy industrialist, Andrew Carnegie. Why? Because he knew knowledge is power, and that every person deserves a place to read, a place to learn and to grow.

But while libraries are best when they are available to everyone, and better when they cost users nothing, in actuality, they have a price. And that price was more than our Mayor was willing to pay in the current city budget crisis. Luckily, we voters will have an opportunity to remedy the situation that has shuttered our much-loved library on Sundays and Mondays. In the upcoming March 8th Election there is Measure L that will reassign funds from the city’s general operating budget to the library system. No bonds involved, no new taxes, just budget adjustment.

So put our money where your inked fingers and squinting eyes are, and support Measure L come this March 8th at the polling booth!!!

-See Jill Stewart’s story on Measure L in LA Weekly.

What is in an abbreviation? When people abbreviate the name of our fair community of Highland Park it is done one of two ways: “HP” or “HLP.” The HP tends to be used by two groups of Highland Parkers: The Old Timers (those that have lived here prior to the 1980′s) and the Newcomers (those that have moved here in the most recent years of gentrification). Whereas the “HLP” is used by people who grew up and lived here over the intervening 30 years.

H.P. is the most obvious abbreviation. Highland Park reduced to its first letters. In a world where “Laughing Out Loud” is LOL, “Oh My God” is OMG, and “El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciúncula” gets savagely reduced to L.A., abbreviating names has become the nom-de-rigueur or N.D.R.

H.L.P. actually comes “HighLand Parque,” one of our local gangs. They have been writing it on walls for decades. So much so, that this place is simply best known in some circles as HLP. It has been that way for years around Los Angeles. The notoriety is there and seems as obvious as the color of strawberry ice cream. Yet, every now and then, for whatever reason, someone will call this place HP. As if it were clever. And then I cringe a little. Sort of like someone boasting about steak dinners to a vegetarian.

Although I try to go the third route and just call us 90042, the HLP works best for me. It’s unique to this place. On the internet, HP always means Hewlett-Packard. Using it will give you more spam-bots than you could ever want. (Doh, guess I just cursed this blog!) It distinguishes Highland Park from another local HP, Huntington Park. Which reminds me, was the dispute between Huntington Beach and Hermosa Beach ever settled on who could use HB? Whatever the case, use HP or HLP, knowing the full connotation. But please, please, oh please DO NOT put “st”"nd” “rd” or “th” after the number of our Avenues!

1959 Chevy El Camino in the San Pascual neighborhood in the years 2007, 2008, and 2010.

First and foremost, Thank You to everyone who participated in the Highland Park Survey 2010. (Not too late to add your own photos, provided they were taken here between 12/25 and 12/31.) It was insightful as always. This year I discovered, slivers of Mount Washington and Eagle Rock were actually in 90042. Some things have changed, and some things stayed the same. Seeing these places and photos year after year is like watching waves along the shore. Seeing patterns. developments, and surprises all around us. Time marches on, the only thing that remains the same is that everything will change.

Things I photographed this year:

Horizontal Fences.

People on roofs fixing leaks.

People riding bicycles.

Vintage cars.

Apartment Buildings with romantic names.

Birds.

Stairways.

Illegally privatized public property.

Construction.

Development notices.

Transit.

Graffiti.

Art.

Churches.

More barking dogs.

Views from Santa Fe Hill, Monterey Hills, Mount Washington, Mount Angelus, and Townsend Peak.

Barack Obama’s 90042 residence. (The zip code cuts through Occidental College in Eagle Rock, making his 1979 dorm room at Haines Hall within the 90042!)

On the Pasadena adjacent edge of 90042 in Garvanza swims a very large koi carp. Murals on houses in 90042 are nothing too uncommon. In a zip code so dense with artists these sort of artistic expressions are bound to happen. However, this particularly striking painting of an orange koi on the side of a garage in the front yard of this home on Avenue 63 begs the question. Why?

Oranges, figs, bird bath, and a giant koi. All in one front yard.

Reverend Dan at The Little Cave

Highland Park, and Northeast Los Angeles is blessed with many fine watering holes. One particular hole is actually a cave, as in The Little Cave on Figueroa Street. Opened in 2003, The Little Cave is the Highland Park outpost for the 1933 Group, whose chain of thematic bars would make Clifford Clinton smile, and maybe even frequent if he wasn’t Mormon and dead.

Open seven nights a week, each night comes with its own particular theme or DJ, and never a cover charge. There’s Sundays with DJ JesC, Karaoke Mondays, Tuesdays with Highland Parker, DJ Sweet Caroline spinning 80′s tunes, Kick Out The Jams Wednesdays with the cheapest drinks of the week, Thursdays are the legendary Free Tacos Night, Fridays feature surprise DJ’s, and Saturday Nights belong to DJ Mike Angelo. But this post is about one DJ unlike any other, the prodigal son of Long Beach, lost Los Angeles amusement park historian, new Montecito Heights resident, long-time KXLU DJ and host of America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio Show “Music For Nimrod’s,” –the one-and-only, Reverend Dan.

Starting back in October, Reverend Dan started DJ-ing the “Happy Hour” on Saturday afternoons at the Little Cave. On Saturday, starting at 5pm when drinks are a dollar off, Rev. Dan plays much of the good ole Rock-N-Roll that you can hear on his weekly radio show on 88.9FM at 3AM on Saturday morning after hitting the all-night diners while you try to sober up. The music and drinks are loud. -Just as the lord intended them to be, and so conveniently close, it’s pathetic.

Reverend Dan also has a genuine rock-n-roll band that reflects his fine taste and influences in music and genres: The Bloody Brains. Seen playing around NELA in recent months, the Bloody Brains are playing this very day (Saturday) at The Little Cave starting at 7pm!

The Little Cave
5922 North Figueroa Street
Highland Park, California 90042

Happy Hours 5-9pm.

The Pacific Electric Red Car heads east towards Baldwin Park out of Downtown Los Angeles through Boyle Heights on October 31, 1943. (Note the once omnipresent gas tanks along the LA River in the background.) Photo via the Metro Transportation Library and Archive.

It was my father’s generation that rode the Big Red Car to and from downtown. Around the time the photo above was taken things were quickly changing. In 1940 the world’s first true freeway, The Ramona Freeway began with the rebuilding of the Aliso Street bridge over the L.A. River. Seen in the photo above is some of the tunnel-work being done to bypass the Pacific Electric tracks. Eventually the tracks themselves would be removed and replaced with the Ramona Freeway, later the name would change to the San Bernardino Freeway. It would be that freeway my father and his peers traded their seats on the trolley for, it would be that freeway, that ribbon of congested concrete connected in grid-like form that would be their legacy. A legacy we in 2011 are trying to replace with the lost rail lines from their past.

The San Bernardino & Hollywood Freeway transition. Where the Big Red Car was, is where lots of little cars are today.