April Foolin In HP

Huntington Park 90255

Oh the fun of Twitter!  Oh the fun of April Fools’ Day!

Inspired by a hashtag, and the annoyance of successive newcomers to Highland Park trying to be cool by abbreviating our name to “HP,” (Anyone who’s lived here long enough, knows we abbreviate it as “HLP.”) this blogger headed south via the Metro 251 Bus from Figueroa and Avenue 26 to the heart of the real HP: Huntington Park to fool around on April Fool’s Day. The entire day was spent tweeting as HP90255 instead of the usual HLP90042. It was fun. It was funny. But also an opportunity to compare and contrast our Highland Park with their Huntington Park.

Huntington Park is a nice place. Like Highland Park, it was developed as a Streetcar Suburb. (So much a streetcar suburb that the founding fathers named it after Pacific Electric streetcar magnate, Henry E. Huntington just to entice him into building a route to their town.) Like Highland Park, Huntington Park has many pre-1950 single-family homes (with more than one family) and many apartment buildings surrounding central commercial streets. Their Pacific Boulevard, is much like our Figueroa Street, with many of the same department stores and other commercial buildings built in the early 20th Century. 90255 is slightly smaller than 90042, and slightly denser in population with 58,000 residents. The median income for Huntington Park is $39,185, compared to Highland Park’s median income of $45,478. Education-wise, only 4.7% of the residents have 4-year degrees, compared to Highland Park’s 14.3%. Huntington Park is less ethnically diverse than Highland Park. With 95.1% of the population being Latino, it is the largest ethnically Latino city in Los Angeles County. (Latinos make up 72% of Highland Park’s population.)

The two things that are most striking about Huntington Park, compared to Highland Park is how flat the place is. That is, there are no hills! A type of terrain completely foreign to Highland Parkers. The other big difference is how surprisingly clean and well-maintained this city is. Even though Huntington Park is imbedded within an industrial area, it is by-and-large a well-kept town, lacking litter and the something-dumped-on-every-block mentality that plagues Highland Park.  Also, where’s the graffiti? Sure, it exists, but unlike Highland Park where you can’t look at a pole, sign, broken sidewalk, garage, wall, street, curb, dumpster, abandoned couch, utility box, fence, tree, window, door, or mural without seeing someone’s name tagged on it, Huntington Park is practically blank. (True story: Saw a teenager in the park pick up a pen from the floor, walk over to a trash can, and instead of writing on it, he threw it away!) The city parks are all green and free of gophers. The playgrounds are un-vandalized.  There are rose gardens all over the place. There aren’t shopping cart armies roaming the streets scavenging the trash cans, or stray dogs in the streets. Huntington Park is CLEAN.

Sure there were other differences, such as HP lacking the artistic influence that Highland Park has; didn’t see any murals, art galleries or art spaces.  Historic Preservation is not much of a driving force as it is here in Highland Park.  There are no bike lanes or bike routes, and the city has only one sidewalk-installed bike rack (recently placed at their first parklet on Pacific Blvd).  Aside from being under the LAX flight path, there is a quietness to HP that escapes Highland Park with the sound of the frequent LAFD and LAPD sirens combined with airship manhunts that lock-down neighborhoods for hours on end.  Also, Huntington Park is devoid of house flippers. Unlike Highland Park, the city is completely free of horizontal slat fences.

Quality-of-life wise, Huntington Parkers have it made. HP shows us that smaller is better and more effective. No, HP is probably not going to be mentioned in Condé Nast any time soon, but they should be proud, theirs is a fine working-class city without many of the problems that grip comparable City of Los Angeles’ neighborhoods such as our HLP.

 

Welcome to the City of Huntington Park.

Huntington Park border.

Their Avenues are called “Streets.”

Under the LAX landing path.

A classic Eldon Davis’ Googie Norm’s. Line out the door all morning.

Eldon Davis details on the Huntington Park Norm’s.

No Norm’s, remodeling isn’t what makes you special.

When you cross the Huntington Park border, you get all these business cards.

Lots of rules. Especially for truckers.

Classic buildings stuccoed over, just like in Highland Park.

HP Auto Parts. Wonder what the HP stands for?

“City of Perfect Balance.”

More shops than a shopping center.

Huntington Park High School. Built 1934. (After the 1912 one was destroyed in the 1933 Earthquake.)

A stuccoed Queen Anne.

Huntington Park homes.

Huntington Park home.

Rediscover Huntington Park, downtown. Then move along!

In line to pay the gas bill.

60 Bus, the main line between downtown Los Angeles, and downtown Huntington Park.

Huntington Park.

Salvadorian Food.

Rancho San Antonio Home Savings & Loan mosaic by Millard Sheets and Susan Hertel.

HP Public Phone.

Huntington Park trash can.

Pacific Blvd. Named for the Pacific Electric trolley that traveled here.

1930 Warner’s Theatre, by B. Marcus Priteca.

The Eastern Building, an Art Deco monolith.

No bike lanes in Huntington Park means lots and lots of sidewalk riders.

Honduras restaurant.

Huntington Park has MORE Salvadorian restaurants than Highland Park.

The City of Huntington Park has its own bus shelters.

Taco Bell. (Ulike HLP, no unstable guy outside yelling at you.)

Their Tam’s looks like a palace compared to ours.

Huntington Park is completely flat. Thus, the water tower, that is also a cellphone tower.

Playing cards in the park.

1919 World War Memorial.

Huntington Park Civic Center.

Huntington Park Justice Building. Built, 1950.

The Great Seal of Huntington Park.

Huntington Park Library. An LA County Library branch, it opened in 1970 as San Antonio Regional Library.

Huntington Park East / West bus lines.

Like HLP, HP has competing 76 and Shell stations.

The Community Thrift Store.

American Indian Recourse Center at the Huntington Park Library.

A brochure for namesake, Henry E Huntington’s library at the Huntington Park Library.

The Huntington Park News Board.

Highland Park has the Los Angeles Police Museum, Huntington Park has the International Police Museum.

Huntington Park Police HQ.

Unlike HLP, HP is a strangely more peaceful place, lacking in the constant cacophony of sirens and police airships.

Animal control in Huntington Park is handled by the police.

The HP version of LA City Council District 1’s “Keep It Clean” campaign, but effective.

The 1989 sister city fountain from Yahualica, Jalisco Mexico. Fenced-off for some reason.

City Hall.

The Great Seal of Huntington Park.

Huntington Park patriots.

Almost got kicked out of their city for ringing their Centennial Bell.

Looks like Leimert Park here.

If this were HLP instead of HP, there would be horizontal fences here.

Huntington Park home.

Huntington Park home.

HLP has rooftop lions, HP has an elephant.

The Huntington Park Soccer Circle, and Circus Circle.

Playground at Salt Lake Park.

Huntington Park Skate Park.

Salt Lake Park, Huntington Park.

Huntington Park.

Classic kiddie pool. (Quickly going extinct in Southern California.)

Salt Lake Rail Road that once went through Highland Park and across the York Blvd bridge.

Rose gardens. Huntington Park has lots of rose gardens.

The most suspicious character in Huntington Park. (Just because he was using a payphone.)

1973 Rose Garden for Richard Collins, pilot lost over Laos during a bombing run in 1969.

St Matthias Roman Catholic Church, built 1950.

HLP’s St Ignatius needs a statue like HP’s St Matthias.

Something historic was here.

Not home.

One of those classic coin-operated parking meters we used in HLP back in 2008.

Homeboys! Just like we have back in Highland Park.

This place looks like fun.

Huntington Park is the XV Años capital of the U.S.

Huntington Park is the XV Años capital of the U.S.

Huntington Park is the XV Años capital of the U.S.

HP’s Kress Building is bigger than HLP’s. But thankfully, ours hasn’t suffered this horrible remodel.

Unlimited Play!!!

The only concentration of tagging found in Huntington Park.

Huntington Park’s first parklet.

Huntington Park’s first parklet.

HP’s and HLP’s masonic temples were built the same year.

1924 Masonic Temple.

Highland Park has the Highland Park has Highland Theatres with 3 screens showing first run films for $4-7. Huntington Park has the Park Twin Theatre with two screens showing first run films for $5 anytime.

Highland Park has gelato and shaved ice, Huntington Park has froyo.

Sorry Highland Park, GAME OVER.

Found the correct location for this “HP Happening” sticker.

No, Thank You Huntington Park!