Demographics
Neighborhood: Echo Park
The Lotus Festival was held every year in the midst of Echo Park. It was a celebration for Asian-Pacific Islanders; however, now due to pollution no Lotuses have grown and is now called the Community festival.
In the same park/lake that the Community Festival is held at, there is a monument honoring Cuban Poet Jose Marti which was first erected in 1976. Born in 1853, Marti died in Military action in 1895. He was not only a writer but also a political activist who fought for liberty and brotherhood, fought for Cuban independence and was a national hero.
St.Paul’s Cathedral located in the center of Echo Park facing the lake was formerly known as St. Athansius’ Episcopal Church. It is the first non-catholic church in the city to be built. The church offers food banks and adoption services.
Facing the opposite direction of Echo Park Lake is Angelus Temple. It was constructed by Amy McPherson as a house of worship.
Adjacent from the Angelus Temple is what is known as L.I.F.E. Bible College which is the current core operations for the Dream Center. Dream center offers services and programs to the community by outreaches such as Adopt-a-Block, Mobile Food Truck, City help mobile medical clinic, Project prevention, etc.
Streets
Lemoyne St.
Named after William Le Moyne Wills, an LA surgeon and school board member
El Centro Del Pueblo-located on Lemoyne St.
-Founded in 1974; the building use to be a warehouse.
-Won many awards for design/architecture of building. Designed to use less energy
It is used to focus on gang prevention and intervention
-Mission: “to provide social services including counseling, drug prevention, social rehabilitation, employment, outreach, education, health services, and youth services in an effort to improve the quality of life of the diverse communities of LA county.”
-El Centro Del Pueblo is trying to reconnect gang members back into society.
826 LA
-http://www.826la.org
-“826LA is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write."
-Founded in San Francisco 8 years ago.
-Offers after school and in-school tutoring.
-Kids in the program go home with a published book.
-The program is run by volunteers and it was first started in SF eight years ago.
Alvarado St.
-Carey McWilliams lived here during the 1940s; he was a well known writer and inspired the screen play for Chinatown
-Located on Alvarado St. is the Echo Park Film Center: It is “a non-profit media arts organization committed to providing equal and affordable community access to film/video resources via five channels: a neighborhood micro cinema space, free and nominal cost education programs, a comprehensive film equipment and service retail department, a green-energy mobile cinema & film school, and a touring film festival showcasing local established and emerging filmmakers.”
-Gateway Hospital & Community Mental Health Center:
-Non profit organization
-Providing services to those with few resources
-Adult and Adolescent (up to 12yrs, fluctuates to 16yrs)
-Usually come in on hold, very few are voluntary
-Short term acute care, stay for about 2 weeks
-Multidisciplinary team: 3 Social Workers for adults, 1 ½ Social worker for kids
-Kids are usually from residential care or juvi
-Used to be very much involved with research (esp. ADHD)
-Kids: school, recreational therapy, group therapy, meet with psychologist
-Adults: substance abuse therapy, relaxation methods
-Forensic section
-Step down from Institute of mental disorder
-A re-entry program
Sunset Dr.
Jensen’s Recreational Center:
-Henry Jensen was a German immigrant who made bricks. He constructed several buildings in LA in the early 20th century.
-A three story building, it used to be filled with activity. There were apartments on top, a drug store, a row of shops, a bowling alley and pool hall.
-Mostly men
-Used to host celebrity athletic activities
-Closed in the 1970’s
-Considered a historical landmark in 1998; they wanted to restore it but there was opposition because they felt it would bring many gangs to congregate in one area.
Angelino Heights
-Houses on Carroll Ave and Kellam Ave. consist of Victorian era homes. Owners of these homes must follow city codes for preserving the area.
-Many of the homes on these streets were used to film movies and T.V shows.
As we walked through the streets of Echo Park we couldn't help but to notice the littering on the streets, from cigarette buds to broken glass all around. There were many businesses and houses with bars on the windows and all around their homes. However, as we moved from one street to another there were drastic changes in the amount of littering we observed and the cleanliness of people’s homes. Throughout the streets of Alvarado and Logan St. we saw a lot of tagging and graffiti on the floors and walls, old mattresses and trash thrown in the front yard, and a very repulsive odor coming from the streets. As we walked by Lakeshore Ave and Effie St. we noticed the streets were cleaner and the homes were better taken care of and the trash cans were perfectly lined up outside of their homes. Whereas on sunset we saw numbers of trash bags just thrown outside on the sidewalks.
We also saw a lot of murals and paintings on bus benches and local facilities. We soon learned that was part of a beautification grant to beautify and improve public places. Drawings that children have done them selves was used to place by bus stops and trash bins. Many murals were also painted on the walls of public facilities which was also part of the beautification grant in Echo Park. We also learned of two artists that are important in the community. Ernesto De La Loza was an activist and a public servant. He was “an active part of the Chicano mural movement that hoped to inspire unity, consciousness and hope” (video). Peter Shire is a local artist that works with the city youth. He hires locals and has a car wash fundraiser for every person that is shot or killed.
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