Highland Park Publicity
Ξ February 24th, 2008 | → | ∇ 90041, 90042, 90065, Coffee, Drinks, Food, Glassell Park, Highland Park, Night Life, Press, The Arts |
Last night I made one of my rare pilgrimages west of the 405 for nightlife thanks to a friend’s birthday. I quickly remembered why I don’t go out in the beaches often. Sweet Child O’ Mine, Livin’ on a Prayer, and Don’t Stop Believingare all fine songs but listening to a bunch of drunks screaming the lyrics with their forefinger and pinky raised unironically in the “Rock On” salute makes me want to puke. Then, you’re crushed against a sea of guys with spiked hair, black collared shirts with the vertical stripes, and a lexicon that seems to be mostly “dude”, “dawg”, and “bro” who are all trying to prove they’re having the most fun by screaming the loudest, smiling as broadly as possible, and singing all the lyrics to California Lovin’. I suppose I could just be jaded, and these people arereally having a good time, but it reeks of performativity. Did I also mention that I payed a $5 cover for the opportunity to experience all this? I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: SIT ON IT WESTSIDE.
The point of this article though is the conflicting juxtaposition of Highland Park public relations lately. Friday and Saturday boasted page one, above the fold stories in the LA Times making Highland Park out to be a breeding ground for murderers. However, what I failed to mention in my previous post relating my experience with the LAPD was that while I was waiting for the officer to write my ticket, I leafed through the new issue of Los Angeles Magazine and found that their Street Smart section dedicated two pages to our neighborhood. There I was, a small fish caught in a police dragnet, reading how Highland Park is “officially on the up and up”. Unfortunately, when asked “you live where?” for the third time with It Aint No Fun blaring in my eardrums at the beach bar, no one had seen the LA Magazine piece. Everyone, knew where it was when I referenced the Times story though.
If you happen to read this site and are from out of the area. Treat yourself to the March issue of Los Angeles Magazine, and use it to schedule a day in Northeast. Here’s your itenerary: Grab coffee and a cachito at Antigua Bakery before taking in the views and natural beauty of Debs Park. For lunch, swing into El Huarache Azteca for the adobada and some of the aguas frescas. Spend the afternoon taking in some Los Angeles history at the Lummis House or see if there’s an art gallery exhibition that piques your interest at www.nelaart.com Have dinner at the York and enjoy their beer selection before tipping back a few more at the Verdugo (if you like anything, their license allows them to give it to you ‘to go’). Then, before letting your designated driver hit the road, sober up enjoying either Leo’s Taco Truck on Eagle Rock Blvd. or Tacos La Estrella (four spots in the area). All this and you’ll be out less than $50. Then, you can enjoy empty freeways back to the westside and tell all your friends over brunch the next day how you survived your night east of the 5. Enjoy!
on February 24th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
For the longest time the LA Times has always skewed the reality of the neighborhoods out here in NELA. Ever since the Stephanie Kuhen killing out in Cypress Park, the whole area has been described as some breeding ground for murderers. Just look at the headline the LA Times had about the shoot out incident, ” Wild Day, Even For Glassell Park” (hmm something along those lines). Honestly, I see Glassell Park as a community on the up and up, yet that headline made it seem like people get shot up at every hour of the day. It is sickening to have your community described in such a bias matter.
on February 25th, 2008 at 7:16 am
I Totally agree what we need to do is complain directly to them and the powers at be to get the true facts about our area. Sure we can’t pretend they aren’t issues to address but come on lets paint a more accurate picture. Also it seems to me they always want a divide and it smells of times as racial bias. You know all those brown people killing each other and how unsafe it is.I don’t mean to imply racism just economic and social bias which needs to be kept in check.
on February 26th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Nice article. Highland Park is our little gem. I grew up here and love this place. There’s a lot of history here and I’m glad that I ran across this website which depicts the positive attributes that we possess as a community. Keep on Writing!
on February 26th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Kudos on the post and the blog. I’m fairly new to the neighborhood and love it. However, I find it difficult at times to get past the bias of the press and not fall victim to the fear after the sensationalism of these incidents. As irrational as it is, I know that I will be avoiding my shortcut on Fletcher for awhile.
Today’s followup in the la times was similar in tone to their previous articles, but did have some touching descriptions of what some students went through and how they are coping.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/los_angeles_metro/la-me-lockdown26feb26,1,1224856.story?ctrack=4&cset=true
on February 26th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
MD, thanks for the link
I went to school out at Aragon Avenue and frankly I don’t remember an incident that even remotely compares to what happened last week. My parents still live in the neighborhood out in Cypress Park. I grew up there and the sound of gun shots was a foreign concept to me growing up. I don’t know if the area has gotten worse or if the media is reporting more of these incidents. But the fact remains all these media reports distort the reality of what life in NELA is really like.
on February 27th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
i’m surprised you have not listed the southwest museum on any of your links. not only is it a world renowned museum but the first ever in Los Angeles. Even with all the rehabiliation going on there are still plenty of activities going on.
on February 29th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Man–
Just when we up in Garvanza thought our shit didnt stink, in comes the horrible news of a 60 year old woman being bludgeoned to death in her home. I’m moving back to the ‘Wood.
on March 2nd, 2008 at 4:12 pm
another shooting in cypress park, a dead old lady in Highland Park…
on March 2nd, 2008 at 10:47 pm
lady was klled by her son.
on March 4th, 2008 at 9:03 am
It is unfortunate that the media has to describe Highland Park in such negative text, however most of us who reside in this community know the real story. Most of these gang related shooting are a direct result from lack of LAPD resourses directed to this area. If you look at the geographic layout of the LAPD Northeast division it is just not possible to support an area of this size with the resources that LAPD has allocated. Also look at the council district lines and judge for your self!
on March 8th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Check out the LA TIMES Calender section it has some great suggestions on our are http://www.calendarlive.com/family/cl-gd-go25oct25,0,74332.story
The eccentric neighborhood of Highland Park sits in a compact valley stretching between downtown L.A. and Pasadena, along the Arroyo Seco. Once a bucolic arts colony, it’s now a cross-cultural inner-city neighborhood on the rebound. Dotted with bungalow courts, Craftsman bungalows and Mission Revival homes, it’s best known for housing such venerable institutions as the Southwest Museum (L.A.’s first) at 234 Museum Drive (free wild sage in the ethnobotanical garden), El Alisal, 200 E. Avenue 43 (the rustic stone and adobe home hand built by Southwest founder Charles Fletcher Lummis) and the Audubon Center at Debs Park at 4700 N. Griffin Ave., located amid 282 acres of native woodlands and grassy fields.
Look
A WEALTH OF CULTURE
If highbrow history put the neighborhood on the map, its deeply ingrained affection for the arts extends even to vacant plots. Behind the Craftsman-style Arroyo Seco library at 6145 N. Figueroa stands a beloved 1995 Luis Becerra mural (above, right) presenting a potent image equating library cutbacks with censorship. And in the wake of the ‘92 riots, artist Trisha Ward and community volunteers created La Tierra de la Culebra at 240 S. Avenue 57. Reclaiming an abandoned lot, they dedicated it to the Shoshoni people (the area has a notable Native American population) and transformed it into a quirky art park with a 450-foot-long stone and piqué tiled snake.
AND CHICKEN BOY, OF COURSE
To maximize the artistic possibilities, schedule an excursion for the second Saturday of any month, when the numerous galleries band together for after-hours shenanigans ( www.nelaart.com). But whenever you go, The Outpost — a sort of “visitors bureau” for art tourists — is a good place to begin. Founder Julie Deamer might point you in the direction of spots like Future Studio, the home of Chicken Boy and his parents Stuart Rapeport and Amy Inouye. Inside their bright green gallery, peruse monthly shows and shop the Chicken Boy gift store (Chicken Boy magnets, Chicken Boy-as-Elvis posters and . . . old snow globes from Connecticut). The nearby Avenue 50 gallery has been championing local artists, many of them Latino, for over a decade. At the tip-top of Figueroa is the Judson Stained Glass Studio, housed in a whimsical 1910 white-shingled workshop. Here David Judson, great-grandson to founder William Lees Judson, still oversees production of stained glass masterworks. His gallery is open daily to the public.
Shop
DREAM WEAVER
North Figueroa and York Boulevard used to serve as a prominent commercial hub. These days, not so much, but intimate storefronts still hide treasures. Should you require a bust of Nefertiti, a figurine of a Chinese nobleman or the ability to operate a shuttlecock, look no further than garage-sale-meets-weaving-studio Pets With Fez (5123 1/2 York Blvd.). Banajan — a master craftsman, instructor and sometime Smithsonian consultant — is a fanciful raconteur who learned his craft from his Assyrian Kurd father.
Eat
A WORLD OF FOOD
A number of fragrant bakeries perfume the main thoroughfares, but of special note is Antigua Breadat 5703 N. Figueroa. Recently opened by three denizens on a quest for a good cup of joe, Antigua boasts a full kitchen as well as homemade pastries like the sweet and savory pan gusano. Neighborhood pub meets East Coast style at The York (5018 York Blvd.), the place to get an heirloom tomato and burrata cheese salad and a microbrew. Cinnamon (5511 N. Figueroa) just brought canelazo (a robust South American cinnamon tea) and tasty vegetarian sopes to the community. Galco’s Soda Pop Stop (5702 York Blvd.) sells an orgy of over 500 specialty sodas (i.e. Mint Julep and Manhattan Special) and 450 off-the-beaten-track beers. The father of owner John Nese (below) opened the place in 1955, when Italian Americans reached a critical mass in Highland Park. The deli counter is still open, serving old-style sandwiches.
GET YOUR FREAK ON
For 39 years and counting, miscellaneous bands and good-natured crowds have patronized Mr. T’s Bowl, a sweetly seedy dive with a bartender named Manny who likes to kiss hands. The former bowling alley gets reanimated for special occasions. Vets admitted f