Echo Park: A top 10 neighborhood of 2008 (Santa Ana, Bakersfield: lofts, mortgage broker, brokers)

[BennyPhoenix]

Originally Posted by happ

I can't figure if you are moving to LA or leaving LA. What is it?

Dont be concerned. He cant figure it out either.

[nickdahammer]

Majoun: I should have been more specific. I meant the area northwest of Elysian Park, not Echo Park Lake. I think I was the one you were referring to.

And we didn't even mention the Lotus Festival. Come to think of it: we got most of our plants from Sunset Nursery, not to mention our pantry from Bungalow- also on Sunset.

[happ]

Here are photos of the old park many many years ago.

Google Image Result for http://www.image-archeology.com/Echo_Park_Los_Angeles_CA_2238.jpg

[majoun]

Originally Posted by nickdahammer

Majoun: I should have been more specific. I meant the area northwest of Elysian Park, not Echo Park Lake. I think I was the one you were referring to.

No, it was Fatmancomics.

[fatmancomics]

Originally Posted by nickdahammer

Jeez. It's OK do dig Echo Park, and Angelino Heights for that matter. Why the derision? My little brother grew up there and he wasn't in a gang, he stayed out of trouble. My band rehearsed up on Waterloo for years- nice area, quiet (except for our sporadic jams). Been to the Downbeat, TAIXs, Brite Spot, Sunset Junction, lots of great places too numerous to mention.

Would I live there? Hell, if I could afford a Victorian mansion on Kellam or Carroll Avenue, you bet. Those homes are incredible. And the area up along the westside of the park is great. My wife and I were looking to rent a place up there at one time. And the bit next to Silver Lake (like GradStudent says) is nice, not to mention the hills.

To each his own.

I rest my case. All of those places and events (with the possible exception of the Lotus festival) are the ones that the people who live in/near Echo Park can't afford to do or go to. All the praises for the place so far have been by people who (like I said before) can afford to live, literally, above all the filth and crime. But let your car stall in the wrong street and we'll see how much longer you decide to live there if you survive the experience.
As for the poster who pointed out that Wilshire doesn't go through Echo Park; you're right, I think I meant to say Glendale Blvd. It's whatever the street turns into when you make a right at the fork coming down Lucas on the way to the 5.

[nickdahammer]

Originally Posted by fatmancomics

I rest my case. All of those places and events (with the possible exception of the Lotus festival) are the ones that the people who live in/near Echo Park can't afford to do or go to. All the praises for the place so far have been by people who (like I said before) can afford to live, literally, above all the filth and crime. But let your car stall in the wrong street and we'll see how much longer you decide to live there if you survive the experience.
As for the poster who pointed out that Wilshire doesn't go through Echo Park; you're right, I think I meant to say Glendale Blvd. It's whatever the street turns into when you make a right at the fork coming down Lucas on the way to the 5.

The family I know moved not because of the neighborhood being dangerous, grimy, 7th Circle of Hell, etc. They had to relocate. They 'praised' it, hell, they loved it there, and they lived across from the lake, at the bottom of Laguna. Hardly up and away from everything.

Further, they walked and took the bus nearly everyday.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by fatmancomics

I rest my case. All of those places and events (with the possible exception of the Lotus festival) are the ones that the people who live in/near Echo Park can't afford to do or go to.

The majority of people who go to the bar of Taix are locals. Barragan's and the Brite Spot have an almost entirely local crowd, anyone who's not from around there is from nearby areas for the most part. And if you think that people who live near Echo Park are too poor to enjoy those places, forgetting that Silver Lake is right next door and Los Feliz is pretty close?

[majoun]

Originally Posted by nickdahammer

The family I know moved not because of the neighborhood being dangerous, grimy, 7th Circle of Hell, etc. They had to relocate. They 'praised' it, hell, they loved it there, and they lived across from the lake, at the bottom of Laguna. Hardly up and away from everything.

Further, they walked and took the bus nearly everyday.

As plenty of people do. Ironically the main complaints that I hear about Echo Park these days have to do with "Silver Lake-ization" or "West Side-ization" (pretty much the same thing), and not just from longtime Latino residents but from non-Latino whites who've been in the neighborhood awhile, rather than complaining about how dangerous it is - mainly because someone who's lived in Echo Park since the mid '90s or before would know the gang and drug problems used to be considerably worse than they are now.

Just thought I'd add one other thing for those who slag Echo Park just for having plenty of brown people, Echo Park may still be mostly Latino (although it's always maintained a certain non-Latino white population, which has now risen to a level last seen in the early 1960s, and also has long had a noticeable Asian population) but Echo Park's Latino population does tend to be quite settled (and much of it is elderly). The EXP gang is a very small minority of Echo Park's population.

[fatmancomics]

Originally Posted by majoun

As plenty of people do. Ironically the main complaints that I hear about Echo Park these days have to do with "Silver Lake-ization" or "West Side-ization" (pretty much the same thing), and not just from longtime Latino residents but from non-Latino whites who've been in the neighborhood awhile, rather than complaining about how dangerous it is - mainly because someone who's lived in Echo Park since the mid '90s or before would know the gang and drug problems used to be considerably worse than they are now.

Just thought I'd add one other thing for those who slag Echo Park just for having plenty of brown people, Echo Park may still be mostly Latino (although it's always maintained a certain non-Latino white population, which has now risen to a level last seen in the early 1960s, and also has long had a noticeable Asian population) but Echo Park's Latino population does tend to be quite settled (and much of it is elderly). The EXP gang is a very small minority of Echo Park's population.

I don't think anyone in this thread has complained about too many brown people (and I'm blessed with some melanin myself) and instead has complained about the crime and filth in that area.
As far as everyone defending Echo Park's immediate surrounding area keep in mind that it's the IMMEDIATE SURROUNDING AREA.
The area that I was living in was closer to Westlake Village and I would mostly drive through Echo Park on my way to the 5 but don't you start making it seem like Westlake Village is all that far away from EP. It's only 5 minutes away when there's no rush hour traffic. Those are the areas that people who couldn't afford to live in a gentrified house/building/street had to live in. It was the 90s and it was terrible. I can remember at least 3 instances when they found a body in the lake at Echo Park and too many gang related shootings in EP to count.
I also drove by the park a few weeks ago and noticed that the tables the drunks loiter at all day are still taken by drunks in large groups. Those are the areas where criminal activities usually take place in the parks of the inner city. I wouldn't be surprised if there's more than drinking going on at those tables.

[BennyPhoenix]

Westlake is still nasty and violent. But it is no where near as bad as it was in the '90s.