Echo Park: A top 10 neighborhood of 2008 (Glendale, Laguna: how much, homes, living in)

[Radical Raul]

Webster's defines a ghetto as:

1. A section of a city, esp. a thickly populated slum area inhabited predominately by members of a minority group.

2. Formerly in most European countries a section of a city which all Jews were required to live.

I see interesting parallels here, don't you? Just change the word Jews to the term working class.

[Green Irish Eyes]

Originally Posted by Radical Raul

2. Formerly in most European countries a section of a city which all Jews were required to live.

I see interesting parallels here, don't you? Just change the word Jews to the term working class.

No parallel at all, as no one is REQUIRED to live in a specific section of the city.

[Radical Raul]

Originally Posted by squeezeboxgal

No parallel at all, as no one is REQUIRED to live in a specific section of the city.

For the vast majority the requirement is called income. How many people out there have been gentrified from Silver Lake to Lincoln Heights and El Sereno? I've known a few.

Soon if the powers to be have their way, they will be gentrified again.

Why is reality such a difficult concept to grasp?

[Green Irish Eyes]

Originally Posted by Radical Raul

For the vast majority the requirement is called income. How many people out there have been gentrified from Silver Lake to Lincoln Heights and El Sereno? I've known a few.

Soon if the powers to be have their way, they will be gentrified again.

Why is reality such a difficult concept to grasp?

I suggest that for your next award-winning documentary you do a study of the Jewish ghettos of 1930's Europe. The reality isn't comparable at all to today's low-income neighborhoods in the U.S.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by nickdahammer

Jeez. It's OK do dig Echo Park, and Angelino Heights for that matter. Why the derision?

Outdated stereotypes which aren't in line with the reality of current Echo Park. Some of the responses on this thread are seriously WRONG, like the person who claimed the area surrounding the park is the best part of Echo Park (except for the houses on the hill to the west of the park and far above it, that's the worst part of Echo Park) or totally overexaggerating the extent of gang activity there TODAY (as opposed to 10 years ago or so). I'd move there in a heartbeat. "Radical Raul"'s comments on the Brite Spot are pretty funny because these days the Brite Spot seems like it might as well be on the west side...

My little brother grew up there and he wasn't in a gang, he stayed out of trouble.

Like most of the population there.

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 agree with everything you said. And there are many neighborhoods in L.A. FAR worse than Echo Park - as far as dangers etc. it's probably right in the middle as far as L.A. goes, definitely not the safest but not really dangerous except for small pockets. It definitely says something that there are actually people in the park at night who aren't gang bangers or drug dealers/addicts, that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

[matt345]

Please, Echo Park is not the ghetto. You want the ghetto? Go to Watts, Compton, South LA, or come and visit me in Baltimore. I'm here on holiday and some of the neighborhoods in this city make Echo Park look like paradise. Yes, Echo Park is kind of dirty, has a crime problem (although you cannot deny that it's nowhere near where it used to be), and is quite gritty. But like others have said, that's what makes it so appealing to many people. I have a few coworkers who live in Echo Park and they are perfectly happy there. I can't imagine them being happy in Watts. I've been there myself and liked the neighborhood. It's no Silver Lake and I'm not sure I'd live there, but to say that it's an awful ghetto is simply incorrect. I'd take Echo Park over Santa Clarita or Thousand Oaks anyday.

[KnoxTown]

You have a serious problem if you think Echo Park is ghetto.

[Radical Raul]

Originally Posted by KnoxTown

You have a serious problem if you think Echo Park is ghetto.

The effects of gentrification are totally mind boggling.

[happ]

I like to drive down Sunset Blvd from downtown out to the beach & recommend KingoftheHill do that someday & take more of his superb photos. I like the old park because of the great tropical trees & Lotus festivals [though not last summer due to poor flowering]. Echo Park has character [from hypes to the well-heeled]. The Sunset Junction festival is a great way to view all the diversity of the area [ie. gays\ gang members\ artists\ food]. Because of its close proximity to downtown, Echo Pk will likely go the way of high-priced housing & further gentrification. Those hilltops lined with tall palm trees make a great sunset photo of Los Angeles.

[happ]

Originally Posted by Radical Raul

The effects of gentrification are totally mind boggling.

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