Come learn about our neighborhood’s heritage on Saturday, Nov. 6! That’s when the EPHS will hold the third Echo Park History Day, an all-day event celebrating our neighborhood’s past with guest speakers, a photographic exhibit, walking tours, oral histories, a raffle, a bake sale and more.
Echo Park History Day will feature speakers Don Normark, whose photographs of Chavez Ravine were published earlier this year as “1949: Chavez Ravine”, and a representative from Southwest Museum, who will discuss the Indians who once lived in Elysian Park.
Volunteers will be on hand to interview and videotape longtime residents of Echo Park. In addition to photographs and maps from the EPHS archives, there will be a new exhibit of photos from families who have lived in the neighborhood for multiple generations.
The first Echo Park History Day was held in 1995, offering a tour of the Atwater Estate and the first organized collection of local historic memorabilia. The enthusiastic response led community activists to realize there needed to be a group addressing Echo Park’s heritage on a full-time basis. A month later, volunteers met to begin forming the Echo Park Historical Society.
