In 1769, Gaspar de Portola and Father Juan Crespi camped on the river bank opposite Buena Vista Hill, as shown by California Registered Historical landmark Number 655 (1958) at the North Broadway Bridge entrance to Elysian Park Indian villagers from Yang-Na and the creeks of Solano Canyon and the Police Academy draw, greeted the Spaniards with native refreshments.  
   
 In 1781, the Pueblo of Los Angeles was officially established by Spanish California Governor Felipe de Neve with the Royal Grant of 4 square Spanish leagues (translated into 28 square miles or about 17,000 acres) of Pueblo Lands. Of this public land grant, the approximately 575-acre Elysian Park is the last remaining large piece. All else has been auctioned off or given away. Los Angeles even had to buy back the site of the present City Hall.   (more…)

Founded 1965
Los Angeles’ First Park  

The oldest park in Los Angeles is 112 this year. It remains a park in perpetual peril. Bargain hunting, land-grabbers gaze over the green, rolling open space north of Civic Center and dream of putting this “free” land to some “useful” purpose.  
   
 Elysian Park Needs Saving  
 Before the Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park was formed, in 1965, the Pasadena Freeway had been permitted to split the park, and big-league baseball was lured to Los Angeles by an officially consolidated, unencumbered site, including parts of Chavez Ravine and Elysian Park. When downtown business presented a plan to take the Avenue of the Palms for the Los Angeles Convention Center, the community organized the Citizens Committee with Grace E. Simons as its first president and successfully stopped that development. This Citizens Committee has done its homework and survived over thirty years of voluntary community action. Elysian Park is still here and growing.  
   
 Elysian Park Celebrated   
    
 For All People   
 The principal objective of the Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park is to organize public support to preserve Elysian Park lands as public open space; to develop this environmental oasis for the recreational enjoyment of all the people of the Los Angeles region. The greatest danger to park survival is combined public indifference and special interest pressures to take park land for non-park purposes. All of the Citizens Committee’s volunteer energies are aimed at arousing public and official awareness of the value of saving the last of these Pueblo Lands set aside two centuries ago. This remaining fraction of the original 4 square league grant constitutes Los Angeles’ central city environmental and historical treasure, Elysian Park.  
   
 Citizens Committee Action Program  
 All the Committee’s revenues are derived exclusively from membership dues and contributions. There is no paid staff; no administrative overhead. Donated funds produce a newsletter and special bulletins mailed to keep committee members and supporters informed of matters affecting Elysian Park and park preservation. When necessary, the Committee has gone to court to obtain compliance with state environmental and park protection law. Particularly, the Committee has spent time and money to preserve Section 170 (b) ( 3) of the Los Angeles City Charter which reads: “All lands heretofore or hereafter set apart or dedicated as a public park shall forever remain to the use of the public inviolate;…(Emphasis added.)”  
   
 Reforestation  
 Trees are regularly purchased and planted in Elysian Park by members and friends as loving memorials to the living and dead. This activity is fostered in cooperation with other organizations to promote the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commission reforestation program. Park personnel maintain these special gifts and replace them as necessary.  
   
 Recreational Sports  
 Neighborhood recreational events are encouraged by the Citizens Committee and co-sponsored with many groups and individuals who use and love the park. The Chinatown IOK Run and the Los Angeles Beautiful Arbor Day festivities are good examples.  
   
 Community Planning for Elysian Park  
 Execution of the 1971 Elysian Park Master Plan has received consistent support from the Citizens Committee. In 1983 the Grace E. Simons Lodge, Elysian Park, was dedicated to the first president of the Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park. The Lodge is a significant phase of execution of the Elysian Park Master Plan.  
   
 Text by Judith Jamison  
   
 Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park
 1403 Macbeth Street 
 Echo Park, CA 90026 
 213.481.0815 

Well it seems that the deep-rooted Barlow Hospital is up for sale. California’s seismic codes will force the brick and mortar main hospital building to shutter its door come 2013. The plan, sell the majority of site to the highest bidder and build a new hospital with the proceeds of the sale on one corner of the property. Apparently several bidders are interested in the site for high density residential development. Unfortunately for them the site is zoned Agricultural and the preponderance of the structures on the site are Los Angeles Cultural Historical Landmarks which protects them from wholesale destruction. While Barlow Hospital has always been a good neighbor, allowing the community unfettered access to Williams Hall for meetings and events it has been obvious for many years that the facilities and structures on the 25-acre site have long been neglected. While several developers and the Los Angeles School District (demolish established communities in the name of education) may have their eyes on Barlow, I believe the communities surrounding the site will have different feelings regarding any drastic changes there. Ken Bernstein of the Los Angeles Conservancy has stated flatly that any changes to the site would be a significant preservation issue for the Conservancy.

Michael Connelly fans, stay tuned, his next bit of fiction is titled Echo Park

Fishbowl LA’s Media Predictions for 2006:

Hot ironic T-shirt slogan in Silver Lake: ‘I [heart] My Prius.’

Hot ironic T-shirt slogan in Echo Park: ‘I Hate Your Prius.’

And finally the Hipster Score: It seems Palm Springs thinks Echo Park is still hip AND chic: For example, in Los Angeles, the neighborhood of Echo Park was never seen as a chic area. Now, it’s one of the hippest locations in that city, he said.