Deteriorated to the point where it was unsafe to cross, the bridge and island were closed to park users. In the interim, with the exception of the occasional filming or special event, the island has become a de facto bird sanctuary.

Recreation and Parks, Metro Griffith Park Construction Services crews under the supervision of Larry Mottler stripped the bridge of all its wood decking and rails, all the way down to the steel support structure. With pontoons as a work platform, the crew stripped the paint, rebuilt the wooden deck and railing, repaved the approach, and finally repainted the bridge.

At the urging of the Echo Park Historical Society several layers of red paint were peeled away from the steel structure to expose 4 or more layers of green, last seen over more than 14 years ago before the bridge was unfortunately painted red. The green bridge can also be appreciated in the 1974 film classic Chinatown.

By September it is anticipated that a new decorative, artist designed and fabricated gate will replace the steel bars that currently restrict access to the bridge and that the island will might be made accessible for special events or possibly during daylight hours.

Special thanks to Council President Eric Garcetti and District Director Mitch O’Farrell for facilitating the discussions between Recreation and Parks and the Echo Park Historical Society that resulted in a historically sensitive reconstruction of this Echo Park Landmark.

Additional thanks to the Recreation and Parks construction crew: Head Carpenter Louis A. Suarez, Carpenters Omar Vegas and James Shakir, Apprentice Carpenter Bryan Kelly, and Helper Jose Ramos.

Julie Rosen, artist and founding member of the Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park succumb to cancer last week. Julie moved to San Francisco last year to be near her children due to her failing health. Her last among her many deeds for the Citizens Committee was spearheading the drive to install the new children’s play area at Stadium Way and Scott Avenue and another play area on Casanova Terrace on the east side of the Pasadena Freeway.

We’ve also just been informed of the death of longtime vocal activist Sue Nelson, reportedly after being struck while crossing Sunset Boulevard at McDuff. For Andrew Garsten’s Eulogy visit the Neighborhood Councils discussion group.

Incase you don’t receive your copy in the mail you can now read the Spring 2003 Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park newsletter online here (PDF). In this issue: The upcoming Fundraising Dinner, news about the funding of a new Elysian Park Master Plan, upcoming Walking Tours and Remembering Geneva Williams.

Also of note, Carmelo’s on Sunset has sold again, this makes three times in two years, to a young local couple who plan on making it a cafe featuring artisan breads.

In the LA Times the painfully hip march continues through the hood, Poser Style to Make You Drool.

Update: Per Ron’s request no formal memorial will be held.

Our former landlords and old-school Echo Park resident’s Jeb & Sandy lost their Hi-Desert Hide-a-way in last weeks Morongo Valley fire. They fell in love with their little place and shared it’s plantings with us for our desert cabin; we wish them all the best with their inevitable rebuild!

What you see is a couple of days worth of messing around with the look of the site by modifying Sadish Balasubramanian’s very clean C4M theme more to my liking. I’ve retained the blue lake theme but dumped the always disliked blue font. I’ll be manipulating the site some more, making some subtle tweaks here and there and adding a Flickr powered photo sidebar very soon.

Now that EchoPark.Net is blog-powered you’ll be able to feed via RSS the latest entries to your email or blog reader (I use Bloglines) without checking in here at the site (only to find that nothings changed for the last 4 months).

I’ve also taken the last 4-years of post and entered them as individual dated entries that are now categorized.

First off I want to thank Angeleno Heights resident David Gee for setting up the WordPress software on my server! David’s offer of assistance ended the hiatus and motivated me to sit down and figure out how to manipulate, through trial and a lot of error, the CSS code that I’ve never played with before.

What you see is a couple of days worth of messing around with the look of the site by modifying Sadish Balasubramanian’s very clean C4M theme more to my liking. I’ve retained the blue lake theme but dumped the always disliked blue font. I’ll be manipulating the site some more, making some subtle tweaks here and there and adding a Flickr powered photo sidebar very soon.

Now that EchoPark.Net is blog-powered you’ll be able to feed via RSS the latest entries to your email or blog reader (I use Bloglines) without checking in here at the site (only to find that nothings changed for the last 4 months).

I’ve also taken the last 4-years of post and entered them as individual dated entries that are now categorized.

Also of note, Carmelo’s on Sunset has sold again, this makes three times in two years, to a young local couple who plan on making it a cafe featuring artisan breads.

In the LA Times the painfully hip march continues through the hood, Poser Style to Make You Drool.