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In an effort to get this e-letter out while at least a few things are
still timely, the President's message will be mercifully short this week.
There are two events which should be emphasized this weekend! One is to
vote in the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council elections on March 25th. The
other is to enjoy the Garden Tour and breakfast being put on by The
Collaborative: Eagle Rock Beautiful.
Congratulations to all of the candidates who were brave enough to stand
for election to the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council. We all appreciate
your willingness to serve your community. The election is the easy part.
For those who are elected, you will now get to deal with competing
interests, widely divergent points of view, hard decisions, and all of the
other problems and issues that confront grass roots efforts at democracy
in large US cities. So even if we appear unappreciative later, let us
thank you now for being willing to step forward to represent us and our
interests through the Los Angeles bureaucracy.
And a shameless plug for TERA's own Eagle Rockdale Community Garden,
which is on the above mentioned tour. Be sure to note the entrance to the
garden where local artist Kacy Treadway created an original art
installation, a mosaic and ceramic sign arch with the garden name. Each
letter was decorated by volunteers and Kacy fired the pieces in her home
kiln and built the arch in her driveway. The hearty souls from the Los
Angeles Conservation Corps carried the 600-pound sign to the Garden and it
was welded into place by welder Walter Vasquez of Wrought Iron Forge, who
donated his time for the task. TERA board member Kathleen Long wrote the
Neighborhood Matching Fund grant and many TERA board members and friends
contributed hours of sweat equity on Saturday work days. Valuable
guidance, materials and labor were given by the Los Angeles Conservation
Corps, a city agency employing at-risk youths to build parks and gardens
across the city. Additional help came from the LA Community Garden
Council. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and CD 14 staff helped obtain fencing
for the entire perimeter of the tract and volunteers from the Eagle Rock
High School Varsity Football Team and the Eagle Rock High School
Cheerleaders worked on the CD 14 Day of Service to make the ground ready
for planting. The Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council also pledged its
support. And now, gardeners are growing their organic vegetable gardens at
last.
Without the dream, persistence and dedication of Mary Tokita, the
garden’s manager, Eagle Rockdale Community Garden would not exist today.
Congratulations and many thanks, Mary!
 Michael Tharp, President
The Collaborative: Eagle Rock Beautiful, a non- profit organization
focused on the beautification of Eagle Rock, will host its 2nd annual
"Trees for Eagle Rock" benefit on Sunday March 26 from 10am - 4pm.
This year’s expanded event will consist of three parts and patrons may
participate in one, two or all three, as they wish. The benefit will
center around a delicious champagne brunch with live music and raffle
prizes. Brunch and festivities may be enjoyed before, after or in-between
stops on the Collaborative’s first-ever docent-guided garden tour of some
of Eagle Rock's most wonderful gardens.
Garden Tour participants will experience eight fabulous gardens
cultivated by the greenest thumbs in town and hosted by docents. Get a
glimpse of the wonderful beauty in some of your neighbors’ back yards!
Shuttle buses will operate between garden tour stops, beginning at the
Eagles Club brunch location.
A potted plant sale featuring California native plants and succulents
will also be offered. All proceeds will be used to purchase trees for
Eagle Rock.
Brunch will be served and tours will depart from the Eagles Banquet
Hall, 1596 Yosemite Drive at Townsend Avenue.
Tickets may be purchased in advance or at the door; Champagne Brunch -
$10.00; Guided Garden Tour - $20.00; Free entry to Plant Sale. All are
welcome. For tickets or further information, please contact Ursula Brown:
323-255-9400.
For those of you who missed Leslie Komaiko's article in the Los
Angeles Times Food Section earlier this week, here it is again. Thanks to
John Nugent at the Colorado Wine Company for directing us to the on-line
web link.
Tucked between Glendale and Pasadena, Eagle Rock is heading into a mini
restaurant boom. Leslee Komaiko
IT'S Friday night, and Mia Sushi is jumping. Groovy Brazilian music
plays on the sound system while sushi chefs, dressed in sharp red jackets,
turn out specialty rolls. Hollywood? Venice? Santa Monica maybe? Nope.
Eagle Rock.
Tucked between Glendale and Pasadena, the community had long been
known, at least to outsiders, for one restaurant and one restaurant only:
Casa Bianca pizzeria. In the last year or so, Blue Hen (a Vietnamese spot)
and the expanded Auntie Em's Kitchen added some options
But now Eagle Rock is heading into a mini restaurant boom. In addition
to Mia, which opened its doors a few weeks ago, look for a casual Middle
Eastern café, a postmodern fast-food spot and an outpost of a Silver Lake
Italian. The common denominator? Backers of these restaurants know the
area well.
"I got tired of driving to Pasadena, Glendale and downtown to get
sushi," says Mia's owner Rudy Martinez, "and I live in the area." (The
restaurant is named after his daughter.)
Spitz, the Middle Eastern spot, is the brainchild of two Occidental
College grads. (The college is about a mile away.) Set to open later this
month, Spitz will specialize in Turkish style doner kebabs, which are akin
to shawarma and have been very popular in Europe the last few years but
which have yet to make inroads in the States, says co-owner Bryce Rademan.
The Oinkster is already on the radars of midcentury architecture buffs
because it will be housed in an iconic A-frame on Colorado Boulevard that
was once a Tastee Freeze (more recently Jim's Burgers). It's from
restaurateur Andre Guerrero (Max, Señor Fred) who grew up in Eagle Rock
and, when he was in high school, "used to hang out" at Jim's. Expected to
open in late April or early May, the Oinkster will serve up what Guerrero
is calling "slow fast food" including pastrami made from scratch,
rotisserie chicken, Belgian-style fries with homemade dipping sauces, and
shakes made with Fosselman's ice cream. It will also serve beer and wine.
In early summer, Michelangelo, the popular neighborhood Italian spot in
Silver Lake, is opening a second, larger location in Eagle Rock. "It's an
up-and- coming area right now," says co-owner Giuseppe Stifano. "It's like
Silver Lake when we came here in 1998."
“Seeking Guidance: What Your Guides Want You to Know” with psychic
Kimberly Berg at The Blissful Soul on Sunday, March 25 at 4pm. Kimberly
Berg returns to the Blissful Soul for the third time, by an overwhelming
popular request. She will channel mini, personal readings in a group
setting. Event cost is $25 RSVP 323-258-6900.
Faculty members in Occidental College's Asian Studies Department will
make presentations on their research during the department’s Capstone
Conference, scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, March 25 in the
Occidental College’s Weingart Hall, Room 117.
The event is free and open to the public. Occidental is located at 1600
Campus Road in Eagle Rock. For directions and a campus map, please go to
http:/
/www.oxy.edu/MapsDirections.xml.
Aother reprint from an early Los Angeles Times article so that
all are informed about what is going on with the Southwest Museum.
Southwest faces major repair job If the site at Mount Washington clears
funding/permit hurdles, it will reopen in 2010. By Christopher Reynolds
Times Staff Writer
March 21, 2006
Operators of the Southwest Museum say they will close its collections
exhibition areas beginning June 30 to make way for at least 3 1/2 years of
major repairs to the historic but bedraggled Mount Washington landmark, a
move that has alarmed some long-time volunteers and neighbors who fear a
permanent closure could follow.
But officials at the Autry National Center, which operates the
Southwest, say the real message in the move is just the opposite. Not only
will they keep the Southwest's library and gift shop open, they say,
they're aiming to reopen the rehabilitated Southwest building with
exhibition space in 2010, so long as they can raise enough donor money and
get city approvals needed to expand their Griffith Park site.
Until then, "the collection has got to be moved out, because it's
imperiled where it is," said John Gray, the Autry's chief executive.
Gray declined to speak in depth, citing a mediation agreement with
neighborhood groups and the mayor's office aimed at avoiding negotiations
via the media. But he did say Autry's ambition is to get City Council
approval and break ground on a 100,000- square-foot expansion in Griffith
Park in 2007, to complete that project by 2009, move most of the Southwest
Museum's collections to the Autry's Griffith Park complex, then complete
renovation and reopen the Southwest with exhibition areas the following
year.
On Friday night, leaders of the museum, the neighborhood coalition and
a mayor's representative will meet at City Hall. Then, "we'll be learning
things. The devil's in the details," said Nicole Possert, co- chair of the
Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition and a board member of the
Highland Park Heritage Trust.
Possert acknowledged that the Southwest building's troubles are "a
short-term issue — renovation work that we all knew needed to happen, The
Autry National Center is being a steward for the building, doing this
work, and they deserve significant credit, But we'd be uncomfortable if
that work were used as a pretense."
The big question, she said, is whether the Autry will make Griffith
Park additions at the expense of the Mount Washington site. The issue,
Possert said, is "IMBY. We want the [museum] to be in our backyard."
The Southwest, which was the first museum in Los Angeles, has stood at
its bluff-top site since 1914, its 225,000 Native American and other
artifacts ranked among the most valuable public collections in North
America.
But the museum struggled with tight money and deteriorating facilities
for years. In the year ended May 31, 2003, tax filings show, the museum
raised less than half the money needed to cover its $1.4 million in costs.
The threat of closure led the Autry organization to step up with a
merger plan that year. Since then, the merger has been a delicate effort,
uniting an old, impoverished institution focused on Native American
culture and a new, wealthy institution founded in 1988 by a singing screen
cowboy, Gene Autry.
Autry officials say they've already spent more than $5 million shoring
up the Southwest. Expenses ahead could reach $15 million, including
replacing the roof and seismic work to reattach the Southwest's signature
tower — which holds most of its artifacts — to the rest of the building.
Only a month ago, Gray said, rain penetrated building walls and stained a
105- year-old Osage shield of painted rawhide with eagle claws and
feathers.
The Autry aims to raise that Southwest upgrade money, along with costs
of adding to its Griffith Park campus, through a $150-million capital
campaign now in its early "silent stage."
Open Windows: Selections from the Winners of Poetry in the Windows,
1995-2003 edited by Suzanne Lummis
Publication Party, Poetry Reading and Book Signing
Sunday, April 17, 2005 1-4 pm
The Arroyo Arts Collective celebrates the publication of its first
book, Open Windows: Selections from the Winners of Poetry in the Windows,
1995-2003, Translated into the Languages of Los Angeles, edited by Suzanne
Lummis. Take home a sampling of the poems that originally appeared on
posters in merchants’ storefronts on Figueroa Street in Highland Park.
Free. Details at http://w
ww.ArroyoArtsCollective.org or 323 850- 8566.
Who: The Arroyo Arts Collective
What: Publication party and poetry reading for the new poetry
anthology, Open Windows: Selections from the Winners of Poetry in the
Windows, 1995- 2003, Translated into the Languages of Los Angeles.
Where: The Acorn Gallery, 135 N. Avenue 50, Highland Park
When: April 17, 2005, 1-4 p.m.
Admission: Free
For information: www.Arro
yoArtsCollective.org. or 323 850-8566
Looking for poems refreshing as licuados, vivid as scarlet fingernails,
solid as work boots? Between 1995 and 2003, the Arroyo Arts Collective
hosted five juried poetry competitions, with more than 100 Southern
California poets submitting work for each contest. Well-known poets served
as jurors, selecting 25 to 30 poems each year for “Poetry in the Windows”.
Winning poems were printed on posters in two languages and displayed in
the windows of small businesses along Figueroa Street in Highland Park.
This project, like many of the Collective’s projects, sought to exhibit
art, in this case poetry, in unique spaces. Poet Suzanne Lummis has
selected a sampling of 42 of these poems, along with a special selection
of poetry by students from northeast Los Angeles, for inclusion in a new
anthology, Open Windows: Selections from the Winners of Poetry in the
Windows, 1995-2003, Translated into the Languages of Los Angeles,
published by the Arroyo Arts Collective. Open Windows includes work by
well- known local poets Richard Beban, Ron Koertge, Terry Wolverton and
Ellyn Maybe.
The book, with its handsome letterpress cover and evocative
illustrations by artist Carol Colin, is a fine introduction to lively,
contemporary poetry. All the winning poems are printed in two languages,
as they were on the original posters. The many languages chosen, including
Spanish, Armenian, Korean, Yiddish and Tagalog, reflect the many languages
of northeast Los Angeles.
The publication party for Open Windows will feature readings by many of
the poets, as well as a book signing and reception.
Copies of Open Windows will be available at a special publication party
price of $12 at the Acorn Gallery on April 17 only. After April 17 they
will be for sale at the regular price of $15 plus shipping and handling
from the Arroyo Arts Collective, P.O. Box 50835, York Station, Highland
Park, CA, 90050-0835.
The Acorn Gallery is located at 135 N. Avenue 50 in Highland Park,
between Figueroa Street and the Gold Line tracks. From downtown Los
Angeles, take the 110 Freeway (Avenue 53 exit, then left on Figueroa).
From the Valleys, exit the 134 Freeway at Figueroa going south, then turn
right on Avenue 50. Street parking.
A solo show by photographer Ángela María Ortíz S. AMOS Art site:
http://home.earthlink.net/~amosart/
March 25 - April 22, 2006
Artist Reception March 25th, 7-10pm, Wine & Music
CActuS Gallery & Gifts 4534 Eagle Rock Blvd. Eagle Rock, CA 90041
323.256.6117
Wow, and all this time I thought crosswalks were an indication of where
pedestrian units were supposed to cross. Little did I know that for our
own safety we were meant to be crossing where there are no lines! Live and
learn.
Andrew Hindes
Your words about the crossing at Fair Park are excellent. Obviously, if
only 13 or 20 "units" are crossing during any one period of time, people
have learned not to cross there since the street is so wide and it is
busy. With proper crosswalks, lighting or ?, people might be willing to
use that corner for crossing. More "units" would then be crossing...and
safely!
Sincerely, Carl Matthes
I have seen this report, and it makes no sense to me. This is an
intersection across a busy street that sits one-half block away from an
elementary school for no less than 1100 students. I will disclose that I
am the mother of a child who attends Eagle Rock Elementary, and that we
live on the opposite side of Eagle Rock Blvd. from the school.
Even assuming that people are more cautious when crossing at an
unmarked intersection, there is no mention of the fact that many of these
"pedestrian units" are under the age of 10. There is no consideration that
some of those pedestrian units under the age of 10 may be crossing without
the assistance of an adult. Or that the study was performed during the
cold season, when fewer kids are walking to school. (I know we haven't
walked to school for a couple of months).
Does the “people are more cautious” formula even apply when the width
of a street like Eagle Rock Boulevard makes it virtually impossible to see
the southbound traffic clearly until you are in the middle of the street?
Do we want kids standing out in the middle of a busy street waiting for
traffic to clear?
I guess I'm just surprised that the City is so unconcerned about the
potential liability here. The City's own website indicates that, although
there is a clear preference for unmarked intersections, "crosswalks are
normally marked at . . . . Approved school crossings to encourage children
to use the adult-monitored or referred crossing points on their way to
school." I don't know what a "referred crossing point is," but I'm that an
"adult-monitored crossing point," is one with a crossing guard. It seems
like a crosswalk with a crossing guard appointed in the before- and after-
school hours would be the safer choice.
See: http://www.lacity.org/ladot/tips/PedSafCE.pdf
Cheryl Leutjen
Mr. Tharp,
Your letter and your sense of humor are appreciated re crosswalks and
ped xing. I'm old enough to remember when I first came out here in '64 my
amazement that all the traffic on both sides of the street would stop if a
pedestrian stepped off the curb even in the middle of the block. That was
still true in '77 when I moved here for good. It was a shock after a long
time in Manhatten where it was every man for himself, Damn the lights and
full speed ahead.I also remember the LA police who enforced the jaywalking
laws as if it were a capital offense.Those were the days my friend.
As for jogging in the road well if your in the road you are much more
safe from ambush by dogs in their yards. I started out on the sidewalks
but it's much more comfortable for me to be facing the taffic with at
least 8 to 10 feet between me and the pit bull straining at it's
chain.That's at 6:30 AM. I can't speak for the bankers jogging at 9 in
rush hour traffic. If you decide to put together an independant crosswalk
paint party I have some design ideas and some color suggestions based on
left over paint and rebel whimsy. Keep up the good fight, non violent of
course.
Pax tecum, Stephan Early
I enjoyed Michael Tharp's recounting of the City's response to his
apparent request for consideration of a crosswalk...It's a topic I've
heard in many a neighborhood blog... Usually, these pleas seem to arise
when someone was hit (or nearly hit) by a car. Or when we think the
nearest crosswalk is too far to walk to, when we see a speeding car etc...
I also think most people living in L.A. have their own local 'we need a
crosswalk' story.
If the city (providing it had the money) agreed to all these requests
don't you think the next blog postings would be lamenting that 'the
streets are clogged' and 'how come there's a crosswalk or traffic light at
every corner?' .
I think we need to remember that our 'little corner of the world' is
just that..one corner.
Ed Mapes
Thanks for your thoughts, Ed. You make an interesting point in
that yes, Eagle Rock is one little corner of a much larger urban area, but
it is OUR little corner and we are entitled to have it be as safe as
possible for those of us who inhabit it. Unlike some issues, cross walks
and pedestrian safety do not have to be zero sum games where somebody wins
and somebody loses. We, like other parts of Los Angeles, share our
community with many who pass through it every day on three major
arterials. They are the 134 Freeway, Colorado Boulevard and Eagle Rock
Boulevard. The freeway and Colorado Boulevard are designated state
highways. I don't think it is too much to ask that members of our
community, and especially the children in our community, be given every
opportunity to have safe passage across Eagle Rock and Colorado
Boulevards.
Thanks for the update on the crosswalk and "pedestrian units" issue.
Great observations. For the longest time the ERCPR has felt that there
were far too few crosswalks on our commercial boulevards. As as matter of
fact, I have seen many a folk endeavor to cross from the B of A/ &
Center for the Arts to the businesses on the other side, to use their
services or get some food, and almost get killed. It is a nightmare, but
the only other choice is going all the way to the intersection of Colorado
and E.R.Blvd. and coming back up...good exercise but not expeditious.
Not only do we need crosswalks with flashing lights in that area, but
could use medians with plants and trees on Colorado between Ellenwood and
the intersection afore mentioned. These medians would provide pedestrians
a place to "land" on their way across the street, plus beautify the
boulevard. To point out another location, we could use an additional
flashing crosswalk between the Women's Club/ Colombo's area, across the
street to the Welcome Inn and businesses in that area. Not only would
marked, lighted crosswalks on all of our commercial boulevards provide
"safe" access for pedestrians, but they would improve commerce, access to
parking across the street, and promote a more pedestrian-business friendly
environment for our revitalization efforts.
This is only common sense, but the reports which you cited only show
what we are up against in the bureaucracy. It is utter rubbish to state in
effect that pedestrians are safer without marked sidewalks because they
are more diligent. Although I've heard them state this before, I travel
along Colorado Blvd. to Glendale constantly, and the installation of
lighted sidewalks works and is imperative, especially at night when
pedestrians can not readily been seen. Either that, or the city of
Glendale is putting alot of money into the installation of these all over
their city for nothing.
Time to band together again and let the city know what we need.
Linda Allen/ Pres. ERCPR
Why should the city dismiss a request for a crosswalk if it comes from
someone with a vested peronal interest? Would anybody request a crosswalk
for a location they don't have a vested personal interest in?
I suspect that the person making the request for the installation of
the marked cross walk might well have children that cross at that
intersection on their way to school which probably automatically gives
that person a vested personal interest which should therefore be dismissed
since it, in the eyes of some, make it impossible to be objective.
Daniel Kaufman
WHOA!!! So excited about the article in the LA TIMES food section ..
Restaurant Journal .
Tere Cruz
I am in total agreement about the restaurants and whole-hearted
sympathy regarding AT&T's failure to provide DSL to some parts of town
(like mine!). I was finally able to get DSL through cable and there is no
going back to dial-up. Where are you AT&T...we are waiting!
Hello Eagle Rock,
I am the person who wrote the letter giving vent to my frustration with
the mail delivery in my neighborhood, and I wanted to thank the readers of
this e-letter for their input and interest. I don't know if someone who
had clout read the letters that followed that posting, or if other
neighbors with similar problems spoke to the post office; but whatever it
was, my mail delivery has made an about face. So thank you, TERA, for
giving us a forum to work out these day -to -day issues, and thank you,
Eagle Rock, for being a great place to live.
Oh, and another thing - Michael Tharp, must you really write that
people who don't think the editor's blurb is the place for sarcasm are
humorless, self important, and have poor judgment? I resent that. My sense
of humor could kick your sense of humor's ass any day.
Peace out, I. Soler
So, Dear Readers, after this bold statement from Ms. Soler about
how tough her sense of humor is, I challenged her to prove it by writing
something for the e-letter which might actually make us smile, if not
laugh out loud. And, she has agreed to do it, so stay tuned! Who among us
couldn't use a laugh, even if it is at my expense!
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