Echo Park facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Echo Park
Neighborhood
Echo Park Lake, with the Downtown Los Angeles skyline in the background
Echo Park Location in Los Angeles Show map of Los Angeles Echo Park Location in the Los Angeles metropolitan area Show map of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Echo Park Location in California Show map of California Echo Park Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	California
County	Los Angeles
City	Los Angeles
Elevation	120 m (394 ft)
Time zone	UTC-8 (PST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP Code	90026
Area code(s)	213, 323

Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake to the west and Chinatown to the east. The culturally diverse neighborhood has become known for its trendy local businesses, as well as its popularity with artists, musicians and creatives. The neighborhood is centered on the eponymous Echo Park Lake.

History

The area now known as Echo Park in 1894. Echo Park Lake is at the top left. Glendale Boulevard is marked as Lake Shore Avenue. The Temple–Beaudry district is at the right center.

Edendale

Established in 1892, and long before Hollywood became synonymous with the commercial film industry of the United States, the area of Echo Park known as Edendale was the center of filmmaking on the West Coast.

By the 1910s, several film studios were operating on Allesandro Avenue (now Glendale Boulevard) along the Echo Park-Silverlake border, including the Selig Polyscope Company, Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios, the Pathe West Coast Film Studio, and others.

Silent film stars who worked in the Edendale studios included Fatty Arbuckle, Harold Lloyd, Mabel Normand and Gloria Swanson. Charlie Chaplin's first film was made at Keystone Studios, as well as the very first feature-length comedy, which starred Chaplin and Normand.

The first pie-in-the-face scene was filmed at what later became the Mack Sennett Studios on Glendale Boulevard near Effie Street. The complex, which is now part of a storage facility, dates from 1909 and includes one of the area's first permanent sound stages, the factories where movies are made. The former studio, 1712 Glendale Boulevard, is City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 256.

Echo Park Lake

Echo Park Lake was established in 1868, as a drinking water reservoir, filled with water from a ditch that connects to the Los Angeles River in Los Feliz to the reservoir. In 1891, the four owners of the surrounding area gave up 33 acres (13 ha) of land around the reservoir to the city so that it could be used as a park. The city began work landscaping the park in October 1892. City parks superintendent Joseph Henry Tomlinson chose the name because of echoes he heard during the construction of Echo Park Lake in 1892. By 1895, the park and accompanying boathouse were completed. By the late 1910s, motion picture companies on Allesandro Street, now Glendale Boulevard, had been using the park as a filming location.

Echo Park Lake was identified as an impaired body of water in 2006, and the city allocated $64.7 million to fund its cleanup and revitalization. In the summer of 2011, the lake was closed off and drained when the rehabilitation project began. The lake reopened on June 5, 2013, after a $45 million renovation.

Starting in November 2019, a growing population of homeless people began moving into the lake grounds. The encampment included nearly 200 homeless tents, and four homeless individuals died at the park in 2020. On March 25, 2021, the park was closed for renovations and cleared of the homeless encampments. While closure notices were posted throughout the park days before the sweep, over 200 protesters clashed with LAPD, who arrested 179 protesters. The encampment and ensuing incident became a major flashpoint in LA's homelessness crisis.

Of the 183 homeless individuals living at Echo Park Lake, only 17 had successfully transitioned into permanent housing as of March 2022^[update]. In February 2023, councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez announced plans to remove the fence that encircles the lake. The plans became divisive within the community, many of whom have advocated for the fence to remain, amid the ongoing homelessness crisis.

The fence surrounding the lake was removed May 30, 2023 by the city.

Transportation

Glendale Freeway termination

The Glendale Freeway (SR 2) was originally planned and constructed in 1959 to connect with the Hollywood Freeway (US-101) through the neighborhoods of Silver Lake and Echo Park, but terminates roughly 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northeast of its intended terminus at the Hollywood Freeway due to opposition from residents living and developers building on a hill that is now a private gated community called Hathaway Estates.

In 1962, as a result of this local community opposition, the full build-out plan was rescinded and construction was terminated at the present SR-2 terminus near Glendale Bl and Duane Street. Since then, commuter traffic exiting and entering on to SR-2 has passed through the community, primarily along Glendale Bl and Alvarado Street, which has contributed to congestion. Since that plan has been scrapped, the freeway is somewhat isolated from the remainder of the Los Angeles freeway system. There have been proposals to turn the freeway stub into a sort of public park.

Pacific Electric Railway

The Pacific Electric Railway, better known as the Red Cars, used to run through Echo Park along the center of Glendale Boulevard. The citywide system of electric trolleys began with the dawn of the 20th century, ultimately spinning a web of rail that linked cities in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. It was the largest and most advanced public transit system in the world at the time.

The Red Car system was sold to Metropolitan Coach Lines, whose executive, Jesse Haugh, had connections to a public transportation company funded by General Motors and other auto-related industries. The Red Cars faded out of service not long afterwards, with the Los Angeles-Glendale-Burbank Line that traveled through Echo Park officially ending service on June 19, 1955.

Geography

Echo Park has many rolling hills and valleys with a few flat areas like Echo Park Lake. Its main commercial corridors are Sunset and Glendale boulevards.

1921

Location

According to the Los Angeles Times "Mapping L.A." project, Echo Park is in Central Los Angeles, between Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles. It is situated near the 101, the 2, and the 5 freeways. Echo Park is flanked by Elysian Valley to the north and northeast, Elysian Park to the east, Chinatown and Downtown to the southeast, Westlake to the southwest and west, and Silver Lake to the northwest.

Boundaries are the Golden State Freeway–Glendale Freeway interchange at the north apex, Riverside Drive on the northeast, Elysian Park neighborhood on the east, Stadium Way and Beaudry Avenue on the southeast, the south apex being Beaudry Avenue and West Second Street and the west limit being an irregular line consisting of Second Street and Beverly Boulevard, then moving upward north along Benton Way and the Glendale Freeway.

Climate

Being in the central part of Los Angeles, Echo Park experiences a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa). Temperatures here are almost identical to that of Downtown Los Angeles.

Districts

Within Echo Park are the following:

Angelino Heights

Angelino Heights is most notable for its Victorian era residences, although these are few in number. It lies at an elevation of 502 feet (153 m).

Elysian Heights

Since the 1910s, Elysian Heights, along with Edendale, has been home to many of the counter-culture, political radicals, artists, writers, architects and filmmakers. The children of many progressives attended school there during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

Population

2000

The 2000 U.S. census counted 40,455 residents in the 2.4-square-mile (6.2 km²) neighborhood—an average of 16,868 people per square mile, one of the highest densities in Los Angeles and among the highest densities for the county. In 2008 the city estimated that the population had increased to 43,832. The median age for residents was 30, about the same as the city norm.

Echo Park was considered moderately diverse ethnically. The breakdown was Latinos, 64%; Asians, 18.8%; whites, 12.9%; blacks, 2%, and others, 2.3%. Mexico (41.3%) and El Salvador (15.2%) were the most common places of birth for the 53% of the residents who were born abroad, a figure that was considered high compared to the city as a whole.

2008

The median household income in 2008 dollars was $37,708, a low figure for Los Angeles, and a high percentage of households earned $20,000 or less. The average household size of three people was about the same as the rest of the city. Renters occupied 76% of the housing units, and house- or apartment owners the rest.

The percentages of never-married men and women, 46.8% and 38.3%, respectively, were among the county's highest. The 2000 census found 5,325 families headed by single parents, a high rate for both the city and the county. There were 1,034 military veterans in 2000, or 3.5%, a low figure for Los Angeles.

2010

Census data below for is cited from only US Census District 1974.20. It does not include a large portion of Echo Park.

The 2010 US Census estimates that the neighborhood demographics for tract 1974.20 are as follows: Latinos still form the majority of the community, though the percentage fell from 69.8% in 2000 to 59.5% in 2010; Whites grew from 13.2% in 2000 to 23.2% in 2010; Asian population remained almost unchanged at 13.3% in 2010 compared to 13.2% in 2000; Other grew from 3.4% in 2000 to 4% in 2010. The number of people in the district shrank by almost 15% to around 3,500 people. This represents less than 10% of the number of residents considered to live in Echo Park. The demographic shift from Latino to White is generally acknowledged as the overall trend in the area.

Homeless population

In 2022, there were 423 homeless individuals in Echo Park.

Parks and recreation

Parks

Elysian Park

Elysian Park is one of the largest parks in Los Angeles at 600 acres (240 ha). It is also the city's oldest park, founded in 1886 by the Elysian Park Enabling Ordinance. Most of Elysian Park falls in the Eastern neighborhood of the same name, but a small portion of the park does fall in Echo Park.

• Angels Point, a small hill in Elysian Park overlooking Dodger Stadium and the Downtown Los Angeles Skyline. Atop the hill is a large metal sculpture art installation by local artist Peter Shire of the 1980s postmodern Memphis Group.
• Chavez Ravine Arboretum, opened in 1893 and contains more than 100 varieties of trees from around the world, including what are believed to be the oldest and largest Cape Chestnut, Kauri, and Tipu trees in the United States.
• Grace E. Simons Lodge, an event space with waterfalls and reception rooms.
• Marion Harlow Memorial Grove is a small tree and plant grove along the Elysian Park hiking trail.

Echo Park, with the Downtown Los Angeles skyline in the background

Echo Park Lake

Echo Park Lake provides recreational features and wildlife habitat, including wetlands. Echo Park Lake hosts community events, such as the annual Lotus Festival every July.

• Echo Park boathouse restaurant and more than a dozen swan shaped paddle boats
• Picnic tables, BBQ pits, public restrooms, water fountains, and grassy picnic areas
• 1-mile long looping promenade paved walking trail around the lake

Vista Hermosa Natural Park

Vista Hermosa Natural Park is a 10.5 acres (4 ha) urban natural park that features walking trails, streams, meadows, oak savannahs, picnic grounds, sweeping views of Downtown Los Angeles skyline, and a nature-themed playground amid native Mediterranean vegetation. It is built on former residential land in the Temple–Beaudry district, houses that were torn down as part of slum clearance efforts, and that originally was destined for use as the site of a high school.

Sports Facilities

• Chavez Ridge Disc Golf Course (in Elysian Park)
• Echo Park Deep Pool (indoor pool)
• Echo Park Recreation Complex
  • Facility Features: Baseball Diamond (Lighted), Basketball Courts (Lighted / Indoor), Basketball Courts (Lighted / Outdoor), Children's Play Area, Community Rooms, 6 Tennis Courts (Lighted), Stage, Picnic Tables, Indoor Gym (without Weights), Skate park (opening in 2020)
• Echo Park Youth Center
• Elysian Fields (2 baseball diamonds in Elysian Park)
• Elysian Park Adaptive Recreation Center (in Elysian Park)
  • Facility Features: Basketball Courts (Unlighted / Outdoor), Children's Play Area, Indoor Gym (with Weights), Amphitheatre, Indoor Gym (without Weights), Classroom(s), Stage
• Vista Hermosa Synthetic Soccer Field (lighted)

Education

Eighteen percent of residents 25 and older have a four-year degree, about average for the city and the county, but there is a high percentage of residents with less than a high school diploma.

In 2007, LAUSD used eminent domain to remove 50 homes in order to build a new school.

Within Echo Park are the following schools:

Elementary schools

• Baxter Montessori, 2101 North Echo Park Avenue (private)
• Elysian Heights Elementary, 1562 Baxter Street (LAUSD). This school was home to "Room 8" the cat
• Clifford Street Elementary, 2150 Duane Street (LAUSD)
• Mayberry Street Elementary, 2414 Mayberry Street (LAUSD)
• Golden West Christian, 1310 Liberty Street (private)
• Gabriella Charter, 1435 Logan Street (LAUSD)
• Logan Street Span School, 1711 West Montana Street (LAUSD)Serving K to 8th grade
• Rosemont Elementary, 421 N. Rosemont (LAUSD)
• Betty Plasencia Elementary School, 1321 Cortez Street (LAUSD)

Other schools

• DC Academy, 626 Coronado Terrace (private)

Public libraries

The Los Angeles Public Library operates two branches in Echo Park: Echo Park Branch and Edendale Branch.

Entertainment and night life

The trendy Echo Park area, known as one of "the city's hippest neighborhoods", has many bars, night clubs, and restaurants. The sprawling historic Taix French restaurant (originally known as Les Freres Taix) has been a landmark in the community since moving to 1911 Sunset Boulevard from downtown Los Angeles in 1964. The 321 Lounge cocktail bar inside the restaurant has hosted live music and comedy for many years and is a longtime destination for Los Angeles Dodgers fans to congregate before or after a baseball game. In the third annual New York Times Restaurant List, of the five California restaurants featured, two are based in Echo Park: the Korean-inspired Perilla LA and the pizzeria Quarter Sheets.

Notable people