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Echo Park is a district of Los Angeles northwest of downtown. It is east and southeast of Silver Lake, south of the Elysian Valley, north of Westlake/Mac Arthur Park, and southwest of Elysian Park. Besides Echo Park itself, adjacent communiies such as Angelino Heights, Colton Hill, Edendale, Elysian Heights, Temple-Beaudry, Sunset Heights, and some would argue, Mayberry, are often considered part of the neighborhood.

The community was named after a park laid out by the city to surround a water reservoir that was turned into a recreational lake, with a boathouse and fishing opportunities.

Contents 1 History 2 Attractions 2.1 Lotus Festival 3 Emergency services 3.1 Fire service 3.2 Police service 4 Education 4.1 Primary and secondary schools 4.1.1 Public schools 4.1.2 Private schools 4.2 Public libraries 5 Notable residents 6 See also 7 External links

Echo Park was named Edendale before the construction of the park itself; the local U.S. Post Office and one of the two local Los Angeles Public Library branches is still named Edendale.

The Los Angeles film industry was centered in Echo Park before the studios moved to Hollywood just before World War I. Mack Sennett's studio was in Echo Park until the end of the silent era, and a large number of silent comedies were shot in the neighborhood, as were several Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Our Gang, Ben Turpin, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Charley Chase, Chester Conklin, and Three Stooges shorts. Tom Mix also built his studio here, just over the hill in the Silverlake area, and many Westerns were shot in hills of Echo Park, East Silverlake and the Elysian Hills. Some of the earliest screen performers, including Gloria Swanson and Tom Mix, bought homes in the Angelino Heights and surrounding neighborhoods before moving to Hollywood and other areas.

The area has continued to be used as a location for films such as Chinatown (film), Echo Park, Kentucky Fried Movie, Mi Vida Loca, Quinceanera and "Columbus Day (film)". The 1960s television series Gilligan's Island was shot in the area as well as scenes in Michael Jackson's 1982 music video Thriller, as were parts of the original 1953 film version, The War of the Worlds. The Manor, a house in the television series Charmed, is also located here. The area is popular with modern filmmakers for the pre-World War II look of some districts.

Before World War I,I Echo Park was a middle-class neighborhood, nicknamed "Red Hill" for a concentration of political radicals living there [1]. Postwar flight to the suburbs resulted in Echo Park becoming overwhelmingly Latino; although other ethnic groups have always had a presence in the neighborhood.

Many working-class Chinese immigrants have settled in Echo Park due to its proximity to Chinatown, and the area overlaps the Little Manila district of Los Angeles, home to thousands of Filipinos, and a small enclave of African-Americans has existed there, east of Alvarado St. and west of Bonnie Brae Street, since the 1920s. Renowned 70s beauty queen, actress and model, Veronica Porsche, third wife of boxer Muhammed Ali, came from this neighborhood. Since the early 1900's, Echo Park has been known to attract the creative, underground, independent, and iconoclastic elements of society.

Famous artist residents have included such luminaries as writers Leo Politi, Carey McWilliams, and Ayn Rand; painters Carlos Almaraz and Philip Dike, famed muralist Kent Twitchell, and film art director Al Nozaki, creator of what is arguably the most famous, and certainly the most beautiful spaceship in science-fiction history, the Martian War Machine from The War of the Worlds; actors Shia LaBeouf, Anthony Quinn, Steve McQueen, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Webb, Ann Robinson, star of The War of the Worlds, and Charles Gemora, king of the Hollywood "gorilla men"; architect Richard Neutra and disciple Harwell Hamilton Harris; book seller and art dealer Jake Zeitlin; famed wood engraver Paul Landacre; opera singer Marilyn Horne, conductor Henry Lewis, and jazz great Art Pepper; film director John Huston; African-American playwright, poet and screenwriter Lemar Randle Fooks; Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lance Allan Ito, of O.J. Simpson trial fame (his mother was a kindergarten teacher for many years at Elysian Heights elementary school in Echo Park); as well as Edward Middleton Manigault, who organized the nation's first exhibition of modern art. The painter Jackson Pollock also made his home here as a child. The singer Elliott Smith lived in this neighborhood in the final years of his life [2].

Elysian Heights Elementary school was home to "Room 8 the Cat [3]", arguably the most famous cat in America.

Echo Park was also home to Art Ingals, who in 1956 built the first Go-Kart in history in a store front on the 1900 block of Echo Park Blvd, and who started an industry that counts over 1 million competitive racers and several million weekend enthusiasts world-wide. Professional baseball player, Luis (Lou) Gomez, who had been an outstanding prep star at Belmont High School, played for the Minnesota Twins, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Atlanta Braves during the 70s and 80s, resided here as well. Baseball immortal Babe Ruth himself maintained a bachelor's pad at the Crown Hill apartments in South Echo Park for much of the 20s and 30s. Jerry Rubin, American social activist and member of the Chicago Seven, lived here and ran a legal and civil rights office on the southwest corner of Echo Park Avenue and Sunset Blvd. for much of the 70s and 80s. In 1993, the movie Mi Vida Loca was filmed in Echo Park. This movie described the Latino gang culture in the neighborhood at the time.

The commercial district along Sunset Boulevard suffered greatly in the 1950s from the condemnation of the residences in nearby Chavez Ravine originally for the purpose of building low-income public housing, but after the bond funding for the project failed to be approved, the ravine property ended up being sold by the city of Los Angeles to Walter O'Malley as the location for Dodger Stadium for the sum of one dollar. During the 1960s and 70s, the area became known as a hippy enclave, and attracted many young musicians, artists, and craftspeople. Some residents during that era included J.D. Souther & Glenn Frey of the Eagles, Tom Waits, Jackson Browne, and Frank Zappa. The writer and poet Charles Bukowski was known to frequent the local dives, as did actor and Reservoir Dogs real-life tough-guy, Lawrence Tierney. The hilly northern part of the district that is adjacent to Elysian Park is called "Elysian Heights" and has always maintained a genteel character.

In recent years the neighborhood has experienced a considerable amount of commercial and residential gentrification, attracting gays, musicians, artists, young singles and entertainment industry workers, as well as a variety of new clubs, restaurants and retail storefronts along Sunset Boulevard and Echo Park Avenue. Mid Century Modern, Spanish Revival and Craftsman homes in the hills have attracted real estate developers, house flippers and trend setters. Echo Park has become the new center of an underground fashion scene with boutiques popping up all over Echo Park Ave. A new generation of young home buyers has moved into the area the past 5 years. Finding they had been priced out of the upscale neighborhoods of Silverlake, East Hollywood, the Hollywood Hills, Franklin Hills, and Los Feliz, they have flocked in droves to the still reasonably priced and picturesque green hills of Echo Park. There has been a certain deal of resentment on the part of the original longtime residents, a diverse mix of old hippies, 50s Reds, radicals and intellectuals, actors, craftsmen, Latinos, Filipinos, Greeks, Jazz musicians, city workers, retirees, bikers, surfers, Eastern European immigrants, and film and television workers.

In 1969, Keith Barbour recorded a song titled "Echo Park". In 1997, The Blue Stingrays recorded the album Surf-N-Burn, with a cut titled "Echo Park". In 1977, Linda Ronstadt recorded the Warren Zevon song "Carmelita" on the album Simple Dreams, wherein she mentions the Pioneer Chicken stand on Echo Park Boulevard. In 1980 Gary Numan mentions Echo Park in his single "I die: you die" and The Eels mention Echo Park in their 1996 album, Beautiful Freak. Ryan Cabrera wrote a song titled "Echo Park" that is part of his mainstream debut album, Take It All Away. The song "Who Would've Thought" by punk rock band Rancid off the album Life Won't Wait is about Echo Park, and the obscure Heavy Metal ballad "Echo Park, After Dark" was recorded by Alfred Corpuz and the Alleyheads in 1980. British band Feeder also named their third album Echo Park released in 2001.

Poetry and literature readings at various and sundry locations have been a staple of Echo Park and its residents since the early 1950s, with every culture and ethnicity well represented, and indeed, beginning in the late 1970s, the Temple Street Poets brought all these diverse groups together for spoken-word gatherings at the Travellers Café on Temple Street. Unfortunately, faced with attempts by Hollywood glitterati and west-side yuppies to infiltrate and co-opt the group, they disbanded by the middle 1980's. Spoken word readings, however, still continue in and around the neighborhood to this day. During the 1970s, the Travellers Cafe was frequented by Lawrence Tierney, Glen Frey ,Tom Waits, Kent Twitchell and Charles Bukowsky.

Local attractions include the eponymous Echo Park, with a small lake which is said to contain the largest planting of lotuses outside Asia.

There is also a Cuban festival held on the birthday of Cuban poet and patriot José Martí, who has a statue in the park.

Bordering the park are the cathedral of the Episcopalian diocese of Los Angeles and the famous Angelus Temple, a large Foursquare Gospel church built by Canadian-born Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson in 1923.

The first totally enclosed film stage and studio in history , Keystone Studios, built by Mack Sennett in 1912 on 1712 Glendale Blvd in the Edendale quarter of Echo Park, still exists in all its structural entirety, though now passes time as a public storage facility. Some of the studio's original auxiliary buildings are also still standing ( with modified facades) on both sides of Glendale Blvd. An obelisk monument and bronze plaque commemorating Sennett's studio was located for many years in the patio area behind one of the Bert-Co Paper Company's buildings on 1855 Glendale Boulevard, but was demolished in September of 2007 and the plaque stolen by vandals.

Given the large amount of lotus leaves in the lake, the Echo Park is the site of the annual Lotus Festival, a pan-Asian celebration complete with Chinese dragon boat races. The event has been held since the late 1970s and it showcases a different Asian ethnicity (such as Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Bangladeshi, etc.) every year. It attracts Asian Americans as well as other local residents.

The festival itself came under criticism by locals in 1979, when festival directors refused to let the local garage band, The Alleyheads, which consisted of Asians, Latinos, and whites, play at the festival, yet let several tame white and Asian "pop" groups approved by the city, perform. The community was outraged that the festival directors did not let the Alleyheads play in favor of out-of-town performers. The Alleyheads persisted for three more years , but each time were refused by the festival committee. Complaints mounted until the city and festival committee dropped their ban on rock bands in the middle 1980s, but ironically hired only all-white rock bands at first, none of which were indigenous to Echo Park itself. This situation has since changed , however, and the festival now showcases a wide range of diverse musical acts and performers that better mirror the demographics of the City of Los Angeles and Pacific region to which it belongs.

Echo Park was home to the Metropolitan Street Hockey League (MSHL) from 1971 until 1977, one of the first organized street hockey & roller hockey associations in the Los Angeles area, and which produced the Preston Avenue Sharks, winners of the Los Angeles street hockey City Championship in 1974, 1975 and 1976, the Atwater Open in 1974, the Melrose Open in 1975 and Echo Park Opens in 1973,1975 and 1976, the Echo Park Jets, which won the City Championship in 1977 and Echo Park Open in 1974, and the Stadium Way Rangers, winners of the Atwater Open in 1975, the Melrose Open in 1976, and the City Championship in 1973. Another team from the league, the Coronado Terrace Mustangs, won the Echo Park, Melrose and Atwater Opens in 1977, becoming the only "Triple Crown" winner in history , and in 1978, won the Echo Park Open as an independent/at-large entry.

Echo Park is and continues to be home of the world famous, Echo Park Ducks, originally formed in 1967 as a loosely organized social , sports & community activist club, and which attracted many of the hippies and free spirits of the area at the time. They were immortalized when Billy Shire began selling the now famous Echo Park Ducks T-Shirt out of his Sunset Blvd store in 1972.

Currently, Echo Park is home to many unique businesses, such as the Echo Park Film Center, Machine Project, Vlaze Media Networks, Inc. (vlaze.com), Epitaph Records, the Taix French restaurant, several boutiques, live music venues and art galleries, and an eclectic night-life, including the whimsical Midnight Ridazz, an after-dark bicycle rally where as many as 1000 people show up on the second Friday of each month for themed bicycle rides throughout the streets of Los Angeles. Each ride's theme is announced several days in advance through emails, Yahoo Groups, and flyers, the actual route being kept secret until the beginning of the ride. The cyclists meet at Echo Park at Sunset Boulevard at 9:30 p.m.

Los Angeles Fire Department Station 20 is in the area.

Los Angeles Police Department operates the Rampart Community Police Station at 2710 West Temple Street, 99026, serving the neighborhood [4].

Echo Park is zoned to Los Angeles USD schools [5].

Residents are zoned to Logan Street Elementary School, Mayberry Street Elementary School, Elysian Heights Elementary School, Plasencia Elemantary School Rosemont Avenue School and Union Avenue School.

Most residents are zoned to King Middle School and Belmont High School.

Some residents choose John Marshall High School.

Others get accepted to Downtown Magnets School which consists of 3 magnets: Fashion, Business, and Electronics.

Our Lady of Loretto Elementary School, located at 258 North Union Avenue, is a private school of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles that has been located in the neighborhood since 1921.

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

• Shia LaBeouf grew up in Echo Park.
• Elliott Smith died in Echo Park.

• Quinceañera (film)
• Mi Vida Loca

• Echo Park Chamber of Commerce
• [6]
• [7]
• Echo Park
• 2006 Cuban Festival, Echo Park photos
• Los Angeles Times, Real Estate section, Neighborly Advice column: "[Echo Park:]"It's absolutely evolutionary" (4 Dec 2005)
• Sonia Paulino, local photographer, documents the community
• Historic Echo Park
• OLL Alumni Website for alumni of Our Lady Of Loretto Elementary School in the Echo Park area
• The War of the Worlds at the Internet Movie Database
• Jenny Berman, "'Bohemian Los Angeles' by Daniel Hurewitz:: How The Rise Of Identity Politics Was Shaped By An Area Called Edendale

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Topics	History · Transportation · Culture · Landmarks · Maps · Notable people · Mayors · Other elected officials
Regions	Downtown · Eastside · Harbor Area · Greater Hollywood · Westlake/Silver Lake/Los Feliz · San Fernando and Crescenta Valleys · South Los Angeles · Westside · Wilshire

v • d • e Areas north and west of downtown Los Angeles, California
Districts and neighborhoods	Angelino Heights · Echo Park · Elysian Park · Elysian Heights · Elysian Valley· Franklin Hills · Historic Filipinotown · Los Feliz · Pico-Union · Silver Lake · Sunset Junction · Westlake
Points of interest	Dodger Stadium · Griffith Park · MacArthur Park
See also	Glendale
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