Sunset Over Silver Ridge

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 29, 2009. The sunset was spectacular from the top of Corralitas last night. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Bees Will Have To Get High Elsewhere

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 25, 2009. More carnage from the City's brush clearance last week. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

A few weeks ago, bees were getting high on these still unidentified flowers. They'll have to get their fix somewhere else now. Last week, the City used a giant rota-tiller for brush clearance on the steep slope between Adelbert and the Viaduct Footings. It's a shame. They took out quite a few young California Black Walnut Trees that gained a foothold on the now barren slope (photo below).

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 25, 2009. Even native California Black Walnut Trees were not spared the from the City's brush clearance carnage.

Crap A Dog Owner Left Behind

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 25, 2009. Be a good neighbor, always pick up after your dog. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

More Crap The City Left Behind

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 25, 2009. Even when neighbors clear the arundo from the Red Car Property near Rose Scharlin Preschool, the City ignored it when they did brush clearance last week. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Crap The City Left Behind

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 25, 2009. The City did brush clearance on the Red Car Property and left big stuff behind near India St. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Brush Clearance Lost & Found

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 25, 2009. Red Car Property meadow. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

You never know what you'll find on the meadow after the City does brush clearance with a giant rota-tiller.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 25, 2009. Red Car Property meadow. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Dumped Puppies Found Homes

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 16, 2009. Both puppies, dumped on Corralitas a few weeks ago, found permanent homes. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Dog Friendly Neighborhood

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 23, 2009. City truck parked on Corralitas Drive. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Spider Season

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 20, 2009. Cool weather delayed the start of spider season this year. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Red Car Property: Bulldozer Alert

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 23, 2009, 9 AM. It's just the City doing brush clearance on the flat parts of the Red Car Property. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 23, 2009. Brush clearance equipment on Corralitas Drive. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Bee's Been Busy

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 20, 2009. This bee's pollen sacs are full. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

UPDATE March 9, 2010: Plant ID via CalFlora, this appears to be a native dandelion.

Tree Tobacco: Non-Native, Invasive, Toxic

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 5, 2009. Tree Tobacco (Nicotiana glauca) is still in bloom near Adelbert and elsewhere in the neighborhood.

Tree Tobacco is non-native, invasive and, according to the ASPCA, toxic to animals. Some of the Tree Tobacco plants growing in the medians of the 2 Freeway crossing Rosebud are 20 feet tall.

Happy Father's Day

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 24, 2009. The Red Car Property meadow was still green in April. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Red Car Property: Squash

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 13, 2009. Squash is blooming near Rose Scharlin Preschool. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Menlo Property: Remnants of Parties Past

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 14, 2009. These beer cans date waaaaaay back judging by the way they were opened. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

"Never More."

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 14, 2009. Crows on the Menlo Property. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

"Never More." That's what I say after attending too many community meetings.

2 Freeway Terminus EIR Ignores Neighborhoods North Of Oak Glen

Photo: Diane Edwardson, January 12, 2009. On clear mornings, the rising sun lights up the particulate matter created by exhaust from traffic on the 5 Freeway, in the valley between Elysian Park and Glassell Park. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

CalTrans and MTA are holding a public hearing tonight for the 2 Terminus Redesign. The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was supposed to evaluate environmental effects of the design options all the way to the 5 Freeway. The contractor failed to evaluate anything north of Oak Glen and the 2 Freeway. Yet, all design options, including the "Do Nothing " option, will put more traffic idling on the 2 Freeway adjacent to Corralitas Drive.

This EIR is so half-assed, they used data from an air quality monitoring station over a mile and a half away, but not the monitoring station that sits at the corner of Duane St. and Glendale Blvd., at the end of the fly-over ramp of the Terminus.

Several Corralitas neighbors spoke to the contractor who did the sound monitoring survey for 2 Terminus EIR when they installed the equipment on Corralitas Drive. Yet that was not included in the EIR.

The EIR fails to evaluate traffic impacts the to 5 Freeway, Riverside Drive and particularly to Allesandro, as more traffic will cut through from the Riverside Drive exit (at Allesandro).

The EIR failed to evaluate a potential bike path from the Terminus to the Los Angeles River, as required under the scope of the project.

The EIR failed to even identify that ADA accessible sidewalks are necessary on either side of the 2 Freeway, even though there are bus stops along Allesandro. Sidewalks were never installed on the freeway side of streets because they assumed no one would walk there. Tell that to people who take the bus - especially once construction starts and we have increased traffic on Allesandro.

I am supporting design option D, along with Echo Park Community Action Committee. If we're going to have more traffic, then we may as well get the most park space out of it. Option D keeps the flyover ramp and the overpass and turns them into functional park space.

Make your concerns known at tonight's public hearing for the SR2 Terminus Redesign:

Tuesday, June 16, 2009
6:30 - 8:30 PM
Mayberry Elementary School
2414 Mayberry St.
Los Angeles, CA 90026

More information call the MTA project helpline: (213) 922-3010.

Bugs Getting High On Exotic Flowers

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 13, 2009. Velvety soft mystery plant near Adelbert got even more interesting this week. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Two bees and an earwig were hanging out on the flowers in a somnambulant state. Usually, bees are busy and hard to snap photos of while they drink nectar from flowers. All three bugs just sat there. I shook the plant gently to see if they were alive. All three moved their antennae and shook their heads slowly like they just woke up, then immediately went back to their trance-like state.

I've only seen this plant growing on the Red Car Property slope between Adelbert and the Viaduct Footings.

If you can identify this plant, send us an email redcarproperty@gmail.com.

11-10-09 UPDATE: Mystery plant finally identified! It is Indian or Kotolo Milkweed (Asclepias eriocarpa).

Puppies Abandoned On Corralitas

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 10, 2009. One of two puppies abandoned this week on Corralitas Drive. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Don't abandon animals on the street. Puppies do find homes quickly when taken to the pound. Neighbors are fostering the puppies until homes are found.

Tonight: 2 Freeway Terminus Redesign Community Workshop

Photo: I have no idea who shot this photo. It's been in my archives and is one of those iconic photos of the Allesandro Cut for the Glendale Line. Today, this same location is the 2 Terminus at Glendale Blvd. If you have photo credit info please contact redcarproperty@gmail.com. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

CalTrans MTA Community Workshop
Thursday, June 11, 2009
6:30-8:30 PM
Barlow Hospital, Williams Hall (in Elysian Park)
2000 Stadium Way
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Click here for background.

City Preservation Ordinance Revisions Go To Planning Commission, June 11

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 2004. Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument # 770 is the Fletcher Viaduct Footings on the Red Car Property (as seen from Waverly Drive).

Tomorrow, the City Planning Commission will hear proposed changes to the Cultural Heritage Ordinance. Currently, monument status does not prevent demolition of structures, it merely delays destruction. The Brown Derby and Ambassador Hotel are prime examples of the City's half-assed approach toward preserving historic monuments.

The Los Angeles Conservancy has a lot of information on the proposed changes on their website. If you plan to attend, they recommend arriving by 10 AM for the Planning Commission hearing in City Hall.

Two Community Meetings Tonight

Photos: Diane Edwardson, Left: 2 Freeway Crossing Riverside Drive. Right: Menlo Property on Riverside Drive. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

What do they have in common? Both were apart of the Red Car Trolley Glendale Line and both have big potential effects on the neighborhood. Click on the following links for details and meeting information:

2 Freeway Terminus Redesign at Mayberry Elementary School

Menlo Property, 120 condo units at Silver Lake Neighborhood Council.

Adelbert Guard Dog

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 9, 2009. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Menlo Property On Neighborhood Council Agenda: Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 5, 2009. There's only one storm drain inlet in Riverside Drive between Glendale Blvd and Fletcher, and that storm drain inlet is at Fletcher. So water sits at the low point on Riverside Drive at the driveway for the Sam Menlo-owned River Glen Apartments. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council's Urban Design & Preservation Advisory Committee (UD&PAC) will consider an application for 120 condos on the Menlo Property. Representatives of Menlo and his Century Quality Management will be present. Menlo is a convicted slumlord with a long history of neglect of the vacant land on Riverside Drive, known as the Menlo Property.

SLNC UD&PAC Meeting
Tues., June 9, 2009
6:30 PM
2898 Rowena Ave., #101
Los Angeles, CA 90039
Click here for agenda

Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 12, 2008. Since the entire hillside behind the Menlo-owned River Glen Apts. drains into the street, there's always water on Riverside Drive, rain or shine. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

1940: Riverside & Allesandro

Photo: Los Angeles City Planning, 1940, California Historical Society via USC Digital Library. Future site of the 2 & 5 Freeways in Silver Lake, Echo Park and Elysian Valley. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

How different the neighborhood looks without the freeways. The hillside in the foreground is the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract. The open area below the Landacre Cabin is the recently subdivided lots. The swath of trees between Allesandro and Corralitas Drive is now the 2 Freeway. It appears Rosebud was moved a few hundred feet closer to the Corralitas Public Staircase when the 2 Freeway was built.

Interestingly, there's a small street that forks to the left off Allesandro, before reaching Riverside Drive. I had never seen this street in earlier photos or maps. It was taken for the 2 Freeway.

Note in the upper left corner, the Red Car Trolley tracks are on a considerably higher grade above the adjacent homes on India, below. Today the grade change is more gradual from India to the Red Car Property. Significant amounts of earth were removed from the Red Car Property to grade for the adjacent freeways.

The 5 Freeway runs approximately where the street names were placed on the photo above, in Elysian Valley (the neighborhood between Riverside Drive and the LA River). In 1940, it appears there were more residential properties at the streets ends, at the LA River. Today, almost all the street ends in Elysian Valley have big industrial properties.

According to Jim Lawrence, who lived on Riverside Place for 80 years, many homes in the neighborhood around Allesandro Elementary School were moved from Elysian Valley prior to freeway construction.

Next week, CalTrans will reveal plans for the 2 Freeway Terminus Redesign at two community meetings and a public hearing.

Jimsonweed Or Discarded Kleenex?

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 3, 2009. Native Jimsonweed (Datura wrightii) just started blooming on the Red Car Property Meadow. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The first time I saw Jimsonweed in bloom, I thought someone had discarded their Kleenex and it was stuck on a plant. Henceforth, it became known in our household as the Kleenex flower.

Morning Glory: Non-Native, Invasive, Pretty

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 9, 2009. Non-native Morning Glories (Ipomoea mutabilis) are still blooming throughout the Red Car Property. When they first started blooming in April, they were a vibrant pink-purple. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Arundo: Non-Native, Invasive

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 23, 2009. Giant reed (Arundo donax) is highly invasive, combustible and hard to eradicate once it gets a foothold. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Pampas Grass: Non-Native, Invasive

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 28, 2009. Non-native Pampas Grass is highly invasive and flammable. You'll need a backhoe to get rid of it. (Click on photo to enlarge.)