Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract: Fire on Walcott Way (Across 2 Freeway From Red Car Property)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 16, 2025.  A fire on Walcott Way in Elysian Heights started around 8:30pm.  LAFD Arson Unit is investigating.

Neighbors were already on edge after two weeks of Eaton, Pallisades and Sunset (Runyon Canyon) firestorms (among other fires) and Extreme Red Flag Warnings.  A fire broke out Thursday night on a perilously steep hillside in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract.  Some neighbors recorded the fire while awaiting LAFD response. Others texted and made sure their go-bags were by the door. 

I'm not exaggerating when I say the fire was in just about the worst place possible on the hill, below the downslope end of Walcott, where it literally drops off the side of a hill. The City  streets on the way to, and including Walcott are among the steepest in Los Angeles.  The only vehicle route includes narrow blind hairpin turns, confusing street signs, (public staircases and paper streets that don't always show as such in navigation software) and few places for drivers to turn around easily.  

I reiterate, there is only one way in and out of this very steep, 120 year old hillside neighborhood in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract.

Fortunately, there was no wind Thursday night and once the first of many fire engines that took strategic positions around the hill, and neighborhood, reached the end of Walcott, LAFD was able to quickly extinguish the fire. LAPD cars were also deployed on and around the hill. A year after the 2016 fire in the Red Car Property Neighborhood, the LAFD further refined their deployment plans in the neighborhood.

According to neighbors, the fire on Walcott was contained to a shed and vegetation below the end of the paved street and between houses.  However, the size of the flames as seen on video shot by a Red Car Property neighbor was a scary site.  Watch the video on YouTube.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 18, 2024.  The circle marks the approximate location of the fire.  The 2 Freeway is in the foreground.

There is only one access road for vehicles on the steep slope above the 14-lot subdivision off Allesandro.  Through the years, we've written extensively about access issues for emergency vehicles.

Years ago, I timed an LAFD ladder truck take 45 minutes to back all the way down the hill out to Allesandro from the top of the hill, on a sunny day.  (Since that non-fire emergency, LAFD changed the way they deploy engines in response to emergencies on that hill.)  

Walcott is a "no parking anytime" street.  According to neighbors, it is not unusual to find parked cars completely blocking the street, including last Friday night, just over 24 hours after the fire.  They also report cars frequently parked blocking the one fire hydrant on Walcott at the top of the Landa Street Public Staircase.  The curb at the hydrant is even painted red.  

So what can you do?  If you live on a Red Flag No Parking Street - sign up for LAFD alerts and learn where you can park on those days.  Several neighborhood streets are subect no parking on Red Flag Days within the City of Los Angeles. If you have tenants or own short term rental property on a Red Flag street please inform your tenants of the issue.  Ignorance of the law is not an excuse, your car can still legally be towed.

If you're still questioning why we have Red Flag streets in our neighborhood, note the second photo in this post.

It is not unusual for homeless to take up residence in hiding places in dense vegetation, on steep slopes, in backyards, in the open and vacant lots bordering backyards. If you discover an encampment on your property call the non-emergency 1-877-ASK-LAPD and ask them to remove the trespasser from your HILLSIDE property.  Do not confront them on your own. LAPD can help facilitate a shelter bed.

Brush clearance is a year-round responsibility.  If your property includes steep slopes do not rush to cut down native trees as they do not burn as easily as many non-natives (and recovered after the 2016 fire). Report dense brush issues beneath power lines directly to the DWP.  If you can't see your slope easily from your house, take a walk around your property or the neighborhood for a better view. 

LAFD Brush Unit has more info on their website.

Get to know your neighbors, exchange contact info and take responsibility for making our neighborhood a safer place to live. 

Red Car Property: Mudwatch Near Adelbert

Photos: Red Car Property Neighbor January 16, 2023.

Another predictable mudslide is below properties on Adelbert Ave, flowing down the Red Car Property.  This Red Car Property slope was stabilized and restored in 2009, after a 2005 slide.

Lesson: plant these slopes with native trees to help hold them together.  At least toss some found acorns on the slope from the nearby Coast Live Oak or Black Walnuts from the once plentiful natives adjacent Adelbert. just north of this location. And stop clear cutting young native trees which do repopulate slopes.

This crumbling slope and mudslide is in the same stretch on the Red Car Property's Lot C.  The same craftsman home is in both photos.
 

Red Car Canyon: Mudwatch for Lake View Ave

Photos: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 12, 2023.  

Around the 6” of rain earlier this week brought predictable mudslides and a downed tree just north of the mudslide on the Lake View Ave side of Red Car Canyon.  This slope is Red Car Property up to the fence line.  There are public utility  easements along the property line.

The Red Car Property owner chopped down all the young trees on this slope and throughout the property without regard to size or species. There were a number of young protected Coast Live Oak and California Black Walnut trees that managed to recover from the 2016 fire.  While this slope did not burn it was severely damaged by the heat.  

Most of the shrub-like plants in the above photo are remnants of trees that keep trying grow back every year after brush clearance.  I speculate the total disregard for hillside ecosystems is intentional, as it is common developer tactic to kill off as many trees as possible through neglect or removal in advance of development application.  

Over 30 years, we’ve seen the slope slide below and around the sewer outlet (the round concrete feature topped with green spray paint, adjacent the large tree at the fence line in photo).

In recent years, City contractors replaced sewer lines in the slope along the property line between the Red Car Property and homes above on Lake View.

In 2009 the Red Car Property owner repaired a  2005 landslide on the Adelbert end of the Red Car Property. 

It is a very steep slope cut for the Red Car Trolley in 1904.  Since the tracks were removed in 1955, a forest of trees repopulated the slope.  

Red Car Canyon: First Tree Down

Photos: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 12, 2023.  

A large Eucalyptus tree went down on the Lake View Ave side of Red Car Canyon. 

We’ve seen a number of Eucalyptus go down in the same part of the canyon over the past 3 decades.  

Eucalyptus do not hold hillsides together like native Coast Live Oak, Black Walnut and Toyon.

  

 

Red Car Canyon: Swampy

Photos: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 12, 2023.  

Two days after a major storm dumped around 6” of rain on the neighborhood, Red Car Canyon was swampy but walkable.

Just stop driving through the canyon. The Red Car Property is not a park, but it still looks like one.

The pine tree leaning at a 45 degree angle has been been held up by another tree for decades.

Corralitas Red Car Property: Mudwatch

 Photos: Red Car Property Neighbor January 12, 2023.

Lake Corralitas and a familiar mudslide returned on the south end of the property.  The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

Corralitas Red Car Lion Safari Park*

Laughs from the past...April Fool's Post 2015

Photo: Shawnda Thomas Faveau, March 18, 2015.  Humans will have a chance to interact with lions for a hefty fee, once they've signed a waiver of liability.

There may yet be hope to save the Red Car Property as a wildlife preserve.  This afternoon, the mayor, along with property owner, in partnership with the zoo, announced a pride of African lions would be relocated to the Corralitas Red Car Property as part of the ongoing privatization of the zoo. 

The mayor said this was just another creative zoning technique and a part of ongoing efforts to preserve the open space in our hillsides west of the river while also revitalizing the river.  He's proposed the Exotic Endangered Species Breeding and Preservation Overlay Zone (EESBPOZ) which would include Griffith & Elysian Parks, the river, all unbuilt hillside parcels and K-zoned parcels (horsekeeping parcels) in Atwater.  

The mayor said, "The proposed EESBPOZ will give residents a chance to see exotic species right in their own backyards.  We expect to obtain a herd of giraffe next to help with tree trimming on those steep slopes on the Red Car Property."  

Why not a jaguar preserve in Elysian Valley; Amur leopards on the northeast slopes of Elysian Park; cayman in the river? The possibilities are limitless.  City Planning already approved the Komodo Dragon Preserve on Corralitas.

Parents at the local preschool are not happy about having to run the gauntlet of maneaters as they park on Corralitas Drive and walk their kids through Red Car Canyon to school.  The mayor responded, "Think of it as a teachable moment.  Not only will the parents and children bond with each other in a potential life and death situation, they'll gain a healthy respect for exotic non-native wildlife, all while working on their fitness." 

*DISCLAIMER: This post should NOT be used as proof of anything more than April Foolishness.  Photo by Shawnda Thomas Faveau was shot on the Corralitas Red Car Property, March 18, 2015.  It is a large Golden Retriever dog with a "lion" haircut.

Red Car Property: Iconic California Black Walnut Tree Crashed Down

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, December 31, 2021.

In a fitting end to 2021, a huge protected native California Black Walnut Tree, growing on the Lake View Ave side of the Red Car Property, fell victim to this week's deluge.  As the species evolved to do, it survived decades of the drought/deluge pattern of Southern California weather. It was likely too much rain, too fast, on a steep slope, combined with run-off from the built hillside environment, to keep the beloved tree upright.  

Photo: Stephanie Bartron, May 2020.  

Oddly, I have admired the tree for three decades, but have surprisingly few photos of just this large tree. The Red Car Property is not a park, it just looks like one.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2009.

The native tree was so large and  among a long row of large trees, it was often difficult to single out just one tree.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2010.  

The healthy Black Walnut thrived behind a home at one of the lowest points of elevation of Lake View Ave. It took advantage of significant hillside run-off. It was couple of houses north of Rose Scharlin Nursery School.

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, 2016. 

A previous owner of the Lake View Ave house told me, the tree was a big reason they bought the house.  Despite knowing the tree was on the Red Car Property, they took care of it. They even hired a certified arborist/tree trimmer to maintain it, because the tree brought value to not only their home, but their lives.

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, December 31, 2021. Same tree, reverse angle.

Upon seeing today's photos, several neighbors had the same reaction as I did, "Noooooo!"  

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 10, 2016. 

The native Black Walnut towered over the trail on the Red Car Property.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2015.

The Red Car Property is not a park, it just looks like one.  We mourn the loss of another iconic native tree.

Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract: Paul Landacre Cabin & Grounds, LA City Historic Cultural Landmark #839

 

Photo: Andrew Sears, 2005.    

In 2005, the City declared Paul Landacre's Cabin and grounds, at 2006 El Moran, a Cultural Historic Landmark. Landacre's work was influenced by and often depicted the neighborhood in his work.

 

Paul Landacre wrote about his life in the Echo Park hills in 1958, not so different from those who live in the Semi-Tropic Spiritualists' Tract today:

"You see, art is practiced here along with various other concerns -
pruning trees, repairing the roof, watching and feeding wildlife and so
on. Of course, other artists live on wooded hillsides, too, and so do
other people, and it must be conceded that to some of us this kind of
environment is not only valuable, but absolutely necessary - a degree of
seclusion, the life of growing things, awareness that we are a part of
nature."

Photo: Andrew Sears, 2005.

 

Landacre carved a petrel, his signature bird into the roof vents on each side of his house. He used the petrel as his trademark on his work, often in place of his signature.

Landacre struggled with physical disabilities most of his life. He identified with the petrel since they learn to fly by jumping off a cliff; falling into the raging sea; hurling themselves off the peaks of waves until they learn to fly. They crash into the rocks and waves, beat up, but they learn to fly.

*This post was originally published November 7, 2007, on our short-lived sister blog, Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract.  In an effort to connect neighbors across the 2 Freeway in our shared issues & development battles, we folded the Semi Tropic blog into the Corralitas Red Car Property Blog in 2009.

Riverside Place: Dangerous Dog Alert

Photos: Red Car Property Neighbors. June 24, 2021. One of the wounds requiring sutures.

Thursday evening, a neighbor and responsible Pit Bull owner was walking her dog, on-leash, accompanied by her 8 year old son.  As they approached the southern end of Riverside Place, 2 pit bulls broke out of their front gate and attacked the on-leash dog directly in front of the Pit Bulls' house. The street where the incident occurred is about 12-14’ wide with no sidewalks.

June 26, 2021.  The neighbor’s dog will recover from her wounds and is getting lots of love from her family.

Even after the owners came out of the house trying to restrain their dogs, one broke free and charged down the street after the woman walking briskly away with her still on-leash dog. With lightning speed, it attacked the dog a second time (verified on video from a neighbor). Neither the woman nor her son were bitten, but their dog required emergency surgery. She filed a report with the LA City Dept of Animal Services.

Similar Behavior Pattern

August 22, 2015.  The 2 Pit Bulls who attacked my dog just before they attacked a second dog in Red Car Canyon adjacent to Riverside Place.

Last week’s incident was so similar to the August 2015 attack, when 2 off-leash Pit Bulls, from the same house on Riverside Place, attacked my on-leash dog.  Once the owners “had a hold of their dogs,” they broke free and attacked another woman’s dog, 75' down the path in Red Car Canyon.  We both reported the incident to Animal Services, no action was taken.

Small Dog Killed in 2020 

After the neighbor in Thursday’s incident posted a warning to Next Door, she was contacted by a Red Car Property neighbor who’s Chihuahua was killed by one of the same Riverside Place owner's Pit Bulls in April 2020.   At the time, the dangerous Pit Bull was on-leash and dragged its owner across Lake View Ave, attacking the on-leash Chihuahua. The small dog died at the animal hospital as a result of the attack.  (Note: I’d heard this story last year, but could not verify it.) 

Again, a report was made to Animal Services and no action taken.  

I know there was another incident in the past few years on Riverside Place, where the same Pit Bulls broke out of their gate and attacked an on-leash small dog, walked by a woman pushing a baby stroller.  The neighbor who told me of the incident, also implored the woman to make a report to Animal Services because this is an unacceptable recurrence.  

In fact, all the nearby neighbors have multiple stories of the dangerous dogs from the same house on Riverside Place.  We've documented incidents with Animal Services.  Several Riverside Place neighbors have told me, "Those dogs have terrorized the neighborhood for years."

Make no mistake, it is terrifying to be on the receiving end of a Pit Bull attack. Most people  say, "I just won't walk there anymore."  This is not a practical solution.  It can happen anywhere to anyone.  These dogs have incredible speed and strength. I often witnessed the same 2 dogs racing down the Red Car Property, toward the 2 Freeway, frequently with no owner in sight (prior to, and after the attack on my dog).  

You are responsible for your dog at all times, both on and off your property.

Not all Pit Bulls are bad.  I know many well behaved pit bulls with responsible owners.  You need to do your homework before you adopt any dog, especially if you are adopting a dog built breed built like a tank. They are not suitable for everyone.

I wrote an extensive piece with lessons learned in the attack on my dog, with useful links to resources on preparing yourself as a Pit Bull owner and what to do to break up an attack: Corralitas Red Car Property: August 27, 2015

If you or your dog are attacked by another dog in the City of Los Angeles, report it to LA Department of Animal Services.

Corralitas Drive: Sad

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 5, 2020.

Yesterday evening, Corralitas Drive neighbors were disappointed to find the hastily constructed Red Car Property fence locked. The neighbor's 2-year-old son looks forward to the daily outings on the Red Car Property, as does the entire family.

For nearly 20 years, the Red Car Property owner has threatened to fence the entire property every time neighbors contact CD13 regarding brush clearance, dumping, homeless camps, joyriding, abandoned vehicles, general lawlessness, etc.  Considering the brush clearance was done early for what seems like the first time, we suspected a development application was pending.  We did not expect a fence.

There are currently no active applications or approvals for zone change or subdivision, and no building permit applications or approvals on file for the Red Car Property. No zone changes or subdivisions have been granted.

CD13 has requested additional information from City departments regarding neighbors' specific inquiries about easements, public safety and the adjacent DWP property fenced in this week at Riverside and Fletcher.

Follow us on Twitter @RedCarProperty for current updates and photos. 

Related: The Eastsider 

Red Car Property: Fences Going Up

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 27, 2020.  

Neighbors want to know what is going on with the Red Car Property as fences like this one being built along side the public sidewalk (Corralitas Walk) adjacent to the 2 Freeway.  They seem to be fencing off the entire property. The new fence pictured above, at the 2 Freeway, will create a narrow, less than 10' wide chain link alley with chain link fence on both sides of Corralitas Walk between Corralitas Drive and Allesandro Way.  

Neighbors are very concerned about the public safety issues with such a long narrow passageway here, and it's not just about cars flying off the freeway.  We'll go more in depth on the public safety issues at a future date.

Please be assured we are trying to sort out what is really going on and we'll be back to posting here on the blog soon.  In the meantime, for more immediate news and photos of the fence follow us on Twitter @RedCarProperty. 

-DE

2 Freeway at Corralitas Drive: Luckily, Car Crash Did Not Ignite A Fire

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, May 15, 2020, 1:34 AM.  "Must you crash outside my bedroom window? Must you and the police and tow guy yell to each other? Must you?"

Neighbors of the 2 Freeway between the 5 Freeway and the 2 Freeway Terminus at Glendale Blvd have heard many high speed crashes and seen the aftermath. Fortunately, this crash did not ignite the dry brush on the southbound 2 Freeway  adjacent to Corralitas Drive.

Request brush clearance or other maintenance issues on CalTrans property (on the freeway side of the fence) on the State's website: https://csr.dot.ca.gov/

Riverside Drive: Attempted Rape Reported To LAPD, August 23, 2019

Photo: Google Street View.  A pedestrian tunnel crosses beneath Riverside Drive at Allesandro Elementay School.   

This weekend, an attempted rape in the 2200 block of Riverside Drive (Allesandro Elementary School)  showed up in the daily Crimemapping email.  I requested whatever details could be shared from our new LAPD Senior Lead Officer (SLO) for Silver Lake, Jesus Aispuro.  He responded with the following email: 

An Attempt Rape report was taken on August 23.  The incident occurred at 2:00pm.  An adult victim was walking in the tunnel, near the school, when she observed an unknown male suspect in the middle of the tunnel. As she walked by him,  the suspect blocked her path and grabbed one of her wrists and attempted to pull up her shirt.  The Victim slapped his hands away.  The suspect then unzipped his pants.  The victim then ran out of the tunnel and the suspect left the tunnel on the other side.  There was no one else inside the tunnel at the time of the incident and no kids were out in the area at the time.  They have assigned patrol units to monitor the tunnel and I will also go out there to monitor it as well.  There have not been any other incidents like this in the area.
Officer Jesus Aispuro

LAPD Northeast Division

If you are afraid to use the tunnel under Riverside Drive, DO NOT JAYWALK. A pedestrian was killed in 2014 in a hit & run incident in front of Allesandro Elementary.  Take the long way around and cross Riverside at the signal at Allesandro or Gilroy.  My understanding is the tunnel is only unlocked during school hours, but I have not confirmed this in years.

Through the years, neighbors have asked me about carrying pepper spray to defend themselves, but mostly, to defend their dogs from coyotes and pit bulls while walking.  Pepper spray is tricky and you may not point it in the right direction if panicked.  I recommend an inexpensive, pocket size air horn (many friends carry them when hiking and camping).  It's loud and ear piercing, breaks up fighting dogs and scares off coyotes.  It also gets the attention of anyone nearby.  

I say don't live in fear.  Take action: learn self defense techniques, know your neighbors and their contact info, don't walk with headphones, know the streets and public staircases in the neighborhood, install motion sensor lighting and locked mailboxes, adopt a dog or two (please don't adopt a pit bull if you have never handled one before).  If you are the victim of a crime, make a police report.  LAPD doesn't know there's a crime problem, if you don't report it. 

Editor's note: Since the onset of the LAPD Senior Lead Officer program (after the 1992 riots), whenever I've heard a rumor or seen a report of rape or other violent crime in the Red Car Property Neighborhood, I request info from our SLO.  I do not publish reports of domestic violence, which seems to be most of the very rare number of violent crimes reported to LAPD in our neighborhood. 

In more than 12 years of producing this blog, I can only think of a handful of violent incidents occurring in our neighborhood.  In 2012, a woman was murdered elsewhere and dumped near the 2 Freeway entrance across from Allesandro Elementary.  Five months later, another murder victim was found on Allesandro Way.  In 1996, a drug bust turned into such a large gun bust, the police shut down traffic on the 5 Freeway, Riverside Drive, Fletcher and locked down the entire neighborhood around the Red Car Property for hours.

Our neighborhood crime is primarily mail theft, car break-ins, dumping, graffiti vandalism, joyriding and a lot of stolen cars seem to get dumped here. We highlight the general lawlessness around the Red Car Property.  We'd much rather be posting photos of the urban wildlife and native plants around the Red Car Property Neighborhood.  While we've not updated the blog frequently in recent years, we continue posting on Twitter @RedCarProperty.

Useful Links:

LAPD contracts with Crimemapping for crime stats.

LAPD  e-policing

LAPD crime prevention tips

LAPD non-emergency phone: 1-877-ASK-LAPD

2 Freeway: Car Crashes Onto Red Car Property From The 2 Freeway

All photos: Red Car Property neighbors, April 27, 2019.

Around 2:30 AM, Red Car Property neighbors were awakened by a horrible sounding crash on the 2 Freeway. A very expensive sports car crashed through the chain link fence and came to a stop at the base of a steep slope on the Red Car Property.  At least one neighbor called police when it appeared people took off after the neighbor shined a bright flashlight on them.

One Silver Ridge neighbor described the sound of the crash: a car's screeching tires on the southbound 2 Freeway, then a large crash followed by more squealing tires and an even larger traveling crash.  A Corralitas neighbor's doorbell camera recorded the same sequence of sound at 2:31 AM.

The photo above is a lighter version of the previous photo, shot around 3 AM. 

With no large trees that used to prevent drivers from crashing onto Corralitas and the Red Car Property, the driver crashed through the brush on the side of the 2 Freeway, down the slope, through the chain link fence, across the public sidewalk (Corralitas Walk) and onto the Red Car Property, stopping at the base of the steep slope at the south end of the Red Car Property.  

Neighbors were on alert for fire since brush clearance had not been done.  This is the same part of the property that burned in the 2016 Silver Lake Fire.

When the sun came up, the path of the crash was more clear.  The orange cones mark the section of chain link fence taken out by the car crashing through and across Corralitas Walk.  It stopped at the far right of the frame.  The tire tracks completing the circle to the left, show the path the tow truck took to reach the car.

The large gap in the trees along the southbound 2, just past the orange cones, is where CalTrans cut down all the trees, including a number of enormous Eucalyptus trees that previously kept cars from flying onto Corralitas Drive and the Red Car Property.  

CalTrans cut down all the trees, including recovering trees that were not dead, after the 2016 Silver Lake Fire.  As soon as CalTrans cut the trees down, neighbors began asking CalTrans for trees, a sound wall or even concrete K-rails because they were suddenly feeling exposed.  A few months after the trees were removed a car flew off the freeway and crashed horribly onto Corralitas Drive.  It was fortunate no pedestrians were injured in either crash.

By 4 AM the tow truck was loading the car now in the Corralitas cul-de-sac, adjacent to the Red Car Property.  A neighbor confirmed the crashed car was a brand new Lamborghini.  It still had dealer paper plates.  From the photos, it appears CHP was present.

After last week's crash, we asked CD13 to prioritize brush clearance on the Red Car Property and request CalTrans do their brush clearance too. A fire could have sparked with the hot engine resting on the dry grass. 

Related: 
Car flies off 2 Freeway onto Corralitas Drive, 2016

All our car crash posts

Several neighbors from Silver Ridge Ave (directly above the Red Car Property) and Corralitas Drive contributed photos, video/audio recording, in addition to what they saw and heard to help create this post. 

This post was published May 7, 2019 and postdated to the incident date for reference.

Elysian Park: In Memoriam, Peter Lassen 1939 – 2018, Community Activist

Photo: Diane Edwardson, Red Tailed Hawk. January 14, 2013.

Friends will gather at the Grace Simons Lodge in Elysian Park tonight to honor the life and legacy of Peter “Pete” Lassen who passed away August 8, 2018.  

I am personally saddened by Pete’s passing as he was a mentor and friend for nearly 25 years.  I always looked up to Pete.  As a community activist, I learned so much from him and we always had a great time talking about things not related to whatever community issue was at hand.  He was charismatic, friendly and had a mellifluous deep voice.  He put family first.  Pete was an inspiration to so many.  Most of all, he was a good person.  

Weeks later, my hands are shaking as I write this and I still can’t adequately sum up the decades of friendship and activism. So I’ll just tell a couple of stories.

A few years ago, while sharing lunch at HOME Restaurant patio, on a beautiful winter day with blue skies and fluffy white clouds, over the din of Riverside Fletcher intersection and the 5 Freeway, while discussing a nearby development proposal, Pete suddenly exclaimed, “Whoa! A huge hawk just took off from that power line tower! Wait there’s another one!”  In the afternoons the updrafts created by the roads and topography makes it an ideal jumping off place for hawks to soar.  Naturally, the hawk led into a long discussion of our enormous hawks and other wildlife in our neighborhoods.  In the last ten years, we actually spent more time talking about other stuff than the issue at hand.

As fellow city planning geeks, we often talked about the built environment, topography, history, native landscapes and urban wildlife. Pete always looked at how the minutiae fit into the big picture, not just how it affected immediate neighbors.

Pete was willing to explain complex and esoteric issues to community members trying to genuinely understand the technical plans on boards at community scoping meetings and how it related to the neighborhood.  When neighbors were attending 2 Freeway Terminus meetings, I told them, find Pete, hang out behind him and you’ll learn what’s important. That’s what I did.  He later said “I thought there were a number of people from your neighborhood asking me questions, and asking good questions.”

When we were involved in the SR2 Freeway Terminus Redesign, I would call him up and say things like “Am I insane?  Or is this the first time sound walls appeared on a map or at all? In 16 years, they never even discussed sound walls anywhere other than the immediate terminus.” Pete’s response was “Yes, you are insane, and, no, those sound walls were not in any previous plan or discussion [prior to the Draft EIR].”  He knew the teasing didn’t bother me.  Decades earlier, I’d learned from Pete, the importance of the details on a proposed map even if they’re not mentioned in the written portion of a proposed plan.

I remember Pete from the first community meeting I ever attended for a development proposal on the Red Car Property in the early 1990s.  He was someone I often consulted, particularly with large complex issues in the community. As community activists, through countless community meetings, small meetings and lunches, we volunteered our time fighting in the community’s interest on the Silver Lake - Echo Park - Elysian Valley Community Plan, SR2 Freeway Terminus Redesign, Glendale Blvd Corridor Plan, Neighbors of Dodger Stadium, Red Car Property, Menlo Property, Semi Tropic Spiritualists’ Tract, just to name a few things affecting our immediate neighborhood.

In his death, Pete joins more of my mentors, Virginia Adams and Rey Dominguez of Elysian Valley, Alicia Brown of Solano Canyon and Judy Raskin of Echo Park.  Pete, and all of them, not only made our community a better place, they made Los Angeles and the world a better place.   

Rest in peace Pete.
Diane Edwardson  

Read more about Pete Lassen: The Eastsider
 

Red Car Property: Not A Park, Follow Us On Twitter

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 17,  2017.  Not a park, it just looks like one.

We apologize to our readers.  Due to other commitments, we're slow to publish to the blog lately.  We hope to be publishing regularly soon.  For timely updates, follow us on Twitter: @RedCarProperty

Corralitas Drive: Apocalyptic Dawn, Christmas Day

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, December 25, 2017, 6:15 AM.  In case you missed it, it was ether a spectacular sunrise on Christmas Day or the dawning of Armageddon.

Corralitas Drive: Bah Humbug

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, December 22, 2017.  Looks like the Grinch is wreaking havoc in Santa's Winter Wonderland this year. 

Happy Holidaze!