Red Car Property Neighborhood: Great Training For The Big Parade

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2011.  The Loma Vista Public Staircase is known as the "Mother of All Staircases." 

The Big Parade, the 35-mile, 100+ public staircase hike from Downtown to the Hollywood Sign is scheduled for May 31 - June 1, 2014.  The Mt Washington warmup hike is May 30.

Our neighborhood is great training ground as, according to Alex Pudlin, we have 5 of the 10 public staircases with the most steps in Silver Lake.  (He counts either side of Loma Vista in Silver Lake as separate staircases - like once you go all the way up, you're not going to go down the other side?!)  Those 5 public staircases are Earl, Loma Vista West 1 & 2, Oak Glen** & Corralitas.  There are also a bunch of other public staircases* and public walkways that link to the Red Car Property, creating a great urban trail through the neighborhood.

Read about Pudlin's charts: The Eastsider
Take a Hike: The Big Parade

*Pudlin understandably misidentifies a couple of our public staircases: India is actually Roselin & Silver Ridge is in fact Silver Lake Ave.  
**I suspect the Oak Glen Stairs are actually the Edendale Place Public Staircase accessed via Fair Oak View Terrace. You'll just have to go for a hike and find out.  But nonetheless - he created a great chart of Silver Lake's public staircases. 

Red Car Neighborhood: LOST DOG, Banjo FOUND 7-13-13 **updated

Banjo, a 45 lb, neutered, male dog has been lost since 10:30 AM this morning from his Lake View Ave home.  If you've seen him please call his very worried owner.
  
Banjo was last seen at Silver Ridge Way around 10:30 AM on Thurs. Neighbors think he might have gone up over the hill toward Hildago. 

Banjo was wearing a collar with tags & is microchipped. 

**7-13-13 BANJO WAS FOUND today in a neighbor's backyard.  His owners thank everyone who helped looked for him.  He is healthy and happy to be home.  

Spring Cleaning: Silver Lake Style

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 13, 2013.  The Adelbert trail cut-through to the Red Car Property has some new trail markers.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 13, 2013.  The Gilroy Overlook Lounge on Lot C of the Red Car Property moved to its present location a few weeks ago, along with some wicker furniture and area rugs.  The leather couch is all that remains.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 13, 2013.  A month or two ago, ago a Brazilian Pepper Tree in Red Car Canyon was butchered after a branch broke.  Since then, the pile of debris has been growing with other garbage dumped in the canyon. 

NOTE TO LAKE VIEW AVE NEIGHBORS: Look behind your fence!  Paint over the graffiti.  You're not helping the "broken window" effect by ignoring what happens on the other side of your fence.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 13, 2013.  Allesandro Way at Earl St.  A couch and mattress have awaited pick up on this part of Allesandro Way for months.  They seem to have migrated to the intersection of Earl St because the City won't pick up just any old mattress & couch without an address, no matter how many times the neighbors call it in. (They wouldn't want to pick up the wrong couch & mattress!)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 13, 2013.  A box spring awaits a new home at the corner of Oak Glen & Allesandro Way.  Again, with no address, it may have a long wait.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 13, 2013.  One of several Christmas Trees still lining the "sidewalk" on the 2 Freeway side of Allesandro Street - this one is between Walcott & Whitmore. 

Don't dump your trash in our neighborhood - or any other neighborhood. For bulky item pick-up from the City, call 311, use the City's website or the City's new smartphone app. 

Of course, neighbors who routinely call in illegal dumping will tell you the biggest problem is when dumping occurs in areas without street addresses.  Supposedly, this would be resolved with the smartphone app, but neighbors who try reporting illegal dumping that way don't always get it picked up. 

Allesandro Way: Wisteria Lane?

Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 30, 2013.  The Wisteria has climbed to the top of the 75' pine tree on Allesandro Way between Earl & Loma Vista.  If you look closely, you'll also see explosions of magenta, where the Bougainvillea has also climbed high into the pine tree.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 30, 2013.  Wisteria is non-native.  It takes decades to reach anywhere near this size so it is indeed spectacular cultivated plant from someone's garden.  In person, you'll notice it vines into other trees and bushes, but seems happiest in the big pine tree.  The bloom won't last much longer, catch it while you can!

2 Freeway Sound Walls: CalTrans Sets Tight Deadline For Adjacent Neighbors To Respond

Photo rendering (by a Red Car Property Neighbor) of a 12-14' high sound wall would look like on Allesandro Way as proposed by CalTrans. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

 

February 4, 2013: CalTrans mailed out letters about the proposed controversial sound walls according to Benkin Jong, current Metro project manager for the State Route 2 Freeway Terminus Redesign Project. Thursday afternoon, Jong emailed neighbors who've been spearheading the anti-sound wall campaign, in addition to the area's elected officials.

 

Sound walls are planned between Oak Glen & Lake View Ave on Allesandro Way, as well as between Oak Glen & Rosebud Ave on Allesandro Street. (If you live directly across the street from the 2 Freeway in one of the aforementioned areas and did not receive a letter this week, please send us an email with your name, address & email address: redcarproperty@gmail.com.)

 

According to Jong, the letter was mailed to about 20 neighbors and property owners on the Allesandro Way (Silver Lake side) and around 30 neighbors on Allesandro Street (Elysian Heights/Echo Park side). THE RESPONSE MUST BE RECEIVED BY CALTRANS BY FEBRUARY 20, 2013.

 

The letter gives no indication if a failure to respond is a de facto "yes" vote. (It usually is.)

 

Renters' votes are only worth 10% of 1 vote. Only tenants & homeowners directly across the street from the freeway were mailed to.  

Photo, left: Allesandro Way today is a tree lined street that makes living next to the freeway more tolerable. Right, another neighbor offers what a sound wall would devolve to in about a month's time. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2009. This retaining wall is below Allesandro Way (as seen from Allesandro Street). The trees will be cut down and a 12 to 14 foot tall sound wall will sit on top of the slope above the already 25 foot tall retaining wall. Views from and property values in Elysian Heights will be effected.

 

Unfortunately, CalTrans is considering the sound wall issue as if ours was a flat neighborhood. The 2 Freeway sits in the bottom of a steep canyon with hundreds of homes looking down onto the freeway. 

 

Neighbors are organizing to ensure those who receive the letters from CalTrans understand what is proposed and mail their response before the deadline.

 

We've written extensively about sound walls since we first discovered them hidden deep within the Environmental Impact Report for the 2 Freeway Terminus Project. 

 

Click here for all our sound wall related posts.





Allesandro Way: (Proposed) Sound Walls One Week Later

Photo: Artist's rendering, September 2012.  Another neighbor took the first sound wall rendering on Allesandro Way to its logical one week later shot.  (Click on photo to enlarge.) 

 

Anyone who lives near a large canvas of wall in our part of town, does constant battle with graffiti vandals.  A freshly constructed wall seems far too appealing to graffiti vandals. 

 

Neighbors are commenting on the proposed sound walls as part of the SR2 Freeway Terminus Project on The Eastsider.

 

Allesandro Way: Future Sound Walls, The "East Berlin/Escape From New York Aesthetic"

Photo September 2012. Artist's rendering of a 12-16' tall sound wall on Allesandro Way, looking north from Oak Glen, on the Silver Lake side of the 2 Freeway. CalTrans has increased the height of the wall, originally planned at a height of 8-10' in the 2009 EIR. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

 

After the recent community meeting on plans for the redesign of the 2 Freeway Terminus, many neighbors on the Silver Lake side of the 2 Freeway were outraged enough to take action. One neighbor created this before/after set of photos of Allesandro Way to help neighbors understand what they would lose if the sound walls are imposed on us.  Others are circulating petitions.

Photo: September 2012.  Say good-bye to all those trees on Allesandro Way if the sound walls are constructed. 

 

Neighbors who are closest to and at eye level with the 2 Freeway do have legitimate need for sound walls. However, giving us walls in exchange for trees is not a good solution for the neighborhood as a whole. The problem stems from there not being enough room for both trees and sound walls (according to CalTrans and the MTA). 

 

Benkin Jong. current MTA project manager for the SR2 Freeway Terminus Redesign Project, made it clear to neighbors (both individually and publicly at the meeting) that the only people who's opinion mattered, were those who live right next to the 2 Freeway. 

 

The hundreds of homes lining the hillsides of either side of the 2 Freeway have no say on giant walls that will affect not only their property values but also their physical and psychological health. 

 

Another neighbor (who's been here for more than 10 years) writes, sound walls will be an "extremely horrible visual addition to the neighborhood. While searching for properties in different parts of the city, it was these very walls that kept us from purchasing near them. They give neighborhoods an East Berlin/Escape from New York aesthetic that is cold and claustrophobic. Walling off one neighborhood from another just seems like a horrible solution to any problem. The tagging of these walls is a given, just take a look at the green gate around the Semi Tropic construction along with all the other "walls" in the area.

 

Many of the trees that are very close to the freeway will have to be removed to put walls in. I sign on to the plan of planting more trees, more foliage to help disperse sound and help air quality in the immediate area. That is an actual solution that does not carry with it all the other negatives that walls do."

 

Neighbors are going door to door on Allesandro Way and Cove, gathering signatures urging the sound walls be dropped from the 2 Terminus plan.

 

Worth noting: the Catholic Church at the Terminus & Glendale Blvd managed to get the sound walls removed from the plan for the section in front of their school and church because of the prison-like effect sound walls would impose. 

 

Click here for a reverse angle shot from the Oak Glen overpass of the same grove of trees.  

 

Click here for all our 2 Freeway Terminus posts.  

 

Related: The Role of Vegetation in Mitigating Air Quality Impacts from Traffic Emissions, EPA

 

Earl St. Public Staircase: Not Included In The Big Parade, May 19 & 20, 2012

Photo: A.F.Futterer, Holyland Exhibition, 1934.  The Earl St. Public Staircase zig-zags up one of the steep hills in the background of the Holyland Exhibition (corner of Lake View Ave & Allesandro Way).  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Big Parade, the free 2-day, 100 public staircase hike from Angel's Flight (Downtown) to the Hollywood Sign, covers a lot of ground.  Sadly, the Earl Public Staircase, one of the most interesting public staircases in our neighborhood, won't be on this years tour. 

However, there is still a lot to see on this year's Big Parade, whether you join for a few staircases, hours or both days.  Check out routes, timetables, highlights, advice and more: http://bigparadela.com/

I recommend following the Big Parade live on Twitter, if you live on on the route and want to support these hardy hikers with water or snacks. 

Click here for all our Earl Public Staircase posts.

Still not convinced you should take part in the Big Parade?  Click here for all our Big Parade posts.

Earl Public Staircase

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 14, 2011.  The Earl Public Staircase zig zags up the hill and offers barbed wire and spectacular views.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

We're looking at the Red Car Property Neighborhood's public staircases leading up to The Big Parade on May 21 &; 22, 2011. The Big Parade is a FREE 2 day, 35 mile, 100+ public staircase hike from Downtown Los Angeles to the Hollywood Sign. Join The Big Parade for a few staircases, miles or both days. Info: www.bigparadela.com.

Public Staircase Offers Clue To Builders

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 28, 2010. The Earl Public Staircase features 8" diameter storm drains with foot-wide drainage flumes. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

A few years ago, a builder of an apartment building on Allesandro at Fargo remarked to me, "You know, we had to redo our entire storm drain system 3 times before it could handle the amount of rain that comes off this hillside." Their parking lot had been flooding, even with light rain.

A neighbor on Riverside Place had the same experience. The amount of stormwater flowing off our steep hillsides to the lowest properties overwhelms standard stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs). The steep topography of the 2 Freeway Corridor adds to the orographic uplift, producing at least triple the amount of official rainfall totals.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 28, 2010. Earl Public Staircase zig-zags up a very steep slope, complete with a storm drain the length of the staircase. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The size of the drainage system on the Earl Public Staircase, between Earl (on top) and Earl & Bancroft (facing the 2 Freeway), should be a clue to builders. Considering the public staircases were built long before Doppler radar, builders understood how much rain flowed off these hills.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 4, 2010. Sixteen inch tall storm drain inlet on Allesandro Way at Silver Ridge Ave. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Another clue is size of the City storm drain inlets at the lowest portion of the neighborhood streets, like Riverside Drive, Riverside Place and Allesandro. I once toured some architecture students from Germany and Japan around the area. They marvelled at the scale of the storm drain inlets.

So if you plan to build near a low point of the area slopes, whatever you think stormwater BMPs are - triple the capacity, you'll save time and headaches later.

We're celebrating the Red Car Property Neighborhood's public staircases in anticipation of Th Big Parade II coming June 12 & 13, 2010. More info and routes for the 2-day 100+ public staircase hike: www.bigparadela.com.

Earl Public Staircase

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 28, 2010. The Earl Public Staircase offers views of the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract and Glassell Park. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

We're taking a closer look at the neighborhood public staircases leading up to The Big Parade II, June 12 & 13, 2010. For more info on the 2-day, 100+ public staircase hike: www.bigparadela.com.

Earl Staircase & Hollywood Sign Featured Day 2 of "The Big Parade"

Photo: Antonio Futterer, Holyland Exhibition, 1960. Shot from Fellowship Parkway, looking at the Silver Lake side of what is now the 2 Freeway. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Sunday, July 19, Day 2 of the ultimate urban hike, "The Big Parade," will begin at the Music Box Steps and end at the Hollywood Sign. They'll be in the Red Car Neighborhood in the morning.

Fellowship Parkway, Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract and Corralitas staircases are on Saturday's schedule.

Check www.bigparadela.com for instructions, routes and approximate timetables. Be sure to check Friday night, as routes and times may change. Dan Koeppel, who is organizing the event, emphasizes following their progress on Twitter so you can join the hike in progress, or just offer encouragement as they work their way through our neighborhood.

Earl Street Staircase

Photo: Futterer, Holyland Exhibition, 1934. The Earl Street Staircase zig-zags down the hillside behind the Holyland Exhibition's building. The Holyland Exhibition is on the corner of Lake View Ave. and Allesandro Way. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

While the Earl Street Staircase does not connect directly to the Red Car Property, it was another link in the neighborhood to the Edendale and Glendale Lines of the Red Car Trolley. The trolley stopped nearby at the corner of Whitmore Ave. and Allesandro St.

Dan Koeppel, writer and Silver Lake resident, mapped an 18-mile route of supposedly all the staircases in Silver Lake and Echo Park. The route is complete with directions, number of stairs in each staircase, and includes the Earl St. and Loma Vista staircases in our neighborhood. However, he left out all of the staircases connecting to the Red Car Property. Nonetheless, it is an impressive hike and worth exploring the staircases in person.

The Echo Park Historical Society gives their next Echo Park Staircase Tour on Oct 25.