Corralitas Public Staircase: Verdugo Hills Sierra Club Adopted Staircase

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, April 19, 2016.  The day before the DWP dug a trench up an upper landing of the Corralitas Public Staircase, Vedugo Hills Chapter of the Sierra Club pulled weeds at the base of the public staircase at Rosebud.  The chapter adopted the public staircase a year ago.  They had hoped to plant wildflower seeds prior to the rainy season this year, but the construction site above was using it to dump dirt and debris temporarily.  The succulents were planted by neighbors years ago.
 

Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase: Winter Solstice Exact 8:49 PM Tonight

Photo: Diane Edwardson.  It just seems right to celebrate the winter solstice, exact at 8:49 PM, PST, with the Silver Lake Ave Moai.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)
 

Historic Landmark Viaduct Footings: Sign From God?

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, September 27, 2015.  It feels like we should find the Ark of the Covenant or at least a pot of gold, where the shaft of light is pointing at the base of the Historic Landmark Viaduct Footings.
 

Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase: No, You're Not Hallucinating From The Heat & Humidity

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 24, 2015.   Moai stand guard at the section of the Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase between Riverside Place and the Red Car Property.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

This segment of the public staircase is recognized by the City Dept of Transportation as a public staircase/walk street. 

Note: I always see people, guidebooks in hand, attempting public staircase hikes in the summer heat.  I've walked the steepest hills and public staircases of Silver Lake and Echo Park for 25 years.  If you are just a casual hiker, don't do this after 9 AM or before 7 PM in the summer heat.  Hiking stairs, even on cloudy days, increases your body heat unbelievably fast.  With the kind of humidity we're experiencing, sweat doesn't evaporate and you run the risk of heat stroke.  

Historic Viaduct Footings: Milkweed Blooming

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 16, 2015.  This may be native Kotolo Milkweed blooming among the City of LA Historic Landmark Pacific Electric Viaduct Footings.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 16, 2015.  Usually, we see a pink variety of Kotolo Milkweed blooming up above the viaduct footings.  This is the first time in the 25 years I've walked the property, I'd never seen the yellow variety.

Native milkweed is vital for butterfly species as a larval foodplant. 

Click here for all our Kotolo Milkweed posts.

Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase: New Landmark Moai Brought Rain This Week

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, February 8, 2014.  A Moai mysteriously appeared in the guerrilla garden adjacent the Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase, not only greeting visitors to the Red Car Property, but bringing the first measurable rain* in 2014.  Perhaps a new cult of the Red Car Moai will take hold. Pray for more rain.

 

Rainfall totals, according to the Corralitas rain gauge:

February 6, 2014: 0.3"

Season to date:    1.65"

*The last measurable rain: December 19, 2013.
 

Lake View Ave: Fresh Landscaping For The Free Little Library

Photo: Russell Bates, December 5, 2013.  The Free Little Library on Lake View Ave just got some new drought tolerant landscaping from neighbor and landscape designer Seth Baker. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Russell Bates, December 5, 2013.  Bates adds, "It's
really going to look great as these plants get established, and it's a big improvement on that bare (and neglected-by-owner) hillside."

Bates & wife Amy Seidenwurm established the Lake View branch of the Free Little Library on Lake View in 2012.  Neighbors of all ages are welcome to take a book and leave a book.

Red Car Property: "Leave Plants Alone!"

Photo: Diane Edwardson, August 19, 2013.  A neighbor who maintains the guerrilla agave garden on the Red Car Property is frustrated by the agave vandals who persist in cutting off too many of the plants' spiky "leaves" to make tequila. The plants then rot & die from the inside out.  He caged most of the plants since warnings painted on the plants were not enough.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Agaves are drought tolerant, fire resistant & are usually ideal for deterring thieves when planted densely near fences and windows.  The American Century Plant (Agave americana) agave theives.  The next step is motion sensor lights & video cameras. 

CalFlora lists the American Century Plant as minorly toxic, causing dermatitis & oxalates (kidney stones). 

Click here for all our defensive landscaping posts.

Disclaimer: The Corralitas Red Car Property Blog prefers to quote reliable sources, such as CalFlora and California Poison Control on the issue of toxicity.  We often get email suggesting some plants are edible. If you are eating your way through the Red Car Property, we DO NOT recommend you eat any plant you find in the Red Car Property neighborhood without first doing your own research.

 

 

Historic Viaduct Footings: Final Resting Place For The Adelbert-All Weather Lounge

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 9, 2012.  While working on yesterday's post, I was thinking the Adelbert All-Weather Lounge (arrow pointing to its current location among the historic viaduct footings) hadn't moved in quite some time.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

 

Yesterday, The Eastsider posted a wistful photo of the feral furniture that's been making the rounds for years on the northern end of the Red Car Property. 

 

Click here for all our Adelbert All-Weather Lounge photos.

Red Car Property: "Leave Plants Alone!"

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 10, 2012.  From a distance, I thought a vandal had tagged the agaves near the Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase on the Red Car Property.  Up close, the message is to the point and not graffiti.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

 

According to a Riverside Place neighbor, the adjacent homeowner, who planted the defensive landscaping years ago, was pissed off at the hack job the City did on the agaves when the City was doing brush clearance on the Red Car Property.  So he painted the message in English & Spanish on many of the big agaves.

 

Click here for all our defensive landscaping posts.

Adelbert All-Weather Lounge: It's Back!

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 17, 2012.  Just the other day, I was pondering the fate of the Adelbert All-Weather Lounge.  It seemed to disappear after its last appearance in January.  Someone must have tossed it down the slope at the historic viaduct footings, as it's now a part of the guerrilla garden behind the Arco Station.  (Click on photo to enlarge.) 

Click here for all our Adelbert All-Weather Lounge posts.

Historic Viaduct Footings: Dec 1 Windstorm Made Guerrilla Art A Bigger Mess

Photo: Diane Edwardson, December 11, 2011.  What was I saying about guerrilla artists needing to take responsibility for maintaining their art?  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Red Car Canyon: Some Neighbors Still Unclear On Concept Of Brush Clearance & Removal

Photo: Diane Edwardson, August 14, 2011.  The neighbor who maintains the guerrilla garden in Red Car Canyon persists in leaving giant piles of kindling beneath the dry branches of a huge pepper tree.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Red Car Property neighbors are always nervous about the practice, because it never gets hauled away.  The canyon attracts parties day & night and fire season lasts all year round. 

Read more about LAFD Brush Clearance regulations: http://lafd.org/brush/. 

Red Car Canyon: Recycling

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 1, 2010. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Earth Day: Reuse, Recycle

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 3, 2009. Repurposed vacuum, Red Car Canyon. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Historic Viadcut Footings:Guerrilla Garden

Photo: Diane Edwardson, December 9, 2009. While some bemoan the mostly non-native & non-historic guerrilla garden at the historic viaduct footings, most neighbors welcome anything that discourages graffiti vandals and dumping on the Red Car Property. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

See also: Silver Lake's Stonehenge

Night Blooming Cereus Cactus

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 21, 2009. Non-native Cereus cactus with an 8-inch flower near the Silver Lake Ave. public staircase. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

An organ-pipe type cactus, once established, Cereus are drought tolerant and defensive landscaping. Night blooming cactus are pollinated by bats and really big moths.

Defensive Landscaping

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 18, 2009. American Century Plants (Agave americana) are drought and fire resistant. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

With dumping, late night parties and abandoned stolen cars, is there any wonder why neighbors plant the Red Car Property defensively?

Guerrilla Garden, Corralitas Staircase

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 9, 2008. Guerrilla Garden at Corralitas Drive and Rosebud Ave. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The guerrilla garden at the base of the Corralitas public staircase is not as impressive as the Silver Lake Ave. guerrilla garden. However, it manages to survive on annual rainfall and condensation on damp mornings. Iris and succulents culled from neighbors' gardens managed to survive intense sun, exhaust fumes and weed abatement. Late December through February is the best time to plant succulents in areas like this, so their roots can get established during the rainy season.

UPDATE: October 6, 2008. Over the weekend, someone stole three large succulents pictured above; not just a few cuttings, but three entire plants. Vandalizing a guerrilla garden is pretty low.

Silver Lake Ave. Public Staircase

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 8, 2008. Silver Lake Ave. staircase between the Red Car Property and Lake View Ave. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Silver Lake Ave. public staircase is one of the most popular in the neighborhood. Originally built to serve the India St. Stop of the Pacific Electric Red Car Trolley, the staircase also links the community together. It provides pedestrian access between Silver Ridge Ave, Lake View Ave. and Allesandro Elementary School. The staircase also serves as a link in a vital recreational trail for the community.

As with the section of stairs just below the Red Car Property, neighbors planted the City owned right-of-way defensively and actively keep the staircase clean.