Red Car Canyon: Neighbors Call Police On Suspicious Jaguar Convertible

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #1, August 1, 2017.  Neighbors called police upon finding an abandoned green Jaguar convertible.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Longtime neighbors recognize the signs of a suspected stolen car: serious front end damage, punched trunk lock (see last  photo), flat tire, car abandoned in a totally inappropriate place for cars to drive on the property.  However, according to LAPD Senior Lead Officer Lenny Davis, as of 8:30 AM the car was not reported stolen.  

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #2, August 1, 2017.  Apparently the car was stuck on one of the many cut up logs surrounding the Charles Lacey Memorial.  On more than one occasion, Red Car Property neighbors reported an  abandoned car prior to the car owner learning his car was stolen.  Neighbors saw the driver of the Jaguar attempting to extricate the car from its sticky predicament around 6:30 PM last night.

In 2016, the Silver Lake Fire burned right up to homes in this canyon before a massive effort by LAFD and partner agencies stopped it. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, #3, August 1, 2017.  Neighbors are particularly nervous about vehicles driving on the Red Car Property since the dry brush has not yet been cleared from the property.  A hot engine parked on dry grass or a rock hitting metal under a car driving on the property can spark a fire. 

We have long advocated for installation of heavy steel gates (similar to gates at the entrance to every fire road in Griffith and Elysian Parks) blocking all vehicle access except for emergency vehicles.  LAFD has requirements for "security gates" posted on their website.

Link to video of Jaguar showing the extent of the dry brush in this location.

Click here for all our suspected stolen cars posts.

Red Car Canyon: Neighbors Suspect 2 Stolen Cars Abandoned

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #1, March 2, 2017.  Yesterday, a longtime Red Car Property neighbor, who walks the property regularly, sent a photo of 2 cars that appeared to be stolen, abandoned on the Red Car Property.  If you look closely at the first photo, you can see the second car further back.  We have not been able to confirm if indeed these cars were stolen, but the story only gets stranger.

In the predawn hours, Thursday, another neighbor walking his dog, offered to call the police for a man without pants who was standing outside one of the cars.  The man declined.  As soon as I learned of the incident, word was sent to LAPD Senior Lead Officer Lenny Davis, CD13 and adjacent neighbors, including Rose Scharlin Co-op Nursery School. 

Longtime neighbors know the signs of abandoned stolen cars.  While the canyon is not a common place to dump stolen cars, it has happened in the past.  Often, neighbors have reported stolen cars abandoned on the Red Car Property, or on Rosebud under the 2 Freeway, hours or even days before the car owners reported their cars stolen.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #2, March 2, 2017.  Midday Thursday, LAPD came out to check on the car. They told a neighbor it was just stuck in the mud.  There appears to be considerable damage to the right rear bumper.

A third neighbor reported the car was pulled out of the mud by a white truck late Thursday afternoon.  The person who appeared to be with the Prius, was not wearing shoes.

The Red Car Property is not a park, nor is it a city street right of way.  It is private property.  In the early 1990s, there were heavy steel fire road gates that blocked traffic from portions of the property.  

We have long advocated for installation of gates similar to those on every fire road in Griffith and Elysian Parks to prevent all but police/fire/ambulance emergency access.  Fire road gates would enable pedestrians and non-motorized access to the property, while preventing people from driving cars from driving and dumping, joyriding or gathering for parties, which have been persistent problems.  Pedestrians help keep many bad uses out by their daily presence.  

In the past, the property owner threatened to fence off the entire site with chain link, but that would only keep the law-abiding neighbors off the property.  Fencing the entire property only creates a safe haven for bad uses.  Homeless and people looking to commit crimes, use drugs or party would then have free use of the property without the watchful eyes of pedestrians and families who use the property in a positive way.  

The Red Car Property is a lawless place.

Click here for all our stolen car posts.

Rosebud Ave Under SR2 Freeway: Looks Like A Stolen Car Torched

Photo: Eli Shamszadeh, April 11, 2016.  (Photos shot between 10:13 to 10:35 PM.)  It's disturbing when you try to turn the corner on the only access road to Corralitas and you find a truck on fire under the 2 Freeway on Rosebud Ave.  One neighbor left the hill at 9:50 PM, only to return 15-20 minutes later to this scene.

Texts and emails came in around 10:20PM as frustrated Corralitas neighbors heard what they thought was an accident, explosions and lots of black smoke. Neighbors called 911 before contacting me.   After I put out word to the Corralitas Neighborhood Watch list, more reports from neighbors and photos came in. 

Photo: Eli Shamszadeh, April 11, 2016.  Shamszadeh shot photos from a safe distance across Allesandro Street from the Rosebud underpass while he waited to get up the hill. 

Photo: Eli Shamszadeh, April 11, 2016.  According to another neighbor, LAFD rolled up on Rosebud without sirens.  We know it's a torched stolen car because 1. there is no parking anytime under the SR 2 Freeway on Rosebud, and 2. this used to happen almost weekly in the early 1990s.  It's been so long since we've had one, at least one longtime neighbor on the 2 Freeway side of the hill thought it sounded like a horrible accident.

Photo: Eli Shamszadeh, April 11, 2016. According to Shamszadeh, by 10:48 PM, LAFD was gone and Rosebud was open again.  

While there have been very few torched stolen cars under the 2 Freeway in the last 10 years, the last one we documented was in 2007. 

Red Car Property, Lot C: Never A Dull Moment

Stuff you missed this year, and in 1996...

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 11, 2015.  One evening, last May, much to the alarm of neighbors, more than a dozen police cars, including LAPD officers in riot gear and circling helicopters, showed up to a house on Riverside Drive, accessed via the Red Car Property's Lot C, north of India Street.  Yes, there is access to the house from Riverside Drive, but most residents here use the Red Car Property.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 11, 2015.  Police cars were lined up on the Red Car Property, north of India Street; on India Street; as well as on Riverside Drive around Gilroy.

In an email response to my inquiry at the time, LAPD Senior Lead Officer (SLO) for Silver Lake, Lenny Davis replied, officers responded to a call of shots fired in the 2300 block of Riverside Drive.  "Due to recent national events, we are tending to respond with our equipment on when we handle calls like that."  While they found no evidence of shots fired, they did recover two stolen cars parked on the Red Car Property. 

Last May's incident was actually mild compared to the 1996 bust at a house a few hundred feet north on Riverside Drive, also accessible via the Red Car Property north of India Street.  Then, an LAPD undercover drug buy quickly turned into a huge weapons bust.  It was such a large and volatile cache, police closed Riverside Drive, Fletcher Drive, both the 5 and the 2 Freeways, as well as neighborhood streets.  There was a huge back up of traffic as streets and freeways were closed and evacuated for hours while the bomb squad and LAFD cleared the cache of weapons. 

In the 1996 incident, LAPD discovered the homeowner had broken into an out-of-commission, 8' diameter concrete conduit.  It was a pre-1912 DPW water main that doesn't even show up on current tract maps - somewhere in the hillside west of Riverside Drive.  (Note: for all you LA City nerds: it pre-dates the Crystal Springs Conduit, which is not as large.)  

The homeowner was using the 8' concrete conduit as a firing range for military assault weapons.  He even had a grenade launcher.  Next door neighbors, TV news reporters and LAPD Silver Lake SLO Al Polehonki, went inside the tunnel once it was cleared by LAFD and LAPD.  All reported the same thing: the thickness of the concrete and the hillside created a sound barrier so the neighbors did not hear what was happening underground. 

The use of an old water main as a firing range for military assault weapons however, would raise questions about slope stability if the conduit was damaged by the weapons.

*Stuff You Missed This Year is our annual wrap up of interesting photos and things we just didn't have a chance to run, because everything seems to always happen at the same time.  Since the May 2015 incident appeared to involve ongoing criminal activity (unrelated to the 1996 incident other than by location) and a major show of force by the LAPD, we really didn't know what to do with it at the time other than report it to the neighbors, CD13 and the Red Car Property owner's rep.
 

Red Car Property: Abandoned Mercedes SUV Removed After Three Months

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, August 21, 2015.  The totaled Mercedes SUV abandoned on the Red Car Property on Memorial Day Weekend, was finally removed late this week.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 12, 2015.  The SUV was parked in the area south of India St, on the Red Car Property, where Rose Scharlin Nursery School is allowed to park 4 cars.  When the crashed SUV first appeared, before putting it on the blog, we sent photos and information to Rose Scharlin and to the property owner's rep.  Neither claimed any knowledge of the SUV's owner.  We repeatedly asked the Red Car Property owner's rep to have the car removed as it was only attracting more problems to the area.  LA City Dept of Building & Safety issued an order to comply to remove the abandoned SUV earlier this month.

Without adequate parking gates to keep vehicles off the property, this type of problem will persist. 

Red Car Property: 2 White Cars Abandoned Behind Homes On Corralitas

Photos: Corralitas Neighbor, August 11, 2015, 6:55 AM.  While out for an early walk this morning, a neighbor found two cars parked in a suspicous place hidden into the hillside behind homes on Corralitas Drive, on the Red Car Property.  Neither car was parked there yesterday morning. 

The Buick, a 4-door white sedan's CA license plate is 4COA887. 

The Subaru, a 4-door white sedan's CA plate is 5UMC525.

Photos with this information were sent to the Red Car Property owner's rep, LAPD Senior Lead Officers Lenny Davis and Gina Chovan, CD13 and nearby neighbors. 

Since this is private property, if the cars are not reported stolen, only the property owner can have them towed.   Since the property is not gated to vehicle traffic as it was some 25 years ago, it periodically becomes a dumping ground for stolen and abandoned vehicles.  The neighbors at these 2 homes are not parking their cars on the property. 

In the meantime the Mercedes SUV abandoned on the Red Car Property south of India, Memorial Day Weekend is still there. The Red Car Property remains a lawless place.


*UPDATE Aug 13, 2015: Cars gone. 
 

Red Car Property: Mercedes Abandoned Memorial Day Weekend, Has Not Moved

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, August 3, 2015.  We first reported this silver Mercedes SUV, CA plates: 6AON271, to the property owner's rep and LAPD Senior Lead Officer Lenny Davis on May 23, 2015. Now it's attracting more trash and dumping.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

City Parking Enforcement refuses to tow cars from private property if they are not stolen.  This car was registered to an address in San Rafael when LAPD SLO Davis checked in May.  At the time, it was not reported stolen.  The Red Car Property owner has to have the car towed. 

In June, it was reported to Building & Safety. The inspector seemed to think this SUV was coming and going from the property.  Right.  My guess is he never went out to see the vehicle. CD13 has requested Building & Safety follow up on the complaint.  There is no lack of photographs on the blog or in my archives.

Click here for all the abandoned Mercedes SUV posts.

At least the Buick abandoned on Corralitas at the Red Car Property was finally removed in the past week.   Parking Enforcement can cite and tow if the car is abandoned on a City Street.  

Note: Despite what many mapping services say, the Red Car Property is NOT Silver Lake Court (an unbuilt City street right-of-way, just west of the property between Silver Lake Ave Stairs, ending north of Roselin Stairs).  The Red Car Property is private property and it is a lawless place. 

Red Car Property: Mercedes SUV Abandoned Memorial Day Weekend, Still There

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 14, 2015.  Mercedes SUV (CA plates 6AON271) with massive front end damage, abandoned on the Red Car Property south of India Street on Memorial Day Weekend is now attracting dumping trash and graffiti on the windows.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Red Car Property is not a place to abandon your cars.  This one was registered to someone in San Rafael (when it was check in May).  

It's starting to look like someone is using the property and our neighborhood to store salvaged vehicles.  The Red Car Property is not zoned for a parking lot, let alone a salvage yard.  This one has been reported to Building & Safety.

Corralitas Drive: Lose Your Late 1960s Buick Special?

Updates**

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 10, 2015.  Someone abandoned a late 1960s-era Buick Special (CA plates: 7KVC368) in the Corralitas Drive cul-de-sac at the Red Car Property about two weeks ago.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

A couple of Corralitas neighbors witnessed a couple of people filming and taking photographs of what appeared to be a staged accident when the car first showed up.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 14, 2015.  One of the neighbors watched as one guy mixed a liquid that looked like oil and poured it in the street.  It's not oil, but dry, solid and slick, as I almost slipped when I tested it with my boot to see if it was dry.  

The same neighbor said they made it look like the car had crashed into the telephone pole, poured the liquid in the street and took photos.  Then they backed the car into its current parked position under the California Black Walnut Tree.  The car has not moved since.  One of the neighbors said they were calling it into Parking Enforcement.

This is the second car with severe front end damage, abandoned on or near the Red Car Property in recent months.  I guess it's not as bad as when they used to set stolen cars on fire.

If you see activity such as described above, take photos with your cell phone. We don't need to become a dumping ground again.

*UPDATE 7-25-15: A neighbor who called Parking Enforcement on the Buick, ran into the officer on the street this week and asked why the car was still here a more than a week since it was called in.  The officer did not have a satisfactory answer.

On a more positive note, last weekend's inch of rain washed away whatever the prop black stuff they poured onto the street to simulate oil in the second photo above.

**UPDATE 8-3-15: Neighbors report the Buick Special was removed by 7-31-15.  Another neighbor reports now seeing it parked on Larga in Atwater.   
   

Lot C: Abandoned Mercedes SUV Still There

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 16, 2015.  Silver Mercedes SUV license plate: 6AON271 has not moved since it showed up on the Red Car Property just south of India Street,  May 23, 2015.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

If this is your car, which is registered to an address in San Rafael, please come pick it up immediately.  

We notified the property owner's rep on May 23 and frequently since then.  He wonders why people dump their trash on the Red Car Property.  Perhaps the property owner should take measures to tow the illegally parked cars away, block the property at India and Corralitas to vehicle traffic with a LAFD approved gate and do the brush clearance by May 1, every year.

Lot C: Still Lawless

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 1, 2015.  That Mercedes SUV was abandoned just south of the India St entrance to the Red Car Property more than 10 days ago.  It's registered to an address in San Rafael.  And as of last Friday, it was not reported stolen.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The green bins just north of the India St entrance are overflowing with yuccas and tree branches.  It's a good bet the the City will not pick up those overstuffed bins.

Silver Ridge: Stolen Poetry & Other Crimes *UPDATED With Another Stolen Car

Photo: Diane Edwardson, August 24, 2013.  Signs posted around the Red Car Property neighborhood alerting neighbors to poetry thieves.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

But seriously, there was a rash of car break-ins, a stolen car & according to one Lake View neighbor, mail & subsequent ID theft, two weeks ago on Lake View & Silver Ridge. 

LAPD advises you to leave nothing in your car, use an alarm & ALWAYS lock your doors & roll up your windows.  If you are a victim of a crime, report it to the LAPD.  The LAPD budgets resources based on where crimes are reported.

Our LAPD Senior Lead Officer Lenny Davis has told me many of these crimes happen in waves, where a couple of guys will get dropped off at one end of the street and they will work there way down the street checking car door handles.  You'd be surprised how many unlocked doors they find.  Then they get picked up at the other end of the street.  It's just as likely to happen in the daytime as at night. 

You can sign up for crime alerts via the LAPD website.  It will lead you to their legitimate offsite contractor, CrimeMapping.com.  You can choose weekly or daily crime reports for a one mile radius of your address.  (Note: Crimes are listed by block number only so it should not be confused that, for instance, 2600 2300 Silver Ridge is having a lot of crime, it's just the 2600 2300 block.) 

*UPDATE: When I opened my CrimeMapping email later this morning, there were 2 new neighborhood crimes this weekend: a car stolen from the 2300 block of Silver Ridge & a car break-in on the 2200 block of India.  Both are on this map showing reported crimes for the past month in the neighborhood.

You can also get crime prevention tips for your home and car on the LAPD website.
 

Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract: Stolen Honda Abandoned On Controversial Development Site

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 18, 2013, 12:59 PM.  Midday Friday, a stolen silver Honda Accord was abandoned on the "hiking trail" on the upper portion of the controversial 16-lot subdivision in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract.  (Click on photos to enlarge.) 

A neighbor talked to LAPD detectives on scene in these photos.  They said the car was reported stolen for the second time in the past year from Pasadena. 

The hiking trail is supposed to remain open to the public according to the conditions of approval for the subdivision.  However, that does not mean it needs to remain open to vehicle traffic.  

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 18, 2013.  At least one of the pieces of the parking gate still remains at the entrance at El Moran and Alvarado. If you look closely, you can even see the cement base where it was pulled out of the dirt. 

 

Friday, I spoke to LAPD Senior Lead Officer  (SLO) Lenny Davis who often patrolled the area with retired SLO Al Polehonki.  Officer Davis & I remembered there used to be an actual steel gate there, like a fire or parking gate.  Many gates disappeared in isolated areas, like this & the Red Car Property, in the past 20 years due to aggressive metal thieves who sell them for scrap.  Those gates are heavy steel, but I can name at least 3 on the Red Car Property that disappeared since I moved here in 1990.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 17, 2009.  In February, I was among several neighbors who walked the "hiking trail" with the developer & representatives from City Councilmember (CD13) Eric Garcetti's office.  We remarked about the missing parking gate at the time.  The developer claimed it was the City's responsibility, not theirs.  I said I would dig up photos that there used to be one. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 17, 2009.  Unfortunately, by April 2009, the gate was already missing.  However, 5 steel posts  cemented into the ground were still in place.  It looks like neighbors piled up tree branches to keep vehicles from driving between the posts.

Tract map detail, VTT62900, 2400 Allesandro Street, April 1, 2008.  The guard posts even show up on the tract map on file with City Planning (public information).  Inset taken from map below, flipped so the orientation matches the photos better.

Tract map VTT62900, 2400 Allesandro St, April 1, 2008. According to the survey, the "GD POSTS" are clearly within the subdivision and not on City property.

 

Why is it called the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract?

 

Red Car Property: Another Stolen Honda Joyriders Stuck In The Mud *updated

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 22, 2010. Pull up a chair and watch the stolen cars get stuck in the mud near the Adelbert trail cut-through to the Red Car Property. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 22, 2010. I'm only guessing it's stolen from the condition and the stolen radio/cd player. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

*UPDATE 11-23-10: LAPD Senior Lead Officer Al Polehonki confirms this is a stolen car from the Rampart area in August. When the LAPD attempted to recover this stolen vehicle this morning, it was gone. So someone is still driving it around.

Car Thieves Were Busy This Weekend

Photos: M. Gilvary, September 20, 2009. Two cars stripped and abandoned, same location as last week's Honda, just south of the Silver Lake Ave. public staircase. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

UPDATE 9-21-09: Stripped & abandoned car #3 from this weekend's tally:

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 21, 2009. No plates, VIN, or pretty much anything left inside this car. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Red Car Property: Another Stolen Honda Abandoned

Photo: S. Williams, September 11, 2009. Stolen & stripped silver Honda Civic adjacent to the Silver Lake Ave. Public Staircase. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

At 1:30AM this morning, I awoke to an LAPD helicopter flying aggressively in tight circles, shining a light on the Red Car Property. When "PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!" came from the loudspeaker, I thought a stolen car must be involved. The helicopter continued circling the same location for next two hours. After several emails from neighbors this morning, I received photos.
Photo: S. Williams, September 11, 2009. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Two weeks ago, Senior Lead Officer Al Polehonki told the Lake View Neighborhood Watch that most of the stolen cars in the area lately seem to be Hondas. A Honda was stolen on Corralitas Drive last month. Another was abandoned on the Red Car Property on August 24.

A neighbor in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract reports, they've been stripping and abandoning cars up on the hill on Rosebud Ave. A check on EveryBlock Los Angeles reveals a number of stolen cars in the vicinity of the 2 & 5 Freeway intersection in the past 2 weeks. These criminals do seem to know our hillsides well.

RELATED: The Eastsider LA reports police arrest two car burglary suspects in Silver Lake last night.

9-13-09 UPDATE: LAPD Senior Lead Officer Polehonki reports the Honda was hauled away.

Red Car Canyon: Stolen Honda Abandoned

Photo: Todd H., Tuesday, August 25, 2009. Black Honda license plate: 5BQK248. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

At least they didn't set it on fire. The brush has yet to be cleared from the slopes of the Red Car Property, despite being Red Tagged by LAFD on August 6. Neighbors report the car was dumped sometime between 7AM & 7PM Monday. Several other neighbors report hearing noise back in the canyon around 10PM Monday night.
Photo: Daniel S., Monday, August 24, 2009. Three tires missing, parts ripped out of the dashboard, trunk and hood opened and ajar, red & black soccer ball inside. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

UPDATE 8-25-09: Car was hauled away today.

Stripped Honda Under Stormy Sky

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, February 7, 2009. Stripped Honda on the Red Car Property. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Honda has been there for at least a week. It looks like someone recently tried to set fire to the gas tank. At least it's been raining.

UPDATE 2-17-09: The Honda was finally hauled away.

Stolen Car Torched on the Red Car Property, Insurance Scam or July 3rd Ritual?

Photo: Diane Edwardson July 8, 2008. A car fire singed the Eucalyptus tree
with 20' high flames. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

July 3, 2008, around 2 A.M., a neighbor awoke to a loud explosion and fire on the Red Car Property between India and the Silver Lake Ave. staircase. A new white Mercedes was fully engulfed in flames. The neighbor immediately called 911 and the LAFD put out the fire before it could spread to other trees or homes. No homes or other private property were damaged. Thankfully, the brush clearance had been done a few months ago by Aztecs Fire Crew.

Perhaps it's just a 3rd of July ritual to torch a brand new car. The photo below from is last year.


Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 4, 2007. Brand new and stolen SUV torched on
July 3, 2007 under the 2 Freeway on Rosebud Ave.

In 18 years, I have never seen an such an incident the Red Car Property. Thieves usually torch stolen cars under the 2 Freeway on Rosebud Ave., where there are no homes nearby. Although, in the past few years, it does not happen too often. It comes in cycles. Our LAPD Senior Lead Officer, Al Polehonki suggests these are usually insurance scams. You can track reported crime in the neighborhood on crime maps on the LAPD website.

If you live adjacent to the Red Car Property and call 911 for fire or criminal activity, be aware that you may have to give directions to emergency services. While Fire Station 56 knows how to get there, they may not be the station responding to the call.