Scenes from Highland Park (February & July 2016)

I would be remiss if I didn't post this set of photos....

featuring our visit to the Highland Park neighborhood of LA...

Photos from my previous trip earlier this  year plus this past weekend are included...

As seen along N. Figueroa Blvd in Highland Park, Los Angeles, CA:





At the train tracks...


Beyond that was this cool mural. I took a photo of this back in February (photos near end of this post)...

A Virgin of Guadalupe sighting at the florist (also seen back in February).


Bert, TC and I had coffee here back in February as well.

This will have to be a future stop  - Salvadorean AND Mexican food. OMG, yes.

We parked near here...

This mural was part of what we learned was Fig Jam.



Here is more about Fig Jam from their site because I'm lazy and just want to do a cut and paste:
"FIG JAM is a Great Streets Challenge Grant winner, an initiative launched from Mayor Garcetti’s office to help re-imagine neighborhood centers. As the selected team to focus on North Figueroa in Highland Park, we are partnering with the Mayor’s Office to showcase North Figueroa’s potential to continue to serve as a vibrant public space for both long standing and new residents. FIG JAM aims to improve North Figueroa by drawing attention to the street’s rich past, recognizing its vibrant present and sparking interest in its promising future. More broadly, we are joining a movement across Los Angeles where residents are beginning to reclaim streets as public space. With the community, we will build out temporary, low-cost improvements that will transform under-utilized urban spaces into more engaging social ones where we all can spend the day meeting, shopping, eating, and enjoying local culture with friends and family. These improvements will include a living museum along the street exhibiting historical photographs and narratives alongside stories of current residents and business, as well as temporary street changes to promote safer active transportation."

See the billboard? Back when we visited in February, the billboard had Chicken Boy (it's  a giant chicken statue; you can see his legs behind the billboard) welcoming "Fig Jam" which was March 19th earlier this year.


He looks ominous and a bit creepy...

Here is that older photo with the Fig Jam billboard.

You can tell this neighborhood was once vibrant, then fell into disrepair and is now rising up again with all of the new businesses popping up.

Ugh. Please America, let's not.

After our first stop in Highland Park, Cathy and I meant to go to LA's Chinatown to have a late breakfast at Philippe the Original. Those plans were dashed by the heavy traffic we witnessed on the roads heading to the freeway so, we chose to turn around and go elsewhere...

This same trip, we also went to Donut Friend,  in Highland Park. These photos are from York Blvd, another main street in Highland Park.











Older photos from my February road trip:




This was Valentine's Day weekend and the street vendor was also selling Valentine arrangements (you can see the heart shaped mylar balloons) along with pinatas.

Galco's Soda Pop Shop which we visited twice (one with the family; the other time with Cathy)


Here's that carniceria (meat store) again.

Gotta love these old signs:


This was the store around the corner from Donut Friend.


The font for their trashcan was what I call, the Led Zeppelin font. It's also a font favored by the Craftsman movement.

Here's a sample of the alpha here:


and Led Zeppelin's logo:

Here's that corner mariscos place again, the one near the train tracks with the cool mural behind it.


This is a bakery to visit for a future road trip...

Once again, the florist with the VoG on the side wall.


This is the same block of buildings near Civil Coffee (near Av. 56).



The name of this place, heh.

Great paintings on their window.

These are just some snapshots taken while passing through Highland Park.

Short video about the changes happening in Highland Park:


Plus another one, "Then and Now". It's kind of long and has annoying music (which I usually turn off) but it's interesting to see how the buildings and storefronts have changed. At least for the first minute or so then I click it off.


Articles about Highland Park:
"Highland Park - A new culture district in Los Angeles" NY Times, July 2009
"The Street Musem - Sign painting as art and history" Sept. 2, 2011
"York Blvd, Highland Park: A hub of hip, really" A Times, March 2012
"Three Highland Park's residents on their 'hood's inescapable gentrification" LA Curbed, June 2015

Links:
Maps - Highland Park LA Times

I'll have to make another trip up with Bert and TC once the weather cools down (perhaps in the Fall). I definitely want to return to Kindness & Mischief and go to some of the older establishments like that Salvadoran restaurant and a few other hole in the wall places I've been looking up.