Gentle reader,
Last night, in a powerful performative action inspired by the protests against destruction of Berkeley’s People’s Park, anonymous activists dismantled and pushed over a large portion of the “temporary” chain link fencing that has surrounded Echo Park lake since March 2021.
We went by to see the aftermath this morning, speaking with the skeleton Rec and Parks crew on the scene, noting how easy it was to detach the fence segments, reading the photocopied Manifesto that was left behind, and remarking on how incredibly good it felt to access the park not from one of the tiny sections where a gate happens to stand open, but where we wanted to access the park!
So often in Los Angeles, predictable public policy failures result in “emergencies” that our elected officials use to screw things up even worse. The fence might go back up this week, if Rec and Parks gets some muscle on site, but we believe Los Angeles needs to grow beyond ugly fences, bad solutions and a City Hall at odds with its most engaged community members.
In the depths of the Vietnam war, echoing the prophecies of Allen Ginsberg and Phil Ochs, John and Yoko used the tools of mass media advertising to tell the public that the war was over, if they wanted it.
Last night, a few anonymous people with wrenches and fliers sent a message to Los Angeles:
Echo Park is open, if you want it. We do. Do you?
yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
Psst… If you’d like to support our efforts to be the voice of places worth preserving, we have a tip jar and a subscriber edition of this newsletter, vintage Los Angeles webinars available on demand, in-person walking tours, gift certificates and a souvenir shop you can browse in. Or just share this link with other people who care.
UPCOMING TOURS: We’ve got a pair of cool late morning Downtown history tours coming up, each departing from Grand Central Market. On Saturday, August 13 we’ll be exploring Broadway, to talk about the rise, decline and potential of this beautiful mess of a National Register Historic Theatre District. Then on August 20, it’s Downtown Los Angeles is For Book Lovers, viewing the historic core through the lens of the colorful literary characters who left their words and memories behind.
Echo Park Community De-Fence Action... The Morning After