Gentle reader,
On a hill on the East Los Angeles / Boyle Heights border, a magnificent Australian tree, planted by a Japanese family, became a Mexican-American movie star in the cult classic Blood In, Blood Out (1993).
So of course a developer wants to kill it! Oh, that’s not what property owner Art Gastelum tells reporters when they ask about his proposed duplex project on this former garden plot. But big tree expert Dr. Don Hodel knows better: El Pino has shallow, delicate roots that would be fatally damaged should anything be built close to its trunk.
As Blood In, Blood Out marks its 30th anniversary with a limited edition commemorative book from our pals at Hat & Beard and an all day celebration at Cal State LA, we remembered that there had been technical difficulties during our September 2022 webinar about saving El Pino that kept it from being viewed later. Since people are visiting the El Pino advocacy page on our website all the time wanting to know if the tree is going to be okay, we figured they ought to hear it directly from Don.
Because who are you going to trust to tell you what’s best for El Pino—the author of Exceptional Trees of Los Angeles, an educator and scientist who has decades of experience as an environmental horticulturist, or the notorious character who bought the land where El Pino grows and wants to make a buck off it?
Below you’ll find Part 2 of our visit to El Pino, which includes an appreciation of another rare tree that Don spotted growing just below the famous one, and the suggestion that as a community so welcoming to immigrants, many of them cooks, herbalists and gardeners who planted familiar and useful things, East Los Angeles is long overdue for a Flora study.
If you’ve never visited El Pino, we hope you will—maybe after our next walking tour, Evergreen Cemetery on January 20, since it’s less than a mile away and clearly visible from the grounds. (That’s also the date of the Blood In, Blood Out festivities nearby at Cal State Los Angeles, so you can make an eastside day of it. If you do, ask us for lunch suggestions.)
We’ve been to the tree many times, but never alone. You can’t be there for more than a few minutes before others arrive to snap a selfie, meet a friend, or just bask in the comfort that El Pino is now and has always been there for them. It is a powerful place. We’d hate to see it lost.
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 to stream, in-person tours and a souvenir shop you can browse in. We’ve also got recommended reading bookshelves on Amazon and the Bookshop indie bookstore site. And did you know we offer private versions of our walking and bus tours for groups big or small? Or just share this link with other people who care.
UPCOMING BUS & WALKING TOURS
• Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 Walking Tour (Sat. 1/20) • Broadway: Downtown Los Angeles’ Beautiful, Magical Mess Walking Tour (Sat. 1/27) • Bunker Hill, Dead and Alive Walking Tour (Sat. 2/3) • Westlake Park Time Travel Trip Walking Tour (Sat. 2/10) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue Time Travel Trip Walking Tour (Sat. 2/17) • The Real Black Dahlia Crime Bus Tour (Sat. 2/24) • Echo Park Book of the Dead Crime Bus Tour (Sat. 3/9) • SOLD OUT Know Your Downtown L.A.: Tunnels To Towers To The Dutch Chocolate Shop Walking Tour (Sat. 3/16) • The Run: Gay Downtown History Walking Tour (Sat. 3/23) • John Fante’s Downtown Los Angeles Birthday Walking Tour (Sat. 4/6)
CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS
The West Hollywood IHOP (est. 1970), a solid choice for generations of budget conscious night owls, hustlers, punks and seniors, closed with no notice on January 1. Ed Ruscha captured its quirky charm in 1974. Few of these survive.
This weekend across from Grand Central Market: a last chance to meet photographer Michael Hyatt and view the stunning show Fifth and Wall Street: Skid Row, Los Angeles in the 1970s. Still a few copies of the book available, too. It was a different world.
We stepped away from the memorial services to made a brief live video advocating for open public access to the Burial of the Unclaimed Dead. As Jennifer Stavros reports, this year’s event was poorly attended after free tickets were capped at 75.
Dig this adorable backlit plastic ghost sign opposite Wyvernwood on Olympic in Boyle Heights. This Zig Zag Moderne roadhouse was Club Chapala, and before that The Rumpus Room. This is a very old form of signage meant to convey info sans written language. By fan request after sharing on social media, we’ve put it on a T-shirt.
How is your German? We spoke with Deutschlandfunk reporter Dennis Burk about the mysterious and beautiful Dutch Chocolate Shop, which sleeps behind a rolled down gate in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles, like an enchanted princess waiting for a kiss.
A ghastly scene on the 100 block of South Occidental, where the cute and quirky Swiss-Japanese home of lumberman Harry W. McLeod is turning 105 years old on a block where developer greed and city planning corruption is stealing the sunshine and beauty all Angelenos deserve.
As the community worries what's next for Sakai-Kozawa Residence/Tokio Florist property now that developer Redcar appears to be cashing out, follow tokiofloristproject on Instagram for sound artist Susie Kozawa's sonic experiments inside her family's landmark home/business.
Sweet social media drama: after their Fairfax Avenue retail shop closed after nearly a century, Diamond Bakery is trying to get fans excited about their bread being available in local markets and delis, and the fans are in the comments demanding RUGELACH!
Sold! Chas Wagner designed this gothic 4 flat for mortician Louis Ruppe in 1920. Prior owner emptied out the enormous RSO units for a failed (and pretty tacky) condo conversion, then died. Listed a year ago at $3.2 Million, $2.3M is a bargain.
What happened to Café Jack, Koreatown's Titanic-themed coffee shop? A peep under the fence where a demolition permit has been posted reveals there has been an accident!
We didn't think LACMA's inept billionaire board could still shock us, but we were wrong. After lying to Angelenos that a satellite museum would open in South Los Angeles... they want to ship art the taxpayers own to Las Vegas!
News from Old Trapper's Lodge: Pierce College appears to have had Google Maps remove the name of the California State folk art landmark from search (boo!) and we found a lost Huell Howser episode with an interview the school never wants a judge to hear.
LA’s Housing Department has quietly initiated enforcement against some of the SRO residency hotels that have been illegally hosting tourists for years, thanks to the bombshell reporting of Robin Urevich, for which we served as a source. Shout out too to Empty Los Angeles for blowing the lid off the fake Hollywood Hills “Hotel” Airbnb listings under Yamashiro, dozens of rent controlled apartments illegally held vacant so travelers could have a really bad experience.
Harry C. Drum, ad exec who made Samson Tires a household name, hired master architect Arlos R. Sedgley to design a lovely Tudor-Ranch in 1942. A demolition permit is sought for the Los Feliz Heights historic district contributor.
Shocking footage coming out of sbbuildingsdtla on Instagram of Downtown towers flooding, without elevators, and no management on site. Barry Shy and Laguna Point are suing over the $400M deal, as tenants suffer and the historic buildings may need to be gutted. We called in to the Cultural Heritage Commission asking them to find out why these National Register district contributors are being allowed to rot.
Here's to the LADWP staffer who flagged Board President Cynthia McClain-Hill's false per diem form and to Justin Kloczko for the snarky reporting on her Dubai resort choice.
Breaking up with LA: In 2014, Rec and Parks okayed Venice Heritage's community history museum in Centennial Park by the library. VHF raised $250k and circulated these renderings, but now plans to rent a commercial space instead.
Kelly Kuvo's Apartment Karma Payback is one artist, teacher & homeless service professional’s experience of how Airbnb and criminal landlords have killed off the creative working class in urban America. Dig her found Venice sidewalk merch, too.
A storeroom under World of Wonder at Hollywood and Cherokee is a 1978 punk time capsule. The Masque should be a city landmark—National Register even. Or better still, an independent music venue again. Mike Plante documented the relics c. 2012
Remember the 2019 accidental Vice exposé of a national Airbnb scam? Three properties cited in Shray Goel's indictment, in Venice and Playa del Rey, are rent controlled multi-family buildings. These are supposed to be affordable housing for Angelenos, not rip off fake hotels.
Just added to our single-serve webinar channel: A Love Letter to the Cafeterias of Old Los Angeles. Joined by fourth generation operator Robert Clinton of Clifton's, it's a deep dive into culinary and cultural history, with neon, jello and a little vice.
Dr. Don Hodel's prescription for Saving El Pino