Sunday, November 27, 2011

Lincoln Heights: Views

I took this photo near a playground. I can just hear this kid at the end of the day: "I don't remember where I left them, Mom! I took them off to play in the sand, and..."

Today's our last day in Lincoln Heights. Tomorrow we'll return with Zen Monday and our regular PDP programming (and one blessed photo a day!). I've enjoyed this adventure. It's heated my wanderlust to a boil. 

Lincoln Heights is my kind of place. It's got fun, food, art and architecture. Clearly, too, it's a neighborhood poised for change.


And that's exciting. (click this one to enlarge it)


Yet like anywhere people have lived for a long while, the past clings in traces like vines to a fence and not all of it is pretty. To me, though, the history and underbelly are part of the fascination of any urban place.

Many thanks to Karin Bugge, the Altadena Hiker, for getting me in on this tour. And especially to Manny Rodriguez, our host with the most, who shared his stories, his opinions and his lifelong home with three local tourists who couldn't get enough.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed the week and all your work thoroughly. (Hah! You got the tattoo dolly -- I most definitely remember her. The construction photo -- that's where they're putting a park, right?)

Petrea Burchard said...

Thanks, Karin. I think a park's going in there. It's right by where Manny played baseball as a kid. What I like about the construction photo is how downtown Los Angeles looms over Lincoln Heights, so near, just across the bridge.

Bellis said...

Tattoo dolly would have made a good Zen Monday photo. I also like the last photo, it reminds me of the sleeping beauty story. Probably some woman in a deep coma inside, waiting for her prince. Maybe the whole area is a sleeping beauty. The planned park, and boating lake on the dammed river, if it all goes ahead, could really awaken the riverside.

This has been an excellent tour, thank you! I hope Manny's been reading it.

Ps I wasn't swearing - they're planning a plastic dam to retain river water to make a lake . And the confluence with the Arroyo Seco will become a lovely park also.

Kalei's Best Friend said...

Once again, I am so glad I came across your page... I had forgotten all the art that is literally in our own backyard.... Some may not like graffiti because of its so-called negative association- personally, I see a lot of passion in it.. I was a camp counselor many years ago for NCJJ and the art that came out of the kids was amazing... there's a lot of emotion in murals and graffiti. The bars on this may look like defacement but there is symbolism in it that can't be denied.

dive said...

What a wonderful tour! Many thanks to Manny and Karin and of course to you, Petrea.
More wanderlust photo tours to come, I hope.

Petrea Burchard said...

Now I remember the mention of the damming, Bellis. If I'd written everything down these posts would've been a lot different. Then again, fewer photos. I'd make a lousy journalist.

Kalei's BF: Hello again! I've seen some beautiful graffiti and I get that there can be passion and talent in it, though I'm not a graffiti lover because of the vandalism angle (I was once the owner of a particularly popular brick wall). I wouldn't call graffiti with murals, though. As Manny told us, they had to coat the mural about Mexican history with a graffiti-proof seal so it could be regularly cleaned. Art is one thing, defacement of art is another.
I'd love to see walls made available for people to paint what they want to paint. I wonder if making it legal would take the fun out of it.

Dive, we did a bit of local wandering on Thanksgiving day. I'll show you a few of those shots in the days to come.

Latino Heritage said...

Lovely end to the tour.

Petrea Burchard said...

Thanks, LH/Roberta.

Ms M said...

Really enjoyed your tour through Lincoln Heights! Wonderful photos and history.

Susan Campisi said...

Fabulous series! Lincoln Heights reminds me a bit of Echo Park.

Petrea Burchard said...

Thanks for joining us, Ms. M.

Susan, I don't know Echo Park very well at all. We'll have to find a tour guide...

Anonymous said...

Now that you're finished with LH, I hope you will go to High Land Park. Then u & KB, again, to Prospect Pk to, finally, post some of those this old house pics!

Anonymous said...

I took a tour of Echo Pk about 10yrs past. Don't remember much, including who gave the tour, unfortunately.