(Another view from a loft, Lofty Thoughts, wrote in and her links reminded me of one of the first neighborhoods I explored before I began blogging. Lincoln Heights.)
With Lincoln High School founded in 1878, the neighborhood north of Downtown was already an established part of Eastern Los Angeles by the time it was renamed Lincoln Heights in 1917. High in the bluffs, bisected by what became North Broadway, Lincoln Heights was a series of tracts with large boulevards and greenspace designed to emulate Parisian cities. All to attract industrial Mid West and East Coast city dwellers during the LA’s initial goals to be a garden city utopia.
Until Los Angeles grew south and to the west of Downtown, Lincoln Heights was one the premiere places to live with it’s commercial strip and to the east, Eastlake Park (now Lincoln Park). The area had pedestrian traffic in mine, and todaymakes an appealing place for families dependant on public transportation. For a few generations it has been mostly Latino, although now there's a growing Asian population.
Thanks to a few websites, mostly “History of Lincoln Heights” that started collecting information in 1999, the early history of first L.A. zoo long demolished, silent film sites forgotten are being documented. Lincoln Heights history can still be seen in the workman cottages, Victorian Homes, small neighborhood grocery stores and architectural gems like the 1916 Carnegie Library.
CHICANO CONNECTION: After a short time as an Italian neighborhood in the early 20th Century, Lincoln Heights became a mostly Mexican-American neighborhood and is a major part of East L.A. history.
The Lincoln Heights jail was the site of 1951’s “Bloody Christmas" where seven young men, five who were Mexican-American, were brought in from Elysian Park and beaten while in custody. It was mostly forgotten until 1996’s “L.A. Confidential.”
That same Lincoln High School that was the anchor in the late 1800s, is where 17 year old Paula Crisostomo lead a series of protests in 1968 that was later the subject of the 2006 HBO film “Walk Out.”
Just off North Broadway at Daley Street is one of the first Chicano murals. As Dos Streetscapers, Wayne Healy and David Botello painted “Chicano Time Trip” in 1977 sponsored by the City Wide Mural Project and the building’s occupant, Crocker Bank. The East West Bank is now housed in the building, and in March 2006 the mural was restored by Healy.
With it’s Vons, collection of some of the best taco stands in LA, Post Office, almost hipster bars like the Airliner, bakeries, butchers, gas stations, and even a barbershop that has turn of the century chairs––Lincoln Heights is a small, sometimes gritty, suburban oasis for Downtowners. As long as people like those running Lincoln Heights LA do things like demand a film crew repair the North Broadway Clock it trashed, this is a great neighborhood to explore.
Above: Lincoln Heights Branch Library / Photo View From a Loft
From LAPL:
The Carnegie Building
In 1916, a new Italian renaissance style building was built at the corner of Workman Street and Avenue 26 for the North East Branch Library. The was one of the Carneige Libraries, developed with funds provided by the philanthropic East Coast millionaire. Modeled after the Villa Papa Guilia in Rome, the distinctive structure featured an expansive main floor and a basement auditorium. The building was later designated a Los Angeles City Historic Cultural Monument and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The library quickly became integral to the life of the community. By November 1919, the surrounding district had assumed the name of Lincoln Heights, and the library therefore became the “Lincoln Heights Branch.” In 1975, a community vote renamed the facility “Biblioteca del Pueblo de Lincoln Heights.”
Below: "Chicano Time Trip" by Los Dos Streetscapers, Wayne Healy and David Botello. In March 206, Councilmember Ed P. Reyes, artist Wayne Healy, and East West Bank Executive Vice President Wellington Chen presented the restoration of “‘Chicano Time Trip’, the first collaborative project of East Los Streetscapers, artists
Wayne Healy and David Botello. The 1977 mural, which portrays hundreds of years of Chicano history, was created in response to the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial that didn’t address Chicano heritage. The 2006 mural restoration was funded by the City of LA.
Photos: View From a Loft
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