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Feb 7, 2012

California Wine: Super Natural

by Michael Newsome

Feb 6, 2012

The Best Bagels and Lox in Los Angeles

by Oliver Gettell

Feb 3, 2012

An L.A. Super Bowl Snack Menu

by Katherine Spiers

Departures: Highland Park

From Native-Americans to the Mission era, from the birth of Arroyo Culture to the Chicano Art Movement, Highland Park has always been a nexus of ideas, build or imagined. Come explore Los Angeles; first bohemian neighborhood with Departures.

From the Tongva people called the Hahamog'na, to years later the Spaniards, we explore the shifts of power over land in Los Angeles leading to the land divisions, or ranchos, that create Highland Park.

The efforts of Charles Lummis, William Lee Judson and Clyde Browne combined with those inspired by life “on the arroyo,” such as plein air painter Franz Bischoff and block print maker Frances Gearhart, came together to pioneer one of the first artistic and cultural movements to come out of Los Angeles.

When the Arroyo Seco Parkway was finished in 1940, it was a cause for celebration in Los Angeles. But the arrival of one of the nation’s first freeways would have unexpected consequences for Highland Park and its residents.

In the 1950s, Mexican immigrants and descendants began owning, renting and claiming Highland Park as home. This was the pre-civil rights era, where school segregation and manifestations began articulating a vocabulary of resistance and pride within the Latino and Mexican communities of L.A.

For many, the late 1960s through the early 1970s was the high-water mark of both community and social justice organizing in East Los Angeles. But the period immediately following would witness the emergence of novel responses to the most pressing questions of the era, particularly in the form of arts organizations and collectives aimed at bringing politically-minded public art to the larger community.

The failed promises of the civil-rights era coupled with the economic disparities of the 1980s created a dual deterioration in Highland Park seen both in the built and the social environment. The concept of the inner city created a disenfranchised youth that found alternative ways of organizing and engaging with their “turf.”

As we settle into the new millennium, the Highland Park post-urban landscape is embracing all the twists, turns and contradictions that history has presented to the neighborhood.

New Stories

Land of Sunshine | Neighborhood Notes

Neighborhood Notes: L.A. County is the Most Linguistically Diverse Jurisdiction & More

by Yosuke Kitazawa

February 7, 2012 11:00 AM

News and stories on the shifting culture of our neighborhoods: L.A. County is the most linguistically diverse jurisdiction in the nation & more.

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Departures - Community | Venice Mixtape

Help Create a Venice Mixtape for a Chance to Win

by Departures

February 6, 2012 4:30 PM

Does Venice reminds of a particular song? Or inspire you to write an original ode to the beachfront neighborhood? Submit a song for a chance to be included in our Venice Mixtape and win a $30 Amoeba gift certificate!

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Land of Sunshine | Laws That Shaped LA

Laws That Shaped L.A.: How the California Environmental Quality Act Allows Anyone to Thwart Development

by Jeremy Rosenberg

February 6, 2012 11:00 AM

CEQA was designed to protect the environment, but what adverse effects does it have?

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Land of Sunshine | Portraits

Angelenos Found Creative Ways to Watch the First Super Bowl

by Yosuke Kitazawa

February 3, 2012 7:20 PM

The 1967 game held in Los Angeles was blacked out to TVs within a 75-mile radius due to an NFL policy.

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Land of Sunshine | Excursion

L.A. River Excursion: Frogtown West Bank

by Justin Cram

February 3, 2012 6:15 PM

A short trip to the Los Angeles River can soothe a week's worth of stress. Grab a cup of coffee and visit Frogtown's West Bank.

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Land of Sunshine | LA Letters

Beats & Rhymes: A Tale of L.A. Literature

by Mike Sonksen

February 3, 2012 3:54 PM

Mike the Poet recites his homage to Los Angeles authors.

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Food | The Public Kitchen

Mark Gold's Potato Parmesan Soup for National Homemade Soup Day

by Lesley Balla

February 3, 2012 2:55 PM

For National Homemade Soup Day on February 4, the first thing that comes to mind is the story of stone soup.

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Food | The Nosh

Scenes from the Alhambra Farmers' Market

by Katherine Spiers

February 3, 2012 12:38 PM

The Sunday Alhambra Farmers' Market is a true neighborhood institution: the weekly turnout is consistently huge and the prices, across the board, make the produce a steal.

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