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Highland Park

From the age of the Native Americans, through the birth of Arroyo Culture and Chicano activism, to the DIY ethos of today, Highland Park has always been a laboratory for new and emerging ideas on what it means to be an Angeleno. Numerous factors - including location and geography - created conditions that allowed the area to become one of the preeminent cultural and social centers of the West. One can argue that Los Angeles came of age in Highland Park, with artists, writers and intellectuals such as Charles Lummis creating the vocabulary on which we now rely when we try to explain what Los Angeles was and could be.

The creation of the Arroyo Seco Parkway and the channelization of the Arroyo Seco changed the character of the neighborhood. The era of the automobiles, along with "white flight," brought forth a demographic shift whose long term arc is still unfolding today. Now, the DIY, bohemian ethos that grew out of the neighborhood's early days is alive in the area again, while its diverse residents are coming to terms with what it means to live here and care for the shared, built environment.

 

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Highland Park and Eagle Rock, are among the leading edges of the gentrification frontier in contemporary Los Angeles. This article situates NELA gentrification in comparative and historical context.
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A panel discussion raised concerns about the changing neighborhood and how we can address racial conflicts and displacement dilemmas arising from the gentrification process.
''Arroyo Seco Bridge'' Franz Bischoff, 1915
For many artists, the already plentiful and distinct Southern California sunlight was especially attractive around the Arroyo Seco in Highland Park, and the area attracted some of the masters of the plein air style.
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Here are photos from Highland Park's Franklin High yearbooks through the years, showing the changes in student body demographics, along with fashion and hair trends of the day.
Bicycle shop on York Blvd., across from the ctiy's first bike corral
When architectural historian Robert Winter coined the term "Arroyo Culture," he was referring a bohemian cultural explosion that had occurred Highland Park and Garvanza in the early 20th Century. Yet the same conditions that allowed the area to emerge ...
Outpost for Contemporary Art is part of the burgeoning scene of galleries and artist-run spaces popping up throughout Northeast Los Angeles. Founded by Julie Deemer in 2004, this cultural outpost produces cross-cultural exchanges and interdisciplinary ...
The Flying Pigeon speciality bike shop has established Highland Park as a central locale for advocacy, education, and overall two-wheeled sophistication in the greater Los Angeles bicycle community.
Good Girl Dinette
With Good Girl Dinette, Diep Tran has opened a restaurant that reflects the sort of culinary hybridity that you'd expect to find in the polyglot tapestry of Southern California - an American diner serving chicken curry pot pie with buttermilk biscuit c...
The York owner Ryan Ballinger works with neighboring businesses to support transportation initiatives and, as a future Highland Park homeowner, looks forward to a growth in the area's social amenities. With an eye on growing the neighborhood's historic...
Connecting the areas between East L.A. and Pasadena, the Gold Line has created a shared experience among the residents of varied areas, emphasizing the need for residents to coexist in public spaces, regardless of income or race.
The Dual Language Immersion Program at Aldama Elementary School is providing a useful bridge for the parents, staff and children in Highland Park during a time of cultural and social transition. It is enriching the academic and cultural lives of the st...
Throughout its hundred year history, Benjamin Franklin High School has reflected the character and people of Highland Park. It has changed and grown from a majority middle class Anglo school to a predominately working class Latino student body. Much li...
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