Where Individualism Is the Standard : Elysian Heights: Architectural oddities and the freedom to do your own thing add charm to Echo Park neighborhood.
Ellen Landauer and her husband, Lewis Turlington, began their house hunt in mid-1988. After a nine-month search, they bought a charming mini-Victorian in Elysian Heights, a neighborhood in northwest Echo Park, for $180,000.
The two-bedroom, one-bath turn-of-the-century house boasts many original features.
The entry hall has leaded-glass windows and the bathroom a dainty, claw-foot tub. From the parlor room, French doors open onto a living room with built-in bookshelves and a pillared mantel over a tiled fireplace. The dining room has a built-in buffet with leaded glass.
They chose Elysian Heights, Landauer said, for several reasons--verdant hills, lots of character and the diverse socio-economic blend, which reminds her of New York City, where she’s spent most of her life.
“I’m from New York,” Landauer said, “and I need to see different faces. Otherwise, everything’s boring. New York is a complete mixture. It’s kind of like that here, so I feel comfortable.”
It is common to hear such descriptions of Elysian Heights from other residents.
This community of hardy individualists has a reputation for attracting freethinkers and people of diverse backgrounds. Many artists, writers and persons who run small businesses from their homes--from photographers to accountants--thrive in the secluded, bucolic setting 10 minutes northwest of downtown.
Elysian Heights begins at the base of the hills north of Sunset Boulevard and ends at Riverside Drive. It is bounded on the east by Elysian Park and on the west by Glendale Boulevard.
Originally part of the Spanish land grant for the pueblo of Los Angeles, founded in 1781, the subdivisions of Elysian Heights, Angelino Heights and Echo Park were initiated by a land boom during the last decade of the 1800s.
Immigrants from the Midwest flocked to the young Los Angeles, encouraged by low railroad fares and the promise of clean air and a mild climate. Later, immigrants, spurred by events in post-World War I Europe, began to arrive, some settling in the hills and valleys of Elysian Heights.
Steep terrain and deep gulches made access to hillside homes difficult, so a network of 36 stairways was built in the Echo Park-Elysian Heights area. Early this century, the horse-drawn Elysian Park Street Railway operated along Echo Park Avenue, depositing residents at the stairway nearest their home.
The remaining stairways are now architectural preservation pieces, adding a rich dimension to Elysian Heights’ unique look.
Uniformity is not the standard here. Where else in Los Angeles can you paint your house pastel shades of pink, green, yellow and purple without an uproar from the neighbors?
That’s exactly what Peter Shire, artist and lifelong resident, did, and he was “disappointed” by the lack of response from his neighbors.
Shire’s colorful house is nestled among wood-frame and Spanish-style homes, surrounded by foliage. “I can look at an open hillside that seems to belong to nobody,” Shire said. “This is important for the human spirit.”
Other oddities unique to Elysian Heights are forgotten vestiges of bygone eras. Resident Andrew Kandel, a geologist at an environmental and engineering consulting firm, enjoys taking long walks to search out forgotten mementoes of the past.
“I can feel the layers of the past,” Kandel said. “I recognize different eras in the styles of buildings as I walk around, forgotten stairways that lead to nowhere . . . crumbling ruins of abandoned cottages.”
Kandel and housemate Bryan Hennis found a fixer-upper on Morton Avenue last year for $165,000. The house, a 1907 pre-Craftsman, has 1,400 square feet, with two bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths, and needs lots of cosmetic restoration, no problem for Hennis, who is a skilled renovator.
“We bought over here because it’s a quiet street and the neighborhood has lots of character,” Kandel said, adding that he feels reassured knowing the house is sitting on solid rock.
“Elysian Park is a stone’s throw from the house,” added Hennis, a surgical technician at County-USC Medical Center. “The mountain trails are great for bicycling. You can’t do that in Griffith Park. Plus, the park is still undeveloped.”
Elysian Park, opened in 1893, is one of the oldest and largest parks in Los Angeles and surrounds Dodger Stadium. The park includes a recreation center and hiking trails. It is also home to the Grace Simons Lodge, which was originally the Chavez Ravine Arboretum, the city’s first. The only signs today of the arboretum are the rare trees and shrubs on the lodge grounds.
Bounding the park on the east is Park Drive, one of the most desirable streets to live on in Elysian Heights.
Mark and Valerie Tuna have owned their house on Park Drive for four years. They live in one of the more recently built homes in the area, with views overlooking the city.
Recently, Valerie has been championing the downzoning of many higher-density land parcels in the community. She is intent on awakening the residents’ sleeping power.
“A lot of people up here have enjoyed the anonymity of living in an undeveloped, racially mixed, supposedly funky neighborhood,” she said.
“We are very fearful of gentrification. We’re fearful of this in-and-out yuppie routine that has ruined the character of other neighborhoods. There’s a lot of character here that’s just hanging on a thread between dilapidated and charming.”
One of the community institutions is Elysian Heights Elementary School. Built in 1915, it is a small school for a small neighborhood. The school has been run by principal Maxine L. Reagh for almost three years. Since her arrival, she said, “I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven. The community is excellent for children to grow up in.”
The school had had some gang-related problems, but Reagh says she hasn’t noticed gang activity since she’s been on the job.
Officer Joe Writer of the Los Angeles Police Department, who patrols Elysian Heights like a small-town sheriff, said, “The local gang, who call themselves EXP Echo Park, is a small, conspicuous presence, and has minimal impact on the area.”
Writer said the community has character and vibrancy. “The residents are upwardly mobile and many are first-time buyers,” he said. “They are hard-working and down to earth, not plastic-coated.”
Realtor Valerie Martin of Fred Sands Realty said Elysian Heights has great old houses and some of the best prices in Los Angeles.
The average price of a home is $240,000, Martin said. The low end of the range is about $185,000, and fixers are plentiful. The average-size home is about 1,000 square feet, usually two bedrooms and one bath on a 50-by-150-foot lot.
At the top of the range, Ken Teixeira, also of Fred Sands Realty, sold an estate on Lemoyne Street for $710,000 in November, 1989. The Spanish-style house has four bedrooms and four baths on three-quarters of an acre, with a 360-degree view of the city.
Elysian Heights boasts some 19th-Century homes, many early-20th-Century wooden homes and a variety of architecture representative of the diverse population. The majority of homes are at least 50 years old.
The Atwater bungalows, circa 1920, are original adobes designed by architect Robert Stacy-Judd. This property is designated an architectural preservation piece. One of the bungalows was recently used in Oliver Stone’s upcoming film “The Doors.”
Martin says the drawback of the area is the untidy neighborhoods that surround Elysian Heights. However, many residents find these areas an adventure. Several good restaurants, such as Phnom Penh, Barrigan’s and Les Freres Taix, are within walking distance of the corner of Echo Park Avenue and Sunset Boulevard.
“Urban chaos is 10 minutes away,” Hennis said. “But when I’m home, it feels like I live in a rural area.”
AT A GLANCE Population
1990 estimate: 24,376
1980-90 change: 14.6%
Median age: 31.8 years
Annual income
Per capita: 9,122
Median household: 24,208
Household distribution
Less than $15,000: 28.6%
$15,000 - $30,000: 33.1%
$30,000 - $50,000: 22.7%
$50,000 - $75,000: 11%
$75,000 + 4.7%
