ECHO PARK : Business Renewal Plan Gains Support

The kids from Echo Park got the concept right away. If the appeal of a scruffy stretch of Sunset Boulevard could be broadened, business would improve and the whole community would benefit.

Just by adding a few outdoor tables and cleaning the street, the teen-agers suggested, the boulevard could be transformed into a vibrant retail area.

Their remarks, inspired by a proposed business plan for their neighborhood, came during a coastal drive to Ventura County for a camping trip.

‘We were driving by those little towns and those little yuppie places, and they said, ‘Echo Park could look like this,’ ” said Maryanne Hayashi, executive director of the Central City Action Committee, a youth program.

Such comments are the kind of community interest that organizers of the plan to boost Echo Park’s ailing economy are banking on.

The success of the plan, being developed by city officials with input from residents, merchants and property owners, would bring more jobs, a variety of businesses, and the promotion of Echo Park’s artistic and ethnic communities.

The vision is of a place where coffeehouses, upscale restaurants, thrift stores and taco stands exist side by side.

“What we are doing is embarking on a . . . project that we hope will result in bringing in the types of businesses the people in Echo Park are frequenting outside of Echo Park,” said Veronica Gutierrez, a representative of Los Angeles Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg.

Committees formed after two recent community meetings are tackling the first projects and analyzing the results of a survey of residents’ shopping patterns.

Plans call for the revitalization of Sunset Boulevard between Echo Park Avenue and Alvarado Street, the community’s main commercial area, which largely consists of bargain-priced retail shops and vacant storefronts.

According to the survey, many residents buy clothing and patronize restaurants in other areas but want more restaurants, bookstores and recreation in Echo Park.

Hayashi said teen-agers and parents responding to the survey, distributed at her youth program’s office, agree with the plans.

“Some of our families need the 99-cent stores, but they also need some of those empty storefronts to open,” Hayashi said.

Meanwhile, immediate steps are being taken. Residents are contacting property owners along Sunset Boulevard to assess their interest in improving the looks of their buildings’ facades and signs. In the fall, volunteers will plant trees and flowers and paint bus benches during a one-day cleanup.

An arts festival that would showcase local artists is being considered for fall or spring. During a “historic weekend” planned for September, memorabilia of Echo Park’s past will be displayed, and longtime residents will be invited to share their histories.

The neighborhood, long a bastion of immigrants, was once home to many Italians, said Durk Dehner, a member of the Echo Park Improvement Assn. Today, he said, the neighborhood continues to attract immigrants but also is home to artists and wealthier residents.

“What we realize is Echo Park . . . is a wonderful place with all sorts of ethnic people living together,” Dehner said. “So we are going to promote it that way.”