The quirky shape of things to come

It’s a warm Thursday night at the Echo, and as usual the place is packed -- young regulars in ‘80s thrift chic and curious newcomers, a shinier bunch. The turntable spins everything from electronica to Motown to a local kiddie rocker, Gwendolyn and the Goodtime Gang. Almost everyone clutches a good Central Coast Cabernet, poured in the club’s monthly Extreme Wine Tasting. After the last drop is downed, George Sarah takes the stage and begins to play ... electronic chamber music.

Only in Echo Park.

Here, the alternative universe is comfortably at home. The century-old neighborhood bounded roughly by the Glendale, Hollywood and Pasadena freeways and Rampart Boulevard has been steadily outgrowing its reputation as a low-rent artists’ community. Over the past few months especially, it has boomed with creative new ventures in almost everything -- food, art, fashion, music.

Yet it still retains its old character, the quirky bohemian nature that gets scrubbed away when communities get “cleaned up” and -- worse -- gentrified. The locals hate that word. The tension between old and new is a big reason this is such an interesting moment in Echo Park.

Unlike most of Los Angeles, Echo Park maintains its pedestrian scale and its historical flavor. Multiple nationalities coexist along the hilly streets and broad boulevards. In the new century, homeowners priced out of Silver Lake or Los Feliz took on the Craftsman fixers and started looking locally for leisure. They’ve been followed by businesspeople loaded with cash and hope for a vital community.

In just the past few weeks, a trio of Patina Group expats opened Masa of Echo Park, a European bakery that sells crepes and eclairs alongside Spanish food and pizza. Chango, a new upscale coffeehouse and art gallery, is about to quench the thirst for latte and espresso. Roadside America opened quietly last month on Sunset Boulevard, offering fine art and antiques such as Tiffany lamps and Arts and Crafts furnishings. This week, the old hangout Nikola-Saratoga began its transformation into the second branch of El Compadre, the Mexican restaurant that is home to the flaming margarita.

OK, so maybe not all change is good.

Plug a quarter in the meter (25 cents still buys you an hour) and a daytime visitor can stroll new Sunset boutiques that offer Che Guevara T-shirts, graffiti art, alt-rock CDs and progressive literature. Walk past Flounce on Echo Park Avenue, where a vintage dress is sashed with a John F. Kerry bumper sticker. Or go next door and pick up bath salts, pink gift paper and penny candy at Le Pink. Take in happy hour at stalwarts such as Taix for French food and wine or Barragan’s for margaritas and tacos. (Just don’t show up on a Monday or Tuesday, when most of the hipster boutiques and antique stores are closed.)

At night, the big change is that there is a nightlife beyond hard-core punk or rock ‘n’ roll. Jazz plays almost nightly at the Downbeat Cafe. Sea Level Records hosts regular in-store performances and CD release parties. The Anti-Market boutique serves drinks and spins music when a new collection of art or fashion arrives.

In case you need a refresher course on “Reefer Madness,” the Echo Park Film Center hosts Thursday night screenings of vintage propaganda films and screens short films by neighborhood auteurs.

It’s not all late nights and nicotine. Echo Park seems to bring out the neighborliness in the neighbors. With crime down 22% from five years ago, according to the Los Angeles Police Department, elderly residents are again taking morning walks around Echo Park Lake and families are returning to ride the paddleboats out to the lotus flower patch.

At the 33 1/3 Bookstore and Gallery, a 6-month-old collective on Alvarado Street, Avaceli Silva sells her jewelry and clothing designs and is planning for more community involvement. She and one of the co-organizers, Frank Sosa, a music publicist, have staged book signings and poetry readings and are dreaming about offering crochet circles and silk-screening sessions -- with child care provided.

When Todd Clifford ventured from Los Feliz to open his bare-bones Sea Level Records 2 1/2 years ago, Echo Park seemed “kind of foreign” to him. Now he’s holding Sunday barbecues for customers, becoming an indie-band clearinghouse and leading an occasional bar crawl as he and friends walk the 15 minutes to Dodger Stadium.

Sunset Boulevard dive bars such as Little Joy and the Short Stop, where beers are $1 before Dodger games, are now certified hipster hangouts, with the Gold Room and El Prado gradually joining the pack.

“I was in the Little Joy two nights ago,” said John Dance, a fashion and graphics designer who goes by JohnQ and runs Anti-Market, a Sunset shop for neo-punk fashion and art. “It used to be a strictly gay bar. Now there are people there from other parts of L.A. hiding out as Echo Park hipsters.” Has success ruined the Little Joy?

“No,” Dance said. “It still has that run-down, grungy bar atmosphere that we love.”

You can’t get too fancy in Echo Park, which may explain what makes some locals swear that it will never become hipper-than-thou Silver Lake. Houses may be selling for half a million, even a million, but Echo Park isn’t selling out. Not yet, anyway.

In April, Sebastian Rein and Brendan McDermott, the 31-year-old founders of Sebren Development, bought the historic Jensen Recreation Center at Sunset and Logan Street, a block from Echo Park Lake. They’re renovating the one-bedroom and studio apartments, renting them at $925 and up, and aiming to create a community gathering spot. An art gallery, Timbre Space, is already in residence and will be part of the Sept. 17-20 Art Crawl, a self-guided tour of galleries. Stephen Stickler, the celebrity photographer, is finishing Rec Center Studio, an enormous multipurpose photography studio. His first events, a sample sale and a party, attracted 300 and 400 people each. He invited only 50.

“There is such a hunger and demand for people in Echo Park to meet and get to know each other,” he said.

One step at a time, they are. The proximity of the bars, restaurants and residences has help return the area to its pedestrian-friendly roots.

“On any given Thursday, Friday or Saturday night, there is a big night scene where people from the Downbeat Cafe walk up to Taix or the Echo,” said Mitchell Frank, who manages the Echo and has lived nearby for a dozen years. “They’ll stop in at Rodeo for a bite to eat and keep going to the Short Stop. It’s amazing that at 11 at night, you’ll see people on the street. Ten years ago, you would have been afraid for your life.”

Though gang graffiti is thick, a safer neighborhood and comparatively lower rents continue to attract entrepreneurs: clothing store White Lions sells designer labels, and Lucas, a salon, brought the $65 haircut to a neighborhood used to paying $6.

Last fall, American Apparel, the largest garment manufacturer in L.A., opened a prototype retail operation, a community store and gallery, near Sunset and Alvarado. The store’s simple concrete floors, gritty-sexy ads and progressive politics fit the neighborhood like one of its tight T-shirts. There are now 40 others planned to open internationally by year’s end.

A list of objectives posted outside the shop explains that the company is “as much a capitalist success as a social success.” That kind of sums up the neighborhood too, at least as store founder Dov Charney sees it.

“What makes Echo Park special is the competition of ideas, and all the different elements brought by each socio-economic group, each immigrant group,” he said by phone from his native Montreal. “You mix it all up and it makes it exciting.”

The mix also makes it unpredictable. “Echo Park is a weird thing,” said Peter Shire, a ceramist, sculptor and lifelong resident. “It gives and takes constantly, at the same time. For every sensitive restoration, there’s a Home Depot special or a clapboard stuccoed over.”

Sometimes, it’s hard to tell who is the arty newcomer and who is the longtime local. In the parking lot of the Brite Spot eatery, a faded Ford pickup pulls in next to a hopped-up ‘60s Mustang; a tattooed biker-type climbs into the truck and a frail old man turns the Mustang onto Sunset.

Other boundaries run parallel too. On the magazine rack at the House of Spirits liquor store, the glossies Vogue and Surface are sold alongside Chino Rap and Low Rider. A wall-unit cooler offers, from the top shelf down, $43 bottles of French Champagne, assorted $10 sakes and $2.99 pints of MD 20/20 fortified wine. The Brite Spot just put veggie meatloaf and soy milk on the menu, alongside the chicken mole and lamb shanks.

As he was creating the menu for Masa, owner Michel Keller included paella and tapas, pizza, crepes, quiche and pastries. Similarly, the Echo has taken on more diverse programming, said manager Frank, who books both Silver Lake’s Spaceland and the Echo. “We’re kind of paying attention to the neighborhood with more rock en Espanol, which I tried to do at Spaceland but it never really worked,” he said. Such alt-Latino groups as the B-Side Players, Quinto Sol and Los Abandoned have played the Echo to good crowds.

The cashier at the Downbeat Cafe issues copies of his anti-Bush administration artwork along with your bread pudding. Next door at 33 1/3 Books, where the children’s section is labeled “Our Future,” the collective’s founders hope to demonstrate an alternative to “top-down capitalism” with their egalitarian business model.

Progress doesn’t have to equal destruction. The chicken mural alongside El Batey market on Echo Park Avenue gave the intersection its nickname, Chicken Corner. When the Chango coffee shop took over a portion of the market’s space and knocked out a wall, all but one chicken’s head disappeared. Parris Patton, an artist who is one of the shop’s owners, promises that the chickens aren’t history. They’re coming back, but this time as a mosaic.

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Eat, drink, shop, gawk: An Echo Park guide

Over the last few months Echo Park has boomed with creative new ventures in almost everything -- food, art, fashion, music. Here are some of the most notable addresses, new and old, and where to find them:

ADDRESSES

1. Chango Coffee House, 1559 Echo Park Ave., (213) 977-9161. Co-owner Parris Patton, an artist and former gallery owner, fills the fine coffee void in Echo Park with his new coffeehouse/bistro/art gallery.

2. Flounce Vintage, 1555 Echo Park Ave., (213) 481-1975. The 2-year-old store carries vintage fashion and accessories from the 1920s to the 1970s.

3. White Lions, 1553 Echo Park Ave., (323) 632-3737. Megan Gold sells her White Lions label alongside indie designers from the West Coast and Thailand.

4. Han Cholo, 1549 Echo Park Ave., (213) 482-9180. Owner Guillaume Pajolec stocks his Han Cholo jewelry and clothing with a rock ‘n’ roll/sci-fi theme at his 1-year-old shop and art gallery.

5. Le Pink, 1545 Echo Park Ave., (213) 250-0265. You’ll find bath and body products alongside kiddie candy and anything else that’s pink and fun.

6. Show Pony, 1543 Echo Park Ave., (213) 482-7676. Owner Kime Buzzelli features one-of-a-kind and handmade women’s fashion and jewelry, along with monthly art openings.

7. Lucas, 1541 Echo Park Ave., (213) 250-7992. The new upscale hair salon offers cuts, blow drys, facials and makeup applications.

8. Anti-Market, 2235 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 413-1115. Neo-punk T-shirts, guitar straps, velour fedoras and more “fashion crafts” from local designers are on display at the boutique run by John Dance, a.k.a. JohnQ.

9. Peter Vanstone Inc., 2211 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 413-5964. Antiques, photos and art fill every inch of the shop.

10. Minette’s Antiques Etc., 2205 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 413-5595. The longtime antique store specializes in costume jewelry and other noteworthy stuff.

11. Kohlman Quinn, 2203 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 413-9900. Partners Kris Quinn and Douglas Kohlman offer home design services.

12. The Kids Are Alright, 2201 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 413-4014. The new shop sells men’s and women’s fashion including Citizens of Humanity, Mon Petit Oiseau, Looseleaf and How.

13. Sirens and Sailors, 1102 Mohawk, (213) 483-5423. With many one-of-a-kind production pieces, the store calls itself a grass-roots laboratory for young designers.

14. Luxe de Ville, 2157 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 353-0135. The 6-year-old store and occasional art gallery sells progressive fashion, accessories and vintage for men and women, including the label ODD by Oscar de la Cruz.

15. Malucala, 2133 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 413-2331. The tiny shop features an eclectic, affordable array of women’s clothing and accessories from several continents.

16. American Apparel Community Store and Gallery, 2111 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 484-6464. The downtown L.A. manufacturer takes non-sweatshop T-shirts, jackets, exclusive dresses and more direct to the people in an airy shop.

17. Roadside America, 2170-B W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 413-3299. Antiques dealers Sandy Raulston and Ted Birbilis sell 19th century American and Native American art, pottery, furniture and textiles in their month-old gallery.

18. Funky Revolution, 2170 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 484-2500. Owner Crystal Chesley scours L.A. for fashionable closeouts that cost under $20 -- a price that won’t ruin your night if a martini should splash.

19. Wells Antiques, 2162 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 413-0558. One of the nation’s largest collections of antique tile and garden pottery fills this highly regarded shop.

20. Downbeat Cafe, 1202 N. Alvarado St., (213) 483-3955. The eclectic restaurant is open daily and serves breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch, along with jazz, soul and piano tunes several nights a week.

21. Echo Park Film Center, 1200 N. Alvarado St., (213) 484-8846. Paolo Davanzo screens and rents retro and cutting-edge cinema.

22. 33 1/3 Books & Gallery Collective, 1200 N. Alvarado St., (213) 483-3500. Progressive art, literature, fashion, music and more meet here.

23. Brite Spot, 1918 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 484-9800. The newly remodeled and retuned diner now offers vegetarian items in addition to American classics.

24. The Echo, 1822 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 413-8200. The area’s largest venue for alternative music features star acts such as the Donnas and George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, or local bands and DJs. Tackhead and Clinton appear later this month.

25. Masa of Echo Park, 1800 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 989-1558. Three partners who met at the Patina Group restaurants just opened this European pastry, pizza, sandwich and salad shop.

26. Rodeo Mexican Grill, 1721 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 483-8311. Clubgoers and locals alike fuel up on Mexican specialties, burgers, omelets and fresh juices.

27. BBC Clothing, 1707 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 353-4566. The decade-old store sells used clothing in the spacious front portion, and eclectic vintage for hipsters in the back room.

28. Pescado Mojado Seafood Grill, 1701 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 413-8712. Charbroiled brochettes, green salads and ceviche offer a healthy alternative to fast food -- and they serve beer and wine.

29. Sea Level Records, 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 989-0146. Owner Todd Clifford gives indie rock a storefront, and on-the-verge bands a performance space. A hairdresser works in the loft at Sonic Roots.

30. Rec Center Studio, 1161 Logan St., (213) 413-9300. Photographer Stephen Stickler is building the East Side equivalent of Smashbox Studios in a spacious former bowling alley.

31. Phoenix Express, 1325 N. Echo Park Ave., (213) 250-4818. The Echo Park outpost of the Chinatown bakery sells its trademark strawberry cream cakes, along with Chinese entrees.

32. La Fe, 1525 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 481-9896. The Salvadoran restaurant offers fresh fruit juices, plantains, burritos and three tacos for $3.

33. Nahui Ohlin, 1511 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 202-6550. Votan Ikahn sells Mexican folk art and sarcastic and political T-shirts with an alt-Latino edge.

34. The Gold Room, 1558 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 482-5259. The 25-year-old mainstay caters to a mixed crowd with dollar shots, food and drink specials. Happy hour, 5 to 9 p.m.; daily hours till 2 a.m.

35. Barragan’s, 1538 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 250-4256. The Mexican restaurant is as notable for its longevity -- 43 years -- as for its 12-ounce margaritas, which are $2.25 on Wednesdays. Open daily for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night meals.

36. The Short Stop, 1455 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 482-4942. The former hangout for Rampart Division cops has become a watering hole for hipsters.

37. Little Joy, 1477 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 250-3417. A dive by most standards, and a new favorite for locals of all stripes.

EVENTS

Art Crawl 7: Sept. 17-19. Art galleries throughout Echo Park, Silver Lake and Los Feliz host this free, three-day open house with a kick-off party from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Safari Sam’s Sunset Stage, 5214 W. Sunset Blvd. For information,(323) 666-7667 or www.laluzdejesus.com.

First Saturdays: Stores and galleries along Echo Park Avenue open from 7:30 to 10 p.m. and feature new artists, designer collections and more. After 10, the party moves to the Echo nightclub. The next event is Sept. 11.