Occidental is the Eagle Rock core

The whole town is buzzing [“Making Eagle Rock a Hip Nest,” Nov. 16]. I couldn’t help noticing, though, on the map pinpointing the location of local businesses, the legend “Los Angeles” was right in the middle of the Occidental College campus.

Granted, you can’t see the campus as you cruise by. But Eagle Rock is a college town. Lots of people you see at Auntie Em’s, and Mia Sushi, and Swork, and Blue Hen, are Occidental students, faculty and staff. Since the college opened its Eagle Rock campus in 1914, much of Eagle Rock has grown up around us.

JIM TRANQUADA

Los Angeles

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Tranquada is director of communications at Occidental College.

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Most people who eat at Eagle Rock’s wonderful restaurants and shop at our lovely, cool boutiques give very little thought to “how” Eagle Rock became the thriving area that it is today.

But it should be noted that Eagle Rock’s renaissance, especially in the business district, was not without planning, preparation and great leaps of faith on the part of the community leadership.

More than a decade ago, the Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan was put into effect, which guides development along the street. Community leaders, through painstaking and collaborative efforts, set about making it happen -- one step at a time.

We look forward to Eagle Rock’s continued success and invite others to come and see how a friendly, lively “small town” can thrive in the midst of a major metropolitan area. It can continue to work. It just takes a plan.

JESSICA WETHINGTONMCLEAN

Los Angeles

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McLean is a board member of Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council and a member of ERNC Land Use & Planning Committee.