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The Militant's Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour XXXI!!!

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Happy Summer, everyone! The third (of six!) CicLAvia of 2019 and the 31st iteration of Los Angeles' open streets event is here again, this time running through the southern end of Central Los Angeles. While technically not a new route (The first "To The Sea" CicLAvia alignment in April, 2013 ran through the Venice Boulevard section of this route), this does bring the communities of Los Angeles' Mid-City into the CicLAvia fold for the first time. Sandwiched between Hancock Park/Koreatown to the north and South Los Angeles al sur, the Mid-City neighborhoods feature a diverse mix of African American, Latín, Immigrant African, Korean and Caribbean residents.

It's an area that was an "urban suburb" of streetcar corridors (The Pacific Electric on Venice, the Los Angeles Railway on Washington), houses, shops and houses of worship in popular early 20th-century aesthetic styles, with well-defined artistic pockets, both historic and contemporary. So, see you or not see you on the streets this Sunday! And here we go...

1. Powers Place - Shortest Street in Los Angeles
1904
Powers Place and Alvarado Terrace, Pico-Union

You all know the longest street in Los Angeles, right? It's Sepulveda Boulevard. But what's the shortest street in the city? It's right here! It's Powers Place, a whopping 30 feet in length! Named after Los Angeles City Council president Pomeroy Powers, who spearheaded the effort to create a city park (originally named Terrace Park) at the neighborhood of Craftsman, Tudor and Victorian-style houses built in the early 1900s decade. All six historic houses along Alvarado Terrace were designated by the City as Historic-Cultural Monuments in 1971.

2. Iglesia Adventista Central/1st Church of Christ, Scientist
1912
1366 S. Alvarado Street, Pico-Union

Currently the site of a 7th Day Adventist Church catering to a Latín congregation, this 107-year old Mediterranean Romanesque Revival house of worship has changed owners, and even denominations, and has had a long, and even dark, history behind it. Built in 1912 as the 1st Church of Christ, Scientist, it served its Christian Science congregation for six decades, before it became a Jewish synagogue for a few years. In the mid-1970s, it became the Los Angeles location of The People's Temple, the cult founded by Jim Jones, who infamously led over 900 his followers to live in a commune in Jonestown, Guyana, and consequently, to die in the largest mass-suicide in history (which spawned the euphemism, "Don't drink the Kool-Aid"). The current Adventist church has been there since the late 1970s, since, Jim Jones uh...couldn't really use it anymore. The church structure was inducted into the National Register of Historic Sites in 1984.

3. Hoover Street - Original City Boundary
1850
Hoover Street, Pico-Union

CicLAvia only runs for a few yards on this street, but note how all the streets east of Hoover run in a diagonal fashion, and all the streets west run perfectly east-west. Yes, Virginia, Los Angeles was not always big and sprawled. From 1850 to 1896, Hoover was the original western boundary of the City of Los Angeles, which meant that over 120 years ago, you'd be on the Westside. On April 2, 1896, the "Western Addition" was annexed into the City, extending the boundaries a few miles west to Arlington Avenue (more on this latter...)

4. Loyola High School
1917
1901 Venice Blvd, Byzantine-Latino Quarter

Founded in 1865 at St. Vincent Court off of 7th Street in Downtown (a spot on the "Heart of LA" CicLAvia Tour), this Jesuit-run Catholic boys' high school is the oldest continuously-running educational institution in Los Angeles. The school moved to its current location in 1917 after splitting from the affiliated Loyola Marymount University, and after Irish philanthropist Thomas P. Higgins (who owned the Higgins Building on 2nd and Main in Downtown) donated land in what was then the southwestern corner of the city. Home of the Cubs, the school celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2015. Famous alums include volleyball great Sinjin Smith, Vons grocery founder Wilfred Von der Ahe, broadcaster Stan Chambers and holy Homeboy Fr. Greg Boyle.

5. Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery
1884
1831 W. Washington Blvd, West Adams

This 65-acre memorial park, originally established as Rosedale Cemetery, has been serving Los Angeles for the past 135 years, and is the final resting place of a number of historic Angelenos, such as Port of Los Angeles founder Phineas Banning, the City of Burbank's namesake Dr. David Burbank, jazz legend Eric Dolphy, actress Hattie McDaniel and mayors George Alexander, Arthur C. Harper, Owen McAleer, John G. Nichols, Frank Rader and Frederick T. Woodman. One of the most notable graves is that of Catalina Island developer George Shatto, who is interred in a pyramid!

6. Westmoreland Heights Tract Monument
1902
Westmoreland Avenue and Venice Boulevard, Harvard Heights

In an era before cities erected standard street signs on corners, tract home developments established concrete or masonry monuments bearing the name of the development as well as the street. This one bears the name of the Westmoreland Heights tract, established in 1899, featuring homes built in the Craftsman, Tudor/Craftsman and American Foursquare styles. Many of the residents were the owners of large local businesses. If you notice, the sign facing Venice Blvd bears the name "16th Street." West of Downtown, 16th Street is nowhere to be found on any maps (not even in La Guía de los Hermanos Tomas) - that's because 16th Street was re-named Venice Boulevard in 1932.

7. Ray Charles RPM International Studios
1964
2107 W. Washington Blvd, Harvard Heights.

This 11,488 square foot, two -story building, designed by Joe Adams and Ray Charles himself opened in 1964 as the legendary musician's personal recording studio and offices (he lived in nearby Leimert Park at the time). One of his biggest hits, "Georgia On My Mind" was recorded here, as well as his 2004 Grammy-winning swan song album, Genius Loves Company. It was designated as a Historic-Cultural Monument by the City of Los Angeles in 2004, just prior to Charles' death and since 2010 functions as the Ray Charles Memorial Library, a museum dedicated to the singer's career, featuring free tours of the facility (by appointment) on Mondays thru Wednesdays.

8. Arlington Ave - Old City Boundary
1909
Arlington Ave, Arlington Heights

Continuing the Los Angeles City Boundary history, Arlington Avenue was once the westernmost border of the City from 1896 to 1909, when the Colegrove Addition (which stretched north towards Hollywood) was annexed into the City. Note how the street dramatically widens west of Arlington - that, of course, was to accommodate both automobiles and the Pacific Electric Red Car tracks, which run the rest of the way along Venice Blvd.

9. Washington Square Market/Swap Meet
1964
4060 Washington Blvd, Mid-City

This shopping center, built in the mid-1960s used to feature a Ralphs supermarket (hence the vestigal red oval sign) and local shops. Since the 1980s the shopping center has hosted an indoor swap meet, akin to the large Slauson Swap Meet in South Los Angeles and the soon-to-close Union Discounts in East Hollywood, an indoor bazaar featuring clothing, shoes, sporting goods, repair/service stalls, salons and eateries owned by upstart immigrant entrepreneurs.

10. St. Paul's Catholic Church
1937
4120 Washington Blvd, Mid-City

Originally established on the site of a convent in 1917 among bean fields and oil derricks, the current Romanesque church building (inspired by the Basilica Papale San Paolo fuori le Mura in Rome) was built 20 years later and designed by famed Los Angeles architects John C. Austin and Frederick Ashley, who also designed the Griffith Observatory (which opened two years earlier). Today, St. Paul's serves a Spanish, English and Korean-speaking congregation. Their annual Parish Festival also happens to be scheduled concurrently with CicLAvia, so one can check out the rides, games and food in their parking lot.

11. Wellington Square
1914
Victoria Avenue, Wellington Road, Virginia Road and Buckingham Road (south of Washington Boulevard), Mid-City

Developed by M.J. Nolan on land formerly owned by George L. Crenshaw (Yup,, that Crenshaw), this four-block neighborhood features over 200 Spanish Colonial, Tudor, French Norman, Craftsman and Revival-style residences. Today, the neighborhood is starting to get Capital "G," but you can check out their weekly Farmers' Market on the parking lot at Wellington Road and Washington Boulevard, also happening on Sunday between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

12. First Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles
1924
1809 West Boulevard, Mid-City

This Presbyterian church community, which moved several times around Los Angeles in its 132-year history, settled at this location in 1924. The congregation became predominantly African American in makeup in the 1960s, which it remains today, although the church shares the building with a separate Korean church. This Gothic Revival church structure was also designed by John C. Austin and Frederick Ashley (architects of St. Paul's down the street, remember?), along with Frederic Roehrig, who designed Pasadena's iconic Hotel Green. Check out the old-school incinerator chimney facing Washington Blvd!

13. Nate Holden Performing Arts Center/Ebony Showcase Theater
2004/1950
4718 Washington Blvd, Mid-City

Named after the longtime African American Los Angeles city councilman (1987-2002), this City-owned facility, which opened in 2004, hosts community-based performing arts and arts education programs. It was built on the site of the Ebony Showcase Theater, the first African American-owned theater building in Los Angeles, which was founded in 1950 by actor Nick Stewart (who voiced Brer Bear in Disney's "Song of the South") and his wife Edna. That theater featured community-based performing arts programs which ran until the 1998, when the City's Community Redevelopment Agency took over the Northridge earthquake-damaged building by eminent domain.

14. Trabue Pittman Building/Willing Workers Building
1931
4801 Washington Blvd, Mid-City

This Art Deco structure, built in 1931 at the northwest corner of Washington and Rimpau (where the Los Angeles Railway's W Line ended) was designed by celebrated architect S. Charles Lee. Owned by the Tabue Pittman Corporation, it was leased to various businesses over the years, including an F.W. Woolworth's store and a Bank of America branch. Today it is the home of Willing Workers, Inc, a non-profit that trains developmentally-disabled adults for workforce employment.

15. St. Elmo Village
1969
4830 St. Elmo Drive, Mid-City

This unique artists community was founded by the late African American artist Rozzell Sykes and his nephew Roderick, who purchased several homes in the neighborhood to save them from demolition and create a multicultural artists' community as an urban experiment. The community organizes the annual St. Elmo Festival every May to celebrate the arts. Fifty years later, now run by Roderick Sykes, the community is still going strong.

16. Dodgers Mural House
2018
1626 S. La Brea Ave, Mid-City

This unoccupied single-story house built in 1927 awaiting rehabilitation became a canvas for muralist and Dodger fan Hector "Tetris" Arias to celebrate the team's appearance in the 2018 World Series. Painted blue and featuring legendary lefties Fernando Valenzuela and Clayton Kershaw, the mural garnered media attention last Fall. The artist also painted a mural of third baseman Justin Turner on a condemned house near 62nd and Broadway in South Los Angeles prior to the team's 2017 World Series appearance, but that has been since demolished and a new structure has taken over. This mural, like the likelhood of the Dodgers' appearing in the next World Series, still remains, so expect the artist to simply upgrade the year on the mural.

17. Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles (New Location)
2019
Washington Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, Mid-City

Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles, which was founded by Herb Hudson (no one actually knows who "Roscoe" is...) and first opened on Gower Street in Hollywood in 1975, needs no introduction. But the so-called flagship location on Pico Boulevard (visited by President Barack Obama in 2011) a half-mile north, is slated to be replaced with this new location, opening sometime this Summer, once all the permits are approved and Hudson finally pays off his Chapter 11 debt.

18. U.S. Post Office, West Adams Ray Charles Station
1983
4960 W. Washington Blvd, Mid-City

This post office building, which opened in 1983 and serves the 90016 ZIP code, was dedicated as the Ray Charles Station U.S. Post Office in August 2005, in memory of the one of neighborhood's most prominent figures, whose RPM International Studios is located just a mile and a half east. The post office joins other facilities named after legendary musical artists, such as Nat King Cole on Western and 3rd (seen in last August's "Celebrate LA" CicLAvia Tour) and Marvin Gaye, on Vermont and 35th,  dedicated earlier this month.

Happy CicLAvia!

The Militant's Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour XXXII!!

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The fourth of six CicLAvias in 2019 and the 32nd iteration of Los Angeles' showcase open streets event takes place this Sunday, 8/18. Though unfortunately not in the San Fernando Valley, as the date would otherwise dictate, but on the other side of The Hill, with a 6-mile course linking the ethnically diverse East Hollywood with the star-studded central Hollywood and the prideful and design-conscious West Hollywood. Dubbed by CicLAvia's organizers as "Meet The Hollywoods" (Can they try to find better names of events without using the word "meet" or "meets"? The Militant is willing to help them out in that department - seriously -- email him), The organizers challenge CicLAvians to re-discover neighborhoods they may or may not already know. The Militant, too, wants people to re-discover the communities along every CicLAvia route: There have been 31 unique routes during the entire history of CicLAvia so far (the first two events had the same course), and The Militant Angeleno has tirelessly [takes, long deep breath] taken time out of his militant and extramilitant life to share with you his intimate knowledge of secret and unique points of interest.

If you're familiar with The Militant's Epic CicLAvia Tour guides, you'll know that a lot of the points of interest are connected with another in some way, and this one is no exception. Our CicLAvia tour begins in a triangle formed by local streets, and as you will see, you'll see that pattern repeats itself all the way to the opposite end of the route!

So here goes the CicLAvia guide for this Sunday. As always, see you or not see you on the streets!


1. Vermont Triangle
1911
Hollywood Blvd, Vermont Ave & Prospect Ave, East Hollywood

A year after the town of Hollywood voted to be annexed by Los Angeles in 1910, the Pacific Electric Railway extended its tracks from Sunset Boulevard to Hollywood Blvd. This triangular space, formed by Hollywood, Vermont and Prospect Avenue (the former moniker of Hollywood Blvd that retains its name eastward of the triangle), became a popular Red Car stop until service here ended in 1954. It maintained its use as a transportation facility, becoming not only a bus stop, but also a taxi layover zone. It became a de facto green space up until the early 21st century, where it turned into a popular locale for homeless encampments, despite the city's efforts to landscape it into a beautified public space.

2. Hollyhock House
1921
4800 Hollywood Blvd, East Hollywood

The former residence of oil heiress, proto-feminist, patron of the arts and cultural influencer Aline Barnsdall (pronounced "barns-doll,"not"barns-dale"), it was built in 1921 and designed by none other than Frank Lloyd MF'ing Wright. Named after Barnsdall's favorite flower (which forms a design motif around the building), it was borne from much bickering and head-clashing between the architect and client due to the home not being built to her tastes and cost overruns. In 1926 she up and left, sort of, donating the house and most of the property sitting on Olive Hill to the City of Los Angeles for artistic and recreational purposes. Although, she did live in a now-demolished residence on the west side of the park for the last two decades of her life. Last month, Hollyhock House was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site - the first such in Los Angeles.

3. Mosque Shopping Center/Calmos Gas Station
1923
4982 Hollywood Blvd, East Hollywood

This unassuming L-shaped shopping center on Hollywood and Alexandria sports a pair of towering minarets on top of its roof. Was it a mosque at one time? Was this home of an Islamic community in the past? Actually, no. they're the last vestiges of Calmos Auto Service Center, a gas station built in 1923 that became part of Union Oil's 76 chain. Its architecture reflects the whole Arab/Egyptian aesthetic fetish/appropriation thing back in the '20s, a decade which was marked by the 1921 Rudolph Valentino film, "The Sheik" and the 1922 discovery of King Tut's tomb. As seen in the historic 1924 photo, the dome of the "mosque" was a now-demolished structure that housed the area for the gas pumps.


1969
1615 N. Alexandria Ave., Little Armenia

This K-12 Armenian private school, affiliated with the St. Garabed  Armenian Apostolic Church across the street, is one of the biggest cultural anchors in Little Armenia. Named after its founders, not only is it the alma mater of 3/4ths of the rock band System Of A Down, but its relatively-new library building was designed to resemble Noah's Ark, as it was believed the ark landed in Mt. Ararat, the highest mountain in ancient Armenia and an iconic cultural landmark for the country. The school will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this week on Tuesday, August 20.

5. Thai Spirit House
1992
5321 Hollywood Blvd, Thai Town

Just to the right of the driveway of the Thailand Plaza shopping center, across from the Buddha shrine, is one of the most tucked-away curiosities in the Hollywood area. Known by the uninitiated as a "doll house," this miniature Siam-style abode serves as a cultural function to the nearby Silom market and the former Thai restaurant on the premises: Known as a "spirit house," it is built away from a business to ward away evil or mischievous spirits by leading them to an alternate location (plus water/fruit offerings) so their bad juju doesn't affect you.

6. Thai Town Gateway Statues
2007
5448 Hollywood Blvd, Thai Town

This pair of bronze statues on pedestals towering over Hollywood Boulevard function as the gateway of Thai Town. First installed in 2007 and the subject of The Militant's first ever blog post, it depicts a figure known as an apsonsi, a half-angel, half-lion creature from Thai mythology, chosen for its attributes as a protector. The statues were made in Thailand and flown from Bangkok, which, like Los Angeles, is also known as "The City of Angels."
Another pair of statues were installed near Normandie Avenue in 2012.

7. Mayer Building
1928
5504 Hollywood Blvd, East Hollywood

This four-story, Art Deco edifice, also known as the Hollywood Western Building, was designed by S. Charles Lee, who also happened to design many a structure featured in The Militant's Epic CicLAvia Tour guides. Named after its developer Louis B. Mayer (as in Metro Goldwyn Mayer) it served as the first home of the Motion Picture Academy of America (a.k.a. The Ratings People) and Central Casting. More recently, it serves as the local field office of U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff. Be on the look out for one of them trolley wire support rings, still embedded into the side of the building!

8. Hollywood Pantages Theatre
1930
Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood

Opened in 1930, this was actually the second theatre in Los Angeles bearing the Pantages name (the first one, still standing on 7th and Hill streets, opened a decade earlier and was renamed the Warner Theatre in 1929). This was also the last theater built bearing the name of vaudeville promoter Alexander Pantages, who ran a chain of 84 theaters across North America back in the day. The iconic Art Deco venue designed by B. Marcus Priteca (who also drew up the DTLA Pantages, as well as other theaters) actually functioned as a cinema for most of its history until 1977 when it ran the Broadway musical Bubbling Brown Sugar and the rest is Jazz Hands history. But did you know that the building constructed nearly 90 years ago is actually incomplete? It was originally supposed to stand 12 stories tall with offices. There have been recent proposals to complete the structure.

9. Hollywood Brown Derby Site/Metro Bike Hub
1929-1985/2017
1628 N. Vine St, Hollywood

Did you know that Metro's Hollywood Bike Hub facility, which opened in 2017, stands on the very site of the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant? This was the second location of the legendary local restaurant chain, which began on Wilshire Boulevard. Back in the Hollywood Heyday of the first half of the 20th century, it was like the lunch and dining hotspot for famous film stars and industry moguls. But perhaps the biggest star associated with the Hollywood Brown Derby was the Cobb Salad, invented here circa 1937. Named after Brown Derby co-owner Robert Cobb, it was an improvised mish-mash of leftover salad ingredients, either made for theater mogul Sid Grauman or by Cobb himself as a late-night meal (depending on which version of the legend). The restaurant closed down in 1985 and the iconic Mediterranean-style structure was burned in a fire two years later. It was finally demolished in the mid-1990s after the Northridge Earthquake.

10. Capitol Records Building/Hollywood Jazz Mural
1956
1750 N. Vine St, Hollywood

You may or may not already know that the Capitol Records building is: a) The world's first circular office building (designed by Louis Naidorf of Welton Becket associates -- the same architectural firm that designed the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion; b) Designed like a stack of records; and c) The FAA warning light atop its spire spells "HOLLYWOOD" in Morse Code. What you probably didn't know was that Capitol Records, founded in 1942, was the first major record label headquartered in the West Coast, and that the building was largely financed by the profits made from its premier artist at the time, Nat King Cole. Also, this is one of two skyscrapers in Los Angeles with a spire, the second being the Wilshire Grand Center. And speaking of Nat King Cole, Capitol's classic crooner is depicted front and center in the 88 foot-wide mural facing the building's south parking lot, "Hollywood Jazz, 1948-1972" by African American muralist (and Lynwood native) Richard Wyatt, Jr. painted in 1990 and restored in 2011. If you're into the Walk of Fame stars, all four members of The Beatles, as well as Tejana singer Selena, have their pavement honors in front of the building.

11. 'Once Upon A Time in Hollywood' Filming Locations
2018
Hollywood Blvd between Vine Street and Cherokee Avenue

Location scenes from the 2019 Quentin Tarantino film, "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" were filmed in summer and winter 2018 on The Boulevard between Vine Street and Cherokee Avenue, which itself became an actor, dressed in late-1960s period signs, ads and aesthetic. The 1923 Guaranty Building on 6331 Hollywood Blvd (now the L.Ron Hubbard Museum) got a retro-look as a Bank of America branch. And up Ivar Street, Joseph's Cafe (1775 Ivar) stood in for the iconic West Hollywood nightclub Pandora's Box.

12. Janes House (Oldest House in Hollywood)
1903
6541 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood

At the far end of this collection of restaurants and bars stands the oldest extant house in Hollywood -- a Queen Anne/Dutch Colonial Revival abode built in 1903 developed by none other than H.J. Whitley himself (as in the dude who founded Hollywood in 1886). It was owned by members of the Janes family from Illinois for some 80 years and also functioned as a small private school (attended by the children of celebrities) until the mid-1920s. In 1985, the house was moved several yards north to its current location and the Hollywood-facing part of the property was developed. Today it functions as a 1920s-themed speakeasy bar called No Vacancy at Hotel Juniper.

13. Grauman's Egyptian Theatre
1922
6706 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood

Built in 1922 by cinema mogul Sid Grauman, this was his first venue in Hollywood after opening the Million Dollar Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles. Designed by the team of Gabriel Meyer and Philip Holler (who also designed The Egyptian's younger and more famous sister down the street, The Grauman's Chinese Theatre), it was inspired by the popular "Egypt-mania" sweeping the world following the 1922 discovery of King Tut's tomb. From the 1970s to the 1990s it ran under the Mann Theatres chain (The Militant saw "Return of the Jedi" here during opening weekend in 1983), and was sold to American Cinematheque in 1996, re-opening two years later after a major renovation. It may or may not be purchased by Netflix.

14. Hollywood High School
1903
1521 N. Highland Ave, Hollywood

Originally founded in 1903 as a two-room school a few blocks north above a Masonic Lodge the same year the town of Hollywood was in incorporated, the campus moved to its current location a year later. In the 1920s, its mascot, The Sheik, was named after the hit 1921 Rudolph Valentino movie of the same name. Since then it has boasted a large number of famous alumni, such as Los Angeles Times publisher Norman Chandler (Class of 1917), actress Carole Lombard (1923),  "Looney Tunes" animator Chuck Jones (1930), actress Lana Turner (1936), "People's Court" judge Joseph Wapner (1937), actor Mickey Rooney (1938), actress Judy Garland (1940), Secretary of State Warren Christopher (1940),  actor James Garner (1944), actress/comedian Carol Burnett (1951), actor/singer Ricky Nelson (1958), actor John Ritter (1966), actor Laurence Fishburne (1980), actress Sarah Jessica Parker (1983) and R&B singer Brandy (1996). A large mural outside the school's auditorium depicts famous alums as well as other celebrities.

15. Highland Avenue
1900
Highland Avenue, Hollywood

Highland Avenue was not named after the Scottish Highlands, nor any other geography or topography, but in memory of a local woman named Highland Price. Her best friend and neighbor, Mary Penman Moll, who lived where the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel now stands, donated a strip of property to be built as a road. She named it in memory of Price, who passed away at the time and was the first person interred at Hollywood (now Hollywood Forever) Cemetery in 1900. The street became an important north-south thoroughfare, especially one connecting directly with the San Fernando Valley via the Cahuenga Pass. From 1911 to 1952, it carried the Pacific Electric Railway lines between Los Angeles and the SFV.


16. Formosa Cafe/PE Red Car 913
1925
7156 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood

This iconic restaurant, bar and Hollywood hangout (just across the street from the Samuel Goldwyn Studio) opened in 1925 by former boxer Jimmy Bernstein, who used an old Pacific Electric Red Car. The adjoining building was built in 1939. In the 1940s, Hong Kong-born chef Lem Quon was hired to cook at the Formosa and later became Bernstein's business partner, taking over ownership after his death in 1976. Quon died in 1993, with family members taking over ownership afterward. Threatened with demolition several times, the Formosa persevered. It was featured in the 1990s movies "L.A. Confidential" and "Swingers." In the 2010s decade, after various remodeling and re-remodeling, it was purchased by the 1933 Group in 2017 and re-opened this year with the Red Car (#913, in full view on Formosa Avenue) re-painted and the establishment restored to its Golden Era charm.

17. Crescent Heights Triangle/Quint Cutoff
1900
Santa Monica Blvd & Crescent Heights Blvd, West Hollywood

Have you ever wondered why there's a "triangle" at the corner of Santa Monica and Crescent Heights boulevards? It's a remaining vestige of a half-mile railroad line known as the Quint Cutoff built in 1900 connecting a rock quarry west of Laurel Canyon with the railroad tracks along Santa Monica Boulevard. The "triangle" section is known in railroad terms as a "wye," which enables a locomotive to reverse direction without the use of a turntable. Another "wye" was built at the opposite end of the line where it meets Sunset Boulevard. The Pacific Electric Railway briefly took over this railroad line in 1911 until it was dismantled shortly after that year, but the alignment of the "wye" tracks on both ends were built into the modern street grid.

18. Plummer Park
1937
7377 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood

In 1874, Anglo-Mexican couple Capt. John and Maria Cecila Plummer purchased a ranch formerly part of Rancho La Brea (bounded by present-day Santa Monica Blvd, La Brea Ave, Fountain Ave & Gardner St) to raise their sons Juan and Eugenio and grow vegetables to sell to residents of nearby Los Angeles. The Plummers were good friends with the Leonis family, who had a ranch of their own way over the hill in present-day Calabasas. After John and Maria died, the ranch was divided and plots sold off, with Los Angeles County purchasing a large portion in 1937 to use as a public park, with new facilities being built as part of FDR's Works Progress Administration projects. Eugenio lived in the 1877 family house until his death in 1943. The Plummer House was the oldest house in Hollywood until it was moved in 1983 to the grounds of the Leonis Adobe in Calabasas, whereby the 1903 Janes House (See #12) took the crown as the oldest Hollywood home.

19. Sal Guarriello Veterans' Memorial
2003
Santa Monica Blvd & Holloway Dr

Salvatore "Sal" Guarriello was an Italian American WeHo resident who was best known as serving on the West Hollywood City Council from 1990 to 2009, and served as mayor four times during that tenure. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army as a combat medic in Italy and established the West Hollywood Veterans' Memorial in Holloway Park in 2003. After his death in 2009, the City of West Hollywood re-dedicated their civic veterans' monument as the Sal Guarriello Veterans' Memorial in honor of its most respected veteran and civic official.

20. Site of La Cienega Lanes/Flippers Roller Boogie Palace
1946-1981
8491 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood

What stands as a CVS Pharmacy with a concave facade was a popular youth recreational venue for various generations. In 1946, TV host Art Linkletter established Art Linkletter's La Cienega Lanes bowling alley, becoming a popular place to roll strikes during the golden era of bowling in the post-World War II era. From 1979 to 1981, the alley became Flippers Roller Boogie Palace, a popular roller skating rink and music venue during the influential post-disco new wave/punk era of Los Angeles. Local bands like The Plimsouls, Berlin and the Go-Gos, as well as up-and-coming popular acts like The Talking Heads and Prince performed there. In 1984, the building became the Esprit clothing flagship store.

21. Site of Pacific Electric Sherman Yard/Pacific Design Center
1896-1954; 1975

West Hollywood was originally known as Sherman, named after Moses Hazeltine Sherman, land developer and railroad executive (Yes, the SFV's Sherman Way and Hazeltine Ave were named after him) who co-founded the Los Angeles Pacific Railway, linking Santa Monica with Los Angeles. The area on the former Rancho La Brea land that sat midway between the two cities was chosen as the site of a railroad yard, and a settlement named after Sherman developed around it. In 1925, the town on unincorporated Los Angeles County land chose to re-name itself "West Hollywood" to closer associate with Tinseltown. Because it was on County land, and thus patrolled by the Sheriff's Department, it began to attract gay and lesbian residents during the Prohibition Era due to the Los Angeles Police Department's frequent raids of gay and lesbian establishments in Los Angeles city (whereas the Sheriff's Department was much more tolerant). The Los Angeles Pacific Railway became part of the Pacific Electric Railway starting in 1911, and the yard became the main facility for its Western District, until the last Red Car in the area rolled in 1954. Southern Pacific freight trains took over the tracks on Santa Monica Boulevard, though not as frequently, and in 1974, the yard was demolished to make room for the sprawling Pacific Design Center, which opened the year later. The PDC was designed by Argentinian architect Cesar Pelli, who passed away one month ago.

22. Norma Triangle
Santa Monica Blvd/Doheny Dr/Sunset Bl-Holloway Dr, West Hollywood

Our CicLAvia tour begins with one triangle, and ends with another: The right-triangle formed by Doheny Drive, Sunset Boulevard/Holloway Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard features one of West Hollywood's biggest residential and commercial districts. Norma Triangle was named not after actress Norma Talmadge, but after the wife or child of a Los Angeles Pacific Railroad executive during the area's days as Sherman, as many streets were named at the time. Featuring the famed Sunset Strip on its north side, and the LGBT-oriented "Boys Town" nightclub district on the south, the area also includes the former residence and studio of architect Lloyd Wright (son of Hollyhock House designer (See #2) Frank Lloyd MF'ing Wright, and who also assisted designing Barnsdall residence himself - see how things tie together on these CicLAvia guides?) on 858 N. Doheny Drive.

Happy CicLAvia on Sunday! Don't forget to share this guide with a friend!

The Militant's Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour XXXIII!!!

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The fifth CicLAvia of 2019 and the 33rd edition of Los Angeles' premier open streets event is here.
The October CicLAvias are normally a certain version of the classic "Heart of L.A." route. Almost every CicLAvia route is unique, but this is the the third time the event has used a duplicate route - this course is exactly the same as the October 2016 "Heart of L.A." alignment (The other two are the first and second CicLAvias (October 2010 and April 2011) and the June 2013 and April 2014 "Iconic Wilshire Boulevard" routes). So this Epic CicLAvia Tour guide is more or less a re-run of what The Militant has written before. But he's posting this anyway so that maybe if you are already familiar with the points of interest (Some of you have memorized these entries, right?), you can impress other CicLAvians with your (Militant-enabled) knowledge of the route!

This route is supposedly a partnership with the ongoing UCLA 100 Centennial celebration. But since it neither goes through Westwood nor the original site of the campus on Vermont Avenue (now Los Angeles City College), the route itself has very little relevance to the university. And UCLA's connection to the original location of the California State Normal School (i.e. the educational institution that became the educational institution that became UCLA), located at the current site of the Los Angeles Public Library's Central Library, is reeeeeeeeaaaallly stretching it. And furthermore, it's not even on the CicLAvia route. But there will be a number of UCLA-related events going on along the route this Sunday, and hey, it's a sweet sponsorship to ensure this event takes place. As someone who may or may not be a UCLA alum, The Militant may or may not be proud of the UCLA-centric theme of this CicLAvia, so he may or may not check them out. 

As usual, see you or not see you on the streets on Sunday!

1. Eastside Luv
2006 (Built 1940)
1835 E. 1st St, Boyle Heights

One of The Militant's favorite hangouts in the Eastside, this bar, started by a bunch of friends who grew up in nearby City Terrace, took over the former Metropolitan bar eight years ago and updated it to a more contemporary Eastside-style flavor. Don't call it gentrification, call it gentefication.

2. Mariachi Plaza
1889
1st St and Boyle Ave, Boyle Heights

This is the new town square for Boyle Heights, anchored by the historic 1889 Boyle Hotel on the historic Cummings Block, where Mariachi musicians have been hanging out to get picked up for since the 1930s. The Kiosko, or bandstand, that sits in the plaza is actually not that historic. It was given as a gift from the Mexican state of Jalisco, who literally shipped it over in 1998 where it was assembled in place. But it only gets used once a year for the Santa Cecilia Festival around every November 21. The plaza is also home of the Metro Gold Line station of the same name, which opened in 2009. The unique lending library Libros Schmibros relocated here in 2011. This place could warrant a Militant blog post in itself -- no, an entire week of posts! Don't miss the Farmers Market events there every Friday and Sunday!

3. Simon Gless Farmhouse
1887
131 S. Boyle Ave., Boyle Heights

Back in the totally radical '80s...That's the 1880s, Boyle Heights was an open, rural area and French Basque immigrant Simon Francois Gless built a Queen Anne style house on his sheepherding farm at this location. Today, the house is a City Historic Cultural Monument and is a home that's rented out to -- Mariachi musicians! Just a few blocks west of here is Gless Street, and you might have heard of Simon's great-granddaughter -- actress Sharon Gless, who starred in the series Cagney and Lacey, which aired a century after her arrière-grand-père first settled in Boyle Heights.

4. Keiro Retirement Home/Jewish Home For The Aging
1974/1916
325 S. Boyle Ave, Boyle Heights

With Boyle Heights being a historically Jewish and Japanese community, how's this for an ultimate Boyle Heights institution? This property was originally built in 1916 as the Jewish Home for the Aging (now operating in Reseda), and in 1974, the Keiro Senior Health Care organization, basically their Japanese American counterpart. With the Hollenbeck Palms retirement home just down the street (and site of the John Edward Hollenbeck Estate, remember?) Boyle is a popular corridor for Senior Livin.'

5. Neighborhood Music School
1947 (Built 1890s)
358 S. Boyle Ave, Boyle Heights

The Neighborhood Music School is exactly what it is. But it's also a Boyle Heights institution. Originally founded over 100 years ago when it was located on Mozart Street (orchestral rimshot), the school moved to this Victorian home in 1947 where it still offers music lessons to local youth and the public can drop by on weekends to attend free recital concerts.

6. Metro Division 20 Subway Car Yard & Site of Old Santa Fe LaGrande Station
1992 / 1893
320 S. Santa Fe Ave (visible from the 4th Street Viaduct), Arts District

Take a break from riding/walking/skateboarding/pogo-sticking/etc. and take a glance off the north side of the bridge from the west bank of the River. This facility is where the 104 Italian-built subway cars of the Metro Red and Purple line cars are stored, repaired, serviced and cleaned. This was also the temporary storage and repair site of the Angels Flight railway cars after the fateful 2001 accident. The Militant actually visited this facility back in May 1992.

The subway cars are also serviced on the site of the old Santa Fe Railway La Grande Station (hence the name of the street) that was on Santa Fe and 2nd. Built in 1893, it was precisely where midwestern transplants arrived in Los Angeles after paying their $1 train ticket from Chicago. In 1933, the landmark dome was damaged by the Long Beach Earthquake and subsequently removed. In 1939, it was rendered obsolete by the opening of the new Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal a few blocks north.

7. Metro 1st St /Central Station Site
2023
1st Street and Central Avenue, Little Tokyo

Prior to 2014, this lot was home to the popular Señor Fish taco joint (formerly the site of '70s-'80s punk venue Atomic Cafe) and Weiland Brewery Restaurant (which opened replacement locations in Echo Park and Uptown Long Beach, respectively). Both buildings were demolished in  to make room for this new Metro subway station for the  Regional Connector project, a new subway under Downtown Los Angeles that will re-align three light rail lines into two and provide continuous, transfer-free service from Azusa to Long Beach and East Los Angeles to Santa Monica. Although Little Tokyo already has a Gold Line station just yards away, that will be demolished and the station replaced with a new underground facility where the current construction activity exists. It's rather fascinating, and it's one way Little Tokyo will more resemble Big Tokyo.  The businesses around the station have been impacted by construction, so make sure you support them, not only during CicLAvia but after!
8. Site of Quaker Dairy, Original Little Tokyo Restaurant
1890
304 E. 1st St., Little Tokyo
On the southeast corner of 1st and San Pedro streets once stood the Quaker Dairy, a restaurant started on this site in 1890 by Sanshichi Akita, an immigrant from Japan. Though preceded five years earlier by another restaurant on First St (location unknown), this is the oldest traceable location of a Little Tokyo business. By the end of the 19th century, there were over 16 Japanese-owned restaurants in this stretch of 1st Street, creating what we know as Little Tokyo.
9. Los Angeles Sister Cities Monument
1987
1st and Main streets, Downtown

On the northeast corner of 1st and Main streets stands a pole bearing signs (in the "Blue Blade" style, no less) for every one of Los Angeles' 25 Sister Cities, each pointing towards their location. The signs range from Lusaka, Zambia (the farthest sister city, 10,017 miles) to Vancouver, Canada (the nearest, 1,081 miles) and everywhere in between. Nagoya, Japan is Los Angeles' oldest sister city (1959); Yerevan, Armenia is the newest (2007). Los Angeles, an Olympic host city (1932, 1984) also has that in common with sister cities Athens (1896, 2004), Berlin (1936), Mexico City (1968) and Vancouver (2010). Okay, the Militant is just filling up this paragraph with mindless trivia.

10. U.S. Federal Courthouse
2016
145 S. Broadway, Downtown
This big glass cube that is responsible for blocking your view of the Downtown Los Angeles skyline from Grand Park used to be a hole in the ground was once the site of the Junipero Serra State Office Building, which was damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake and abandoned and demolished in 1998. This 10-story, 400-foot-tall U.S. Federal Courthouse building (don't we already have a few of those?), designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill, opened in 2016. Do check out the embossed bald eagle situated over the main entrance on 1st Street.

11. Site of 1910 Los Angeles Times Bombing
1910
Northeast corner of Broadway and 1st Street, Downtown

This longtime empty lot, previously identified in this CicLAvia tour as the foundation of a state office building condemned after the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake has some additional history. It was recently dissevered to be the location of the 1910 bombing of the (then) Los Angeles Times building, which happened 104 years ago this week. The dynamite bombing was discovered to have been the work of Ortie McManigal and brothers John and James McNamara, all affiliated with the Iron Workers Union,  in what was meant to protest the newspaper's staunchly anti-union practices. 21 people died when the 16 sticks of dynamite exploded just outside the building at 1:07 a.m. on October 1, 1910, the explosion was exacerbated by natural gas lines which blew up a large section of the building. The Times since built a new building in its place, and later relocated across 1st Street to its current location. Today, the lot is being readied for an expansion of Grand Park.
NAVIGATIONAL NOTE: 
• If heading north to Chinatown, skip to #21.

12. Bradbury Building
1893
304 S. Broadway, Downtown

A building that's famously meh on the outside, but OMG from the inside, this building has been featured in movies from Chinatown to Blade Runner to 500 Days of Summer. Designed by Sumner Hunt and modified by George Wyman, this 5-story structure was designed to look like the 21st century from 19th century eyes. Despite the ahead-of-its-time design, this building has nothing to do with sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, but was named after developer and 1800s rich dude Lewis Bradbury.

13. Biddy Mason Park
1991
331 S. Spring St (entrance on Broadway), Downtown

Born as a slave in Georgia over 200 years ago, Bridget "Biddy" Mason was a renaissance woman of her time. Having followed Mormon settlers west, she gained her freedom when California became a slavery-free Union state. As a nurse, she founded the first child care center in Los Angeles and later became a lucrative property owner and philanthropist, having founded the First AME Church, now a major institution in Los Angeles' African American community. She died in 1891 and was buried at ...Evergreen Cemetery (which you might have also seen earlier...see how things all tie together?). A century after her passing, this mini-park in DTLA, on the site of her house, was built and dedicated.

14. Broadway-Spring Arcade Building
1924
541 S. Spring St, Downtown

This unique building is actually three, opened in 1924 on the site of Mercantile Place, a 40-foot street cut between 5th and 6th streets connecting Broadway and Spring. Mercantile Place was a popular shopping and gathering locale in the early 1900s. Having fallen into decay by the 1970s, it was recently renovated and is now famous for, of all things, vendors selling rock band t-shirts. It also becomes an artistic venue during the DTLA ArtWalk. And The Militant probably doesn't need to mention that this building is home to the DTLA Guisado's.

15. St. Vincent Court
1868
St. Vincent Ct and 7th Street, Downtown

You'd hardly knew it was there, but this alley nestled between Broadway and Hill (blink and you'll miss it!), with its decorative brick pavement and European decor, seemingly belongs to another world. Originally the site of a Catholic college that was the predecessor of today's Loyola Marymount University, today it's a unique food court featuring Armenian and Middle Eastern eateries. The Militant calls it, "Littler Armenia." Check out this Militant Angeleno post on St. Vincent Court from 2008 for more info!
16. Diamonds Theatre (Warner Theatre & Original Pantages Theatre)
1920
401 W. 7th Street, Downtown
This jewelry retail mart is actually a re-purposed theatre that was the original Pantages Theatre (remember from the last CicLAvia?) opened in 1920 by Greek American entertainment magnate Alexander Pantages for Vaudeville productions. Designed by B. Marcus Priteca (who also designed today's Pantages Theatre in Hollywood), it was sold in 1929 and eventually became the Warner Theatre, screening motion pictures from the WB during the days when the movie studios ran their own theatres. The theatre closed down in 1975 and became a jewelry mart in 1978.

17. The Bloc (Formerly Broadway Plaza/Macy's Plaza)
1973
7th Street between Flower and Hope streets, Downtown

A poster child for change in Downtown, this shopping center, originally built in 1973 and designed by Charles Luckman & Associates as the first suburban-style mall in DTLA combined an indoor (though massively truncated) indoor galleria, a hotel and a 32-story office building. Initially known as Broadway Plaza, named after the old upscale Southern California department store anchor tenant, its name was changed to Macy's Plaza in 1996 after The Broadway merged with the NYC-based equivalent Macy's. Its blocky, street-unfriendly design was derided by many, especially in an era where the outdoor mall format pioneered by Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade, and Rick Caruso's faux-urban monstrosities (and more recently, the newly-opened The Village at Westfield Topanga),  so in 2013 it was re-conceptualized as "The Bloc" and currently stands as a work-in-progress, (which also features a direct entrance to the 7th Street/Metro Center subway station).
18. Wilshire Grand Center
2017
900 Wilshire Blvd, Downtown

On this site rises the new Wilshire Grand Center, Los Angeles' (and the West's -- suck on it, Transbay Tower SF!) tallest building at 73 stories and 1,100 feet (kinda sorta, there's a spire, you see...). Opened in June 2017, it is the city's only modern skyscraper without a flat roof, the only Los Angeles building since Hollywood's Capitol Records tower in 1956 to feature a spire, the first skyscraper anywhere to sport a mohawk, and it also has its own irreverent Twitter account. ;) Owned by Korean Air (hence the red and blue taeguk LED logo), the tower houses the 900-room Hotel Intercontinental with its 70th-floor Sky Lobby and the unique Spire 73 skybar, with wonderful views of the south and west (the sunset vista from here is not to be missed). The building's construction site was the location of "The Big Pour" - which lasted from February 15 -16, 2014, where 21,200 cubic yards (81 million pounds) of concrete for the tower's foundation were continuously poured - earning it a Guinness World Record for that feat. Before the skyscaper, the site was home of the Wilshire Grand Hotel, formerly (in reverse chronological order) the Omni Hotel, Los Angeles Hilton, Statler Hilton and Statler Hotel.

19. City View Lofts/Young's Market Company Building
1924
1610 w. 7th St., Pico-Union

Ever wondered what's the deal with this 4-story Italian Renaissance-style building? It was built in 1924 as a liquor warehouse and original headquarters for Young's Market Company, which still operates today as the largest liquor distributor in the West. This building features actual marble columns and a decorative frieze made of terra cotta. The company, in the roaring, pre-depression 1920s, just felt like it. The building was looted and burned in the 1992 Riots and was rehabbed in 1997 to become the City View lofts. The building is in the National Register of Historic Places.

20. Gen. Douglas MacArthur Monument
1955
Southeast corner of MacArthur Park, Westlake

It's sort of strange how a monument to the park's namesake seems almost invisible (Gen John Pershing, MacArthur's WWI counterpart, could totally identify). In fact, most people don't know it's even there, but on the southeast shore of the lake is a dormant memorial fountain featuring a statue of the WWII general overlooking a model of the Pacific theatre (no, not that one) where he led allied forces to eventual victory. It was designed and built in 1955 by Roger Noble Burnham, who previously sculpted the Tommy Trojan statue on the USC campus and taught at the Otis Art School, formerly located nearby.

• North Spur to Chinatown

21. Site of Court Flight
1904 (demolished 1943)
Broadway between Temple and Hill streets, Downtown

With Angels Flightfiiiiiiiiiinally up and running again (fingers crossed), it's time to pay tribute to the city's other funicular, its cousin to the northeast, Court Flight. Built in 1904, it went up the northern end of Bunker Hill and was next to a former road called Court Street, hence its name. Even shorter than its more famous cousin at 200 feet, it ran steeper at a height of 200 feet. It was burned by a fire in 1943 and never reconstructed. The hill was eventually chipped away. The north side of the stairways going up to the Court of Flags (wonder if that was intentional there) in today's Grand Park is the precise location of ol' Courty.
22. Hall Of Justice
1926
Temple Street and Broadway, Downtown

No, you won't find Superman or any of the Super Friends here.  But this building, the oldest surviving government building in the Los Angeles Civic Center, was built in the mid-1920s as the original Los Angeles County Courthouse and Central Jail (which once housed the likes of Busy Siegel, Sirhan Sirhan and Charles Manson), as well as the headquarters for the Sheriff's Office, the District Attorney and the County Coroner. This Beaux Arts-style building was designed by Allied Architects Association, an all-star team of local architects put together to design publicly-funded buildings. The building is currently undergoing a major renovation project to modernize the facilities and repair damage from the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. It re-opened in 2015 as a LEED Gold Certified building (gotta be sustainable, y'all) with the return of the Sheriff's and District Attorney's offices.

23. Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial
1957
451 N. Hill St, Downtown

Way, way, waaaaay back before we had tall building and freeways, Downtown Los Angeles (well Los Angeles, period back then) had a bunch of hills, Bunker Hill being the most famed one. There was also Fort Hill, the site of a Mexican-American War encampment. On July 4, 1847 the facility was called Fort Moore (and the hill Fort Moore Hill), after Captain Benjamin D. Moore of the U.S. 1st Dragoons regiment, who was killed six months earlier in a battle near San Diego. The 1st Dragoons and the Mormon Batallion established the new fort and raised the U.S. flag during the first-ever observed Independence Day in Los Angeles. This event was immortalized in a bas-relief stone monument made in the 1950s. Speaking of forts, the very street you're riding (or walking, or skating, or scootering, or stand-up-paddling, or pogo-sticking) was once called "Fort Street," which inevitably led to directional problems some six blocks south of here. The monument also includes a fountain, which was shut off in 1977...due to the drought at the time.

So where's the actual hill, you ask? It was bulldozed away in the late 1940s to make room for the 101 Freeway (is this a recurring theme for this CicLAvia or what?!)

24. Chinatown Gateway Monument
2001
Broadway and Cesar E. Chavez. Avenue, Chinatown

Designed to be the symbolic entrance to Los Angeles' Chinatown District, The Chinatown Gateway Monument, a.k.a. the Twin Dragon Towers Gateway, depicts two dragons grabbing at a central pearl, which symbolizes luck, prosperity, and longevity. The 25-foot-tall structure was put up in 2001 and occasionally emanates steam coming from the dragons' mouths. Unlike Anglo dragons, the creatures in Chinese folklore are the good guys, meant to scare away evil spirits.

25.  Buu Dien
c. 1990s
642 N. Broadway (Facing New High St, south of Ord), Chinatown

If you're ever in some TV trivia contest on your way to being a millionaire and the host asks you, "What is the Militant Angeleno's favorite Vietnamese banh mi place West Of The Los Angeles River (WOTLAR)?" you won't need to call a lifeline, because the answer is Buu Dien. When the Militant has only $4 in his pocket and wants to get a meal in Downtown, this is his go-to joint. A literal hole in the wall in every regard, this place serves bomb-ass (do people still use that phrase) Viet sammiches for less than $3 a pop. And the bread is awesome. And nice and warm. Plus they also serve up spring rolls, desserts, pastries, Vietnamese coffee and pho (never had it here yet, but The Militant's favorite pho WOTLAR is Pho 79 just up the street). People complain about parking in his micro-mini mall, but this is CicLAvia!

26. Capitol Milling Co.
1883
1231 N. Spring St, Chinatown

One of the last visible vestiges of Los Angeles' agricultural industry, this family-owned flour mill operated from 1831 to 1997, before moving its operation to a much larger facility in Colton. The facility that still stands today was built in 1883. The mill supplied flour to clients such as Ralphs, Foix French Bakery and La Brea Bakery. In 1999, the family-owned operation was purchased by industry giant Con-Agra Co.
The historic building, built even before the railroads arrived in Los Angeles, still has a horse-tethering ring, back to the days when grain was hauled by horse carriage from farms in the San Fernando Valley. The property is currently being adaptively reused into retail and creative office space.

27. Old (New?) Chinatown Central Plaza
1937
Gin Ling Way between Broadway and Hill, Chintown

The new northern terminus of CicLAvia is no stranger to public events; it was made for them. In the Summer it hosted three very popular Chinatown Summer Nights events. But don't let the "Old Chinatown" neon sign fool you -- This is actually Los Angeles' new Chinatown, which dates back to the 1930s. The real Old Chinatown was several blocks south, where a thriving community of Cantonese-speaking immigrants lived near the river, north of Aliso Street. Of course, they were kicked out in the early '30s to make room for Union Station. So they moved a few blocks north, in the former Little Italy, and they've been there ever since. Well, not really, since some of them moved east to the San Gabriel Valley and were supplemented with Mandarin-speaking immigrants from Taiwan and Mainland China. But you get the idea.

Happy CicLAvia, Los Angeles! Enjoy and STAY MILITANT!

The Militant's Epic CicLAvia Tour XXXIV!!!!

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The 2019 CicLAvia Season has come to an end, and the sixth and final (and 34th ever) open streets course runs through the west San Fernando Valley, this time running on an all-new alignment along perhaps the most boring-shaped CicLAvia route evar (Dude, it's literally a straight line running exactly five miles...), and The Militant was thinking of putting down like half a dozen points of interest on this here Epic CicLAvia Tour guide and calling it a day, but nooooo....Like a Transformer, there's always more than meets the eye when it comes to Los Angeles history, and this route is no exception. Most of you know your SFV history: It was largely open agricultural land, in came the Pacific Electric in the 1910s, selling land tracts, and after World War II - KABOOM - a suburb was born.  The result is 14 points of interest on for this Sunday's CicLAvia route, which is expected to be cold chillin', but not rainy (we hope). But always remember, The Sun Always Shines On CicLAvia, and no matter how overcast the day is, El Sol always finds a way to make a cameo appearance. So here we go (better late than never), and as always...See you or not see you on the streets!

1. Sherman Way
1911
Sherman Way, Reseda

Named after railroad executive Moses Hazeltine Sherman (you should be familiar with that name from the "Meet The Hollywoods" CicLAvia), who was responsible for bringing his Los Angeles & Pacific Railway (later merged into the Pacific Electric Railway) into the San Fernando Valley. The street was originally a zig-zagging $500,000 grand boulevard built in 1911 along the Red Car right-of-way, stretching from North Hollywood, running west along what is now Chandler Blvd, then north along what is now Van Nuys Blvd, and west along the current Sherman Way. As the SFV farmland gave way to (sub)urbanization and the street grid, Sherman Way was re-aligned and extended eastward as a straight thoroughfare in the 1920s.

2. Site of Sherman Square Roller Rink
1969-2001
18430 Sherman Way, Reseda

In the 1970s and 1980s, this was The Center of the Universe for many Valley youth: A roller rink during the skating heyday of the '70s (and on Monday nights, the Skataway club, a weekly private hangout for celebrities such as Cher and Jack Nicholson), and also hosted a roller hockey league and a bowling alley. Towards the '90s, the venue hosted computer shows during the weekends, but was also plagued by gang activity. It was razed in 2001 and replaced by the current Walgreen's pharmacy.

3. Site of Chuck Landis' Country Club
1980-2000
18419 Sherman Way, Reseda

Originally built as a Sav-On Drugs store, Los Angeles nightclub entrepreneur Chuck Landis bought the property in 1979 and converted it to a 1,000-seat concert venue originally intended for country music acts. But the burgeoning local punk, new wave and heavy metal acts of the early 1980s found an ideal venue - artists such as Motley Crue, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Bangles, Jackson Browne and Guns N Roses played here in their early years, as well as established acts like B.B. King, The Beach Boys, James Brown, Prince and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. U2 played their very first concert in Los Angeles here in 1981. In the mid-'80s, the venue also hosted boxing matches. It petered out in the 1990s and is now the Restauracion Reseda Church.


4. Reseda Theatre
1948
18447 Sherman Way, Reseda

The beginnings of the Sherman Way/Reseda intersection becoming the entertainment capital of Reseda started as far back as the 1940s when this S. Charles Lee (You'll recognize his name as architect of many other historic theatres in these Epic CicLAvia Tour guides)-designed Streamline Moderne cinema showed double features to the nearby newly-developed residential community. The theatre closed in 1988, but it gained some notoriety in the 1997 film "Boogie Nights" and is planned to be resurrected as a Laemmle multiscreen cinema.

5. Reseda Vietnamese District
c. 1980s
Near Sherman Way & Reseda Blvd, Reseda

Thought Westminster and Garden Grove are most synonymous with the Vietnamese community in Southern California, the largest concentration Viet Americans in the 818 is located right here in Reseda. This mile-long stretch of Sherman Way is home to several Vietnamese eateries, including Pho 999 (7255 Reseda Blvd), Pho So (7231 Reseda Blvd), Luc Huyen Cam Cafe (18541 Sherman Way), Sandwich Express (18575 Sherman Way), Vinh Loy Tofu and Bun Bo Hue (18625 Sherman Way).
There are also many more businesses, cultural institutions, organizations and houses of worship with a two-mile radius of Sherman and Reseda.

6. Aliso Canyon Wash
Sherman Way between Crebs and Wilbur avenues, Reseda

One of the Los Angeles River's many tributaries, this seasonal wash carries stormwater from Aliso Canyon (yep, that Aliso Canyon) up past Porter Ranch, running due south and joining the Los Angeles River near Yolanda Avenue.

7. Los Angeles Jewish Home
1952
19308 Sherman Way, Reseda

Like many Jewish institutions in Los Angeles, this senior living and health care facility originated in Boyle Heights in 1916, expanding to the SFV in the late 1940s. It's one of three campuses of the Los Angeles Jewish Home - the other nearby on Victory Blvd and another in Playa Vista. This campus, known as the Grancell Village Campus, is home to 1,000 seniors. Wonder if the residents know that the 1952 Spanish Colonial Revival structure on Sherman and Tampa was originally the Lorenzen Mortuary? 

8. Platt Office Building
1981
19725 Sherman Way

Conceived by carpenter Dennis Platt and designed by T.W. Layman, this office building built in the 1980s (but meant to look like it was made in the 1880s) contains remnants from the Queen Anne-style Little Sisters of the Poor Rest Home originally located in Boyle Heights and various parts from Victorian homes in Bunker Hill, combined with re-created architectural sections.


9. Site of the Weeks Poultry Colony
1923-1934
Area bordered by Winnetka Ave, Leadwell St, Oso Ave and Lanark St, Winnetka

Charles Weeks was a Midwesterner who moved to California in 1904 and in 1916 established a utopian poultry farming community named Runnymead in Santa Clara County where families lived on one-acre farms and sustainably raised chickens and eggs, and through that, would establish ideal social structures. In 1923 he moved south to the farming community of Owensmouth in the San Fernando Valley and established a similar colony here known as the Weeks Poultry Colony. The Great Depression put the idealistic colony to an end, and Weeks moved to Florida where he lived the rest of his life until his death in the 1960s. The colony is long-gone, but Weeks left his mark on the community which still exists today: The area is now known as Winnetka, named by the remaining colony members after Weeks' Illinois hometown, Runnymede Street and park were named after Weeks' original Nor Cal colony, and nearby Independence Avenue originated from his poultry colony marketing pitch, "One Acre and Independence."

10. Browns Canyon Wash
Sherman Way between Cozycroft and Lurline avenues, Winnetka

Another Los Angeles River tributary runs under Sherman Way, originating in Browns Canyon in the Santa Susana Mountains. It joins The River just west of Mason Avenue.

11. Canoga Park Antique Row
Sherman Way between Canoga and Owensmouth avenues, Canoga Park

This half mile-long stretch of Sherman Way contains at least eight stores selling antiques and collectibles, including Red's Antiques (7221 Canoga Ave), Alabama Antiques and Collectibles (7209 Alabama Ave), Galeano's Treasures (7207 Alabama Ave), Retro Relics Etcetera (21501 Sherman Way), Antique Store Canoga Park (21507 Sherman Way), Sherway Jewelry & Loan (21514 Sherman Way), Old Friends Antiques & Restoration (21517 Sherman Way) and Canoga Vintage and Collectibles (21619 Sherman Way).
12. The Source of the Los Angeles River
Owensmouth Avenue, south of Bassett Street, Canoga Park

Take a short ride down Owensmouth Avenue to see where The Los Angeles River officially begins, at the confluence of Bell Creek (pictured right), which flows down from the Simi Hills, and Arroyo Calabasas (pictured left), which flows down from the north side of the Santa Monica Mountains. Together they become the Los Angeles River, flowing 51 miles eastward then southward into Long Beach Harbor. 

13. Site of the Pacific Electric Owensmouth Station
1912
Sherman Way and Topanga Canyon Blvd, Canoga Park

On the northwest corner of this intersection stood the Pacific Electric's Owensmouth (Canoga Park) depot. Built in the days when land companies were promising access to Owens Valley water via the upcoming Los Angeles Aqueduct (despite the fact that its terminus was some 20 miles to the northeast), the area eventually adopted the name of a nearby Southern Pacific Railroad depot, itself named after Canoga, NY. The U.S. Postal Service insisted on adding the word "Park" to lessen confusion with its original East Coast namesake. The Pacific Electric was a Craftsman-style structure that outlived its tenure as a Red Car depot when service ended in 1938. Unfortunately, it burned down in a fire in 1994.

14. Carlson Circle/Proposed PE Extension
c. 1910
Sherman Way at Carlson Circle

At the southeast corner of Sherman Way and Shoup Avenue is a street called Carlson Circle - a cartographic curiosity that stood out to The Militant. Back in the day, before the SFV conformed to an absolute grid, Sherman Way curved down using this quarter-circular thoroughfare and merged with Shoup Avenue (which, like Sherman Way, was also named after a Pacific Electric Railway executive -- Paul Shoup). The circle also had some connection to the Red Cars: Although there was never track laid on it, it was part of a onetime 1910 proposal to extend the Owensmouth streetcar line to what is now Valley Circle. So who was Carlson? Hugo Carlson was an immigrant from Sweden who settled in Owensmouth in 1912 and was one of the town's pioneers. He owned a 55-acre farm in the area that grew beans and tomatoes, was an active member of the local chamber of commerce and was also instrumental in supporting efforts to build flood control channels in the area. He died in 1958. His old farm, just inside of his eponymous Circle, is now home to the posh Canoga Lakes condo community.

BONUS: And since we've seen some #lasnow on our mountains lately, here's a flashback to 1957 when it snowed in the Canoga Park/Woodland Hills area, just south of Sunday's CicLAvia route. This is Topanga Canyon Blvd at Ventura Blvd:


















The Militant's Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour XXXV!!!

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Click here for larger map!

CicLAvia season is back! The first of six open streets events in 2020 (CicLAvia's 10th anniversary year) and 35th-ever iteration is upon us this Sunday, February 23. It is the earliest calendar date CicLAvia, the first-ever in the month of February and the 3rd in the Winter season, although the high of 66 degrees won't be as low as previous ones. This 5.9-mile route returns to South Los Angeles running primarily down south Central Avenue with a new unique route that features sections of previous routes: the December 7, 2014 route, which ran on Central between Washington and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, and the May 15, 2016 mega-route that extended towards Watts, Huntington Park, South Gate and Lynwood (which shared the southernmost part of this Sunday's route, from Manchester Blvd down).

The scheduling is most appropriate, as February is Black History Month and Central Avenue has defined African American history in Los Angeles. This route involves locations associated with not only local black history figures, but those of national and worldwide stature. Central Avenue is also a major north-south thoroughfare, and this route also pays historical homage to the Los Angeles Railway and the Pacific Electric Railway, as well as the site of a major industrial institution related to the auto industry.

As usual, see you or not see you on the streets on Sunday! Happy CicLAvia!

1. Lincoln Theater
1926
2300 S. Central Ave, South Los Angeles

From 1927 to the 1950s, this Moorish Revival theatre, designed by John Paxton Perrine featured the finest live entertainment by black performers, to a predominantly black audience (though notable white folks like Charlie Chaplin dug it as well). It was even nicknamed the "West Coast Apollo" during its heyday, which featured the likes of Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole and Billie Holliday gracing its stage. In 1962 the building was purchased by the First Jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ and remains a house of worship today, this time as the the Iglesia de Cristo Ministries Juda. The Lincoln Theater building was designated as a City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 2003 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

2. Second Baptist Church
1926
2412 Griffith Avenue, South Los Angeles

Built around the same time as the Lincoln Theater is this building that has always been a church. But it's one building that's rich in African American history. It was the host venue for the NAACP's national conventions in 1928 (the first-ever on the West Coast), 1942 and 1949. In 1962, Malcolm X spoke at a meeting held at the church. And Dr. Martin Luther King Jr himself spoke here in 1964 and 1968 -- the latter appearance being his last in the City of Angels, just two weeks before he was martyred in Memphis, Tennessee. To top it all off, this Lombardy Romanesque Revival building was designed by none other than famed African American architect Paul R. Williams, who designed many buildings around Los Angeles, most notably this one. This building is also designated as a City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (1978) and was likewise added to the National Register of Historic Places (2009).

3. Masjid Bilal Islamic Center/Site of Elks Lodge
1929
4016 S. Central Ave, South Los Angeles

This mainstay of the local Muslim community since 1973 also has a deep history in the local black community. The building was originally built in 1929 as the home of the local Elks club. But it was no ordinary Elks Club (who discriminated against black membership). It was run by the Improved and Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World, an African American-run organization founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1898 that functioned as a fraternal order for people of color. Though obviously not directly affiliated with the white Elks club, it is run with the otherwise identical customs and traditions, and with nearly half a million members worldwide, is the largest black fraternal organization in the world.

4. Ralph J. Bunche House
1919
1221 E. 40th Place, South Los Angeles

The Central Avenue corridor was home to Los Angeles' black community, primarily due to the racial covenants that restricted them from owning homes elsewhere in the city. But great things can come from places of injustice. Ralph J. Bunche was a teenager arriving with his family from Detroit, by way of Ohio and New Mexico, who attended nearby Jefferson High School and went to UCLA, graduating as the valedictorian at both schools. He went on to Harvard, where he earned his Ph.D in Political Science (the first African American to receive a doctorate in PoliSci from a U.S. university), and later was one of the founders of the United Nations. In 1950, due to his diplomatic work in the negotiations that ended the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, he won the Nobel Peace Prize -- the first nonwhite person to ever win the esteemed award. And he once lived right here, just two blocks east of the CicLAvia route.

5. Site of Black Panther Headquarters
1969
41st Street and Central Avenue, South Central Los Angeles

Nooo, this isn't where Wakanda is. The northwest corner of 41st Street and Central Avenue wasn't just the Los Angeles headquarters of the 1960s-era Black Panther Party (that's some real Militants right there), but in a time where the names Mike Brown and Eric Garner have been fresh on the minds of people, it was the site of a significant event in the tumultuous history of relations between the black community and the Los Angeles Police Department. On December 8, 1969 -- 45 years before the day after CicLAvia -- police officers arrested a number of people on that corner for loitering, which eventually escalated into a four-hour armed confrontation. The LAPD used a previously untested paramilitary unit during the raid, which was called the Special Weapons And Tactics unit, or SWAT. Four LAPD officers and four Black Panther members were seriously injured during the shootout, but miraculously no one died. The building that housed the headquarters was demolished in 1970.

6. Dunbar Hotel/Club Alabam
1928
4225 S. Central Avenue, South Central Los Angeles

Built in 1928 (then known as the Hotel Somerville, the only hotel in Los Angeles at the time to welcome black people) as the primary accommodations venue for the 1928 NAACP national convention at the nearby Second Baptist Church, The Dunbar is one of the few remaining physical symbols of the Central Avenue of yesteryear, the hotspot of all that is jazz and blues. In the perspective of Los Angeles music history, Central Avenue in the 1920s-1950s was the Sunset Strip of the 1960s-1980s. And perhaps even more. A nightclub opened at the hotel just a few years after its opening, and legends such as Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Lena Horne and Billie Holliday. Next door was the Club Alabam, another one of the most popular jazz venues on Central Avenue. Known for its classy image and celebrity clientele (both black and white), legends such as Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis graced the stage. Today, the Dunbar Hotel building serves as an affordable housing complex for seniors.


7. South Los Angeles Wetlands Park/Site of Los Angeles Railway South Park Shops
2012/1906
5413 S. Avalon Boulevard, South Central Los Angeles

Head west on 54th Street for just a few blocks to Avalon Boulevard to visit this relatively new park space, which opened in 2012 and was covered by The Militant on his blog right after its grand opening. Previously the site of the sprawling South Park Shops, it was a major facility for storing, maintaining and repairing transit vehicles, used from 1906 to 2008 by the Los Angeles Railway, the original Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Southern California Rapid Transit District and today's Metro (ride around San Pedro Street nearby for Yellow Car track cracks in the street!). After the transit facility was retired, the brownfields were re-purposed as a nine-acre public open space that features native plant landscaping (yessss!), a lagoon that functions not only as a bird habitat, but as a natural stormwater cleaning facility. In addition, a LACMA satellite museum space will be opening at the park soon.

8. Los Angeles Railway U Line
1920-1947
Central and Slauson avenues to Vermont Avenue and Manchester Blvd via Downtown Los Angeles

Central Avenue hosted not one, but two Los Angeles Railway Yellow Car lines in different locations along the CicLAvia route. One of them was the U Line, which originated west of here, at two different branches on Vermont and Manchester and another at Western and 39th. They met near Exposition Park and ran through the USC campus (one of the reasons for the "U" in the line name) and northward onto Downtown Los Angeles before heading back south on Central Avenue and ending at Slauson. The line ran until 1947.


9.Augustus F. Hawkins Natural Park
2000
5790 Compton Ave, South Los Angeles

A few blocks east of the CicLAvia route along Slauson lies another one of the best-kept secrets in South Los Angeles -- Augustus F. Hawkins Natural Park, an 8.5-acre surreal green oasis in the 'hood, featuring ponds, native plants, hiking trails, picnic areas and even wildlife. This former DWP pipe yard was converted into a re-created natural park (named after the late African American congressman who represented the area for 28 years) in 2000 by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which trucked in actual dirt from Malibu mudslides to the site to form the park's terrain. The park is popular with local residents seeking refuge from urban life, and the park is also popular with members of the local Audubon Society, who frequent the park to do bird sightings and bird counts.

10. Los Angeles Central Post Office/Site of Goodyear Tire Factory
1984/1920-1979
7001 S. Central Ave, Florence-Firestone

In 2008, The Militant visited this ginormous USPS facility, with the numerical designation as the very place where the western ZIP codes begin. Most of Los Angeles' mail gets processed through here, which means letters or packages mailed through here will get sent out of town faster (since they have to come through here anyway). The post office facility opened relatively recently, in 1984, as part of a redevelopment project for the massive parcel, whose previous life was that of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. California factory, which existed from 1920 to 1979.


Automobile tires and other rubber products were manufactured here for nearly 60 years, and early versions of the iconic Goodyear blimp once had its own hangar at the southwestern corner of the lot. But wait -- there's even more history on this lot: nearly two decades before the tire plant opened, this was the home of Ascot Park racetrack, which opened in 1903. The ornate design of the early 20th-century hippodrome inspired the aesthetics of another So Cal racetrack - Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, which opened four years later and still exists today as a place where racehorses meet their untimely death.

11. Los Angeles Railway S Line
1920-1963
Santa Monica Blvd & Western Avenue to Central Avenue & Firestone Blvd via Downtown Los Angeles

Central Avenue's other Yellow Car line was the "S" line, which ran in many different configurations through the years, but most of its life it ran from Santa Monica & Western in East Hollywood through Downtown (like nearly all Los Angeles Railway lines did) and down to Central and Firestone. The picture to the left depicts a Yellow Car in 1963 (then painted green in the old Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority's colors) running by the old Goodyear Tire factory! The line was discontinued (along with many of the other surviving Yellow Car lines) on March 31, 1963 - the final day of rail transit in Los Angeles until the Metro Blue Line (now the Metro A Line) opened on July 14, 1990.

12. Green Meadows Diagonal
1926
Central Avenue between 92nd and 95th streets, Green Meadows

As you ride on the CicLAvia route along Central Avenue, the road makes a seemingly arbitrary diagonal jog between 92nd and 95th streets. Why is that? Well, if you know your Los Angeles history, many non-grid street alignments follow the boundaries of ranchos, properties/land parcels, and legacy cities/towns that were lost to annexation. The latter was the case here, as an unincorporated farm town called Green Meadows sprung up here circa 1887. True to its name, it was a rural settlement with artesian wells, alfalfa fields and apple orchards. The northeast corner of the town featured the diagonal notch, and when the town was finally annexed into the City of Los Angeles on March 18. 1926, the boundary was incorporated into the city street grid and Central Avenue was forced to follow suit. The name Green Meadows was re-claimed in the early 2000s and given to the portion of South Los Angeles where the old town once existed. So now you know!


13. Ted Watkins Memorial Park
Dedicated 1995
1335 E. 103rd Street, Watts

Originally built in the 1930s to memorialize Western actor Will Rogers, this 28-acre Los Angeles County park was re-named in 1995 after the late Ted Watkins, a local community activist and the founder of the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, which he started in 1965, just months before the Watts Riots. The aftermath of the rebellion heightened the purpose of his nonprofit agency, which dealt with social services, community development and empowerment for the Watts area. The park also features a youth baseball field built by the Los Angeles Dodgers, a newly-built community swimming pool and gym with basketball courts.

14. Pacific Electric Watts Depot
1904
1686 E. 103rd Street, Watts

Adjacent to the Blue Line's 103rd St/Watts Towers station is a mustard-colored building that was once the Pacific Electric's Watts depot. A popular stop along the old PE Long Beach Line, the building survived not only the PE's abandonment, but was the only wooden structure that was not set on fire during the 1965 Watts Riots. After a renovation project in the 1980s, the Watts Station has functioned since 1989 as a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customer service center.


15. Watts Towers
1921
1727 E. 107th St, Watts

You all know the story by now: Italian immigrant Sabato "Simon" Rodia collects scrap reinforced steel bars (using the adjacent Pacific Electric Santa Ana Line tracks as a fulcrum to bend them) and other found scrap material from rocks to broken glass to bottle caps, and builds 17 structures on his property over a period of 33 years. Then in 1955, he up and left for Northern California and never came back. Now that you know the story, see them up close for yourself. You don't deserve to call yourself an Angeleno if you've never visited the Watts Towers before.

A Championship 11,695 Days In The Making

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Is this the real life? Or is it fantasy?
 
"Wait 'til next year!"

The rallying cry of despair, yet one of seemingly futile hope, was the Dodger fan's mantra come October for many seasons, but most specifically for the past decade and a half. A phrase that seemingly began in the pages of the local Brooklyn newspapers in the 1940s that applied to Dem Bums of Flatbush, a Dodgers team that had boasted seven pennants to its name, yet not one World Series title since the competition began in 1903. A team that had seized the NL Pennant during the War and Post-War years of 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953, yet falling short when it came time to face the AL Champions, which, as cruel fate had it, was the form of the Evil New York Yankees Empire - all five times. It was a period of instability, forcing six different managers to go through the wringing machine of frustration. Not even the arrival of great pioneering Pasadena phenom known as Jack Roosevelt Robinson, now canonized throughout MLB, was able to turn the tide of tribulation during those years.

 "Wait 'til next year!"

But in 1955, that year finally did come. The great Walter Alston, into his 2nd summer as skipper, led his Boys of Summer, including Robinson, Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Don Newcombe, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges and some kid named Koufax, to glory. 

Those of you who follow The Militant Angeleno on Twitter, or have read This Here Blog since BITD (that's 2007), know that he has talked a whole lot about the Dodgers. They have been a part of his life since 197x, and without expounding on it too much (yeah, this post is gonna be long, brace yourself), Dodgerdom is one of the basic tenets of being an Angeleno. The Militant has, among other things, covered the epic 50th Anniversary Coliseum Exhibition Game, attended Clayton Kershaw's MLB debut, rode his bike to the games, featured the early efforts to get permanent bicycle parking implemented at The Stadium and took a tour of the first set of stadium renovations by Los Guggenheim in 2013.  

So, even if The Militant doesn't really blog that much (unless there's an Epic CicLAvia Tour to be revealed), he felt it was important, in light of recent developments, to break out of his quasi blog-retirement and hammer out a post for old times sake. Cool?

The Militant has witnessed three Dodgers World Series Championships in his lifetime. The second was in 1988, the Year of the Improbable. Gibson. Orel. Hatcher. Et al. "She is gone!" Ad infinitum. You all know it by now.

So what has it been like for a Dodger fan to wait 32 years for another Championship?

"Wait 'til next year!"


...We waited in 1989, vaingloriously. Back-To-Back? The Lakers did it in '87 and '88, right? But not even the addition of Eddie Murray and Willie Randolph could get the Boys in Blue past 4th place. And to add insult to injury, our Hated Rivals took the Division and the Pennant...

Sombreros to the sky! Fernando's no-hitter on June 29, 1990.


...We waited in 1990, things got a little better. That Ramon Martinez kid was showing some promise. Fernando Valenzuela threw a no-hitter on June 29. We traded some of our '88 heroes for obscure guys. Second place to the Reds...

...We waited in 1991, we got Mets '86 Champion and Crenshaw product Darryl (DAAAAA-RUUULLL) Strawberry in Dodger Blue. 28 Homers and 99 RBIs, but aside from that, it got...a bit...complicated. Second place to the Braves (an NL West team back then, by virtue of their Milwaukee years)...

...We waited in 1992. The city burned down and so did the team's hopes. Despite Kevin Gross' no-hitter on August 17 and the emergence of a young first baseman named Eric Karros, who won Rookie of the Year, it was a season to forget. A 63-99 record. Last place (in a 7-team division then). Their worst year in Los Angeles. Ugghhh...

Piazza Man: He delivers.


...We waited in 1993. The Dodgers changed their broadcast channel from KTTV 11 to KTLA 5.  The season got better - how could it get any worse? A rookie catcher and Lasorda family friend named Mike Piazza gave us 35 HRs, 112 RBIs and a ROY award. Still, it was the most mediocre season ever - 4th place, 81-81, a .500 year...

...We waited in 1994. A couple NL n00b teams in Colorado and Florida changed the division maps, and the NL West became a strictly California-Colorado affair of 4 teams. A rookie outfielder named Raoul (RAOOOOOOOOOUULLL) Mondesi hit .306 and stole 11 bases. And he won ROY (Do we detect a theme?). Even though the Doyers finally finished the season in 1st place, WTNY was a mantra for every team in the MLB, as the great Players' Strike shut the season down in August and cancelled the World Series for the first time in 90 years...

Wondering who was our ace in the mid '90s? Say Nomo.

...We waited in 1995. GM Fred Claire got us some arms from across the Pacific. A tornado by the name of Hideo Nomo caused damage at home plates across the NL and got him the start at the All-Star Game and the organization's 4th consecutive ROY award. Nomomania had arrived. The Dodgers also placed 1st in the NL West and entered the postseason for the first time since '88...but were swept by the NL Central Champion Cincinnati Reds...

...We waited in 1996. The Los Angeles sports landscape was radically changed that year. Both the Rams and Raiders had left town, the Lakers took a backseat to Michael Jordan's Bulls (but signed Shaq and a high school student from Philly named Kobe Bryant) and the nascent MLS gave us the Galaxy. The heart of the Dodger organization, Tommy Lasorda, suffered a malady with his own heart and retired after 20 years, passing on the Skipper torch to world champion shortstop Bill Russell. Nomo notched a no-no on September 17. The hot bat and baserunning of rookie OF Todd Hollandsworth garnered an unprecedented (coun 'em!) fifth consecutive ROY honor for the team. The Dodgers were edged by the Padres, losing the NL West title by one game, but made the playoffs for the first time as the NL Wild Card team...only to fall to the Braves in the NLCS...

...We waited in 1997. Piazza, Karros, Mondesi and Todd Zeile went yard all season long, but the Boys in Blue placed 2nd in the West, losing the division to the Hated Giants...

...We waited in 1998. The O'Malleys sold the Dodgers to Fox (a.k.a. The Worst Dodger Owner Ever). Russell and Claire were ousted, and Glenn Hoffman became the new skipper, with Tommy Lasorda stepping into a front-office role as GM. Team favorites Piazza, Zeile and Nomo were traded away for a bunch of players relegated to Dodger obscurity. A really young farm-grown third baseman from the DR named Adrian Beltre made his debut. The team placed third in the NL West, now it its current form of 5 teams due to the addition of the D-Backs. The Milwaukee Brewers flipped over to the National League, while the AL expanded to one more team, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays...

What can Brown do for you?

...We waited in 1999. The "Los Angeles" script road uniforms, possibly the only positive contribution by the ownership during the Fox Regime, made a comeback after a 30-year absence. Another shakeup was in place with Kevin Malone stepping in as the new GM and veteran MLB manager Davey Johnson as the new skipper. They spent a ginormous amount of money (at the time) on a dude named Kevin Brown, who pitched an 18-9 record with a 3.00 ERA. But all we got was another mediocre 3rd place finish...

...We waited in 2000. It's a new century, so it's gotta be good, right? Brown led the NL in ERA, and Gary Sheffield and Eric Karros lobbed bombs. Dave Hansen and new acquisition Shawn Green also were offensive producers, but the Dodgers placed a distant 2nd place to the Hated Giants. The Lakers were able to win their first title since '88...

Blue was all about Brown and Green in 2001.


...We waited in 2001...Johnson was fired and Jim Tracy took over the managing helm. Shawn Green was hot at the plate with a franchise record 49 HRs. Catcher Paul LoDuca was also an offensive force. But the Kevin Brown Project was starting to break down with injuries and not-so quality starts. Orel Hershiser made his 2nd tour of duty in Blue, only to be released before the middle of the season. 9/11 paused the nation, and the MLB season, for nearly a week. The Lakers went Back-To-Back. Dodgers? They just got set back - a 3rd place finish to the year...

...We waited in 2002...The games were now broadcast on KCOP 13, Dan Evans became GM. Green continued to be hot, and a starter-turned reliever named Eric Gagné notched a team record 52 saves. Game Over. Nomo returned to Los Angeles for his 2nd tour of duty. A newly-acquired OF named Dave Roberts also made his Dodger debut this season. The Lakers went Back-To-Back-To-Back. The Dodgers got a Back-To-Back 3rd place finish. The Angels won the All-Wild Card World Series. But, coached by 1988 WS Dodger heroes, at least they beat the Hated Giants.

...We waited in 2003...Green and LoDuca were still hot at the plate, and Gagne was so hot, he won the Cy Young. And yet, a distant 2nd place finish...

Beltre belted in 2004.

...We waited in 2004...Another ownership change. Fox, the only Dodger owner to never win a game in the Postseason, sold the team to Boston parking lot developer Frank McCourt, who promptly brought in Paul "Pre-pedo Jared from Subway" DePodesta as GM, introducing this weird exotic concept called sabermetrics to the organization. Adrian Beltre had a breakout year with a team-leading .334 AVG, and fans chanted "MVP!" during his at-bats. The Dodgers win the NL West and got their first postseason win since 1988 thanks to starter Jose Lima's stellar NLDS shutout of the Cardinals. But the Dodgers were eliminated in 4 games. DePodesta also traded away Roberts to the eventual World Champion Red Sox, where he played a key role in their title run...

...We waited in 2005...After a phenomenal 14-2 start to the season, it quickly crashed the rest of the way. Early-season hero Milton Bradley became a clubhouse cancer by the second half, and injuries and mediocrity galore plagued the season, ending in a pathetic 71-91 4th place finish. The Montreal Expos immigrated south to Washington D.C. to become the Nationals. It's now been 17 years since the last Championship; the previous title drought was the 16 years between '65 and '81. What's going on here...

Nomar capped off an unbelievable rally on September 18, 2006.

...We waited in 2006...McCourt cleaned house and hired Cubs/Giants front office veteran Ned Colletti and Red Sox World Champion manager Grady "Forrest Gump" Little. Whittier native Nomar Garciaparra got to return to both his hometown and his old manager, and trading Bradley for an A's prospect named Andre Ethier started to pay dividends. The farm system also produced a promising harvest in the form of OF Matt Kemp and catcher Russell Martin. On September 18, the team hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back HRs to tie the Padres in the late innings, and won by a Nomah walkoff in extras. Little's postseason experience did get the Dodgers a Wild Card appearance in the playoffs, only to be swept by the Mets in the NLDS. Now 18 years without a title...

...We waited in 2007...Colletti signed Jason Schmidt and Randy Wolf to the rotation, and homegrown rookies Martin, Kemp and James Loney took the team to the top in the first half, but ended the season in fourth. Nineteen years without a title...

Dodger baseball back in the Coliseum, 3/29/08!

...We waited in 2008...Happy 50th Anniversary in Los Angeles! Grady was of Little help. In came Joe Torre, an Italian American manager with 4 titles in his resume. We seem to do well with Italian American managers, right? For the first time since 1961, the Dodgers played a game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in a one-off exhibition game against Frank McCourt's favorite team, the Boston Red Sox. Though the Dodgers lost the preseason match, the event gathered a world's record 115,300 in attendance - the largest for a baseball game (The Militant was there...). In May, a young rookie named Clayton Kershaw made his major league debut. Colletti worked All-Stars and ring-holders Manny Ramirez and Greg Maddux into the roster. Torre took us to the top of the NL West! Then we swept the Cubs in the NLDS! The Dodgers were finally in the NLCS fir the first time since nan-teen-ety-et. COULD THIS BE THE YEAR? Nope. Dodgers lost the NLCS to the eventual World Champs, the Phillies 4-1. It was an emotional end of the season getting eliminated at home. Nomar did not want to take off his jersey, despite it being the last time he would wear it. Twenty years without a title...

...We waited in 2009. McCourt dumped Vero Beach for Saddleback Ranch in Glendale, AZ. Orlando Hudson hit for the cycle on Opening Day (The Militant was there!) and Manny got suspended 50 games for PEDs. The season was a near copy of the last, winning the West, sweeping the NLDS (against the Cardinals this time) and losing the NLCS to the Phillies, 4-1. Only this time, the NLDS began with a kicker: Frank McCourt and his wife Jaime were separating. This was the beginning of the end of the McCourt Empire. Twenty-one years without a title...

Clayton Kershaw. There's something about this kid...

...We waited in 2010. The McCourt Divorce was getting messy. Weird-ass Russian psychics and all that. What was formerly a personal matter was now adversely affecting the organization. But this Kershaw guy was starting to look good. A rookie reliever named Kenley Jansen made his debut. The Dodgers were tired of Manny being Manny and made a whole bunch of trades for obscure dudes. Fourth place finish. To add insult to injury, The Hated Giants won their first Championship in Frisco. For the Dodgers, 22 years without a title...

...We waited in 2011. Dark days in ownership. The McCourt Mess had gotten so messy, the MLB wanted to take over the day-to-day operations. McCourt filed the team for bankruptcy. The same fans who cheered "Frank! Mc! Court!" during the '04 Postseason were now calling for his ouster and to sell the team. It got ugly. Torre decided to jump off the sinking ship by retiring and passed the lightsaber to his Jedi padawan, former Yankees All-Star Don Mattingly.  The Dodgers took on an ingredient of the Giants' title success by signing their star infielder Juan Uribe, but it went off on a rough start. Clayton Kershaw won the Cy Young Award, but the team finished 3rd. Twenty-three years without a title...

Enter Los Guggenheim.

...We waited in 2012. McCourt relented and finally sold the team. It literally took some Magic. The Lakers legend-turned-businessman who wore #32 (an auspicious number, as we will discover) teamed up with a bunch of rich white dudes to form Guggenheim Baseball Management and become the new owners of the Dodgers for the nice price of $2 Billion With A B. "We are going to bring a championship back to Los Angeles," they said. Yeah. We've heard it before. A few big names were signed/traded in the middle of Los Guggenheim's first year, including Shane Victorino, Hanley Ramirez and the epic trade for two pairs of Red Sox - Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Punto. Lo, the team placed 2nd and The Hated Giants won their 2nd Championship in SF. The Kings won their first Stanley Cup! The Dodgers? 24 years without a title...

...We waited in 2013. The first full year under Los Guggenheim looked promising; Again the FO tried to nick the good vibrations of the Giants' 2012 title by signing their reliever Brian Wilson. Clayton Kershaw not only pitched a shutout on Opening Day, but hit his first HR (The Militant was there!). Kersh eventually won his 2nd CyYoung. The Dodgers added Zack Geinke and lefty South Korean rookie phenom Hyun-Jin Ryu to their rotation. A rookie OF from Cuba named Yasiel Puig also made his debut. The season had its ups and downs, but ultimately ended by winning the NL West (The first in a series...). They went on to win the NLDS, besting the Braves 3-1. The Dodgers made their 3rd trip to the NLCS in 6 years, ultimately losing to the Cardinals 4-2 due in large part to Hanley Ramirez's injury and a tired team. Former NL West rivals the Houston Astros flipped over to the American League. Twenty-five years and my life is still, tryin' to get up that great big hill of hope, for a destination...

...I SAID HEY YEA...oh sorry, got carried away there. Wow. That's a quarter century. Time to take a deep breath. Or a bathroom break. Sheesh. Now where are we...

He did it! Kershaw's no-hitter, 6/18/2014.

...We waited in 2014. Los Guggenheim took the games off free local TV forever by inaugurating the Sportsnet LA cable TV network...which was only available exclusively to Time-Warner Cable (now known as Spectrum) subscribers. A-Gon was hot with the RBIs, Dee Gordon was hot with the baserunning, and Josh Beckett got a no-hitter on May 25. Kersh got his own no-hitter on June 18, and later, his 3rd Cy Young, and his first NL MVP Award. A former mediocre Mets infielder who grew up in Lakewood named Justin Turner became a regular 3rd baseman later in the season. A rookie named Joc Pederson made his debut. The Dodgers won the NL West again, but lost to those f'in Cardinals 3-1 in the NLDS. Despite his season success, in the playoffs, Kershaw was not lights out. Argh! The Hated Giants...well you know. The Kings won their 2nd Stanley Cup! The Doyers? 26 years without a title...

...We waited in 2015. Longtime GM Colletti transitioned out of the GM role and was replaced by Farhan Zaidi, with former Tampa Bay Rays executive Andrew Friedman as his boss. And whoa, they made some moves. They traded a quartet of players, including fan favorite leadoff man Dee Gordon to the Marlins for another quartet, which included utility player Kiké Hernandez and catcher Austin Barnes. Longtime Dodger and Rihanna's ex Matt Kemp was part of a trade deal with the Padres that brought Yasmani Grandal behind the plate. They also brought in Phillies veteran, Long Beach boy and UCLA Bruin Chase Utley back west, and a rookie infielder named Corey Seager made his debut. The Dodgers went on an NL West three-peat - the first in franchise history - but lost to the eventual NL Champs, the New York Mets in the NLDS, 4-1. Twenty-seven years without a title... 

...We waited in 2016. Things changed; The Rams and Chargers brought the gridiron back to Los Angeles, and Kobe Bryant called it a career. Mattingly and the organization made a conscious uncoupling, and the search was on for a new manager, ultimately found in Padres coach, UCLA Bruin and former Dodgers outfielder Dave Roberts. The Friedman Machine signed pitcher Kenta Maeda from Japan, and traded prospect Zach Lee to the Mariners for some unknown dude named Chris Taylor. A rookie pitcher named Ross Stripling came real close to throwing a no-hitter in his MLB debut, and a rookie pitcher from Mexico named Julio Urias made his entrance. Reliever Kenley Jansen was named NL Reliever of the Year and made the All-Star team. The great Vincent Edward Scully announced his retirement after 67 glorious seasons at the mic and called it a career at the end of the regular season. For the fourth year in a row, the Dodgers won the NL West, and beat the Nationals in the NLDS 4-1. They went on to the NLCS, but lost to the eventual World Champions, the Chicago Cubs, themselves ending a 108-year championship drought. Twenty-eight years without a title (But it could be worse?)...

Cody.

...We waited in 2017. Unfinished business as usual. A rookie from the farm named Cody Bellinger was played OF and took over for an injured A-Gon at 1B. And boy did he take over, leading the team in HRs and eventually winning NL Rookie of the Year. Formerly-mediocre acquisistions like Turner, Taylor and Hernandez were turning into solid players both at the plate and on the field. The Dodgers won the NL West for the 5th year in a row winning 104 games, and swept the D-Backs in the NLDS and finally got over the NLCS hurdle by besting the defending champion Cubs 4-1, winning their first NL Pennant since '88. The Dodgers were finally going back to the World Series! They faced an evenly-matched Houston Astros in a much-heralded playoff smackdown but lost in Game 7 due to lackluster hitting and the implosion of midseason trade acquisition pitcher Yu Darvish - Or so we thought at the time. Twenty-nine years without a title...

Late Night with Max Muncy, 2018 World Series Game 3.

...We waited in 2018. Matt Kemp made a return engagement. Corey Seager ended his season early due to injury. Justin Turner spent a good amount of time on the Injured List, and some unknown guy named Max Muncy filled in at 3B, only to lead the team in HRs. Rookie Walker Buehler played in his first full season and made a huge impression. They acquired Orioles infielder Manny Machado at the trade deadline. Winning a 163rd regular season game against the Rockies as the division tiebreaker, the Dodgers captured the NL West title for the sixth straight year. They beat the Atlanta Braves 3-1 in the NLDS and edged the Mlwaukee Brewers in 7 games in the NLCS to win their 2nd consecutive NL Pennant (the first back-to-back pennants since '77-'78). But despite winning the longest World Series game in history clocking 7:20 with an 18th-inning walkoff HR by none other than season hero Max Muncy, they were outmatched by a heavily-armed Boston Red Sox in the Fall Classic, losing 4 games to 1. Thirty years without a title...

The agony.

...We waited in 2019. Puig and Kemp made their exits, but Russell Martin made a return. Diamonbacks star OF A.J. Pollock was signed, as well as BoSox reliever Joe Kelly (who killed the Dodgers in the 2013 and 2018 postseasons). Cody Bellinger went on a tear and won the NL MVP Award. The other hitters weren't bad either. The Dodgers set a franchise record with 106 wins, winning the NL West for the 7th season in a row. They were hungry for that title, and had all the right ingredients. But the wheels fell off in the NLDS and the team was eliminated by the red-hot Wild Card Washington Nationals in a heart-wrenching Game 5. Kershaw jerseys were mutilated. Thirty one years without a title...

...And we learned the Astros cheated the Dodgers out of a title in 2017?

[cue sad soundtrack music]

And then 2020 came. 

The tragic loss of Kobe Bryant.

The COVID-19 pandemic.

The world, the nation, the city -- all on pause.

It wasn't time for Dodger Baseball.

[cue gradually uplifting music]

And then the abbreviated, 60-game, fanless, cardboard cutout, piped-in crowd noise, regionally-scheduled season began on July 23.

The Friedman Machine worked out a trade that acquired OF Mookie Betts and pitcher David Price, both Tennessee natives from the same Red Sox team that dashed our title hopes in 2018. The Friedman Machine was supposed to trade away Joc Pederson but it fell through.

Needs no introduction.

Fans weren't there, but the cameras captured it: The suspension-inducing Joe Kelly Face. Kiké making funny faces. Mookie stealing bases, stealing away runs and slappin' dat ass on doubles. Reliever Brusdar Graterol passionately praising The Lord Above. A rested, healthy Kershaw playing like the Cy Young Kershaw. It was a blur, but...

The Los Angeles Dodgers won 43 of those 60 games.

The Los Angeles Dodgers won the NL West for the 8th consecutive season.

The Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Brewers in a best-of-3 Wild Card Series.

The Los Angeles Dodgers called the Texas Rangers' Globe Life Park home for the rest of the season.

The Los Angeles Dodgers swept the emerging San Diego Padres in the NLDS.

The Los Angeles Dodgers bested the Atlanta Braves in a 7-game NLCS.

The Los Angeles Dodgers won their third NL Pennant in 4 years.

Air Mookie.

The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the AL-best Tampa Bay Rays 4 games to 2 in the 2020 World Series.

Eleven thousand, six hundred and ninety-five days later, at 8:37 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Tuesday, October 27, 2020, the wait was finally over.

The Militant wrote this post because, for the 13 years since The Here Blog began, he has longed to type out the following words on this site: "The Los Angeles Dodgers are World Champions."

This is our year.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are World Champions!

THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!

THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!


THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!

 





The Militant's Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour XXXVI!

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Hey...it's...been a while. 

The year 2020 initially began with 6 (count 'em) sixCicLAvias planned - the most scheduled in a calendar year in the nearly decade-long history of Los Angeles' epic open streets event. 

But then Kobe died. And things weren't quite the same after that.

We did have one CicLAvia in The Most Challenging Year - on February 23, a 5.9-mile jaunt through South Los Angeles from Historic South Central to Watts, a perfect route for Black History Month.

And that was the last time we had a car-free smiling Sunday.

The COVID-19 Pandemic even prevented CicLAvia from having a proper 10th anniversary celebration in October (The Lakers and Dodgers championships kinda made up for that though...kinda).

But here we are, one year, five months and twenty-three days later (539 days for those of you keeping score), with a decent amount of us fully vaccinated (including The Militant himself), it's time to get back together again (though with this Delta thing, we might want to keep our masks on and not get too close (not a problem for The Militant, naturally).

This 2.27-mile zig-zag though the streets of Wilmington is a re-run of the April 28, 2019 route, the shortest CicLAvia route to date, and a truncated version of the "San Pedro Meets Wilmington" route from August 13, 2017.

Speaking of Short and Sweet, this route will only feature 10 points of interest. But these short routes are ideal for taking it easy and chillin', no crowding and keeping SoDis intact, with DMZ's (Dismount Zones) at a minimum.

If all goes well, there are two more this year - the big DTLA-centric "Heart of L.A." route in October to celebrate 11 years of America's Biggest Open Streets Event, and a return to South Los Angeles this December.

The Militant has not missed a CicLAvia since October 10, 2010 and has attended all 35 of them. So he certainly will NOT miss out on Number 36.  As usual, see you or not see you on the streets on Sunday! HAPPY CICLAVIA!

NOTE: When sharing pictures or selfies of any of these locations along your CicLAvia ride on Sunday, don't forget to tag #EpicCicLAviaTour when posting on social media!

1. Wilmington Cemetery
1857
605 East O St, Wilmington

Built on a plot of donated land just north of Banning Park by Mr. Wilmington Himself, Phineas Banning (who was laid to rest here in 1885), this cemetery, one of the oldest in the state of California, is also the final resting place of numerous local Civil War and World War I veterans. It is also designated as a Los Angeles City Historic-Cultural Monument (#414).

2. Phineas Banning Museum
1864
401 East M St, Wilmington

It's appropo that we start our journey (both literally and metaphorically) here. Phineas Banning was one of them 19th century white dudes who basically did something and changed the shape, size and function of the city of Los Angeles forever. Born in Delaware in 1830, he worked as a young man in the shipyards of nearby Philadelphia. He moved to Southern California at the age of 21, but instead of doin' it wagon style cross-country, he took a long-ass boat ride to pre-canal Panama, and took another long-ass boat ride on the Pacific side to this sleepy fishing village called San Pedro, where he worked a number of odd jobs, including driving stagecoaches (it's like being an 1850s Uber driver). The stagecoaches worked between San Pedro and Los Angeles, and after he made some mad bank driving Ube stagecoaches, he launched his own startup - BanningStagecoaches.com. Then he started buying up vacant marshland property near San Pedro and named it after his Delaware hometown of Wilmington. He also was a big visionary type and thought the whole San Pedro-Wilmington are would make a nice port for Los Angeles. Back then, the city was looking at making Santa Monica a port. That big thing he did? He went next level on all them fools and built a railroad from Los Angeles to San Pedro. The City was all like, "Dude, we got a port now." The reason why the City of Los Angeles has a big skinny stick in the bottom is because of Banning. The reason why millions of tons of cargo goes in and out of ships in this area today is because of Banning. The reason why the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the largest ship terminal complex in the United States is because of Banning. The Greek Renaissance Revival structure in the middle of this 20-acre park in Wilmington was his residence from 1864 to 1885. The City of Los Angeles bought the site in 1927 for historic preservation.

3. William Wrigley's Court of Nations
1927
Lakme Avenue, Banning Boulevard and Cary Avenue between M and L streets, Wilmington

This plot of land south of Banning Park was purchased by chewing gum magnate and Chicago Cubs owner William Wrigley, Jr in 1927 from Phineas Banning (This was not the first time Wrigley dealt with Banning; he also purchased Catalina Island from him in 1919). Wrigley built several residences to house the workers of his local companies, which also included the Wilmington Lines ship ferry company, which transported tourists from the mainland to Avalon. He hired architect Sid Spearin, who designed houses in Spanish, Dutch, American Colonial and Tudor Revival styles and called it "The Court of Nations." The neighborhood became a historic preservation zone in 2001. 
 
4. Avalon Palm Trees

1931
Avalon Bl between Pacific Coast Highway and East I St, Wilmington

Palm trees are everywhere in Los Angeles. Okay, so what? Well, these palm trees had a purpose for being here. Considering the City of Angels will be hosting its third Olympic games in 2028, these 218 Mexican Fan Palm trees are a remnant of an early Olympic legacy. They were planted here along Avalon Boulevard in 1931 as part of a citywide beautification effort for the 1932 Olympic Games. The Sailing competition took place in San Pedro Harbor, just past the southern end of Avalon. Speaking of Avalon Boulevard, did you know that it was originally named Canal Street before 1926? There was once a canal there, which was filled in 1851 and turned into a dirt road.

5. The Don Hotel

1929
906 Avalon Blvd, Wilmington

Opened in July, 1929, The Don Hotel (not to be confused with this guy, but rather its owner, a man named Don Hundredmark) was the most prestigious hotel in Wilmington during the pre-war period. Constructed to cater to tourists going to and from Catalina Island, it became an important gathering place in the area, with luminaries such as William Randolph Hearst and Bing Crosby once staying there. After falling into decay through the 20th century, the building was restored in the 1990s and turned into senior apartments in 1999. The landmark “The Don” neon sign atop the building is a restored sign put up in 2000 that was given the Hollywoodland treatment – it once read, “Don Hotel.”

6. Granada Theater
1926
632 Avalon Blvd, Wilmington

Once Wilmington’s landmark neighborhood Vaudevillian, and later motion picture, theater, it was built with with Renaissance Revival influences and a lighted prominent marquee. The only example of the property type remaining in the area. It was built by C.L. Post (of the Post Cereal family) in 1926 as part of the West Coast Theatres chain. In 1927, Fox Theatres purchased West Coast Theaters and changed the name to the Fox Granada. After falling into decay, it was resurrected (no pun intended) as a church in the 1990s, but was sold in 2015. It is now owned by the nonprofit Wilmington Granada Friends group that hopes to bring it back to its original use as a community entertainment venue.

7. Wilmington Municipal Building
1928
544 N. Avalon Blvd, Wilmington

Originally built in 1928 as the Seaboard Branch of California Bank, this Neoclassical style building has Corinthian columns and pilasters and decorated arches. And that corner clock! More recently, the building, now owned by the City of Los Angeles, is used as the office of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce. It was also the former field office for Councilwoman Janice Hahn during the 2000s decade.

8. Brick House
1924
109 W. C Street, Wilmington

She's mighty-mighty, just lettin' it all hang out.

9. Wilmington Waterfront Park/Harry Bridges Blvd
2011
Harry Bridges Blvd between Lagoon Ave and Figueroa St, Wilmington

Wilmington Waterfront Park, which opened in 2011, was created a decade ago as a project to provide a 30-acre buffer zone in the form of public open space between the Port of Los Angeles and the residential community in Wilmington. The park features green space/landscaping, paths and walkways, benches, water features, pedestrian bridges, restrooms, drinking fountains, binoculars and a children’s playground. The project also widened Harry Bridges Boulevard.

And who, exactly, is Harry Bridges? He was a 20th century labor leader in the West Coast best known for forming the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in 1937. The union is a huge presence in the blue-collar port communities of Wilmington and San Pedro.

10. The Southernmost End of Figueroa Street

Figueroa Street at Harry Bridges Blvd, San Pedro

This is the extreme southernmost end of the longest street entirely within Los Angeles City Limits (sorry, Sepulveda, you go through so many other cities), Figueroa was named after General Jose Figueroa, the governor of Mexican-Era Alta California from 1833 to 1835. The 25 mile-long thoroughfare runs up through Harbor Gateway and South Los Angeles through Downtown Los Angeles to the extreme opposite end, just north of the 134 Freeway, right below Eagle Rock’s eponymous geological landmark (Yes, that picture is a blue blade style sign taken in Downtown Los Angeles, thanks for paying attention).

The Militant's Epic CicLAvia Tour XXXVII!!

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Interactive map! Click here for larger map.


Hey, we're still alive...it's the second CicLAvia of 2021 and the 37th iteration of Los Angeles' premier open streets event, and we're celebrating one whole decade (plus one year) of these things - the very first CicLAvia was also on a Sunday, October 10 (10 a.m. on 10/10/10).

It's October, which means the DTLA-centric 6-mile "Heart of L.A." route. Just like the last one in Wilmington, this Sunday's CicLAvia is a re-run of a previous route, this time it's the October 2019 and October 2016 alignments. So you may or may not have seen this Epic CicLAvia Tour guide before. But here it is, for consistency's sake.

It's Autumn which means you get to see Los Angeles' fall colors: Blue, purple, gold, etc...The defending World Champion Dodgers are in the midst of a National League Division Series against the hated San Francisco Giants (The series is tied 1-1 and Games 3 and 4 are at The Stadium on Monday and Tuesday), so The Militant expects to see a lot of you CicLAvians in Dodger Blue! The Los Angeles Rams (and, okay, the Chargers too) are playing great football right now, and the 2020 NBA Champion Lakers start their 2021-22 season later this month. Of course, we also got the Clippers, Kings, LAFC, Galaxy, Bruins and Trojans as well, so wear your Los Angeles Fall Colors proudly.

So stay safe, get vaccinated if you haven't yet, and as usual, see you or not see you on the streets on Sunday!


1. Eastside Luv
2006 (Built 1940)
1835 E. 1st St, Boyle Heights

One of The Militant's favorite hangouts in the Eastside, this bar, started by a bunch of friends who grew up in nearby City Terrace, took over the former Metropolitan bar eight years ago and updated it to a more contemporary Eastside-style flavor. Don't call it gentrification, call it gentefication.

2. Mariachi Plaza

1889
1st St and Boyle Ave, Boyle Heights

This is the new town square for Boyle Heights, anchored by the historic 1889 Boyle Hotel on the historic Cummings Block, where Mariachi musicians have been hanging out to get picked up for since the 1930s. The Kiosko, or bandstand, that sits in the plaza is actually not that historic. It was given as a gift from the Mexican state of Jalisco, who literally shipped it over in 1998 where it was assembled in place. But it only gets used once a year for the Santa Cecilia Festival around every November 21. The plaza is also home of the Metro Gold Line station of the same name, which opened in 2009. The unique lending library Libros Schmibros relocated here in 2011. This place could warrant a Militant blog post in itself -- no, an entire week of posts! Don't miss the Farmers Market events there every Friday and Sunday!

3. Simon Gless Farmhouse
1887
131 S. Boyle Ave., Boyle Heights

Back in the totally radical '80s...That's the 1880s, Boyle Heights was an open, rural area and French Basque immigrant Simon Francois Gless built a Queen Anne style house on his sheepherding farm at this location. Today, the house is a City Historic Cultural Monument and is a home that's rented out to -- Mariachi musicians! Just a few blocks west of here is Gless Street, and you might have heard of Simon's great-granddaughter -- actress Sharon Gless, who starred in the series Cagney and Lacey, which aired a century after her arrière-grand-père first settled in Boyle Heights.

4. Keiro Retirement Home/Jewish Home For The Aging
1974/1916
325 S. Boyle Ave, Boyle Heights

With Boyle Heights being a historically Jewish and Japanese community, how's this for an ultimate Boyle Heights institution? This property was originally built in 1916 as the Jewish Home for the Aging (now operating in Reseda), and in 1974, the Keiro Senior Health Care organization, basically their Japanese American counterpart. With the Hollenbeck Palms retirement home just down the street (and site of the John Edward Hollenbeck Estate, remember?) Boyle is a popular corridor for Senior Livin.'

5. Neighborhood Music School
1947 (Built 1890s)
358 S. Boyle Ave, Boyle Heights

The Neighborhood Music School is exactly what it is. But it's also a Boyle Heights institution. Originally founded over 100 years ago when it was located on Mozart Street (orchestral rimshot), the school moved to this Victorian home in 1947 where it still offers music lessons to local youth and the public can drop by on weekends to attend free recital concerts.

6. Metro Division 20 Subway Car Yard & Site of Old Santa Fe LaGrande Station
1992 / 1893
320 S. Santa Fe Ave (visible from the 4th Street Viaduct), Arts District

Take a break from riding/walking/skateboarding/pogo-sticking/etc. and take a glance off the north side of the bridge from the west bank of the River. This facility is where the 104 Italian-built subway cars of the Metro Red and Purple line cars are stored, repaired, serviced and cleaned. This was also the temporary storage and repair site of the Angels Flight railway cars after the fateful 2001 accident. The Militant actually visited this facility back in May 1992.

The subway cars are also serviced on the site of the old Santa Fe Railway La Grande Station (hence the name of the street) that was on Santa Fe and 2nd. Built in 1893, it was precisely where midwestern transplants arrived in Los Angeles after paying their $1 train ticket from Chicago. In 1933, the landmark dome was damaged by the Long Beach Earthquake and subsequently removed. In 1939, it was rendered obsolete by the opening of the new Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal a few blocks north.

7. Metro 1st St /Central Station Site
2023
1st Street and Central Avenue, Little Tokyo

Prior to 2014, this lot was home to the popular Señor Fish taco joint (formerly the site of '70s-'80s punk venue Atomic Cafe) and Weiland Brewery Restaurant (which opened replacement locations in Echo Park and Uptown Long Beach, respectively). Both buildings were demolished in  to make room for this new Metro subway station for the  Regional Connector project, a new subway under Downtown Los Angeles that will re-align three light rail lines into two and provide continuous, transfer-free service from Azusa to Long Beach and East Los Angeles to Santa Monica. Although Little Tokyo already has a Gold Line station just yards away, that will be demolished and the station replaced with a new underground facility where the current construction activity exists. It's rather fascinating, and it's one way Little Tokyo will more resemble Big Tokyo.  The businesses around the station have been impacted by construction, so make sure you support them, not only during CicLAvia but after!

8. Site of Quaker Dairy, Original Little Tokyo Restaurant
1890
304 E. 1st St., Little Tokyo
On the southeast corner of 1st and San Pedro streets once stood the Quaker Dairy, a restaurant started on this site in 1890 by Sanshichi Akita, an immigrant from Japan. Though preceded five years earlier by another restaurant on First St (location unknown), this is the oldest traceable location of a Little Tokyo business. By the end of the 19th century, there were over 16 Japanese-owned restaurants in this stretch of 1st Street, creating what we know as Little Tokyo.

9. Los Angeles Sister Cities Monument
1987
1st and Main streets, Downtown

On the northeast corner of 1st and Main streets stands a pole bearing signs (in the "Blue Blade" style, no less) for every one of Los Angeles' 25 Sister Cities, each pointing towards their location. The signs range from Lusaka, Zambia (the farthest sister city, 10,017 miles) to Vancouver, Canada (the nearest, 1,081 miles) and everywhere in between. Nagoya, Japan is Los Angeles' oldest sister city (1959); Yerevan, Armenia is the newest (2007). Los Angeles, an Olympic host city (1932, 1984) also has that in common with sister cities Athens (1896, 2004), Berlin (1936), Mexico City (1968) and Vancouver (2010). Okay, the Militant is just filling up this paragraph with mindless trivia.

10. U.S. Federal Courthouse
2016
145 S. Broadway, Downtown
This big glass cube that is responsible for blocking your view of the Downtown Los Angeles skyline from Grand Park used to be a hole in the ground was once the site of the Junipero Serra State Office Building, which was damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake and abandoned and demolished in 1998. This 10-story, 400-foot-tall U.S. Federal Courthouse building (don't we already have a few of those?), designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill, opened in 2016. Do check out the embossed bald eagle situated over the main entrance on 1st Street.

11. Site of 1910 Los Angeles Times Bombing
1910
Northeast corner of Broadway and 1st Street, Downtown

This longtime empty lot, previously identified in this CicLAvia tour as the foundation of a state office building condemned after the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake has some additional history. It was recently dissevered to be the location of the 1910 bombing of the (then) Los Angeles Times building, which happened 104 years ago this week. The dynamite bombing was discovered to have been the work of Ortie McManigal and brothers John and James McNamara, all affiliated with the Iron Workers Union,  in what was meant to protest the newspaper's staunchly anti-union practices. 21 people died when the 16 sticks of dynamite exploded just outside the building at 1:07 a.m. on October 1, 1910, the explosion was exacerbated by natural gas lines which blew up a large section of the building. The Times since built a new building in its place, and later relocated across 1st Street to its current location. Today, the lot is being readied for an expansion of Grand Park.
NAVIGATIONAL NOTE: 
• If heading north to Chinatown, skip to #21.

12. Bradbury Building
1893
304 S. Broadway, Downtown

A building that's famously meh on the outside, but OMG from the inside, this building has been featured in movies from Chinatown to Blade Runner to 500 Days of Summer. Designed by Sumner Hunt and modified by George Wyman, this 5-story structure was designed to look like the 21st century from 19th century eyes. Despite the ahead-of-its-time design, this building has nothing to do with sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, but was named after developer and 1800s rich dude Lewis Bradbury, who founded his namesake city in the 626.

13. Biddy Mason Park

1991
331 S. Spring St (entrance on Broadway), Downtown

Born as a slave in Georgia over 200 years ago, Bridget "Biddy" Mason was a renaissance woman of her time. Having followed Mormon settlers west, she gained her freedom when California became a slavery-free Union state. As a nurse, she founded the first child care center in Los Angeles and later became a lucrative property owner and philanthropist, having founded the First AME Church, now a major institution in Los Angeles' African American community. She died in 1891 and was buried at ...Evergreen Cemetery (which you might have also seen earlier...see how things all tie together?). A century after her passing, this mini-park in DTLA, on the site of her house, was built and dedicated.

14. Broadway-Spring Arcade Building
1924
541 S. Spring St, Downtown

This unique building is actually three, opened in 1924 on the site of Mercantile Place, a 40-foot street cut between 5th and 6th streets connecting Broadway and Spring. Mercantile Place was a popular shopping and gathering locale in the early 1900s. Having fallen into decay by the 1970s, it was recently renovated and is now famous for, of all things, vendors selling rock band t-shirts. It also becomes an artistic venue during the DTLA ArtWalk. And The Militant probably doesn't need to mention that this building is home to the DTLA Guisado's.

15. St. Vincent Court
1868
St. Vincent Ct and 7th Street, Downtown

You'd hardly knew it was there, but this alley nestled between Broadway and Hill (blink and you'll miss it!), with its decorative brick pavement and European decor, seemingly belongs to another world. Originally the site of a Catholic college that was the predecessor of today's Loyola Marymount University, today it's a unique food court featuring Armenian and Middle Eastern eateries. The Militant calls it, "Littler Armenia." If the place looks familiar, it's also where Taylor Swift frolicked in the rain in the music video of her 2018 song, "Delicate." For more on St. Vincent Court, check out this 2008 Militant Angeleno post for more info!

16. Diamonds Theatre (Warner Theatre & Original Pantages Theatre)
1920
401 W. 7th Street, Downtown
This jewelry retail mart is actually a re-purposed theatre that was the original Pantages Theatre (remember from the last CicLAvia?) opened in 1920 by Greek American entertainment magnate Alexander Pantages for Vaudeville productions. Designed by B. Marcus Priteca (who also designed today's Pantages Theatre in Hollywood), it was sold in 1929 and eventually became the Warner Theatre, screening motion pictures from the WB during the days when the movie studios ran their own theatres. The theatre closed down in 1975 and became a jewelry mart in 1978.

17. The Bloc (Formerly Broadway Plaza/Macy's Plaza)
1973
7th Street between Flower and Hope streets, Downtown

A poster child for change in Downtown, this shopping center, originally built in 1973 and designed by Charles Luckman & Associates as the first suburban-style mall in DTLA combined an indoor (though massively truncated) indoor galleria, a hotel and a 32-story office building. Initially known as Broadway Plaza, named after the old upscale Southern California department store anchor tenant, its name was changed to Macy's Plaza in 1996 after The Broadway merged with the NYC-based equivalent Macy's. Its blocky, street-unfriendly design was derided by many, especially in an era where the outdoor mall format pioneered by Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade, and Rick Caruso's faux-urban monstrosities (and more recently, the newly-opened The Village at Westfield Topanga),  so in 2013 it was re-conceptualized as "The Bloc" and currently stands as a work-in-progress, (which also features a direct entrance to the 7th Street/Metro Center subway station).

18. Wilshire Grand Center
2017
900 Wilshire Blvd, Downtown

On this site rises the new Wilshire Grand Center, Los Angeles' (and the West's -- suck on it, Transbay Tower SF!) tallest building at 73 stories and 1,100 feet (kinda sorta, there's a spire, you see...). Opened in June 2017, it is the city's only modern skyscraper without a flat roof, the only Los Angeles building since Hollywood's Capitol Records tower in 1956 to feature a spire, the first skyscraper anywhere to sport a mohawk, and it also has its own irreverent Twitter account. ;) Owned by Korean Air (hence the red and blue taeguk LED logo), the tower houses the 900-room Hotel Intercontinental with its 70th-floor Sky Lobby and the unique Spire 73 skybar, with wonderful views of the south and west (the sunset vista from here is not to be missed). The building's construction site was the location of "The Big Pour" - which lasted from February 15 -16, 2014, where 21,200 cubic yards (81 million pounds) of concrete for the tower's foundation were continuously poured - earning it a Guinness World Record for that feat. Before the skyscaper, the site was home of the Wilshire Grand Hotel, formerly (in reverse chronological order) the Omni Hotel, Los Angeles Hilton, Statler Hilton and Statler Hotel.

19. City View Lofts/Young's Market Company Building
1924
1610 w. 7th St., Pico-Union

Ever wondered what's the deal with this 4-story Italian Renaissance-style building? It was built in 1924 as a liquor warehouse and original headquarters for Young's Market Company, which still operates today as the largest liquor distributor in the West. This building features actual marble columns and a decorative frieze made of terra cotta. The company, in the roaring, pre-depression 1920s, just felt like it. The building was looted and burned in the 1992 Riots and was rehabbed in 1997 to become the City View lofts. The building is in the National Register of Historic Places.

20. Gen. Douglas MacArthur Monument
1955
Southeast corner of MacArthur Park, Westlake

It's sort of strange how a monument to the park's namesake seems almost invisible (Gen John Pershing, MacArthur's WWI counterpart, could totally identify). In fact, most people don't know it's even there, but on the southeast shore of the lake is a dormant memorial fountain featuring a statue of the WWII general overlooking a model of the Pacific theatre (no, not that one) where he led allied forces to eventual victory. It was designed and built in 1955 by Roger Noble Burnham, who previously sculpted the Tommy Trojan statue on the USC campus and taught at the Otis Art School, formerly located nearby.

• North Spur to Chinatown

21. Site of Court Flight
1904 (demolished 1943)
Broadway between Temple and Hill streets, Downtown

With Angels Flightfiiiiiiiiiinally up and running again (fingers crossed), it's time to pay tribute to the city's other funicular, its cousin to the northeast, Court Flight. Built in 1904, it went up the northern end of Bunker Hill and was next to a former road called Court Street, hence its name. Even shorter than its more famous cousin at 200 feet, it ran steeper at a height of 200 feet. It was burned by a fire in 1943 and never reconstructed. The hill was eventually chipped away. The north side of the stairways going up to the Court of Flags (wonder if that was intentional there) in today's Grand Park is the precise location of ol' Courty.

22. Hall Of Justice

1926
Temple Street and Broadway, Downtown

No, you won't find Superman or any of the Super Friends here.  But this building, the oldest surviving government building in the Los Angeles Civic Center, was built in the mid-1920s as the original Los Angeles County Courthouse and Central Jail (which once housed the likes of Busy Siegel, Sirhan Sirhan and Charles Manson), as well as the headquarters for the Sheriff's Office, the District Attorney and the County Coroner. This Beaux Arts-style building was designed by Allied Architects Association, an all-star team of local architects put together to design publicly-funded buildings. The building is currently undergoing a major renovation project to modernize the facilities and repair damage from the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. It re-opened in 2015 as a LEED Gold Certified building (gotta be sustainable, y'all) with the return of the Sheriff's and District Attorney's offices.

23. Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial
1957
451 N. Hill St, Downtown

Way, way, waaaaay back before we had tall building and freeways, Downtown Los Angeles (well Los Angeles, period back then) had a bunch of hills, Bunker Hill being the most famed one. There was also Fort Hill, the site of a Mexican-American War encampment. On July 4, 1847 the facility was called Fort Moore (and the hill Fort Moore Hill), after Captain Benjamin D. Moore of the U.S. 1st Dragoons regiment, who was killed six months earlier in a battle near San Diego. The 1st Dragoons and the Mormon Batallion established the new fort and raised the U.S. flag during the first-ever observed Independence Day in Los Angeles. This event was immortalized in a bas-relief stone monument made in the 1950s. Speaking of forts, the very street you're riding (or walking, or skating, or scootering, or stand-up-paddling, or pogo-sticking) was once called "Fort Street," which inevitably led to directional problems some six blocks south of here. The monument also includes a fountain, which was shut off in 1977...due to the drought at the time.

So where's the actual hill, you ask? It was bulldozed away in the late 1940s to make room for the 101 Freeway (is this a recurring theme for this CicLAvia or what?!)

24. Chinatown Gateway Monument
2001
Broadway and Cesar E. Chavez. Avenue, Chinatown

Designed to be the symbolic entrance to Los Angeles' Chinatown District, The Chinatown Gateway Monument, a.k.a. the Twin Dragon Towers Gateway, depicts two dragons grabbing at a central pearl, which symbolizes luck, prosperity, and longevity. The 25-foot-tall structure was put up in 2001 and occasionally emanates steam coming from the dragons' mouths. Unlike Anglo dragons, the creatures in Chinese folklore are the good guys, meant to scare away evil spirits.

25. Capitol Milling Co.
1883
1231 N. Spring St, Chinatown

One of the last visible vestiges of Los Angeles' agricultural industry, this family-owned flour mill operated from 1831 to 1997, before moving its operation to a much larger facility in Colton. The facility that still stands today was built in 1883. The mill supplied flour to clients such as Ralphs, Foix French Bakery and La Brea Bakery. In 1999, the family-owned operation was purchased by industry giant Con-Agra Co.
The historic building, built even before the railroads arrived in Los Angeles, still has a horse-tethering ring, back to the days when grain was hauled by horse carriage from farms in the San Fernando Valley. The property is currently being adaptively reused into retail and creative office space.

26. Old (New?) Chinatown Central Plaza
1937
Gin Ling Way between Broadway and Hill, Chintown

The new northern terminus of CicLAvia is no stranger to public events; it was made for them. In the Summer it hosted three very popular Chinatown Summer Nights events. But don't let the "Old Chinatown" neon sign fool you -- This is actually Los Angeles' new Chinatown, which dates back to the 1930s. The real Old Chinatown was several blocks south, where a thriving community of Cantonese-speaking immigrants lived near the river, north of Aliso Street. Of course, they were kicked out in the early '30s to make room for Union Station. So they moved a few blocks north, in the former Little Italy, and they've been there ever since. Well, not really, since some of them moved east to the San Gabriel Valley and were supplemented with Mandarin-speaking immigrants from Taiwan and Mainland China. But you get the idea.

Happy CicLAvia, Los Angeles! Enjoy and STAY MILITANT!

The Militant's Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour XXXVIII!

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Interactive Map! Click on green points to view hotspots, or click here for larger view.


Looks like we made it - Sunday's "South L.A."CicLAvia is the third and last CicLAvia of 2021, a year that seemed to go by oh so fast. But it was great to return to the open streets this year, wasn't it? This time around, the 38th edition of Los Angeles' open streets event features a modified version of the December 7, 2014 CicLAvia. Instead of running down Central Avenue (the historic Main Street of Black Los Angeles), we have a 5.3-mile route that begins at Central and heads west along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Instead of running south towards Leimert Park, we head north on Crenshaw Boulevard (the contemporary Main Street of Black Los Angeles). The 23-mile street was named in 1904 after banker and developer George Lafayette Crenshaw, who developed the Lafayette Square and Wellington Square neighborhoods near Washington Blvd and his namesake thoroughfare. In addition to being the center of Los Angeles' modern-day Black community, particularly in Leimert Park, Crenshaw once was home to a Japanese American community. The exceptional width of both Martin Luther King and Crenshaw boulevards has supported automobiles, streetcars (and soon, light rail) and even a space shuttle. And now, it'll host bicycles, skateboards, scooters, wheelchairs, strollers, runners and pedestrians. Hopefully if The Rona doesn't get out of control next year, we'll have more of these again in '22.

Stay safe, stay healthy and see you or not see you on the streets this Sunday!


1. Ralph J. Bunche House
1919
1221 E. 40th Place, South Los Angeles

The Central Avenue corridor was home to Los Angeles' black community, primarily due to the racial covenants that restricted them from owning homes elsewhere in the city. But great things can come from places of injustice. Ralph J. Bunche was a teenager arriving with his family from Detroit, by way of Ohio and New Mexico, who attended nearby Jefferson High School and went to UCLA, graduating as the valedictorian at both schools. He went on to Harvard, where he earned his Ph.D in Political Science (the first African American to receive a doctorate in PoliSci from a U.S. university), and later was one of the founders of the United Nations. In 1950, due to his diplomatic work in the negotiations that ended the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, he won the Nobel Peace Prize -- the first nonwhite person to ever win the esteemed award. And he once lived right here, just two blocks east of the CicLAvia route.

2. Masjid Bilal Islamic Center/Site of Elks Lodge
1929
4016 S. Central Ave, South Los Angeles

This mainstay of the local Muslim community since 1973 also has a deep history in the local black community. The building was originally built in 1929 as the home of the local Elks club. But it was no ordinary Elks Club (who discriminated against black membership). It was run by the Improved and Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World, an African American-run organization founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1898 that functioned as a fraternal order for people of color. Though obviously not directly affiliated with the white Elks club, it is run with the otherwise identical customs and traditions, and with nearly half a million members worldwide, is the largest black fraternal organization in the world.

3. Site of Wrigley Field
1925  (demolished 1969)
Avalon Blvd & 42nd Place

Just a few blocks south of the CicLAvia route is Gilbert W. Lindsay Park, named after Los Angeles' first African American city councilman. But years ago, this was the place where home runs, strikeouts and 7th Inning Stretches took place in the City of Angels. And yes it was a city of Angels, as the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League made the 22.000-capacity Wrigley Field (named after the chewing gum magnate, who had several stakes in Southern California, including Catalina Island) its home. And as any truly militant Angeleno knows, the ivy-and-brick Chi-town tourist trap, though 11 years older, was originally called Weeghman Park and wasn't dubbed Wrigley Field until 1927, which made Los Angeles' Wrigley Field the first Wrigley Field ever. The stadium also was popular with TV and movie shoots, such as Damn Yankees and The Twilight Zone. In 1961, it literally went Major League as the American League expansion team Los Angeles Angels of Los Angeles played its home games there before moving to Dodger Sta, er, Chavez Ravine for the next four seasons, and then finally moving down the 5 to Anaheim. Wrigley Field was also home of the Los Angeles White Sox, a club in the short-lived, 6-team West Coast Negro Baseball Association, a Black minor league co-founded by Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens which lasted but a single season in 1946. Yes, there's a baseball field in the park, but it's not the same location as the original diamond.

4. Banc of California Stadium
2018
3939 S. Figueroa St, Exposition Park

Home of the MLS'Los Angeles Football Club soccer team, this $350 million, 22,000-seat venue is the first open-air stadium to be built in the City of Los Angeles since Dodger Stadium opened in 1962. It was built on the former site of the 16,000-seat Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (1959-2016), which was the first Los Angeles home of the Lakers (1960-1967), the Clippers (1984-1999) and hosted the Boxing matches during the 1984 Olympics. In 2022, Banc Stadium will also become the home venue of the Angel City FC National Women's Soccer League team in 2022 and host the Men's and Women's Soccer tournaments during the 2028 Olympics.

5. Historic Southern Pacific Palm Tree
 Re-planted 1914
3901 S. Figueroa St, Exposition Park

Back in the late 1800s-early 1900s, the Southern Pacific Railroad operate out of a train station called the Arcade Station, on 5th and Alameda streets. A lone palm tree stood outside the station and functioned as a landmark for arriving passengers coming in from San Francisco or points east. In 1914 (dude, a hundred years ago) the Arcade Station was demolished (no, it wasn't consumed by a fire) to make way for a more modern station, called Central Station, and the palm tree had to go. So sentimental was the palm tree, instead of being cut down, it was moved to Exposition Park, where it has stood ever since. Like its neighbor the Space Shuttle Endeavour, it was a popular icon back in its day, and it's probably safe to assume that its transport through town was an event in itself. A little-known historic market at the base of the tree tells the whole story. So if you want to see a palm tree that was planted there over 100 years ago, there you go.

6. Community Services Unlimited Urban Garden
2003
Bill Robertson Lane and Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Exposition Park

Did you know there's an urban garden along the CicLAvia route? Local nonprofit Community Services Unlimited (an organization that, interestingly enough, originated from the Black Panther Party's community outreach programs in the 1970s) grows their own organic fruits and vegetables in this Exposition Park urban garden that they sell and distribute in this predominantly food desert area to help local residents gain access to fresh, healthy produce. They sell this produce at a stand outside the LA84/John C. Argue Swim Stadium next door on Thursday afternoons from 3 to 6 p.m.

7. Los Angeles Swimming Stadium
1932
Bill Robertson Drive & Park Lane, Exposition Park

The Coliseum's little brother, the Los Angeles Swimming Stadium was the 10,000-seat venue for the 1932 Olympic swimming, diving and water polo competitions, as well as the aquatic portions of the pentathlon event. Olympians such as Buster Crabbe swam in its waters. After the games, it became a public pool, and in the '50s, USC's swim team used it as their training and competing venue. After over a half century of wear, and damage from the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, the swim stadium was renovated in 2002 and operates today as the LA84 Foundation/John C. Argue Swim Stadium.
Marco...Polo!

8. George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
2023
Vermont and 39th St, Exposition Park

Taking shape on west side of Exposition Park like a Naboo Royal Starship is the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (or, "The Luke," as The Militant would like to call it), a state-of-the-art visual, cinematic and interactive museum founded by 'Star Wars' creator and filmmaker George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson. The site, located in close proximity to Lucas' alma mater, USC, beat out other site proposals in San Francisco (home of Lucasfilm, Ltd) and Chicago (Lucas' birthplace) when it was announced in 2017. Originally intended to open this year, it was delayed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

9. Celes King III Bail Bonds
1949
1530 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Vermont Square

Why is a Bail Bonds joint listed in the Militant's CicLAvia tour? WTF? Well, before 1983, this street was known as Santa Barbara Avenue. Celes King III was the person who lobbied to change the name of the street to Martin Luther King Jr (no relation) Blvd. A real estate broker, bail bondman, outspoken Republican, former Tuskeegee Airman, failed City Council candidate, co-founder of the Brotherhood Crusade and founder of the Kingdom Day Parade, he successfully lobbied the L.A. City Council in 1983 to re-name Santa Barbara Ave. after the slain civil rights leader -- albeit not without controversy. Some of his critics accused him of doing it to irritate then-Mayor Tom Bradley, one of his political enemies, and others have criticized CK3 of conflict of interest (his residence (he lived in the apartment upstairs) and his bail bonds business were located on Santa Barbara Ave after all) and even ego trippin' (the short-hand street signs say "King Bl"-- the same as his own last name). Whether this was a self-aggrandizing stunt or a genuine tribute to an American hero, we will never know: Celes King III died in 2003. But here's one interesting CicLAvia route fact: His father, Celes King, Jr was the owner of Central Avenue's Dunbar Hotel back in its heyday.

10. Worldwide Tacos
 [Year Unknown]
2419 Martin Luther King Blvd, Leimert Park

The Militant loves tacos, as you may or may know. But along the CicLAvia route is perhaps one of the most unusual taco joints around. Worldwide Tacos makes over 150 types of tacos, in chicken, beef, lamb, chicken, duck, turkey, pastrami, shrimp, fish and vegetarian varieties, all freshly-made and cooked to order. Prices range from $2.50 to $8.50 each. But that's not the catch. The catch is that the wait time ranges from 15 minutes to two hours. The Militant has not tried Worldwide Tacos (nor has he waited for one), but his operatives who have (and endured the long wait, though you can just leave them your cellphone number and they'll call you when they're ready) say they're pretty bomb-diggity. Hmmm...


11. Yellow Car Right Of Way

1902
Leimert Blvd between Martin Luther King Jr Blvd and Vernon Avenue

See that nice, wide, landscaped median branching south of MLK through Leimert Park? Could you ever guess what it used to be? Yup, it was the right-of-way for the Yellow Car trolleys of the Los Angeles Railway, part of  The 5 Line, which ran from Eagle Rock (ya, rly) to Hawthorne. Actually The CicLAvia route from the 110 Freeway to Leimert Avenue was part of the 5 Line, and because of that Leimert Park was originally planned as a transit-oriented community (it was also originally planned as a whites-only community, but so much for that, eh?) Incidentally, part of this same historic Yellow Car Line, along both Crenshaw Blvd and Florence Avenue, will soon be re-used for rail transit as part of Metro's under-construction Crenshaw Line.

12. Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza
1947
3650 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Crenshaw District

Originally known as the Broadway-Crenshaw Center, it opened on November 21, 1947 as one of the first auto-centric regional shopping centers in the US. The Streamline Moderne shopping center, designed by Albert B. Gardner, was home to a 5-story Broadway department store, a Vons supermarket and a Woolworth's discount store. In 1949, a Silverwoods clothing store opened, and the landmark bridge over MLK (then known as Santa Barbara Avenue) was built to connect with the existing 1947 May Company building on the north side of the street. Today's version of the shopping center came about during a late 1980s remodel. If you drop by the mall, The Militant highly recommends checking out the cupcakes at Southern Girl Desserts!

13. Sanchez Adobe
1791
3725 Don Felipe Drive, Baldwin Hills

In the streets behind the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza stands what may or may be the oldest building in Los Angeles. The crown was long believed to belong to the 203 year-old 1818 Avila Adobe on Olvera Street, but further historical research in 2012revealed that this structure, originally part of Rancho La Cienega o Paso de la Tijera, dates back some 50 years prior to when it was deeded to Don Vicente Sanchez in 1843, making it around 230 years old.  The building was later owned by Baldwin Hills' namesake Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin, who brought freed slaves to work in his homestead after the Civil War. The historic structure - 30 feet wide and two stories tall - has been integrated into a large single-story building built in 1927. It is currently home to Agape Church of Los Angeles.


14. Black Dahlia Body Site
1947
3825 S. Norton Ave, Crenshaw District

On the morning of January 15, 1947, the body of 22 year-old waitress Elizabeth Short, a.k.a. "The Black Dahlia" - the victim of arguably the most famous unsolved murder case in Los Angeles history - was discovered on this site (at the time an empty lot; the house was not built until 1956) by a local woman walking with her young daughter. Short, a transplant from Boston who was reportedly an aspiring actress, was missing the week prior to the discovery of her body, and the case garnered national headlines due to the gory details of her murder. The LAPD's investigation yielded over 150 suspects but no arrests. The cultural intrigue surrounding Short's death became a huge influence on the 1940s 'Los Angeles Noir' phenomenon.

15. Ken Clark Pontiac/Majestic Pontiac Sign
1952
3740 Crenshaw Blvd, Crenshaw District

Although Crenshaw supported a streetcar line south of Vernon, the thoroughfare north of it had always been auto-centric in nature and design. From the late 1930s to 2000, The 'Shaw was once home to an auto row, boasting car dealerships such as Crenshaw Ford, Harry Mann Chevrolet (once the largest Corvette dealer in the US), O'Connor Lincoln-Mercury and Peterson Oldsmobile. The last of the lot, so to speak, was Majestic Pontiac, at Crenshaw and Coliseum. Originally Ken Clark Pontiac from 1952 to 1960, the business was sold and became Majestic Pontiac. The dealership's telltale neon sign with the Pontiac Indian logo was an icon on the boulevard, much like how Felix Chevrolet's cartoon cat smiles over Figueroa today. The dealership closed for good in 2000 and the lot was converted into a shopping center soon afterward. But the original 1952 sign still remains, Pontiac Indian head intact, this time adapted to bear the signage of Big 5 Sporting Goods and Goodwill Industries.

16. Obama Boulevard
2019
Obama Boulevard between Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Gramercy Pl

Originally named Rodeo Road in 1911, presumably to honor the history of cattle ranchers of the area, most specifically those of nearby Rancho La Brea. After living in the confusing shadow of the more opulent Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills since the 1920s, the street was officially re-named and re-dedicated "President Barack Obama Boulevard" in a public ceremony and festival on May 4, 2019, in honor of the 44th (and first African American) president of the United States, who made one of his first presidential campaign appearances at Rancho Cienega Park on February 20, 2007. The street is nestled south of Washington, Adams and Jefferson boulevards, and intersects with Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. It joins 16 other thoroughfares nationwide named after Obama.


Enjoy CicLAvia again and STAY MILITANT!

32 More Suburbs in Search of Their Names: An Etymology of Cities in the Inland Empire

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Wow, it's been a while since The Militant did something like this. Er, not just post something on This Here Blog Site that has nothing to do with an Epic CicLAvia Tour, but making a post about the name origins of places in Southern California.

It all started in November 2013, when The Militant made a pretty epic post about how all 88 of Los Angeles County's incorporated cities got their names. He then decided to follow it up in April 2014 with the name origins of Orange County's 34 incorporated cities (do read those if you missed them the first time...).

This time around, for some odd reason, he wanted to take on the Inland Empire, which is not a county per se, but a region of varying sizes and definitions. Most define the Inland Empire as two counties, some folks include parts of five. Since one of those counties includes the largest county in the United States in terms of geographical size (though the state of Alaska has county-like bodies called "boroughs" which are even larger), The Militant doesn't want to bother with having to go all the way out to MF'ing Zzyzx, so for the sake of this, and the relevancy to his (greater) Los Angeles jurisdiction, The Militant will define "Inland Empire" as "The parts of San Bernardino and Riverside counties that exist within the Los Angeles Basin and the greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area that are not situated in the Mojave or Colorado deserts." So...Palm Springs, Victorville - you cool, but sorry, you ain't part of this.

The Inland Empire, a.k.a. The I.E. was actually known for years as "The Orange Empire," being part of a large swath of Southern California that included the San Gabriel Valley and Orange County known for its orange groves and citrus production. A regional annual citrus-themed fair called the National Orange Show has been taking place in San Bernardino since 1889. But the dynamics of the area had evolved over the years, as Los Angeles became more urbanized and the mass media market defined by radio, television, newspapers, transportation infrastructure and professional sports teams blanketed the region, the Orange Empire became more known as a suburb.

On November 14, 1992, a large part of the 714 telephone area code split off and became the 909 area code. That gave the suburban region east of Los Angeles anchored by the twin cities of San Bernardino and Riverside a much stronger regional identity, and the term "Inland Empire," (which dates back to 1914 as documented in the old Riverside Enterprise newspaper) garnered more usage locally and nationally (especially since a neighboring region had already gained more association with the name "Orange").

So while The Militant's previous two lists were limited to incorporated cities within counties, due to the nature of the I.E., this list will also include unincorporated areas and notable communities of incorporated cities. Because the Inland Empire is like that. Also, since Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake are not topographically part of the Inland Empire, because of their recreational nature, they are just as connected to the Metropolitan Los Angeles area as the towns down below, so they made the list.

As typical with Southern California place names, there's a lot of Español, especially in terms of Mexican Rancho origins, as well as names of white dudes who founded that particular place, but there are also names of French, Italian and Danish origin, as well as indigenous origin, from the three Native American tribes in the region (as well as one well outside the I.E.).

So without further delay, and after much Militant research, here it is, the etymology of 32 places in the Inland Empire, in alphabetical order:

Big Bear Lake– The California grizzly bears that once lived in the area.

Chino - Originally part of the Mexican land grant Rancho Santa Ana del Chino (“Ranch of St. Anne of the Curls”); the “curls” refer to the curly grama grasses that grow in the valley.

Chino Hills– See Chino.

Colton– David Colton, vice president of the Southern Pacific Railroad, the company that built a large railroad yard in the city that remains in operation today.

Corona– Spanish for “crown”; the nickname of the one-mile diameter circular road (Grand Blvd) in the town’s center.

Etiwanda– The Etiwanda Native American tribe, which lived on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Fontana– Italian for “fountain” or “water source”; located near the Santa Ana River.

Hemet– Named after the Lake Hemet Land Company. There are several competing origins on the name “Hemet,” including the local Native American word for “box,” and the Hemmet Brothers, Scandinavian immigrants who settled in the area.

Highgrove– Originally named East Riverside, was renamed in 1897 after the local orange groves and to give it a separate identity from Riverside.

Highland– The area east of San Bernardino, higher in elevation (300’) than the rest of the city.

Jurupa Valley– Originally part of the Rancho Jurupa Mexican land grant.

Lake Arrowhead– Originally named “Little Bear Lake” (in reference to its fellow alpine reservoir to the east), it was re-named by the Arrowhead Lake Company after the natural rock outcropping overlooking San Bernardino that visually resembles an arrowhead.

Lake Elsinore– [Competing origins] 1) After the Danish city of Helsingør in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet; 2) Anglicization of Spanish “El señor”.

Loma Linda– Spanish for “pretty hill.”

Ontario– The Canadian province of Ontario, where city founders and brothers George, William and Charles Chaffey originated from.

Menifee– Luther Menifee Wilson, a miner who discovered quartz in the area in the 1880s.

Mentone– The town of Menton in southeastern France.

Montclair– Originally named “Monte Vista” in 1900, was officially named “Montclair” in 1958 as a result of a request by the US Postal Service to avoid confusion with the Monte Vista in northern California; also as a phonetic reference to neighboring Claremont.

Moreno Valley– Spanish for “brown;” a reference to Frank Brown, the co-founder of Redlands.

Murrieta– Brothers Juan and Ezequiel Murrieta, co-owners of the Rancho Temecula Mexican land grant.

NorcoNorth Corona Land Company, which first developed the town.

Perris– Fred T. Perris, chief engineer (as in designer, not train operator) of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, who oversaw construction of the transcontinental railroad line between Chicago and Los Angeles along the Cajon Pass in 1885.

Rancho Cucamonga– The Tongva village of Kukamogna ("Place of the sand").

Redlands– The color of the local reddish soil, used for making adobe.

Rialto– The Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge) in Venice, Italy.

Riverside – Alongside the Santa Ana River.

Romoland– Originally named Romola Farms, the name was changed due to a request by the US Postal Service to avoid confusion with Ramona, CA.

San Bernardino– San Bernardino de Siena Asistencia (or Estancia) (St. Bernardine of Siena homestead), an outpost of San Gabriel Mission established by Spanish settlers.

TemeculaTemeekunga, meaning “place of the sun” in the language of the indigenous Luiseño/Payómkawichum people.

Upland – The area north, or “up land” of Ontario; also a reference to the height of nearby Mt. San Antonio (a.k.a. Mt. Baldy).

Wildomar– Portmanteau of the names of the town’s founders: William Collier, Donald Graham and Margaret Collier Graham.

YucaipaYukaipa’t, meaning “green valley” in the language of the indigenous Serrano/Taaqtam people.

The Militant's Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour XXXIX!

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 Interactive Map! Click on green points to view hotspots, or click here for larger view.

After a half-year ofno CicLAvias, the first open streets event of 2022 has finally arrived, albeit in the second half of the year. This 39th iteration of CicLAvia takes us back to South Los Angeles - the same region where the last one was on December 5, 2021, but this time on a totally new route - a three-mile straight stretch of Western Avenue from Exposition Boulevard to Florence Avenue. This is the 6th unique route under the CicLAvia South L.A. name.

As "CicLAvia South L.A." is not just one route, but many, so is the area itself. South Los Angeles is not just a community, but a collection of several communities and neighborhoods. This time, we trek through Jefferson Park, King Estates, Chesterfield Square, Harvard Park and the Florence corridor to give you 14 points of interest along the CicLAvia route.

For the casual observer, Western Avenue might seem "boring" or "uninteresting," but dig deeper and you'll find a lot more (a typical Militant theme here...). The area encompassed by this CicLAvia route gave the world such people as poet Amanda Gorman (who grew up going to St. Brigid Catholic Church on Western and 52nd), pioneering animator and filmmaker Ray Harryhausen and MLB All-Stars (and early '90s Dodgers players) Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis. It also was where a legendary burger chain began, and where - up until a decade ago - your Twinkies were baked. And a popular 1990s motion picture which garnered a couple Oscar nominations was filmed here. So there's a lot more goin' on than meets the eye.

As usual...stay safe, stay healthy and see you or not see you on the streets this Sunday!

1. Site of the Original Fatburger
1947
3021 S. Western Ave, Jefferson Park

The legendary Fatburger chain started at this very location by a Black woman entrepreneur named Lovie Yancey, who operated a three-stool hamburger stand. Originally named "Mr. Fatburger," the salutation was dropped in 1952 and a legend was born, propelled to fame by Black celebrities such as Red Foxx and Ray Charles. Yancey sold Fatburger to an investment firm in 1990 but retained control of the O.G. location until 2007, when it was sold to a developer which built the existing surrounding apartment complex. Yancey died in 2008 at the age of 96, but in 2009 the original stand was preserved to its original 1950s-era look by the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. The Militant paid a visit to the stand, pre-redevelopment, back in January 2008.

2. South LA Cafe

2019
1700 Browning Ave, King Estates

Opened in November 2019 by owners Celia Ward-Wallace and her husband Joe - both longtime residents of the area - to address food inequality (they also own the South L.A. Market on the other side of the minimall) and create a cultural hub in the neighborhood, South L.A. Cafe not only sells caffeinated fare and pastries, but also provides a venue for open mic and poetry performances. The cafe also sells various clothing which bears "South L.A." and "South Central" for locals who wish to represent with neighborhood pride (or for those from outside the area who just want to front).

3. Civil Defense Air Raid Siren #60
1940
1662 W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, King Estates.

If the Russians ever invade Los Angeles, just know that we have 179 Civil Defense air raid sirens in place around the City (which may or may not still work...), like this one along the CicLAvia route, which is identified as Civil Defense Siren #60 at Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Western Avenue. Built in 1940, this siren is classified as a Federal Model SD-10, or the "Wire Spool" style.

4. Tejuinos El Pichirilo

2022
4245 S. Western Avenue, Chesterfield Square.

Rolling down Western Avenue, this bright yellow plywood shack stands out from the urban landscape and only bears the words, "Tejuinos El Pichirilo" and a drawing of a smiley face. Tejuinos, a cold fermented beverage made from masa (corn dough, as in the stuff that tortillas and tamales are made out of), are popular drinks from western Mexico that have recently gotten some attention. They taste like a butterscotch-lime margarita (the drink is non-alcoholic, but can be upgraded with tequila (sorry, not provided by Tejuinos El Pichirilo). The proprietor, a gentleman named Elias, told The Militant that he originally started a tejuinos cart in 2020 and later decided to go brick-and-mortar - or rather, plywood and nails - on the corner of Western and 42nd Place in March of this year. Elias hails from Guadalajara, and makes his drink in his regional style, with more of a lime flavor to it. He sells tejuinos and only tejuinos in 24-oz ($5) and 32-oz ($7) sizes and is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 12 noon until 5-ish p.m., or until he runs out. Sunday is his busiest day, but he already knows about CicLAvia and will stock accordingly.

5. Ray Harryhausen's Childhood Home

1913
4822 Cimarron Street, Chesterfield Square
(Private residence, do not disturb occupants)

Influential animator/filmmaker and Los Angeles native Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013) grew up in this very house in the 1920s and '30s. Upon watching the 1933 film, 'King Kong' he was inspired to create his own stop-action animation. Though his career, Harryhausen befriended the likes of Ray Bradbury and Frank Capra and is known for bringing fantasy, prehistoric and mythological creatures to life in films like 'Jason and the Argonauts' (1963) and the 'Clash of the Titans' (1981), influencing everyone from Steven Spielberg to Tim Burton to George Lucas.

6. Russell Westbrook Why Not? High School

2021
1755 W 52nd St, South Los Angeles

Okay, okay, stop your snickering, Lakers fans. This is an actual place, and for a good cause. This school, established in 2021, which utilizes the brick-and-mortar facilities (Hey now, no '"brick" jokes, okay?) of the now-closed St. Brigid Catholic School campus (built in 1960), is a partnership of the L.A. Promise Fund and Russell Westbrook's Why Not? Foundation to provide transformative educational opportunities for youths in the South Los Angeles area. It is the second educational academy founded by an active NBA player for underserved youth (the other was founded by Westbrook's Lakers teammate LeBron James in his native Akron, Ohio).

7. Chesterfield Square Park/Los Angeles Railway 8 Line
1910s
1950 W. 54th Street, Chesterfield Square.

Developed in the 1910s by brothers R.D. and Charles List, this neighborhood, in what was then a newly-annexed part of Los Angeles, took on the Anglophilic moniker of "Chesterfield Square" (to blend in with the decidedly British-named communities of Hyde Park, Windsor Park and Manchester Avenue). The characteristic Craftsman homes and Washingtonia palms were planted along its streets during its new home construction heydey of the 1920s, and the rest is history. This park, which features a pair of diagonally-crossed walk paths (a la O.G. Pershing Square in DTLA), was part of the original neighborhood layout, and was constructed alongside 54h Street - once a very transit-oriented street, as it was the western leg of the Los Angeles Railway's 8 Line.  Just a few blocks west is Metro's Division 5 Arthur Winston Bus Yard, which is the direct descendant of the Los Angeles Railway's Division 5 streetcar yard on the same location.

Los Angeles Railway 8 Line Yellow Car on 54th Street in 1955.



8. Slauson Super Mall

1986
1600 W. Slauson Avenue, Harvard Park.

Name-checked by nearby area native rapper Nipsey Hussle in his 2018 song, "Checc Me Out," this gigantic indoor urban bazaar, which opened in 1986 (in a former storage warehouse building built in 1957) features over 100 vendors selling everything from clothing to shoes (which may or may not be legit brands), to mobile phones and accessories, to bicycles, to sporting goods, to...well, just about anything.

9. Santa Fe Railway Harbor Subdivision

1880s
Paralleling Slauson Avenue and Hyde Park Boulevard, South Los Angeles.

Just south of Slauson Avenue, the CicLAvia route crosses a set of railroad tracks...but there are no tracks to the east or west of Western Avenue. Whatup with that?! Well, this abandoned railroad right-of-way was an important part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (a.k.a. the Santa Fe) and Los Angeles transportation. It was built in the 1880s as the railroad's access to local sea ports (initially Redondo Beach in 1888, and later extended through Torrance to Los Angeles Harbor in the 1920s). It provided freight transport access for local industries - particularly the oil industry in El Segundo, as well as passenger/local commuter rail service up until the early 20th century. The line was abandoned in 2002 with the opening of the Alameda Corridor, providing a shared, direct access to the Harbor for all of the freight railroads. It is now owned by Metro, where parts of it are already being used for the Crenshaw/LAX light rail line (Metro K Line), and a future extension to the South Bay. The eastern segment of the line along Slauson is slated to become a bicycle/pedestrian path.

10. 'Boyz N The Hood' Filming Locations

1990
5900 Block of S. Cimarron St, Chesterfield Square.
(Private residences, do not disturb occupants)

Three 1923-built houses on this block just a few blocks west of the CicLAvia route were location shoots for the iconic 1991 John Singleton movie, 'Boyz N The Hood.' Filmed in October and November 1990, the locations include Brandi's house (5906 S. Cimarron St.), Doughboy's and Ricky's house (5911 S. Cimarron St.) and Furious Styles' house (5918 S Cimarron St.). Do not bother the residents, but if you do run across a resident on the block named Valerie Wilson, she'd be more than happy to talk about the movie with you.

11. Site of Hostess Bakery Complex

1924
6007 S. St. Andrews Place, South Los Angeles.

A block west of the CicLAvia route, in a decidedly industrial area, was the regional bakery for Hostess Brands, which, for 88 years, baked Twinkies, Sno-Balls and Cupcakes and other Hostess goods for the area spanning from Mexico to Central California. Established in 1924, the complex contains seven buildings built between the 1920s and 1960s, with the largest being the Mid-Century Modern bakery building built in 1952. A railroad spur behind the building serving the bakery from the nearby Santa Fe Railway's Harbor Subdivision was built to ship in raw ingredients and ship out baked goods. Operations shut down in November 2012 when the parent company, Continental Baking Company, declared bankruptcy. Part of the factory is now used by Art'isan Bakery.

12. Harvard Park

1535 West 62nd St., Harvard Park.

Officially known as the Jackie Tatum/Harvard Recreation Center (Tatum being the first Black woman to become General Manager of the City of Los Angeles' Department of Recreation and Parks, circa 1990s), this large green space and athletic facility was where countless neighborhood youth played and became active in organized athletics. Two of them - former Major League Baseball (and Los Angeles Dodgers) players Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis - played here in the park's baseball diamonds as kids in the early 1970s for a youth league team called the Compton Moose. The park and its influence on the two MLB stars was the subject of the 2012 documentary film, 'Harvard Park.'

13. Tipu Street Trees

c. 1990s
Western Avenue between Slauson and Florence avenues.

It's no secret that higher-income neighborhoods have more tree cover than their lower-income counterparts, so to combat this in the early-mid 1990s (most likely to address inequities of the 1992 Riots), shade-bearing street trees were planted along Western as a community improvement project. The majority of them are Tipu (Tipuana tipu) trees, which are Bolivian tropical shade trees, which bear feathery, yellow flowers that are currently in bloom. The tipus are common sights all over this area, perhaps being the South Los Angeles equivalent to the jacarandas of central Los Angeles.

14. Florence and Normandie

Florence and Normandie avenues, South Los Angeles.

Everybody knows the flashpoint of the Los Angeles Riots erupted on this intersection on the afternoon of April 29, 1992. It's just a half-mile east of the southern terminus of CicLAvia. If you've never been here before, here's your chance. Though this corner has not changed much over the past 30 years, it bears a mundane, laid-back vibe that contrasts its stigmatized reputation to those outside the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the crown jewel of Flo-No, Art's Chili Dogs, an 80-year institution, closed down in March 2020 (unrelated to the Pandemic). But in its place is a new eatery called The Breakfast Shack (unfortunately closed on Sundays).

In 2009, the Militant paid a visit to Florence and Normandie. Other than the hot dog stand, it hasn't changed much since then.


Enjoy CicLAvia again and STAY MILITANT!

The Militant's Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour XL!!

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Interactive Map! Click on green points to view hotspots, or click here for larger view.

The second of four CicLAvias in 2022 and the 40th (XL) iteration of Los Angeles' showcase open streets event takes is upon us this Sunday, August 21! This 6.5-mile route is the second time around for this so-called "Meet The Hollywoods"east-west route from West Hollywood to central Hollywood (i.e. Hollywood Hollywood) to East Hollywood (the first one being in August 2019). Only this time, there's a short extension going from Vermont Avenue in the 2019 route farther east to Virgil-Hillhurst avenues.

Since starting this Epic CicLAvia Tour guide, The Militant made a slight design tweak, enlarging the photos (the other reason for the "XL" designation) so they are more mobile-friendly. This also makes things less-complicated from The Militant's end, so, win-win!

Lastly, The Militant would like to thank a few of you who kicked in some support for The Militant's time and endeavors this month, namely:

Collection Studios
Patrick Murray
Ted Rogers
Darla Doxstater
Johannes Haanraadts
Mark Jones

Your support is greatly appreciated and The Militant raises his fist to ya! So here goes the CicLAvia guide for this Sunday. As always, Go Dodgers and see you or not see you on the streets!



1. Vista Theatre
1923
4473 Sunset Dr, Los Feliz.

Originally known as "Bard's East Hollywood Playhouse" showing live Vaudeville shows, this Spanish-Revival-on-the-outside-Egyptian-on-the-inside single-screen cinema designed by Lewis A. Smith has rolled reels from silent movies, to 2nd-and 3rd-run screenings, to pr0n, to first-run blockbusters. In 2021, film director Quentin Tarantino was turned on by the feet feat of refurbishing this nearly century-old neighborhood cinema gem and is in the process of reopening it with an adjacent arcade and bar in time for its 100th anniversary. HIDDEN EASTER EGG: Look for the monogrammed letter "B" (for "Bard's") emblazoned atop the window above the marquee!

2. The Crazy-Ass 6-Way Intersection
1900
Sunset Boulevard - Sunset Drive, Virgil and Hillhurst avenues and Hollywood Boulevard, East Hollywood

One of the most confusing intersections for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists alike is the six-way intersection consisting of the east-west thoroughfare of Sunset Boulevard and Sunset Drive, the north-south alignment of Virgil and Hillhurst avenues, and the diagonal eastern end of Hollywood Boulevard continuing on towards the southeast as Sunset. The story began in 1900 when a railroad was built to link the burgeoning dusty cow town of Los Angeles with the outlying town of Hollywood, financed by dudes like H.J. Whitley (the dude who founded Hollywood) and Col. Griffith J. Griffith (If that reference isn't a walk in the Park, you still might have Observed that name before...). In 1904, most of that railroad right-of-way was converted into a parallel road named Sunset Boulevard, cutting through mostly agricultural land. In 1910, the town of Hollywood was annexed into the City of Los Angeles and its main drag, Prospect Avenue, was re-named Hollywood Boulevard, which included the diagonal link between Prospect and Sunset. With the diagonal road/streetcar line juxtaposed against the standard Jeffersonain street grid, you have a six-way intersection, complicated further by the fact that it forms the terminus of four of those streets (east end of Hollywood Blvd, south end of Hillhurst Avenue, west end of Sunset Drive and north end of Virgil Avenue). So there you go.

 

3. Vermont Triangle

1911
Hollywood Blvd, Vermont Ave & Prospect Ave, East Hollywood

A year after the town of Hollywood voted to be annexed by Los Angeles in 1910, the Pacific Electric Railway extended its tracks from Sunset Boulevard to Hollywood Blvd. This triangular space, formed by Hollywood, Vermont and Prospect Avenue (the former moniker of Hollywood Blvd that retains its name eastward of the triangle), became a popular Red Car stop until service here ended in 1954. It maintained its use as a transportation facility, becoming not only a bus stop, but also a taxi layover zone. It became a de facto green space up until the early 21st century, where it turned into a popular locale for homeless encampments, despite the city's efforts to landscape it into a beautified public space.

1921
4800 Hollywood Blvd, East Hollywood

The former residence of oil heiress, proto-feminist, patron of the arts and cultural influencer Aline Barnsdall (pronounced "barns-doll,"not"barns-dale"), it was built in 1921 and designed by none other than Frank Lloyd MF'ing Wright. Named after Barnsdall's favorite flower (which forms a design motif around the building), it was borne from much bickering and head-clashing between the architect and client due to the home not being built to her tastes and cost overruns. In 1926 she up and left, sort of, donating the house and most of the property sitting on Olive Hill to the City of Los Angeles for artistic and recreational purposes. Although, she did live in a now-demolished residence on the west side of the park for the last two decades of her life. In July 2019, Hollyhock House was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site - the first such in Los Angeles.


5. Mosque Shopping Center/Calmos Gas Station

1923
4982 Hollywood Blvd, East Hollywood

This unassuming L-shaped shopping center on Hollywood and Alexandria sports a pair of towering minarets on top of its roof. Was it a mosque at one time? Was this home of an Islamic community in the past? Actually, no. they're the last vestiges of Calmos Auto Service Center, a gas station built in 1923 that became part of Union Oil's 76 chain. Its architecture reflects the whole Arab/Egyptian aesthetic fetish/appropriation thing back in the '20s, a decade which was marked by the 1921 Rudolph Valentino film, "The Sheik" and the 1922 discovery of King Tut's tomb. As seen in the historic 1924 photo, the dome of the "mosque" was a now-demolished structure that housed the area for the gas pumps.


1615 N. Alexandria Ave., Little Armenia

This K-12 Armenian private school, affiliated with the St. Garabed  Armenian Apostolic Church across the street, is one of the biggest cultural anchors in Little Armenia. Named after its founders, not only is it the alma mater of 3/4ths of the rock band System Of A Down, but its relatively-new library building was designed to resemble Noah's Ark, as it was believed the ark landed in Mt. Ararat, the highest mountain in ancient Armenia and an iconic cultural landmark for the country.


7. Thai Spirit House
1992
5321 Hollywood Blvd, Thai Town


Just to the right of the driveway of the Thailand Plaza shopping center, across from the Buddha shrine, is one of the most tucked-away curiosities in the Hollywood area. Known by the uninitiated as a "doll house," this miniature Siam-style abode serves as a cultural function to the nearby Silom market and the former Jinda Thai restaurant on the premises: Known as a "spirit house," it is built away from a business to ward away evil or mischievous spirits by leading them to an alternate location (plus water/fruit offerings) so their bad juju doesn't affect you.



8. Thai Town Gateway Statues

2007
5448 Hollywood Blvd, Thai Town

This pair of bronze statues on pedestals towering over Hollywood Boulevard function as the gateway of Thai Town. First installed in 2007 and the subject of The Militant's first ever blog post, it depicts a figure known as an apsonsi, a half-angel, half-lion creature from Thai mythology, chosen for its attributes as a protector. The statues were made in Thailand and flown from Bangkok, which, like Los Angeles, is also known as "The City of Angels." Another pair of statues were installed west of Normandie Avenue in 2012.


9. Mayer Building
1928
5504 Hollywood Blvd, East Hollywood

This four-story, Art Deco edifice, also known as the Hollywood Western Building, was designed by S. Charles Lee, who also happened to design many a structure featured in The Militant's Epic CicLAvia Tour guides. Named after its developer Louis B. Mayer (as in Metro Goldwyn Mayer) it served as the first home of the Motion Picture Academy of America (a.k.a. The Ratings People) and Central Casting. More recently, it serves as the local field office of U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff. Be on the look out for one of them trolley wire support rings, still embedded into the side of the building!


10. Hollywood Pantages Theatre
1930
Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood

Opened in 1930, this was actually the second theatre in Los Angeles bearing the Pantages name (the first one, still standing on 7th and Hill streets, opened a decade earlier and was renamed the Warner Theatre in 1929). This was also the last theater built bearing the name of vaudeville promoter Alexander Pantages, who ran a chain of 84 theaters across North America back in the day. The iconic Art Deco venue designed by B. Marcus Priteca (who also drew up the DTLA Pantages, as well as other theaters) actually functioned as a cinema for most of its history until 1977 when it ran the Broadway musical Bubbling Brown Sugar and the rest is Jazz Hands history. But did you know that the building constructed nearly 90 years ago is actually incomplete? It was originally supposed to stand 12 stories tall with offices. There have been recent proposals to complete the structure.



11. Hollywood Brown Derby Site/Metro Bike Hub
1929-1985/2017
1628 N. Vine St, Hollywood

Did you know that Metro's Hollywood Bike Hub facility, which opened in 2017, stands on the very site of the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant? This was the second location of the legendary local restaurant chain, which began on Wilshire Boulevard. Back in the Hollywood Heyday of the first half of the 20th century, it was like the lunch and dining hotspot for famous film stars and industry moguls. But perhaps the biggest star associated with the Hollywood Brown Derby was the Cobb Salad, invented here circa 1937. Named after Brown Derby co-owner Robert Cobb, it was an improvised mish-mash of leftover salad ingredients, either made for theater mogul Sid Grauman or by Cobb himself as a late-night meal (depending on which version of the legend). The restaurant closed down in 1985 and the iconic Mediterranean-style structure was burned in a fire two years later. It was finally demolished in the mid-1990s after the Northridge Earthquake.



12. Capitol Records Building/Hollywood Jazz Mural
1956
1750 N. Vine St, Hollywood

You may or may not already know that the Capitol Records building is: a) The world's first circular office building (designed by Louis Naidorf of Welton Becket associates -- the same architectural firm that designed the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion; b) Designed like a stack of records; and c) The FAA warning light atop its spire spells "HOLLYWOOD" in Morse Code. What you probably didn't know was that Capitol Records, founded in 1942, was the first major record label headquartered in the West Coast, and that the building was largely financed by the profits made from its premier artist at the time, Nat King Cole. Also, this is one of two skyscrapers in Los Angeles with a spire, the second being the Wilshire Grand Center. And speaking of Nat King Cole, Capitol's classic crooner is depicted front and center in the 88 foot-wide mural facing the building's south parking lot, "Hollywood Jazz, 1948-1972" by African American muralist (and Lynwood native) Richard Wyatt, Jr. painted in 1990 and restored in 2011. If you're into the Walk of Fame stars, all four members of The Beatles, as well as Tejana singer Selena, have their pavement honors in front of the building.


13. 'Once Upon A Time in Hollywood' Filming Locations
2018
Hollywood Blvd between Vine Street and Cherokee Avenue

Location scenes from the 2019 Quentin Tarantino film, "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" were filmed in summer and winter 2018 on The Boulevard between Vine Street and Cherokee Avenue, which itself became an actor, dressed in late-1960s period signs, ads and aesthetic. The 1923 Guaranty Building on 6331 Hollywood Blvd (now the L.Ron Hubbard Museum) got a retro-look as a Bank of America branch. And up Ivar Street, Joseph's Cafe (1775 Ivar) stood in for the iconic West Hollywood nightclub Pandora's Box.


14. Janes House (Oldest House in Hollywood)

1903
6541 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood

At the far end of this collection of restaurants and bars stands the oldest extant house in Hollywood -- a Queen Anne/Dutch Colonial Revival abode built in 1903 developed by none other than H.J. Whitley himself (as in the dude who founded Hollywood in 1886). It was owned by members of the Janes family from Illinois for some 80 years and also functioned as a small private school (attended by the children of celebrities) until the mid-1920s. In 1985, the house was moved several yards north to its current location and the Hollywood-facing part of the property was developed. Today it functions as a 1920s-themed speakeasy bar called No Vacancy at Hotel Juniper.

15. Grauman's Egyptian Theatre
1922
6706 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood

Built in 1922 by cinema mogul Sid Grauman, this was his first venue in Hollywood after opening the Million Dollar Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles. Designed by the team of Gabriel Meyer and Philip Holler (who also designed The Egyptian's younger and more famous sister down the street, The Grauman's Chinese Theatre), it was inspired by the popular "Egypt-mania" sweeping the world following the 1922 discovery of King Tut's tomb. From the 1970s to the 1990s it ran under the Mann Theatres chain (The Militant saw "Return of the Jedi" here during opening weekend in 1983), and was sold to American Cinematheque in 1996, re-opening two years later after a major renovation. In May 2020, it was purchased by Netflix, but American Cinematheque still continues to program screening events there. 

16. Hollywood High School
1903
1521 N. Highland Ave, Hollywood

Originally founded in 1903 as a two-room school a few blocks north above a Masonic Lodge the same year the town of Hollywood was in incorporated, the campus moved to its current location a year later. In the 1920s, its mascot, The Sheik, was named after the hit 1921 Rudolph Valentino movie of the same name. Since then it has boasted a large number of famous alumni, such as Los Angeles Times publisher Norman Chandler (Class of 1917), actress Carole Lombard (1923),  "Looney Tunes" animator Chuck Jones (1930), actress Lana Turner (1936), "People's Court" judge Joseph Wapner (1937), actor Mickey Rooney (1938), actress Judy Garland (1940), Secretary of State Warren Christopher (1940),  actor James Garner (1944), actress/comedian Carol Burnett (1951), actor/singer Ricky Nelson (1958), actor John Ritter (1966), actor Laurence Fishburne (1980), actress Sarah Jessica Parker (1983) and R&B singer Brandy (1996). A large mural outside the school's auditorium depicts famous alums as well as other celebrities.

17. Highland Avenue
1900
Highland Avenue, Hollywood

Highland Avenue was not named after the Scottish Highlands, nor any other geography or topography, but in memory of a local woman named Highland Price. Her best friend and neighbor, Mary Penman Moll, who lived where the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel now stands, donated a strip of property to be built as a road. She named it in memory of Price, who passed away at the time and was the first person interred at Hollywood (now Hollywood Forever) Cemetery in 1900. The street became an important north-south thoroughfare, especially one connecting directly with the San Fernando Valley via the Cahuenga Pass. From 1911 to 1952, it carried the Pacific Electric Railway lines between Los Angeles and the SFV.



18. Formosa Cafe/PE Red Car 913
1925
7156 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood

This iconic restaurant, bar and Hollywood hangout (just across the street from the Samuel Goldwyn Studio) opened in 1925 by former boxer Jimmy Bernstein, who used an old Pacific Electric Red Car. The adjoining building was built in 1939. In the 1940s, Hong Kong-born chef Lem Quon was hired to cook at the Formosa and later became Bernstein's business partner, taking over ownership after his death in 1976. Quon died in 1993, with family members taking over ownership afterward. Threatened with demolition several times, the Formosa persevered. It was featured in the 1990s movies "L.A. Confidential" and "Swingers." In the 2010s decade, after various remodeling and re-remodeling, it was purchased by the 1933 Group in 2017 and re-opened this year with the Red Car (#913, in full view on Formosa Avenue) re-painted and the establishment restored to its Golden Era charm.


9. Plummer Park

1937
7377 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood

In 1874, Anglo-Mexican couple Capt. John and Maria Cecila Plummer purchased a ranch formerly part of Rancho La Brea (bounded by present-day Santa Monica Blvd, La Brea Ave, Fountain Ave & Gardner St) to raise their sons Juan and Eugenio and grow vegetables to sell to residents of nearby Los Angeles. The Plummers were good friends with the Leonis family, who had a ranch of their own way over the hill in present-day Calabasas. After John and Maria died, the ranch was divided and plots sold off, with Los Angeles County purchasing a large portion in 1937 to use as a public park, with new facilities being built as part of FDR's Works Progress Administration projects. Eugenio lived in the 1877 family house until his death in 1943. The Plummer House was the oldest house in Hollywood until it was moved in 1983 to the grounds of the Leonis Adobe in Calabasas, whereby the 1903 Janes House (See #12) took the crown as the oldest Hollywood home.

20. Crescent Heights Triangle/Quint Cutoff
1900
Santa Monica Blvd & Crescent Heights Blvd, West Hollywood

Have you ever wondered why there's a "triangle" at the corner of Santa Monica and Crescent Heights boulevards? It's a remaining vestige of a half-mile railroad line known as the Quint Cutoff built in 1900 connecting a rock quarry west of Laurel Canyon with the railroad tracks along Santa Monica Boulevard. The "triangle" section is known in railroad terms as a "wye," which enables a locomotive to reverse direction without the use of a turntable. Another "wye" was built at the opposite end of the line where it meets Sunset Boulevard. The Pacific Electric Railway briefly took over this railroad line in 1911 until it was dismantled shortly after that year, but the
alignment of the "wye" tracks on both ends were built into the modern street grid.

21. Sal Guarriello Veterans' Memorial
2003
Santa Monica Blvd & Holloway Dr

Salvatore "Sal" Guarriello was an Italian American WeHo resident who was best known as serving on the West Hollywood City Council from 1990 to 2009, and served as mayor four times during that tenure. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army as a combat medic in Italy and established the West Hollywood Veterans' Memorial in Holloway Park in 2003. After his death in 2009, the City of West Hollywood re-dedicated their civic veterans' monument as the Sal Guarriello Veterans' Memorial in honor of its most respected veteran and civic official.


22. Site of La Cienega Lanes/Flippers Roller Boogie Palace
1946-1981
8491 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood

What stands as a CVS Pharmacy with a concave facade was a popular youth recreational venue for various generations. In 1946, TV host Art Linkletter established Art Linkletter's La Cienega Lanes bowling alley, becoming a popular place to roll strikes during the golden era of bowling in the post-World War II era. From 1979 to 1981, the alley became Flippers Roller Boogie Palace, a popular roller skating rink and music venue during the influential post-disco new wave/punk era of Los Angeles. Local bands like The Plimsouls, Berlin and the Go-Gos, as well as up-and-coming popular acts like The Talking Heads and Prince performed there. In 1984, the building became the Esprit clothing flagship store.


23. Tail O' The Pup
1946/2022
8512 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood

Don't call it a comeback! In a town known for Dodger Dogs, Pink's, Bacon-wrapped street cart dogs, and the birthplace of the Wienershnitzel chain, this hot dog icon of hot dog icons has come to re-claim its place. Originally opened in 1946, nearly a mile south at 311 N. La Cienega Blvd, this mimetic novelty hot dog stand, designed by Milton J. Black, found its way over the years into films, TV shows, commercials, music videos and as a celebrity hang. In the 1980s, TOTP moved a few yards to 329 N. La Cienega Blvd, where it remained until 2005. The stand had an Angels Flight-like afterlife existing in storage, eventually being donated to the Valley Relics Museum in 2017. A year later, the 1933 Group (who also owns the Formosa Cafe - see #19 on this list) purchased it with plans for a serious reopening, and lo and behold, TOTP re-materialized (with an extensive menu, separate kitchen building and indoor/outdoor eating areas) in July, 2022. BONUS: This site was also the location of The Doors' recording studio, where they recorded their 'L.A. Woman' album in 1970.

24. Site of Pacific Electric Sherman Yard/Pacific Design Center
1896-1954; 1975
8687 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood

West Hollywood was originally known as Sherman, named after Moses Hazeltine Sherman, land developer and railroad executive (Yes, the SFV's Sherman Way and Hazeltine Ave were named after him) who co-founded the Los Angeles Pacific Railway, linking Santa Monica with Los Angeles. The area on the former Rancho La Brea land that sat midway between the two cities was chosen as the site of a railroad yard, and a settlement named after Sherman developed around it. In 1925, the town on unincorporated Los Angeles County land chose to re-name itself "West Hollywood" to closer associate with Tinseltown. Because it was on County land, and thus patrolled by the Sheriff's Department, it began to attract gay and lesbian residents during the Prohibition Era due to the Los Angeles Police Department's frequent raids of gay and lesbian establishments in Los Angeles city (whereas the Sheriff's Department was much more tolerant). The Los Angeles Pacific Railway became part of the Pacific Electric Railway starting in 1911, and the yard became the main facility for its Western District, until the last Red Car in the area rolled in 1954. Southern Pacific freight trains took over the tracks on Santa Monica Boulevard, though not as frequently, and in 1974, the yard was demolished to make room for the sprawling Pacific Design Center, which opened the year later. The PDC was designed by the late Argentinian architect Cesar Pelli, who also designed Downtown Los Angeles'777 Tower.


25. Norma Triangle

Santa Monica Blvd/Doheny Dr/Sunset Bl-Holloway Dr, West Hollywood

Our CicLAvia tour begins with one triangle, and ends with another: The right-triangle formed by Doheny Drive, Sunset Boulevard/Holloway Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard features one of West Hollywood's biggest residential and commercial districts. Norma Triangle was named not after actress Norma Talmadge, but after the wife or child of a Los Angeles Pacific Railroad executive during the area's days as Sherman, as many streets were named at the time. Featuring the famed Sunset Strip on its north side, and the LGBT-oriented "Boys Town" nightclub district on the south, the area also includes the former residence and studio of architect Lloyd Wright (son of Hollyhock House designer (See #2) Frank Lloyd MF'ing Wright, and who also assisted designing Barnsdall residence himself - see how things tie together on these CicLAvia guides?) on 858 N. Doheny Drive.

Happy CicLAvia on Sunday! Don't forget to share this guide with a friend!




The Militant's Epic Metro K Line Tour!

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It's been an entire decade since a totally new Metro Rail line opened (The Metro Expo Line in April 2012). Since then, the game (and name) has changed - Metro is transitioning away from color names in favor of letters of the alphabet. This is the first Metro Rail line to open under the new letter-name format. So what was once known as the Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Project and would have been known in some alternate universe as the Metro Pink Line is now the Metro K Line. K?

The new line opens on Friday, October 7, 2022 - just in time for the epic Taste of Soul food and music festival on Crenshaw next Saturday (Metro is a major sponsor). It's been a looooooong (rail) road to get to this point (the much-delayed line broke ground in 2014), and the line isn't even completed yet - only six miles will be usable starting Friday, with the line ending at the Westchester/Veterans station. The construction of the game-changing LAX Automated People Mover which crosses the K Line is the main reason for the hold-up of the last 25% of the route. So you'll have to wait until 2024 to get The Whole Shebang.


Fortunately, there's still lots of places to go, see and do on this 6.5-mile stretch of light rail, which will come in all flavors (subway, at-grade and aerial). And true to Militant fashion, The Militant Angeleno has composed another special Epic guide, this time featuring 19 points of interest along and near the Metro K Line route. Y'all get ready, K?

Expo/Crenshaw Station:




1.West Angeles Church
1999/1943
3600 Crenshaw Blvd, Crenshaw District

One of the largest and most influential African American faith communities in Los Angeles, West Angeles Church of God in Christ was founded in 1943 by Clarence E. Church, originally located in the West Adams neighborhood. Charles E. Blake, the current pastor, succeeded Church in 1969 and grew its congregation to over 24,000. West Angeles Church moved to 3045 Crenshaw Blvd in 1981, taking over a former furniture store. In 1994 the church created the nonprofit West Angeles Community Development Corporation as a community service outreach ministry, dedicated to serving at-risk youth, developing housing in the area and tending to the needs of the community's low-income and homeless residents. The current large church building, known as "the Cathedral" was built in 1999. Stevie Wonder is known to sing and play with their renowned gospel choir during Sunday services. During the week, the church also lends their parking structure to Metro for use to rail commuters.




2. Metro E Line/Santa Monica Air Line
2012
Exposition and Crenshaw boulevards, Los Angeles

The last new line to open, the Metro E Line (a.k.a. The Metro Light Rail Line Formerly Known As the Expo Line), opened to similar fanfare a decade ago (and The Militant thusly made a similar Epic Guide to that line). As you may or may not know, the line was a Pacific Electric line in its past life (1909-1953) as one of four Red Car lines between Downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Though of the four, it was the least-used (and had limited service due to it doubling as a freight line to serve various industries en route), it was the fastest one from Downtown to the ocean. A little bit of the Metro E Line's Pacific Electric history is reflected in the station art - look at the old Santa Monica Air Line map artwork on the floor of the station platforms.



3. Obama Boulevard
2019
Obama Boulevard between Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Gramercy Pl

Originally named Rodeo Road in 1911, presumably to honor the history of cattle ranchers of the area, most specifically those of nearby Rancho La Brea. After living in the confusing shadow of the more opulent Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills since the 1920s, the street was officially re-named and re-dedicated "President Barack Obama Boulevard" in a public ceremony and festival on May 4, 2019, in honor of the 44th (and first African American) president of the United States, who made one of his first presidential campaign appearances at Rancho Cienega Park on February 20, 2007. The street is nestled south of Washington, Adams and Jefferson boulevards, and intersects with Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. It joins 16 other thoroughfares nationwide named after Obama.



4. Ken Clark Pontiac/Majestic Pontiac Sign
1952
3740 Crenshaw Blvd, Crenshaw District

Although Crenshaw supported a streetcar line south of Vernon, the thoroughfare north of it had always been auto-centric in nature and design. From the late 1930s to 2000, The 'Shaw was once home to an auto row, boasting car dealerships such as Crenshaw Ford, Harry Mann Chevrolet (once the largest Corvette dealer in the US), O'Connor Lincoln-Mercury and Peterson Oldsmobile. The last of the lot, so to speak, was Majestic Pontiac, at Crenshaw and Coliseum. Originally Ken Clark Pontiac from 1952 to 1960, the business was sold and became Majestic Pontiac. The dealership's telltale neon sign with the Pontiac Indian logo was an icon on the boulevard, much like how Felix Chevrolet's cartoon cat smiles over Figueroa today. The dealership closed for good in 2000 and the lot was converted into a shopping center soon afterward. But the original 1952 sign still remains, Pontiac Indian head intact, this time adapted to bear the signage of Big 5 Sporting Goods and Goodwill Industries.



5. Black Dahlia Body Site
1947
3825 S. Norton Ave, Crenshaw District

On the morning of January 15, 1947, the mutilated body of 22 year-old waitress Elizabeth Short, a.k.a. "The Black Dahlia" - the victim of arguably the most famous unsolved murder case in Los Angeles history - was discovered on this site (at the time an empty lot; the house was not built until 1956) by a local woman walking with her young daughter. Short, a transplant from Boston who was reportedly an aspiring actress, was missing the week prior to the discovery of her body, and the case garnered national headlines due to the gory details of her murder. The LAPD's investigation yielded over 150 suspects but no arrests. The cultural intrigue surrounding Short's death became a huge influence on the 1940s 'Los Angeles Noir' phenomenon.

Martin Luther King Jr. Station:


6. Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza
1947
3650 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Crenshaw District

Originally known as the Broadway-Crenshaw Center, it opened on November 21, 1947 as one of the first auto-centric regional shopping centers in the US. The Streamline Moderne shopping center, designed by Albert B. Gardner, was home to a 5-story Broadway department store, a Vons supermarket and a Woolworth's discount store. In 1949, a Silverwoods clothing store opened, and the landmark bridge over MLK (then known as Santa Barbara Avenue) was built to connect with the existing 1947 May Company building on the north side of the street. Today's version of the shopping center came about during a late 1980s remodel.



7. Sanchez Adobe
1791
3725 Don Felipe Drive, Baldwin Hills

In the streets behind the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza stands what may or may be the oldest building in Los Angeles. The crown was long believed to belong to the 203 year-old 1818 Avila Adobe on Olvera Street, but further historical research in 2012 revealed that this structure, originally part of Rancho La Cienega o Paso de la Tijera, dates back some 50 years prior to when it was deeded to Don Vicente Sanchez in 1843, making it around 230 years old.  The building was later owned by Baldwin Hills' namesake Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin, who brought freed slaves to work in his homestead after the Civil War. The historic structure - 30 feet wide and two stories tall - has been integrated into a large single-story building built in 1927. It is currently home to Agape Church of Los Angeles.

Leimert Park Station:



8. African Marketplace & Drum Circle (Sundays)
c. 2010
Degnan Blvd between 43rd Street and 43rd Place, Leimert Park

What can The Militant say about Leimert Park? The heart and soul of Los Angeles' African American community can warrant an Epic Guide of its own. From iconic institutions like the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center to the jazz-centric World Stage to Eso Won Books, to the eponymous city park that has been the site of countless celebrations, rallies, demonstrations and memorials over the years,  where the annual Kingdom Day Parade on Martin Luther King Jr. Day ends up. It's what the late filmmaker and Los Angeles native John Singleton once described as "The Greenwich Village of  L.A.'s Black Community." The true flavor of Leimert Park happens every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. when Degnan Boulevard is transformed to an outdoor street market which had its origins in the annual Labor Day weekend African Art & Music Festival which lasted from the early 1990s to 2009, and then soon evolved into the weekly bazaar which features African and African American clothing and craft vendors and Southern, African and Jamaican food stalls. And there's a drum circle too.



9. Site of 1932 Olympic Village
1932
Mt. Vernon and Olympiad drives, View Park

The site of the first Olympic Village in the modern Olympic era was located right here in the Baldwin Hills. Some 1,836 male athletes representing 56 nations resided in this oval-shaped temporary community during the Games of the Xth Olympiad, living in 550 (24x10') O.G. Tiny Houses designed by H.O. Davis (the women stayed at the old Chapman Park Hotel in Mid-Wilshire). The $500,000 village also featured dining halls, a movie theater, a radio station, post office, medical and dental facilities and an administration office. After the games, the portable O.G. Tiny Houses were quickly sold for $140 each (that's $3,047 in 2022 dollars - not bad at all!) or $217 with furnishings (that's still $4,648 today - still a bargain) - a hot item during the Great Depression. One of the O.G. Tiny Houses can still be seen on Olvera Steeet.


10. Angeles Vista Boulevard
Angeles Vista Blvd, View Park

If there's ever a street in Los Angeles that truly lives up to its name, it's this one. From the Leimert Park Station, head up Olympiad Drive, follow the road fork left onto Angeles Vista Blvd, and walk up to the desired height. Then turn around 180 degrees and you'll see a sweet view of the Downtown Los Angeles skyline.


11. Destination Crenshaw
2023
Crenshaw Boulevard corridor between Leimert Park and Hyde Park

A unique 1.3-mile outdoor art gallery featuring permanent and temporary works, integrated with pocket parks, street furniture and landscaping makes up Destination Crenshaw. Designed by Zena Howard, the project, slated to open in 2023, will highlight the art, stories, creative energy and rich African American and African cultural heritage of the Crenshaw Corridor. The focal point of this linear art project is the triangular Sankofa Park, sandwiched between Vernon Avenue and the northern tunnel portal of the Metro K Line, where many of the structures of Destination Crenshaw are already visible.  



12. L.A. Railway 5 Line Right Of Way
1902-1955
Crenshaw Blvd between 48th and 67th streets

Like its older sibling the Metro E Line, the Metro K Line also has historic rail transit heritage through most of its route. From 1902 to 1955, the Los Angeles Railway (later Los Angeles Transit Lines) operated the 5 Line between Eagle Rock and Hawthorne (via Downton Los Angeles), the longest in its system. It is one of the main reasons for Crenshaw Boulevard's large width, which help allowed it to accommodate a modern light rail line today. Today's K Line runs along the same alignment as the 5 Line from Leimert Blvd's termination at Crenshaw Blvd down to Market Street in Inglewood, where it veered south down La Brea Avenue and Hawthorne Boulevard. Pictured is a 5 Line car in 1954 at Crenshaw and 54th Street.

Hyde Park Station:


13. Nipsey Hussle Square
2019
Crenshaw Blvd & Slauson Avenue, Hyde Park

No single person is more representative of this Hyde Park neighborhood than the late rapper Ermias "Nipsey Hussle" Asghedom. A native of the area, he joined the local Crips-affiliated gang in his teens, but experienced a cultural awakening after his father took him on a trip to his native east African country of Eritrea. He left the gangsta life to become a rapper in the mid-2000s and the rest is history. He opened his own clothing store, The Marathon, on 3420 Slauson and had designs to not only own more businesses and property in the neighborhood, but to empower local youth to work and eventually become local entrepreneurs themselves. But that history ended on March 31, 2019 when Hussle was shot and killed at age 33 in his store's parking lot by an acquaintance with a personal beef. The store and the adjoining mini-mall remain closed but fans and friends have turned the sidewalk along Slauson into a mini-street bazaar selling Nipsey Hussle-based clothing and merchandise. The rapper has also been immortalized in several murals within a one-mile radius of the intersection, notably Auto Tech Collision Center (3475 Slauson - Pictured), Fatburger (5817 Crenshaw), U.S. Bank (5760 Crenshaw), a residential wall (5951 Brynhurst Avenue) and a large basketball court-sized mural on the parking lot of Crete Academy/St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church (Crenshaw & 60th Street). The Marathon Continues...

Fairview Heights Station:



14. Aguaje de Centinela (Centinela Springs)
1837
600 Park Ave, Inglewood (Next to Willie Agee Playhouse at Edward Vincent Jr. Park)

A natural artesian spring known to have been flowing since the Ice Age on this very site was the namesake of the Mexican-era rancho (Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela) that existed before Canadian-born land developer Daniel Freeman named it after his hometown in Ontario. The springs hydrated wooly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, the indigenous Tongva people, Mexican ranchers and American farmers and settlers. The stone monument to the spring, erected in 1939 stands today, adjacent to a monument signifying the springs' status as a California Registered Historical Landmark (#363). A working fountain with water basins was once incorporated as part of the monument but it was shut off in the 1970s. The spring still functions, albeit underground.



15. Inglewood Park Cemetery
1905
720 E. Florence Ave, Inglewood

This 200-acre memorial park was once the largest cemetery in California. And when the Los Angeles Railway's 5 Line ran just outside its gates, they even had their own funeral car for those who wished to take that one last trolley ride into eternity (the mission-style structure near the northwest corner of the cemetery was once an L.A. Railway power substation). Notable rest-idents here include Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, music legends Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald, boxing legend Sugar Ray Robinson, architect Paul R. Williams, actors Cesar Romero and William "Buckwheat" Thomas, actress Betty Grable and O.J. Simpson trial lawyers Johnnie Cochran and Robert Kardashian. The Militant featured Inglewood Park Cemetery on This Here Blog in November, 2011.

Downtown Inglewood Station:



16. Market Street Shopping District
1908
Market Street between Florence and La Brea avenues, Inglewood

Inglewood's "main street" since its incorporation in 1908, Market Street (which carried the L.A. Railway's 5 Line tracks south after diverging from its Florence Avenue right-of-way) saw its heyday between the 1920s and 1940s. After suffering a decline period between the 1960s and 1990s, it's since been beautified and rejuvenated with various specialty stores, restaurants, cafes and art galleries. Though the "G-Word" is a concern due to the arrival of the Metro K Line, nearby SoFi Stadium and the future Intuit Dome, the number of existing and successful community-owned and Black-owned businesses in the Downtown Inglewood area might just keep the worst fears at bay. If you want to see a small-town Main Street vibe near the Metro, then Market Street is the place.



17. The 405 Freeway
1961
405 Freeway at Manchester Avenue

You know The 405. Nothing to see here, except to take the opportunity to look out the window and marvel at all those cars stuck in traffic, while you're not in it.

Westchester/Veterans Station:



18. Westchester Playhouse

1960
8301 Hindry Avenue, Westchester

This former warehouse building was transformed into a 112-seat live theater venue thanks to the renowned theater company The Kentwood Players (billed as "L.A.'s Most Professional Amateur Theater Group"). Where else can one see community theater at an affordable price (tickets are in the $20 range), accessible by the Metro?



19. Randy's Donuts
1952
805 W Manchester Blvd, Inglewood

It's as iconically Los Angeles as an Original Tommy's chiliburger, a Philippe French Dip, a Langer's Pastrami Sandwich and an El Tepeyac burrito. It's a big-ass concrete-and-steel donut by the freeway, what more can you ask? What started out in 1952 as a local branch of the Big Do-Nut chain (known for big-ass donuts on their roofs) designed by Henry J. Goodwin, it became known as Randy's (the son of the shop's first owner, Robert Eskow) in 1976, and the rest is history. Today, the 24-hour donut icon has grown to a dozen locations in Southern California, plus one in Las Vegas, and locations in South Korea, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines.

...that's it for now. As far as this train goes.

There are two stations still under construction - LAX/Metro Transit Center (opening 2024) which will interface with the long-awaited LAX Automatic People Mover, and the Aviation/Century station (opening 2023). The Militant will update this post when the line is fully completed. Until then, get your Kicks on the K Line!

RELATED: Wanna know where to eat along the new Metro K Line? The Militant has a few recommendations.

Whatup! Did you enjoy this post? Did you learn something new from it? Kindly show The Militant some support via his PayPal donation page! A Militant's gotta eat, ya know (those MRE Rations don't exactly get glowing Yelp reviews...)!

Extra special thanks for your support:

Margaret Wehbi
Daniel Pouliot

Hey, What's (K)ookin: The Militant's Epic Metro K Line Food Guide!

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Interactive Map! Click here for larger version.

K, so you've ridden Metro's brand spanking new light rail line. And you've just learned about 19 points of interest along the route from some Militant guy on teh Interwebz. Now what?

Fortunately, the Metro K Line runs down a corridor full of wonderful eating options. From hot dogs to desserts to soul food to ice cream, and even a nice microbrew, there's lots of culinary discoveries to be found along the K.

All of the eateries listed are independently-owned/run eateries. No chains, unless it's of local origin or significance. All listings are within a half-mile (6-block) walk of a Metro K Line station (And although it wasn't a requirement for this list, all but two of these businesses just happen to be Black-owned).

The listings for the Leimert Park and Downtown Inglewood station areas just barely scratch the surface; those two areas (especially the latter) could warrant their own location-specific food guides of their own. And surely the K Line will bring in new eateries within the foreseeable future. This guide is by no means comprehensive - it's just a starting guide to the bevy of restaurants accessible along the Metro K Line.

Expo/Crenshaw Station:

This place is nuts!

NE Conway Peanuts
3818 Crenshaw Blvd, Crenshaw District
Open Mon-Sat, 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.; Closed Sun

There isn't too much in the way of street food along this stretch of Crenshaw, but this converted U-Haul truck parked near the Crenshaw Square shopping center sign sells hot roasted peanuts by the bag. Though unsalted, they're freshly roasted that day and taste like nothing else. Where else in Los Angeles can you find hot, roasted peanuts on the street? Steven Conway, the vendor who has been operating this business for nearly 20 years is here 6 afternoons a week (closed Sunday) and also sells pre-packaged peanut brittle, almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts and pistachios.

Earle's On Crenshaw - the place to be on a Saturday!

Earle's On Crenshaw
3864 Crenshaw Boulevard, Crenshaw District
Open Tue-Sat, 10:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.; Closed Sun

Brothers Cary and Duane Earle have been in the hot dog business since 1984, operating a street cart that became a brick-and-mortar presence on Crenshaw since 1992. Excellent hot dogs (standard, turkey and vegan options), chili dogs (standard and vegan) and chili fries.

Turkey Dog with onions, mustard and sauerkraut (L) and Vegan Chili Fries (R).

Extra props to the establishment who literally sacrificed themselves for the K Line (their previous location was demolished to build the Expo/Crenshaw K Line station up the street), so show them some love! Duane is a frequent presence who even serves and works the cash register. In the '90s he was also known as Don Jagwarr, the ragamuffin MC who guested on Ice Cube's 1992 track "Wicked." Don't come Sundays, since they're closed, but do come on Saturday afternoons - it's a literal party atmosphere with DJs and lowriders outside on the parking lot!


Martin Luther King Jr. Station:

Sweet cuppin' cakes! Southern Girl Desserts' Sweet Potato (L) and Red Velvet (R) cupcakes.

Southern Girl Desserts
3650 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Suite 100 (in Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, 1st Floor, near Sears)
Open Tue-Sun 12 p.m. - 6 p.m.; Closed Mon

Though the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza has a requisite shopping mall food court, it's best to skip it altogether and head towards the south side of the mall on the ground floor where you can find Southern Girl Desserts. Run by Florida natives Catarah Coleman and Shoneji Robison (who call themselves "The Dessert Divas"), they won Food Network's Cupcake Wars competition with their signature Chicken & Waffle Cupcake and used their experience in cupcake warfare to open Southern Girl Desserts. Other cupcake flavors of note are Hennessy & Coke, Pecan Pie and Peach Cobbler. They also have standard (and still really excellent) standard cupcake varieties like Red Velvet, Sweet Potato, Double Chocolate and Vanilla. Speaking of Sweet Potato Pie, they also serve up some of that as well as Pecan Pies in mini sizes, and for full-size pies, you have to order in advance. They also make excellent cakes and cookies.

Post & Beam
3767 Santa Rosalia Dr, Crenshaw District
Open Wed-Sat, 5 p.m. - 10 p.m.; Sun, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

This acclaimed Californian-meets-Soul-Food-fusion spot located behind Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza is all the rage for Sunday brunch and evening Happy Hours.

Leimert Park Station:


All Chill Ice Cream
3415 W 43rd Place, Leimert Park
Open Sat-Sun 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.; Closed Mon-Fri

Located just steps from the K Line Leimert Park station entrance (turn left) is All Chill
, which bills themselves as a "Hip-Hop Ice Cream Shop." No, you won't find gimmicky-named flavors like "The Notorious F.I.G." or anything like that, but they do serve unique "craft"-style flavors (the Whiskey Praline is a MUST here) in a store setting that doubles as a hip-hop memorabilia museum, replete with concert posters, photographs and artwork adorning the walls. In business since 2020, they're open weekends only, so you might not see them during the K Line's opening day, but if you're here for the African Marketplace on Sundays (which has a collection of notable food stalls in itself), definitely check them out.

Ackee Bamboo
4305 Degnan Blvd. Suite 100, Leimert Park
Open Tue-Thu, 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.; Fri-Sat, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.; Sun 11:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Closed Mon

Open since 2004, this has been The Militant's go-to for Jamaican food in Leimert Park. The Jerk Chicken (and other variations) are excellent here, as with their Jamaican Patties appetizers. But their vegetarian dishes are worth trying as well, especially their Jackfruit and namesake Ackee (Jamaica's national fruit) selections.


Hyde Park Station:

The Jordan's power trio right here: Chiller Diller (L), Chili Cheese Fries (C), Chili Cheese Dog (R).

Jordan's Hot Dogs
5960 Crenshaw Blvd, Hyde Park
Open Mon-Sat, 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.; Closed Sun

As you can see, hot dogs are a thing not just along Crenshaw but in this part of town. Just a couple miles southeast of here stood the legendary Art's Famous Chili Dogs on Florence and Normandie from 1939 until two years ago. Jordan's (which closed their doors during Art's closing day in March 2020 out of respect) carries the chili dog torch in this sector of South Los Angeles. With a far more robust menu than the specialty-based Earle's up the street, Jordan's also serves burgers, patty melts, BLTs and pastrami sandwiches. When in doubt, get the classic Harriet's Special, a chili dog and chili cheese fries combo. And if you're not already chili-cheese'd out, the Chilli Cheese Fritos are a must as well. And do try their Chiller Diller, a combination slush/ice cream shake fusion in various fruit flavors.

Woody's Bar-B-Q
3446 Slauson Ave, Hyde Park
Open Fri-Sun, 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.; Mon-Thu, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

It's pretty hard to beat this Southern-style pit BBQ institution that's more than worth the wait in line for. Serving up barbecue ribs, chicken, beef and links, along with the mandatory sides since 1975, every Angeleno needs to go to Woody's at least once in their life. If you're not here to pick up a massive platter for your party or gathering, then a sandwich or lunch special will still suffice, at least more than enough. 

Fairview Heights Station:

Your Bakery

6525 West Blvd, Inglewood
Open Mon-Sat, 9:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.; Closed Sun

Just five blocks up West Blvd from the Fairview Heights station is this no-frills neighborhood bakery that specializes in Bean, Cheese and various fruit (Pineapple, Blueberry, Lemon, Apple and Cherry) Pies. They also sell cakes, cookies and Monkey Bread.

Downtown Inglewood Station:

Red's Flavor Table

254 N. Market Street, Unit A, Inglewood
Open Wed-Sun, 7 a.m. - 3 p.m.; Closed Mon-Tue

For you early risers, this Louisiana/Southern breakfast establishment run by Creole chef Marilyn "Red" Wallace has got what you want and more just across Florence from the Downtown Inglewood station. There's no dine-in service; the food is take-out (you can call in your order or order online for pick-up), but there are outdoor tables for eating. Their Jambalaya Omelet is considerably-sized and can probably suffice as the only meal you'll have that day.

The Sammiche Shoppe
222 Regent St, Inglewood
Open Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Closed Sat-Sun

Just two blocks south of the Metro K Line station, Downtown Inglewood has their very own sandwich deli and it's pretty awesome. Home of their signature  Lucy Mae Air Fried Chicken Sammiche, their soups, salads and smoothies are also well-regarded.

Note: Downtown Inglewood has a large number of restaurants within walking distance south of the K Line station, including Inglewood branches of Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen and Dulan's Soul Food Kitchen (the main Dulan's on Crenshaw is currently closed for rebuilding/remodeling), as well as a number of African and Carribbean restaurants worth checking out.
 
Westchester/Veterans Station:


Randy's Donuts
805 W. Manchester Blvd, Inglewood
Open 24 Hours

Needs no introduction.

Mr. Fries Man

1120 W. Florence Ave, Suite C, Inglewood
Open Mon-Thu, 10 a.m. - 1 a.m.; Fri-Sat, 10 a.m.-2 a.m.; Sun, 10 a.m. - 1 a.m.

Although it's rapidly grown to a national franchised chain of 34 locations, this eatery, which specializes in loaded french fry (and The Militant means loaded) dishes had its humble beginnings just 6 years ago in Gardena. Owned by spouses-entrepreneurs Craig and Dorothy Batiste, Mr. Fries Man began in 2016 as a food truck whose loaded fries gained viral popularity via the Instagram platform. With around eight locations in Southern California, this is only one of two that are Metro-accessible (the other is their USC location on Figueroa, just south of the Metro E Line Expo Park/USC station).

Three Weavers Brewing Company
1031 W. Manchester Blvd, A-B, Inglewood
Open Mon-Thu, 3 p.m. - 10 p.m.; Fri-Sun, 12 p.m. - 10 p.m.

So you've arrived at the end of the K Line. Now what? You can't visit the airport (yet), you can't tranfer to another Metro line (yet). So what's to do out here? Well, you cross Florence Avenue at Hindry, walk one block west to Isis Avenue and have some brews at this local craft brewery with over a dozen beers on tap and enjoy them in the outdoor dog-friendly beer garden. There's no food served here but food trucks are parked outside regularly.

Whatup! Did you enjoy this food guide? Are you excited to try out some of the eateries listed here? Kindly show The Militant some support via his PayPal donation page! A Militant's gotta eat, ya know (and your support will guarantee there will be more of these food guides to come)!










The Militant's Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour XLI!!!

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Interactive Map! Click here for larger version.

 

It's October, which means we celebrate the 12th anniversary of CicLAvia with the classic Downtown-centric, "Heart of L.A." route. The 41st iteration of Los Angeles' Really Big Open Streets Thang (and third of four CicLAvias in 2022) takes us back to the "Heart of L.A." variant used in October 2014 and October 2017 which skipped Mac Arthur Park and went as west as Echo Park instead. But this time, there's a twist -- Instead of traversing the 4th Street Viaduct as usual to glance at an under-construction 6th Street Viaduct 2.0 in between your Downtown Skyline Selfies, the eastern leg of the route has been altered so you can do your CicLAvia thang on the 6th Street Bridge 2.0! Whuuuut? Instagram's servers are probably going to have serious data overload on Sunday...

If you've read those previous Epic CicLAvia Tour guides, you'll see some familiar sights, but The Militant, knowing a simple Cut-And-Paste job won't cut it, got to update the guide with new entries for 2022. Yes, many things have changed in the past five years.

 The Militant has been serving the CicLAvia-loving public with these handy Epic CicLAvia Tour guides since the 2nd CicLAvia in 2011! But these take a LOT of time to work on, even this updated version. It's almost like a job, except...he doesn't make a salary from it [nervous laughter].

So if you dig this guide and learned something new from it, or it helped you appreciate a place or a part of town you didn't appreciate before, show your own appreciation for The Militant's work by showing some love via PayPal! Thanks in advance! [More nervous laughter...he's still new at this fund-thingy]

Thanks to the following for their Militant Support over the last month:

Salomon G. Davila, Jr
Jimmy Recinos
Erika Isiordia-Alvarado
Margaret Wehbi
Daniel Pouliot
Jane Malich

So there it is folks, take it:


1. Simon Gless Farmhouse
1887
131 S. Boyle Ave., Boyle Heights

Back in the totally radical '80s...That's the 1880s, Boyle Heights was an open, rural area and French Basque immigrant Simon Francois Gless built a Queen Anne style house on his sheepherding farm at this location. Today, the house is a City Historic Cultural Monument and is a home that's rented out to -- Mariachi musicians! Just a few blocks west of here is Gless Street, and you might have heard of Simon's great-granddaughter -- actress Sharon Gless, who starred in the series Cagney and Lacey, which aired a century after her arrière-grand-père first settled in Boyle Heights.


2. Boyle Hotel (Cummings Block)
1889
103 N. Boyle Ave, Boyle Heights

This brick Queen Anne-style building, built in 1889 and designed by architect W.R. Norton was one of the first commercial buildings in Boyle Heights, and is one of the longest-standing commercial buildings in all of Los Angeles. The hotel was an important social and political center in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in the 1960s, started to become a popular lodging spot for Mariachi musicians. It recently underwent a major renovation which created 51 low-income housing units and three street-level retail units, one of which is home of the Libros Schmibros bookstore/lending library.



3. Mariachi Plaza

1889
1st St and Boyle Ave, Boyle Heights

This is the new town square for Boyle Heights, where Mariachi musicians have been hanging out to get picked up for since the 1930s. The Kiosko, or bandstand, that sits in the plaza is actually not that historic. It was given as a gift from the Mexican state of Jalisco, who literally shipped it over in 1998 where it was assembled in place. But it only gets used once a year for the Santa Cecilia Festival around every November 21. The plaza is also home of the Metro L Line station of the same name, which opened in 2009. This place could warrant a Militant blog post in itself -- no, an entire week of posts! Don't miss the Farmers Market events there every Friday and Sunday!


4. Eastside Luv
2006 (Built 1940)
1835 E. 1st St, Boyle Heights

One of The Militant's favorite hangouts in the Eastside, this bar, started by a bunch of friends who grew up in nearby City Terrace, took over the former Metropolitan bar eight years ago and updated it to a more contemporary Eastside-style flavor. Don't call it gentrification, call it gente-fication. In the decade and a half of the establishment's existence, it has already established its own traditions, namely the Thursday night themed karaoke nights, paying tribute to artists such as Latin superstars Juan Gabriel, Selena and Esteban Morrissey.



5. Hollenbeck Park
1892
4th and St. Louis streets, Boyle Heights

John Edward Hollenbeck was a rich dude in the late 19th century who founded the First National Bank of Los Angeles (more on this later) and purchased parcels of land in Downtown, the San Gabriel Valley and the Eastside, where he made his home. Hollenbeck was also credited with the creation of what is now called Exposition Park. His sister married his friend, James George Bell, who founded...Yep, you guessed it! After Hollenbeck's death in 1885, his widow, Elizabeth, donated a 21-acre parcel of land, which was essentially their front yard, to the City. One of the Los Angeles’ oldest parks, it was established in 1892 and continues to function today.



6. Pioneer Chicken
1981
904 S. Soto St, Boyle Heights

One of the two surviving locations of the once-revered Pioneer Chicken restaurant chain that boasted 270 stores. Originating in 1961 as an off-shoot business of the Pioneer Market local supermarket chain, the fried chicken franchise outgrew the size of its mother business exponentially. Though the old chain ceased to exist in 1993, this location, operating since 1981 (the other is in Bell Gardens) lives on as an indpendently-run vestige of a tasty, crunchy past. The colorful cardboard buckets may be gone, but the fried chicken (and gizzards) tastes as good as Back In The Day. Forget Popeyes, Jollibee, KFC or any of that trendy hot Nashville stuff, this is old school fried chicken right here, just a few blocks from the CicLAvia route!


7. 6th Street Viaduct (2.0)

2022
6th Street over the Los Angeles River, Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights

The 6th Street Viaduct is really a tale of two bridges: The first, built in 1932, crossing over the Los Angeles River and several railroad tracks, lived a decent life serving as a 24-hour mediator between Downtown Los Angeles and Boyle Heights, occasionally doing extra work in movies, television shows and music videos. But in the mid-2010s, it was diagnosed with Alkali-Silica Reaction, a very lethal disease it had since birth, where high alkaline content in the concrete would cause it to become brittle and collapse in an earthquake. So it had a farewell celebration in October 2015 and it was euthanized in February 2016.

But, after a 6-year re-animation process in July 2022, the 6th Street Viaduct 2.0 was reincarnated into a slick, cybernetic form. It had large curving arches (that people could easily climb on), bright, programmable LED floodlights (that made it Instagram-friendly) and a wider road where people could do donuts and...things got out of hand. The bridge was closed for a time, because of the behavior of 21st century people and their reactions with 6th Street Viaduct 2.0.

But things have calmed down and today you can ride, walk, jog, scoot or just chill on 6th Street Viaduct 2.0. It is the droid you are looking for.

8. Site of Southern Pacific Arcade Station
1888-1914
4th and Alameda streets, Downtown Los Angeles

Before there was a Union Station, there were various rail passenger terminals in Los Angeles, many of them just a short distance from the Los Angeles River. On what currently stands as a large shopping mall, this was the original site of the Southern Pacific Railroad’s Arcade Station which served passengers up until 100 years ago. A popular landmark of this station was a young palm tree, which was moved a century ago to Exposition Park where it stands today, much taller, in front of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Unfortunately for indie rock fans, the Arcade Station was not devastated by a Fire, but was dismantled and replaced by a new station, the Central Station, located one block south.

9. Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Space Shuttle Memorial
1990
Astronaut Ellison S Onizuka and San Pedro streets, Little Tokyo

Nestled in Little Tokyo’s Weller Court shopping center, just behind Shinkichi Tajiri’s Friendship Knot sculpture, is a seemingly random model of a launch-position space shuttle and its booster rockets. But upon closer inspection it’s a memorial to Ellison S. Onizuka, the  Hawaii-born NASA astronaut who in 1985 became the first Japanese American in space. Later that year, he was the Grand Marshal of Little Tokyo’s Nisei Week Parade. But on January 28, 1986, Onizuka and six other astronauts were on that fateful final mission of the space shuttle Challenger, which exploded following its launch. The local Japanese American community created a memorial organization in Onizuka’s name that awards science scholarships to Japanese American youth, and in 1990, this 1/10th-size scale model of the shuttle, built by Isao Hirai of Hawthorne, was dedicated as a memorial monument to the astronaut.



10. Terasaki Budokan
2020
249 S. Los Angeles Street, Little Tokyo

Known as "The Big Gym in Little Tokyo," this venue was a long-standing dream for the Japanese American community, going back over 40 years. This  budokan (Japanese for "martial arts hall") opened in 2020 and was officially dedicated in March 2022. The facility was named after the late Dr. Paul Terasaki, whose foundation kicked in $3.5 million of the project's cost. A percentage of the funding was also contributed by the LA84 Foundation, which came from the profit surplus from the 1984 Olympics. It's being used for community sports and athletic activities, as well as special events.

11. Site of Historic Broadway Station
2023
2nd and Spring streets, Downtown Los Angeles

The CicLAvia route also follows part of the Metro Regional Connector route, with the second of the three new stops being here on Broadway and 2nd Street, which will serve the historic theater district, Gallery Row and parts of the Civic Center.

NAVIGATIONAL NOTE:

• If heading north to Chinatown, skip to #21.
If heading south to the Theatre District, skip to #16.


12. Pacific Electric Tunnel
1925
Toluca Street south of 2nd Street, Downtown

For 30 years, Los Angeles' first subway tunnel allowed the Pacific Electric's Red Cars to bypass the traffic of Downtown's surface streets and sped up the travel times to places like Burbank, Santa Monica or the San Fernando Valley before it was abandoned in 1955. Soon after, the area surrounding the tunnel portal and adjacent electric power substation became blighted and a haven for the homeless and graffiti artists, while the tunnel itself became part garbage dump, part urban spelunking adventure (The Militant has been in the tunnel before). In 2007, a large apartment building designed for upscale, gentrifying types was built on the site of the Red Car yard, thus blocking the tunnel and dashing any hopes of it being revived as part of our modern rail system (it's been holding up well structurally for nearly 60 years without any maintenance whatsoever). But if you look at the back of the property, you can see the boarded-up tunnel with an artistic homage to its former purpose (and do browse the apartment building's lobby for some PE photos and diagrams).

13. Vista Hermosa Natural Park
2008
100 N. Toluca Street, Echo Park

The Militant loves to poke fun at the failures of the Los Angeles Unified School District, but once in a while, those failures turn out to be wonderful things. Take for instance the Belmont Learning Center, at one time the LAUSD’s costliest boondoggle, which was stalled and scaled back due to environmental concerns (there used to be oil wells around here). The school district gave up a portion of its land to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, who in turn built a really beautiful oasis of California native plants and a killer view of the DTLA skyline. The Militant covered its opening back in 2008. It’s more than worth visiting during CicLAvia, or at any other time.


14. Historic Filipinotown Gateway
2022
Beverly Boulevard between Belmont Avenue and Glendale Boulevard

October is recognized as "Filipino American History Month," so appropriately, the Filipino community, comprising of roughly half a million in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, is the largest Asian group in the City of Los Angeles. People of Philippine ancestry have been living in Los Angeles since the early 1900s, originally concentrated in an area once called "Little Manila," where Little Tokyo is today. The community migrated westward along the Temple corridor as it grew, and later spread into other communities like Eagle Rock, East Hollywood and parts of the San Fernando Valley (particularly Panorama City), especially after larger waves of immigration came starting in the mid-1960s. The Historic Filipinotown neighborhood still contains major institutions in the community such as businesses, nonprofit organizations and churches, which prompted its formal designation by the City in 2002. Twenty years later, a large $750,000 gateway arch over Beverly Boulevard, designed by artist Eliso Silva with Philippine cultural elements was dedicated in May 2022, and it looks even nicer when lit up at night.



15. Echo Park Recreation Center
c. Early 1900s
Glendale Boulevard at Temple Street

You might pass this tennis court and nearby swimming pool every day and wonder, "Who the hell would put a tennis court/swimming pool right next to a freeway?" Well, no one put them next to a freeway, but they put the freeway next to them. Before 1948, Echo Park wasn't just a pretty little lake with lotus flowers and paddle boats, but it was a park park, with recreation facilities and everything. It stretched as south as Temple Street. But it stood in the path of the almighty Cahuenga Parkway (now the Hollywood Freeway, or "The 101"), which cut the park in two. Hmm. That sounds familiar...Pictured is the park (with Temple Street in the foreground - notice the trolley and horses and buggies(!) in 1909.


• South Spur to Broadway Theatre District:


16. Bradbury Building
1893
304 S. Broadway, Downtown

A building that's famously meh on the outside, but OMG from the inside, this building has been featured in movies from Chinatown to Blade Runner to 500 Days of Summer. Designed by Sumner Hunt and modified by George Wyman, this 5-story structure was designed to look like the 21st century from 19th century eyes. Despite the ahead-of-its-time design, this building has nothing to do with sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, but was named after developer and 1800s rich dude Lewis Bradbury.


17. Grand Central Market
1917
317 S. Broadway, Downtown

Everyone knows this is Los Angeles' premier public marketplace, and the Militant probably doesn't need to include this since you may or may nor already be getting your Eggslut on (The Militant, on the other hand, prefers tacos and tortas from Roast To Go, and will incite a riot in the event that eatery is kicked out by gentrification). Over 100 years old and still going strong!


18. Biddy Mason Park
1991
331 S. Spring St (entrance on Broadway), Downtown

Born as a slave in Georgia, Bridget "Biddy" Mason was a renaissance woman of her time. Having followed Mormon settlers west, she gained her freedom when California became a slavery-free Union state. As a nurse, she founded the first child care center in Los Angeles and later became a lucrative property owner and philanthropist, having founded the First AME Church, now a major institution in Los Angeles' African American community. She died in 1891 and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery. A century after her passing, this mini-park in DTLA, on the site of her house, was built and dedicated.


19. Broadway-Spring Arcade Building
1924
541 S. Spring St (entrance on Broadway), Downtown

This unique building is actually three, opened in 1924 on the site of Mercantile Place, a 40-foot street cut between 4th and 5th streets connecting Broadway and Spring. Mercantile Place was a popular shopping and gathering locale in the early 1900s. Having fallen into decay by the 1970s, it was recently renovated and is now famous for, some of the newest, hottest eateries in town (Guisados DTLA is located here, BTW). It also becomes an artistic venue during the DTLA ArtWalk.

20. Clifton's Cafeteria 
1935
648 S. Broadway, Downtown

The sole survivor of 10 kitschy and theatrical themed cafeterias founded by Clifford Clinton around Southern California (and now you know what inspired the Fry's Electronics stores), this location known as Brookdale, was the second in the chain and the most iconic. The current incarnation of the restaurant opened in 2015 after half a decade of renovation by new owner Andrew Meieran, who kinda made it quasi-hipsterfied, but at least preserved the decor even though the food costs like twice as much as it used to. But do go down to the basement level, near the restrooms, just to glance at the world's oldest continuously-lit neon light.


• North Spur to Chinatown:

21. U.S. Federal Courthouse
2016
145 S. Broadway, Downtown

This big glass cube that is responsible for blocking your view of the Downtown Los Angeles skyline from Grand Park used to be a hole in the ground was once the site of the Junipero Serra State Office Building, which was damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake and abandoned and demolished in 1998. This 10-story, 400-foot-tall U.S. Federal Courthouse building (don't we already have a few of those?), designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill, opened in 2016. Do check out the embossed bald eagle situated over the main entrance on 1st Street.

22. Site of 1910 Los Angeles Times Bombing
1910
Northeast corner of Broadway and 1st Street, Downtown

This longtime empty lot, previously identified in this CicLAvia tour as the foundation of a state office building condemned after the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake has some additional history. It was recently dissevered to be the location of the 1910 bombing of the (then) Los Angeles Times building, which happened 104 years ago this week. The dynamite bombing was discovered to have been the work of Ortie McManigal and brothers John and James McNamara, all affiliated with the Iron Workers Union,  in what was meant to protest the newspaper's staunchly anti-union practices. 21 people died when the 16 sticks of dynamite exploded just outside the building at 1:07 a.m. on October 1, 1910, the explosion was exacerbated by natural gas lines which blew up a large section of the building. The Times since built a new building in its place, and later relocated across 1st Street to its current location. The lot is being readied for an expansion of Grand Park.


23. Site of Court Flight
1904 (demolished 1943)
Broadway between Temple and Hill streets, Downtown

You all know Angels Flight, but it's time to pay tribute to the city's other funicular, its cousin to the northeast, Court Flight. Built in 1904, it went up the northern end of Bunker Hill and was next to a former road called Court Street, hence its name. Even shorter than its more famous cousin at 200 feet, it ran steeper at a height of 200 feet. It was burned by a fire in 1943 and never reconstructed. The hill was eventually chipped away. The north side of the stairways going up to the Court of Flags (wonder if that was intentional there) in today's Grand Park is the precise location of ol' Courty.


24. Hall Of Justice
1926
Temple Street and Broadway, Downtown

No, you won't find Superman or any of the Super Friends here.  But this building, the oldest surviving government building in the Los Angeles Civic Center, was built in the mid-1920s as the original Los Angeles County Courthouse and Central Jail (which once housed the likes of Busy Siegel, Sirhan Sirhan and Charles Manson), as well as the headquarters for the Sheriff's Office, the District Attorney and the County Coroner. This Beaux Arts-style building was designed by Allied Architects Association, an all-star team of local architects put together to design publicly-funded buildings. The building is currently undergoing a major renovation project to modernize the facilities and repair damage from the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. It is now a LEED Gold Certified building (gotta be sustainable, y'all), following a 2015 restoration.


25. Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial
1957
451 N. Hill St, Downtown

Way, way, waaaaay back before we had tall building and freeways, Downtown Los Angeles (well Los Angeles, period back then) had a bunch of hills, Bunker Hill being the most famed one. There was also Fort Hill, the site of a Mexican-American War encampment. On July 4, 1847 the facility was called Fort Moore (and the hill Fort Moore Hill), after Captain Benjamin D. Moore of the U.S. 1st Dragoons regiment, who was killed six months earlier in a battle near San Diego. The 1st Dragoons and the Mormon Batallion established the new fort and raised the U.S. flag during the first-ever observed Independence Day in Los Angeles. This event was immortalized in a bas-relief stone monument made in the 1950s. Speaking of forts, the very street you're riding (or walking, or skating, or scootering, or stand-up-paddling, or pogo-sticking) was once called "Fort Street," which inevitably led to directional problems some six blocks south of here. The monument also includes a fountain, which was shut off in 1977...due to the drought at the time, but revived in 2018 after a massive renovation. So where's the actual hill, you ask? It was bulldozed away in the late 1940s to make room for the 101 Freeway.


26. Chinatown Gateway Monument
2001
Broadway and Cesar E. Chavez. Avenue, Chinatown

Designed to be the symbolic entrance to Los Angeles' Chinatown District, The Chinatown Gateway Monument, a.k.a. the Twin Dragon Towers Gateway, depicts two dragons grabbing at a central pearl, which symbolizes luck, prosperity, and longevity. The 25-foot-tall structure was put up in 2001 and occasionally emanates steam coming from the dragons' mouths. Unlike Anglo dragons, the creatures in Chinese folklore are the good guys, meant to scare away evil spirits.

27. Capitol Milling Company
1883
1231 N. Spring St, Chinatown

One of the last visible vestiges of Los Angeles' agricultural industry, this family-owned flour mill operated from 1831 to 1997, before moving its operation to a much larger facility in Colton. The facility that still stands today was built in 1883. The mill supplied flour to clients such as Ralphs, Foix French Bakery and La Brea Bakery. In 1999, the family-owned operation was purchased by industry giant Con-Agra Co. The historic building - the oldest commercial building in Los Angeles, built even before the railroads arrived in Los Angeles, still has a horse-tethering ring, back to the days when grain was hauled by horse carriage from farms in the San Fernando Valley. The eight-building complex, now owned by the Rivoli family (who owns the San Antonio Winery across the river), underwent a massive renovation completed in 2020 so that the 19th century facility can live on in the 21st century as office, retail and restaurant spaces.

28. Old (New?) Chinatown Central Plaza
1937
Gin Ling Way between Broadway and Hill, Chintown

The northern terminus of CicLAvia is no stranger to public events; it was made for them. In the Summer it hosted three very popular Chinatown Summer Nights events. But don't let the "Old Chinatown" neon sign fool you -- This is actually Los Angeles' new Chinatown, which dates back to the 1930s. The real Old Chinatown was several blocks south, where a thriving community of Cantonese-speaking immigrants lived near the river, north of Aliso Street. Of course, they were kicked out in the early '30s to make room for Union Station. So they moved a few blocks north, in the former Little Italy, and they've been there ever since. Well, not really, since some of them moved east to the San Gabriel Valley and were supplemented with Mandarin-speaking immigrants from Taiwan and Mainland China. But you get the idea.

Happy CicLAvia, Los Angeles! Enjoy stay safe, GO DODGERS and STAY MILITANT!




The Militant's Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour XLII!!

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Interactive map! Click here for larger version.

We've reached the last of four CicLAvias to end the 2022 season, the 42nd open streets event since its inception in October 2010. According to author Douglas Adams, the answer to live, the universe and everything is "42." Is it no coincidence that this 7.3-mile route from Exposition Park to Watts crosses 42nd Street?

This Sunday's route may or may not be a new route, although it incorporates parts of four previous CicLAvia alignments. Parts of Central Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard were first explored in the December, 2014 CicLAvia, and the last quarter of this route into Watts was part of the four-legged Southeast Cities route from May, 2016. The Central Avenue/Watts section was part of the February, 2020 South L.A. route, and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard was part of the December, 2021 route a year ago.

Who knows what's in store for 2023?

It may or may not rain on CicLAvia today - and it has before - but somehow, some way, the sun always shines on CicLAvia. You know the drill - See you or not see you on the streets this Sunday!



1. George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
2023
Vermont and 39th St, Exposition Park

Taking shape on west side of Exposition Park like a Naboo Royal Starship is the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (or, "The Luke," as The Militant would like to call it), a state-of-the-art visual, cinematic and interactive museum founded by 'Star Wars' creator and filmmaker George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson. The site, located in close proximity to Lucas' alma mater, USC, beat out other site proposals in San Francisco (home of Lucasfilm, Ltd) and Chicago (Lucas' birthplace) when it was announced in 2017. Originally intended to open in 2021, it was delayed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


2. Los Angeles Swimming Stadium
1932
Bill Robertson Drive & Park Lane, Exposition Park

The Coliseum's little brother, the Los Angeles Swimming Stadium was the 10,000-seat venue for the 1932 Olympic swimming, diving and water polo competitions, as well as the aquatic portions of the pentathlon event. Olympians such as Buster Crabbe swam in its waters. After the games, it became a public pool, and in the '50s, USC's swim team used it as their training and competing venue. After over a half century of wear, and damage from the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, the swim stadium was renovated in 2002 and operates today as the LA84 Foundation/John C. Argue Swim Stadium. Marco...Polo!



3. Community Services Unlimited Urban Garden
2003
Bill Robertson Lane and Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Exposition Park

Did you know there's an urban garden along the CicLAvia route? Local nonprofit Community Services Unlimited (an organization that, interestingly enough, originated from the Black Panther Party's community outreach programs in the 1970s) grows their own organic fruits and vegetables in this Exposition Park urban garden that they sell and distribute in this predominantly food desert area to help local residents gain access to fresh, healthy produce. They sell this produce at a stand outside the LA84/John C. Argue Swim Stadium next door on Thursday afternoons from 3 to 6 p.m.



4. Historic Southern Pacific Palm Tree
Re-planted 1914
3901 S. Figueroa St, Exposition Park

Back in the late 1800s-early 1900s, the Southern Pacific Railroad operate out of a train station called the Arcade Station, on 5th and Alameda streets. A lone palm tree stood outside the station and functioned as a landmark for arriving passengers coming in from San Francisco or points east. In 1914 (dude, over a hundred years ago) the Arcade Station was demolished (no, it wasn't consumed by a fire) to make way for a more modern station, called Central Station, and the palm tree had to go. So sentimental was the palm tree, instead of being cut down, it was moved to Exposition Park, where it has stood ever since. Like its neighbor the Space Shuttle Endeavour, it was a popular icon back in its day, and it's probably safe to assume that its transport through town was an event in itself. A little-known historic market at the base of the tree tells the whole story. So if you want to see a palm tree that was planted there over 100 years ago, there you go.

5. Banc of California Stadium
2018
3939 S. Figueroa St, Exposition Park

Home of the 2022 MLS Cup Champion Los Angeles Football Club soccer team, this $350 million, 22,000-seat venue is the first open-air stadium to be built in the City of Los Angeles since Dodger Stadium opened in 1962. It was built on the former site of the 16,000-seat Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (1959-2016), which was the first Los Angeles home of the Lakers (1960-1967), the Clippers (1984-1999) and hosted the Boxing matches during the 1984 Olympics. Banc Stadium is also the home venue of the Angel City FC National Women's Soccer League team and will host the Men's and Women's Soccer tournaments during the 2028 Olympics.


6. Site of Wrigley Field
1925(demolished 1969)
Avalon Blvd & 42nd Place

Just a few blocks south of the CicLAvia route is Gilbert W. Lindsay Park, named after Los Angeles' first African American city councilman. But years ago, this was the place where home runs, strikeouts and 7th Inning Stretches took place in the City of Angels. And yes it was a city of Angels, as the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League made the 22.000-capacity Wrigley Field (named after the chewing gum magnate, who had several stakes in Southern California, including Catalina Island) its home. And as any truly militant Angeleno knows, the ivy-and-brick Chi-town tourist trap, though 11 years older, was originally called Weeghman Park and wasn't dubbed Wrigley Field until 1927, which made Los Angeles' Wrigley Field the first Wrigley Field ever. The stadium also was popular with TV and movie shoots, such as Damn Yankees and The Twilight Zone. In 1961, it literally went Major League as the American League expansion team Los Angeles Angels of Los Angeles played its home games there before moving to Dodger Sta, er, Chavez Ravine for the next four seasons, and then finally moving down the 5 to Anaheim. Wrigley Field was also home of the Los Angeles White Sox, a club in the short-lived, 6-team West Coast Negro Baseball Association, a Black minor league co-founded by Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens which lasted but a single season in 1946. Yes, there's a baseball field in the park, but it's not the same location as the original diamond.



7. Masjid Bilal Islamic Center/Site of Elks Lodge
1929
4016 S. Central Ave, South Los Angeles

This mainstay of the local Muslim community since 1973 also has a deep history in the local black community. The original building was originally built in 1929 as the home of the local Elks club. But it was no ordinary Elks Club (who discriminated against black membership). It was run by the Improved and Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World, an African American-run organization founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1898 that functioned as a fraternal order for people of color. Though obviously not directly affiliated with the white Elks club, it is run with the otherwise identical customs and traditions, and with nearly half a million members worldwide, is the largest black fraternal organization in the world. A new mosque building, fronting Central Avenue, has been under construction since 2019, which features the tallest minaret in California.



8. Ralph J. Bunche House
1919
1221 E. 40th Place, South Los Angeles

The Central Avenue corridor was home to Los Angeles' black community, primarily due to the racial covenants that restricted them from owning homes elsewhere in the city. But great things can come from places of injustice. Ralph J. Bunche was a teenager arriving with his family from Detroit, by way of Ohio and New Mexico, who attended nearby Jefferson High School and went to UCLA, graduating as the valedictorian at both schools. He went on to Harvard, where he earned his Ph.D in Political Science (the first African American to receive a doctorate in PoliSci from a U.S. university), and later was one of the founders of the United Nations. In 1950, due to his diplomatic work in the negotiations that ended the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, he won the Nobel Peace Prize -- the first nonwhite person to ever win the esteemed award. And he once lived right here, just two blocks east of the CicLAvia route.

9. Site of Black Panther Headquarters

1969
41st Street and Central Avenue, South Central Los Angeles

Nooo, this isn't where Wakanda is. The northwest corner of 41st Street and Central Avenue wasn't just the Los Angeles headquarters of the 1960s-era Black Panther Party (that's some real Militants right there), but in a time where the names Mike Brown and Eric Garner have been fresh on the minds of people, it was the site of a significant event in the tumultuous history of relations between the black community and the Los Angeles Police Department. On December 8, 1969 -- 45 years before the day after CicLAvia -- police officers arrested a number of people on that corner for loitering, which eventually escalated into a four-hour armed confrontation. The LAPD used a previously untested paramilitary unit during the raid, which was called the Special Weapons And Tactics unit, or SWAT. Four LAPD officers and four Black Panther members were seriously injured during the shootout, but miraculously no one died. The building that housed the headquarters was demolished in 1970.


10. Dunbar Hotel/Club Alabam
1928
4225 S. Central Avenue, South Central Los Angeles

Built in 1928 (then known as the Hotel Somerville, the only hotel in Los Angeles at the time to welcome black people) as the primary accommodations venue for the 1928 NAACP national convention at the nearby Second Baptist Church, The Dunbar is one of the few remaining physical symbols of the Central Avenue of yesteryear, the hotspot of all that is jazz and blues. In the perspective of Los Angeles music history, Central Avenue in the 1920s-1950s was the Sunset Strip of the 1960s-1980s. And perhaps even more. A nightclub opened at the hotel just a few years after its opening, and legends such as Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Lena Horne and Billie Holliday. Next door was the Club Alabam, another one of the most popular jazz venues on Central Avenue. Known for its classy image and celebrity clientele (both black and white), legends such as Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis graced the stage. Today, the Dunbar Hotel building serves as an affordable housing complex for seniors.


11. South Los Angeles Wetlands Park/Site of Los Angeles Railway South Park Shops
2012/1906
5413 S. Avalon Boulevard, South Central Los Angeles

Head west on 54th Street for just a few blocks to Avalon Boulevard to visit this relatively new park space, which opened in 2012 and was covered by The Militant on his blog right after its grand opening. Previously the site of the sprawling South Park Shops, it was a major facility for storing, maintaining and repairing transit vehicles, used from 1906 to 2008 by the Los Angeles Railway, the original Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Southern California Rapid Transit District and today's Metro. After the transit facility was retired, the brownfields were re-purposed as a nine-acre public open space that features native plant landscaping (yessss!), a lagoon that functions not only as a bird habitat, but as a natural stormwater cleaning facility. In addition, a LACMA satellite museum space will be opening at the park soon.



12. Los Angeles Railway U Line
1920-1947
Central and Slauson avenues to Vermont Avenue and Manchester Blvd via Downtown Los Angeles

Central Avenue hosted not one, but two Los Angeles Railway Yellow Car lines in different locations along the CicLAvia route. One of them was the U Line, which originated west of here, at two different branches on Vermont and Manchester and another at Western and 39th. They met near Exposition Park and ran through the USC campus (one of the reasons for the "U" in the line name) and northward onto Downtown Los Angeles before heading back south on Central Avenue and ending at Slauson. The line ran until 1947.



13.Augustus F. Hawkins Natural Park
2000
5790 Compton Ave, South Los Angeles

A few blocks east of the CicLAvia route along Slauson lies another one of the best-kept secrets in South Los Angeles -- Augustus F. Hawkins Natural Park, an 8.5-acre surreal green oasis in the 'hood, featuring ponds, native plants, hiking trails, picnic areas and even wildlife. This former DWP pipe yard was converted into a re-created natural park (named after the late African American congressman who represented the area for 28 years) in 2000 by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which trucked in actual dirt from Malibu mudslides to the site to form the park's terrain. The park is popular with local residents seeking refuge from urban life, and the park is also popular with members of the local Audubon Society, who frequent the park to do bird sightings and bird counts.



14. Los Angeles Central Post Office/Site of Goodyear Tire Factory
1984/1920-1979
7001 S. Central Ave, Florence-Firestone

In 2008, The Militant visited this ginormous USPS facility, with the numerical designation as the very place where the western ZIP codes begin. Most of Los Angeles' mail gets processed through here, which means letters or packages mailed through here will get sent out of town faster (since they have to come through here anyway). The post office facility opened relatively recently, in 1984, as part of a redevelopment project for the massive parcel, whose previous life was that of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. California factory, which existed from 1920 to 1979.


Automobile tires and other rubber products were manufactured here for nearly 60 years, and early versions of the iconic Goodyear blimp once had its own hangar at the southwestern corner of the lot. But wait -- there's even more history on this lot: nearly two decades before the tire plant opened, this was the home of Ascot Park racetrack, which opened in 1903. The ornate design of the early 20th-century hippodrome inspired the aesthetics of another So Cal racetrack - Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, which opened four years later and still exists today as a place where racehorses meet their untimely death.



15. Los Angeles Railway S Line
1920-1963
Santa Monica Blvd & Western Avenue to Central Avenue & Firestone Blvd via Downtown Los Angeles

Central Avenue's other Yellow Car line was the "S" line, which ran in many different configurations through the years, but most of its life it ran from Santa Monica & Western in East Hollywood through Downtown (like nearly all Los Angeles Railway lines did) and down to Central and Firestone. The picture to the left depicts a Yellow Car in 1963 (then painted green in the old Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority's colors) running by the old Goodyear Tire factory! The line was discontinued (along with many of the other surviving Yellow Car lines) on March 31, 1963 - the final day of rail transit in Los Angeles until the Metro Blue Line (now the Metro A Line) opened on July 14, 1990. BONUS: The Metro-owned parking lot with the single-story ivy-covered concrete building on the southeast corner of Central and 85th Street was once the Los Angeles Railway S Line's terminal loop!

16. Green Meadows Diagonal
1926
Central Avenue between 92nd and 95th streets, Green Meadows

As you ride on the CicLAvia route along Central Avenue, the road makes a seemingly arbitrary diagonal jog between 92nd and 95th streets. Why is that? Well, if you know your Los Angeles history, many non-grid street alignments follow the boundaries of ranchos, properties/land parcels, and legacy cities/towns that were lost to annexation. The latter was the case here, as an unincorporated farm town called Green Meadows sprung up here circa 1887. True to its name, it was a rural settlement with artesian wells, alfalfa fields and apple orchards. The northeast corner of the town featured the diagonal notch, and when the town was finally annexed into the City of Los Angeles on March 18. 1926, the boundary was incorporated into the city street grid and Central Avenue was forced to follow suit. The name Green Meadows was re-claimed in the early 2000s and given to the portion of South Los Angeles where the old town once existed. So now you know!


17. Ted Watkins Memorial Park
Dedicated 1995
1335 E. 103rd Street, Watts

Originally built in the 1930s to memorialize Western actor Will Rogers, this 28-acre Los Angeles County park was re-named in 1995 after the late Ted Watkins, a local community activist and the founder of the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, which he started in 1965, just months before the Watts Riots. The aftermath of the rebellion heightened the purpose of his nonprofit agency, which dealt with social services, community development and empowerment for the Watts area. The park also features a youth baseball field built by the Los Angeles Dodgers, a newly-built community swimming pool and gym with basketball courts.


18. Pacific Electric Watts Depot
1904
1686 E. 103rd Street, Watts

Adjacent to the Metro A Line's 103rd St/Watts Towers station is a mustard-colored building that was once the Pacific Electric's Watts depot. A popular stop along the old PE Long Beach Line, the building survived not only the PE's abandonment, but was the only wooden structure that was not set on fire during the 1965 Watts Riots. After a renovation project in the 1980s, the Watts Station has functioned since 1989 as a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customer service center.


19. Watts Towers
1921
1727 E. 107th St, Watts

You all know the story by now: Italian immigrant Sabato "Simon" Rodia collects scrap reinforced steel bars (using the adjacent Pacific Electric Santa Ana Line tracks as a fulcrum to bend them) and other found scrap material from rocks to broken glass to bottle caps, and builds 17 structures on his property over a period of 33 years. Then in 1955, he up and left for Northern California and never came back. Now that you know the story, see them up close for yourself. You don't deserve to call yourself an Angeleno if you've never visited the Watts Towers before. Signore Rodia's creation is 101 years old now, and for the first time in years, the restoration scaffolding has been removed so you can finally see them in their full splendor.














The Militant's Epic CicLAvia Tour XLIII!!

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Interactive map! Click here for larger version.

We're here in 2023, CicLAvia's 13th year, and as our favorite open streets event enters its raging, hormone-infused, possibly-emo teen years, we're in for a treat as not one, not two, not three, not four, five, six or even seven CicLAvias are in store in the next 10 months, but (count 'em) EIGHT of them are scheduled (well, technically...six full-sized CicLAvias and a pair of CicLAminis)!!!

The 43rd-CicLAvia kicks-off the 2023 season with a return to The 818 - a five-mile straight shot down Sherman Way from Reseda to Winnetka to Canoga Park, which was last done on one particularly rainy Sunday on December 8, 2019. We're also in a seasonal rain spell at this moment, but according to all weather forecasts, CicLAvia Sunday will be the sole day for the next week sans rain! Cloud cover willing, maybe we'll be treated to the sight of snow on the San Gabriel Mountains, or even the Santa Susana Mountains...or maybe even the Santa Monica Mountains! For the past 12-plus years, always remember this: No matter what the weather is, THE SUN STILL ALWAYS SHINES ON CICLAVIA!

So here's a slightly updated list of 14 points of interest along Sunday's Sherman Way CicLAvia. As usual - See you or not see you on the streets!

Oh yeah, if you found this Epic CicLAvia Tour guide useful and visit any of these sites, please add the #EpicCicLAviaTour hashtag to any social media post that includes it. The Militant will be glad to re-tweet/re-whatevertheycallthatonMastadon!

And if you appreciate The Militant's work (this guide still took a lot of time out of The Militant's day re-formatting and updating...argh), kick him a little love via PayPal! He *hates* asking for money, but you know how it is these days...A Militant's gotta pay his bills! Your support is much appreciated! Please Like And Subscribe and Smash That Be...oh wait, we're not quite there yet.

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1. Sherman Way
1911
Sherman Way, Reseda

Named after railroad executive Moses Hazeltine Sherman (you should be familiar with that name from the "Meet The Hollywoods" CicLAvia), who was responsible for bringing his Los Angeles & Pacific Railway (later merged into the Pacific Electric Railway) into the San Fernando Valley. The street was originally a zig-zagging $500,000 grand boulevard built in 1911 along the Red Car right-of-way, stretching from North Hollywood, running west along what is now Chandler Blvd, then north along what is now Van Nuys Blvd, and west along the current Sherman Way. As the SFV farmland gave way to (sub)urbanization and the street grid, Sherman Way was re-aligned and extended eastward as a straight thoroughfare in the 1920s.

2. Site of Sherman Square Roller Rink
1969-2001
18430 Sherman Way, Reseda

In the 1970s and 1980s, this was The Center of the Universe for many Valley youth: A roller rink during the skating heyday of the '70s (and on Monday nights, the Skataway club, a weekly private hangout for celebrities such as Cher and Jack Nicholson), and also hosted a roller hockey league and a bowling alley. In the '80s it became a popular venue for hip-hop events (an aspiring young rapper named Dr. Dre performed there back in 1985). Towards the '90s, the venue hosted computer shows during the weekends, but was also plagued by gang activity. It was razed in 2001 and replaced by the current Walgreen's pharmacy.



3. Site of Chuck Landis' Country Club

1980-2000
18419 Sherman Way, Reseda

Originally built as a Sav-On Drugs store, Los Angeles nightclub entrepreneur Chuck Landis bought the property in 1979 and converted it to a 1,000-seat concert venue originally intended for country music acts. But the burgeoning local punk, new wave and heavy metal acts of the early 1980s found an ideal venue - artists such as Motley Crue, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Bangles, Jackson Browne and Guns N Roses played here in their early years, as well as established acts like B.B. King, The Beach Boys, James Brown, Prince and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. U2 played their very first concert in Los Angeles here in 1981. In the mid-'80s, the venue also hosted boxing matches. It petered out in the 1990s and is now the Restauracion Reseda Church.


4. Reseda Theatre
1948
18447 Sherman Way, Reseda

The beginnings of the Sherman Way/Reseda intersection becoming the entertainment capital of Reseda started as far back as the 1940s when this S. Charles Lee (You'll recognize his name as architect of many other historic theatres in these Epic CicLAvia Tour guides)-designed Streamline Moderne cinema showed double features to the nearby newly-developed residential community. The theatre closed in 1988, but it gained some notoriety in the 1997 film "Boogie Nights" and is planned to be resurrected as a Laemmle multi-screen cinema after a $5.65 million restoration project.


5. Reseda Vietnamese District
c. 1980s
Near Sherman Way & Reseda Blvd, Reseda

Though Westminster, Garden Grove and Los Angeles' Chinatown are more synonymous with the Vietnamese community in Southern California, the largest concentration Viet Americans in the 818 is located right here in Reseda. This mile-long stretch of Sherman Way and adjacent area is home to a good number of Vietnamese eateries, including Pho 999 (7255 Reseda Blvd), Pho So (7231 Reseda Blvd), Sandwich Express (18575 Sherman Way), Vinh Loy Tofu and Bun Bo Hue (18625 Sherman Way), Khuu Bistro (18845 Sherman Way) and Pho Viet Cali (18111 Saticoy St). There are also many more businesses, cultural institutions, organizations and houses of worship with a two-mile radius of Sherman and Reseda.



6. Aliso Canyon Wash
Sherman Way between Crebs and Wilbur avenues, Reseda

One of the Los Angeles River's many tributaries, this seasonal wash carries stormwater from Aliso Canyon (yep, that Aliso Canyon) up past Porter Ranch, running due south and joining the Los Angeles River near Yolanda Avenue. Thanks to the recent rainy weather, this wash is gonna be flowin'!



7. Los Angeles Jewish Home

1952
19308 Sherman Way, Reseda

Like many Jewish institutions in Los Angeles, this senior living and health care facility originated in Boyle Heights in 1916, expanding to the SFV in the late 1940s. It's one of three campuses of the Los Angeles Jewish Home - the other nearby on Victory Blvd and another in Playa Vista. This campus, known as the Grancell Village Campus, is home to 1,000 seniors. Wonder if the residents know that the 1952 Spanish Colonial Revival structure on Sherman and Tampa was originally the Lorenzen Mortuary? 



8. Platt Office Building

1981
19725 Sherman Way, Winnetka

Conceived by carpenter Dennis Platt and designed by T.W. Layman, this office building built in the early 1980s (but meant to look like it was made in the 1880s) contains remnants from the Queen Anne-style Little Sisters of the Poor Rest Home originally located in Boyle Heights and various parts from Victorian homes in Bunker Hill, combined with re-created architectural sections.


9. Site of the Weeks Poultry Colony
1923-1934
Area bordered by Winnetka Ave, Leadwell St, Oso Ave and Lanark St, Winnetka

In 1904, an idealistic farm dude named Charles Weeks moved from the Midwest to California, and in 1916 established a utopian poultry farming community named Runnymead in Santa Clara County where families lived on one-acre farms and sustainably raised chickens and eggs, and through that, would establish ideal social structures. He then moved south to the farming community of Owensmouth in the San Fernando Valley and 100 years ago established a similar colony here known as the Weeks Poultry Colony. The Great Depression put the idealistic colony to an end, and Weeks moved to Florida where he lived the rest of his life until his death in the 1960s. The colony is long-gone, but Weeks left his mark on the community which still exists today: The area is now known as Winnetka, named by the remaining colony members after Weeks' Illinois hometown, Runnymede Street and park were named after Weeks' original Nor Cal colony, and nearby Independence Avenue originated from his poultry colony marketing pitch, "One Acre and Independence."



10. Browns Canyon Wash
Sherman Way between Cozycroft and Lurline avenues, Winnetka

Another currently-flowing Los Angeles River tributary runs under Sherman Way, originating in Browns Canyon in the Santa Susana Mountains. It joins The River just west of Mason Avenue.

11. Canoga Park Antique Row
Sherman Way between Canoga and Owensmouth avenues, Canoga Park

This half mile-long stretch of Sherman Way contains at least half a dozen stores selling antiques and collectibles, including Red's Antiques (7221 Canoga Ave), Alabama Antiques and Collectibles (7209 Alabama Ave),  Retro Relics Etcetera (21501 Sherman Way), Antique Store Canoga Park (21507 Sherman Way) and Sherway Jewelry & Loan (21514 Sherman Way).


12. The Source of the Los Angeles River
Owensmouth Avenue, south of Bassett Street, Canoga Park

Take a short ride down Owensmouth Avenue to see where the currently-raging Los Angeles River officially begins, at the confluence of Bell Creek (pictured right), which flows down from the Simi Hills, and Arroyo Calabasas (pictured left), which flows down from the north side of the Santa Monica Mountains. Together they become the Los Angeles River, flowing 51 miles eastward then southward into Long Beach Harbor. 



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
13. Site of the Pacific Electric Owensmouth Station
1912-1994
Sherman Way and Topanga Canyon Blvd, Canoga Park


On the northwest corner of this intersection stood the Pacific Electric's Owensmouth (Canoga Park) depot. Built in the days when land companies were promising access to Owens Valley water via the upcoming Los Angeles Aqueduct (despite the fact that its terminus was some 20 miles to the northeast), the area eventually adopted the name of a nearby Southern Pacific Railroad depot, itself named after Canoga, NY. The U.S. Postal Service insisted on adding the word "Park" to lessen confusion with its original East Coast namesake. The Pacific Electric was a Craftsman-style structure that outlived its tenure as a Red Car depot when service ended in 1938. Unfortunately, it burned down in a fire in 1994.


14. Carlson Circle/Proposed PE Extension

c. 1910
Sherman Way at Carlson Circle

At the southeast corner of Sherman Way and Shoup Avenue is a street called Carlson Circle - a cartographic curiosity that stood out to The Militant. Back in the day, before the SFV conformed to an absolute grid, Sherman Way curved down using this quarter-circular thoroughfare and merged with Shoup Avenue (which, like Sherman Way, was also named after a Pacific Electric Railway executive -- Paul Shoup). The circle also had some connection to the Red Cars: Although there was never track laid on it, it was part of a onetime 1910 proposal to extend the Owensmouth streetcar line to what is now Valley Circle. So who was Carlson? Hugo Carlson was an immigrant from Sweden who settled in Owensmouth in 1912 and was one of the town's pioneers. He owned a 55-acre farm in the area that grew beans and tomatoes, was an active member of the local chamber of commerce and was also instrumental in supporting efforts to build flood control channels in the area. He died in 1958. His old farm, just inside of his eponymous Circle, is now home to the posh Canoga Lakes condo community.








CicLAvia 43 Report: CiCOLDvia!

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This photo seemed to sum up the February 26, 2023 CicLAvia perfectly. Taken at Sherman Way and The Metro G-Line busway station near Canoga Avenue.


Just 84 days after the last onebetween Exposition Park and Watts, the 2023 CicLAvia season has begun with a return to Sherman Way on Sunday - a re-run of the 5-mile December 8, 2019 route from Reseda to Canoga Park. While that one was wet and mostly rain-dampened, CicLAvia Sunday got a nice day-long respite from our week-long winter storm which brought snow to our local mountains.

Speaking ot The White Stuff, it was very much on the minds of nearly every CicLAvian who arrive on Sunday. For this was the very first CicLAvia where snow covered the nearby mountains not named Baldy, and in fact frosted the peaks of some relatively low-elevation ranges like the Santa Susana Mountains, which was the snowcapped backdrop to Sunday. Even arriving to the San Fernando Valley from The Other Side Of The Hill gave a majestic view from the northbound 405 which made the Valley look more like Salt Lake City.

But despite not having a single drop of rain (thankfully), Sunday's event broke CicLAvia temperature records as the coldest on record - it had a mean temperature of 51º F, beating the previous record of 57º F during the December 5, 2021 South Los Angeles CicLAvia along Crenshaw and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards. It was so cold, The Militant wore a mask for most of the route - not to protect himself from COVID, but to protect his face from the cold. But then again, The Militant always wears a mask, so, this wasn't really a big deal after all...And FYI, for those keeping track, the hottest temperature during CicLAvia was 95º during the October 5, 2014 Heart of L.A. event (which went from Echo Park to East Los Angeles via Downtown).

Reseda seemed to really take to the Instagrammable landmark thing really well.

The Militant parked in an unspecified nearby residential street off of Sherman Way, unloaded his car bike rack and proceeded to ride westbound along Sherman Way into the chilly winter air. He noticed that the thoroughfare now has these very Instagrammable CicLAvia logoesque blue-and-yellow "Sherman Way RESEDA" welcome signs on the street median (which totally fulfilled their intended purpose by CicLAvians). The signs, along with other pedestrian-friendly improvements along The Way were part of a recent LADOT streetscape project designed by Alta Planning that was implemented in 2021. This Is The Way!

The Militant got to chill with Mr. Miyagi and Daniel-San.

As The Militant headed towards the Tampa Avenue, something clicked - He briefly strayed from the route and headed north a half mile to Saticoy Street, where he knew this was familiar ground - and there it was, just a half-block east of Tampa on 19223 Saticoy - The South Seas Apartments, a.k.a. where Daniel LaRusso and his mom lived and where Mr. Miyagi worked from the classic movie The Karate Kid (NOOO, not that one - THIS ONE!). The Militant kicked himself (from The Crane Position, of course) for not including it on the recent Epic CicLAvia Tour post! NOTE TO SELF: Add it in the next update...

Never fails...






Returning to the route, while The Militant rode somewhere in Winnetka, the clouds briefly parted, the sun shone and proceeded to cast bicycle shadows on the pavement. Though it was a brief show, the 12-plus year axiom still rings true: THE SUN ALWAYS SHINES ON CICLAVIA!

Reaching the end of the route in Canoga Park, there was the mandatory activity hub with a performance stage, a souped-up Metro Art Bus and a Los Angeles Public Library booth that ran out of those much-coveted P-22 memorial library cards during the first 20 minutes of the day, But he did spot this over-filled gutter along Sherman Way that provided a nice reflection:


The subject of food came up. The Militant was getting hungry and the food trucks with the long lines at the activity hubs would not cut it (besides, he's been to many of them before during previous CicLAvias). The Militant tweeted the addresses of various Vietnamese restaurants along the route that specialize in pho - the perfect food for this cloudy, balmy weather), but this nearby Weiler's Deli spot got The Militant contemplating...Ultimately, The Militant chose soup over sammiches and stuck to following his own advice (next time though, Weiler's Deli!) - he chose Pho 21 on Sherman Way between Owensmouth and Canoga avenues. Though not as mind-blowing as the pho he had in Alhambra last month, it nevertheless hit the spot for the time, place and weather.  Cảm ơn, Pho 21!

As soon as The Militant was done, The Po-Po Party Pooper Patrol was slowly making its way east along Sherman Way telling all cyclists to "stay to the right". Ever the straggler, The Militant rode as fast AF to leave them in the dust and rode unencumbered along the rest of The Way.

But not before capturing this parting shot of the snow-capped Santa Susana Mountains overlooking a very full Browns Canyon Wash (where this melted snow will end up eventually) along the CicLAvia route. We may or may not ever see a scene like this again from a CicLAvia route!


Only 49 days to go until the next CicLAvia!

Peak Knowledge: The Militant's Guide To Our Local Mountain Ranges!

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A few weeks ago, while en route to the February 2023 CicLAvia, as The Militant drove up the not-that-congested 405 into the San Fernando Valley, the sight of snowcapped mountains surrounding The 818 made him gasp in a Huell Howsereque, "WHAAAAW!!!" It also reminded him that the various amounts of snow on the mountains emphasized the individual ranges, whereas if he saw the same view on a hot August day, the mountains would all have a uniform brownness to them, as if they were all the same range. But not on that day. The well-frosted San Gabriels loomed in the background, while the lightly-powdered Verdugos stood to the east, and the similarly thin white veil over the Santa Susanas towards the west offered some contrast.

Which got The Militant thinking, "Hey! How 'bout an Epic Militant Post about our local mountain ranges?"

Back during the early days of the COVID-19 Lockdown, in April 2020, The Militant posted this thread regarding that subject on Twitter. But Twitter threads seem rather ephemeral.

It was then he started work on This Here Post, hoping to churn it out in a couple of days, but the task seemed tougher than hiking Mt. Baldy in the winter. But alas, finally, here it is, take it. A few things though:

First of all, The Militant is going to be covering the mountain ranges that can be seen within the Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area. This covers everything from The Grapevine in the north to Camp Pendleton in the south, and from Vandenberg in the west to the Coachella Valley in the east. No, we are not going to cover the mountains over San Diego -- you'll have to consult the Militant San Diegan about any of that (Stupid-punk-ass Padres fan that motherf...but anyways...). And as a bonus, the Sierra Nevada Mountains will get covered - we'll talk about that later.

Second, you might ask, "What about the Baldwin/Puente/Chino/Etc. Hills?"The Militant will cover the local hills in a separate, similar post in the not-too-distant future...stay tuned!

Third, you might want to know, "What's the name of that mountain?" The Militant was going to label every one of them. But since there's so many mountains, and to mark them all would be a herculean task in itself (not to mention become very messy, presentation-wise), The Militant will instead share you one of his Militant Secrets: Now, The Militant's primary objective is to inform, educate and enlighten all Angelenos, and not be such a stingy knowledge gatekeeper influencer-type just for the sake of making himself look all bad-ass. So here's one really, really, really awesome resource to learning the names of mountains: peakfinder.org. Just 1) Visit the site; 2) Click on the pin/map icon to the right of the search bar; 3) Move the map until your preferred location is in the circle; 4) Click on the "bird" icon on the lower-right to "fly" to your preferred location; and 5) Scroll left or right to the desired direction to see the mountains you want to view (it will also show you the exact location and time of the sunrise and sunset appropo to your selected locale - cool, huh?). Voila! There's also a Peakfinder app for iOS and Android.

Fourth, a little geology 101 here: There are three kinds of rock classifications (no, not classic, hard and soft):

1. Igneous (borne of fire), like basalt or granite;

2. Sedimentary (comprised of sediments), like sandstone or limestone;

3. Metamorphic (a rock that begins as one of the other types but evolves like a Pokémon due to friction and heat), like the pun-tastic gneiss or schist

The Militant may or may not throw these terms around going forward. He just wants to make sure you know your schist. You will be quizzed at the end of class!

Fifth, The Militant is not a geologist by training or practice, only as a hobby. If you are an actual geologist and find any massive errors in his explanation of geological terms or processes, please let him know! His email: militantangeleno [at] gmail [dot] com.

Oh yeah, you might want the interactive Google map version, so here it is:


To start with, all y'allz need to know that we got two types of mountain ranges in Southern California: The Transverse Ranges and the Peninsular Ranges. So here we go yo:

Transverse Ranges


The Transverse Ranges are a family of mountain ranges that include the Santa Ynez mountains in Santa Barbara County, the Topatopa and San Emigdio mountains in Ventura County, the Tehachapi mountains in Kern County, the Sierra Pelona, Santa Susana, Santa Monica, Verdugo and San Gabriel mountains in Los Angeles County and the San Bernardino and Little San Bernardino mountains in San Bernardino County.

Whatup with the name? On the North American continent, generally every mountain range runs from north to south: The Sierra Nevadas, the Cascades, the Rockies, the Appalachians. You name it - they mostly all run north-south. But there are only a few places where exceptions exist: Alaska (Brooks Range), eastern Utah (Uinta Mountains), Oklahoma/Arkansas (Wichita and Ouachita mountains) and Southern California. The position of our local mountains greatly influence our climate, our air quality, our watersheds, and our human-built geography. The dozen or so east-west major mountain ranges in SoCal are called the Transverse Ranges, being that they run sideways contra to the usual trending direction of mountain ranges.

So why are they "transverse" like that?

The offshore subduction of an ancient tectonic plate, the movement of the San Andreas Fault and the influence of other major adjoining faults made it happen. Without going into a big-ass geography lesson tangent, let's just say that some 20 or so million years ago, our mountain ranges actually did run north-south (technically northwest to southeast), but good ol' Plate Tectonics actually rotated this little section of the Pacific Plate 110 degrees clockwise!

This video will break it down for ya:


Little San Bernardino Mountains

The Little San Bernardino Mountains, as seen from Highway 62.
Geologically the same as their bigger counterpart, but with radically different flora and climate, are the lower-profile Little San Bernardino Mountains. The easternmost and southernmostof the Transverse Ranges, they are considered part of the desert as opposed to an alpine range on the edge of a desert. Spanning over 40 miles between Morongo Valley in the west and the Salton Sea in the east, they separate the Mojave Desert in the north from the Coachella Valley and the Colorado Desert towards the south and overlook the Palm Springs area from the north. Like their bigger counterpart, they too are greatly influenced by the San Andreas Fault, which runs along their southern side. Their highest peak is Quail Mountain (5,813 feet). The LSBs are home to Joshua Tree National Park and the native environment of the California Fan Palm (Washingtonia filfera). A notable geologic feature is Joshua Tree's eroded granite Skull Rock formation.

Mt. Pinos Formation
Mt. Pinos, as seen from the Wind Wolves Preserve.
Not even a mountain range, yet still part of the Transverse Ranges is the Mt, Pinos Formation. Located in far northeastern Ventura County, just to the west of the I-5, it's the highest peak in the county (8,847 ft) and was once considered part of the San Emigdio Mountains. But further geological research concluded that not only is it separated from the San Emigdios by the San Andreas Fault, but it's made out of igneous granite rock, as opposed to the mostly-metamporphic rock of the San Emigdios. Mt. Pinos is the extreme southern part of what geologists call the Salinian Block, a big-ass piece of granite stretching from Bodega Head in Sonoma County all the way down to here. And the Salinian Block just so happens to rest on the western edge of the San Andreas Fault north of where the fault intersects with the opposite-moving Garlock Fault (the mountain itself is likely the result of the interaction between the two opposing faults). Pinos' shorter neighbor, Frazier Mountain, is part of the same formation. A popular location for hiking, skiing and stargazing, Mt. Pinos is both remote from city lights, yet accessible by The 5.

San Bernardino Mountains

The San Bernardino Mountains, as seen from Beaumont.
Towering over the Inland Empire and located in their eponymous county are the San Bernardino Mountains - the tallest mountain range in Southern California. Spanning some 60 miles from the Cajon Pass near Hesperia to the Morongo Valley, these mountains rise high above the Inland Empire to their south and the Mojave Desert to their north. Like their neighbors the San Gabriels to the west, the San Bernardinos were uplifted by the San Andreas Fault. which runs like a backslash between the two ranges. At one point, millions of years ago, the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains were all one mountain range; the San Andreas Fault sliced them into two. Looking at any relief map, the split is obvious. The mountains are the origin of the Mojave River and (most of) the Santa Ana River watersheds. The range's highest point is Mt. San Gorgonio (11,503 feet), which is also the tallest peak in Southern California. Named after the land grant Rancho San Bernardino, the San Berdoos are home to Lake Arrowhead, Big Bear Lake and Silverwood Lake (all artificial reservoirs), Baldwin Lake (natural) and the San Bernardino National Forest. An aquifer in the southern part of the range above the city of San Bernardino bore the mountain spring water which gave a popular regional bottled water company its name. Speaking of which, a notable geologic formation of the San Bernardinos is the natural granitic Arrowhead formation near Arrowhead Springs (then again, it may not be).

San Emigdio Mountains

The San Emigdio Mountains as seen from the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley
near Bakersfield. The white line against the side of Grapevine Peak
is the pipeline segment of the California Aqueduct.

A familiar sight to travelers who pass through the I-5's Grapevine, the San Emigdio Mountains form the southwestern corner of the San Joaquin Valley. As you leave Los Angeles, these mountains would be on your left (the Tehachapi Mountains are on your right) just after you cross the San Andreas Fault and as you descend northbound towards Bako or Frisco. Located within southern Kern County and stretching some 30 miles, the metamorphic and igneous San Emigdios ride just north of the San Andreas Fault and are situated between the Tehachapi Mountains to the east and the non-transverse Temblor Range to the west. Their highest peak is San Emigdio Mountain (7,492 feet). Named after Rancho San Emigdio, which is part of the Grapevine today, the San Emigdios are home to Fort Tejon State Historic Park, the California Aqueduct's Ira J. Chrisman Pumping Plant and Wind Wolves Preserve.

San Gabriel Mountains

The familiar central San Gabriel Mountains, with Mt. Wilson (5,699 feet) on the right.
The highest peak pictured towards center left is San Gabriel Peak (6,162 feet).

Located primarily in Los Angeles County (with the extreme eastern end within San Bernardino County), and stretching 68 miles bookended by the Newhall Pass in Santa Clarita and the Cajon Pass in north San Bernardino, The San Gabriel Mountains are the largest and most important mountain range in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. We may be going ga-ga over the snow cover this time of year, but they really do play a huge role in our daily lives: They help trap the inversion layer, giving us smog, haze and fog. They aid in funneling the notorious Santa Ana Winds in from the east and north. They shield us from the dry heat and monsoon storm humidity of the Mojave Desert (...well, at least most of the time). The sediment that flowed down its creeks and rivers created the alluvial plans that became the fertile farmlands of the San Fernando, San Gabriel and Pomona valleys. Even our leisurely lives are affected by the San Gabes: Our radio and television signals are transmitted from there, and they provide the picture-perfect backdrop every summer evening whenever we attend a Dodger game. Their highest point is Mt. San Antonio, a.k.a. Mt. Baldy (10,064 feet). The mighty San Andreas Fault forms the northern end, and the Sierra Madre (which produced the M6.4 Sylmar Earthquake of 1971) and Cucamonga faults form the southern end that faces us. The mountains are the origin of the San Gabriel River and Santa Clara River watersheds, as well as a secondary contributor to the Santa Ana and Los Angeles river watersheds. Named after Mission San Gabriel, the San Gabes are home to the Mt. Wilson Observatory and broadcast transmitter farm and the Mountain High, Mount Waterman and Mt. Baldy ski areas. Most of the Angeles National Forest is contained within the San Gabriels. Notable geologic formations include Devil's Punchbowl near the Antelope Valley and the pillow-like Mormon Rocks in the Cajon Pass - both located along and formed by the San Andreas Fault.

Santa Monica Mountains

The familiar Santa Monica Mountains overlooking Central Los Angeles.

Bookended by Ventura County's Point Mugu in the west and Los Angeles' Atwater Village neighborhood in the east, the 40 mile-long Santa Monica Mountains are the closest mountain range to many in Los Angeles - and a number of people actually live in them. Colloquially referred to as "The Hill," they form the wall that geographically, geologically and culturally separates the Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando Valley.  They are also very influential to our local climate - they keep the Pacific Ocean breeze and marine layer within the Los Angeles Basin, which fuels the characteristic hotter and drier climate of The Valley. They are the source of the watersheds for Topanga and Ballona creeks, as well as one of the sources of the Los Angeles River (via Arroyo Calabasas). Formed primarily by the Santa Monica Fault, most of the Santa Monicas are made of sedimentary sandstone, but the far western end is primarily made up of igneous rock of ancient volcanic origin (Conejo Mountain, which overlooks Thousand Oaks, was once an active volcano). The highest peak is the ironically-dubbed Sandstone Peak (3,111 feet), which was actually also formed by volcanic activity. Geologists theorize that because the rock age and composition of the western Santa Monicas matches that of the Santa Ana Mountains down south, they were once the same mountain range some 20 million years ago until tectonic forces rotated most of what is now Southern California 110 degrees clockwise out towards the sea. And the northern Channel Islands - San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara and Anacapa - are geologically considered to be an undersea extension of the Santa Monica Mountains. Named after the eponymous coastal city, the Santa Monicas are home to the Hollywood Sign, Hollywood Bowl, Griffith Observatory, Universal Studios, Los Angeles Zoo, The Greek Theatre, The Skirball Center and The Getty (both of them). They were also the domain where P-22 (R.I.P.) once roamed, and where his fellow P-numbered mountain lion relatives currently live. Appropriately, they contain a number of national, state and municipal parks, including Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Topanga State Park, Malibu Creek State Park and Griffith Park. Two major mountain passes cut through the Santa Monicas - Sepulveda Pass and Cahuenga Pass - both which were originally established as routes by the indigenous Chumash and Tongva peoples and are still used today as streets and freeways. Notable geologic formations include the volcanic Boney Peak in the west end of the range and Griffith Park's Bee Rock sandstone outcropping in the east end.

Santa Susana Mountains

A rare sight of the snowcapped Santa Susana Mountains
overlooking the Valley in late February 2023. Oat Mountain, the range's tallest peak,
is seen on the left.

Stretching for over 30 miles between Saticoy in Ventura County and Santa Clarita in Los Angeles County, and sandwiched between the Santa Clara River Valley in the north and the San Fernando Valley in the south are the Santa Susana Mountains. Separated from the San Gabriel Mountains to the east by the Newhall Pass, the Santa Susanas' highest peak is Oat Mountain (3,747 feet), which overlooks Chatsworth and Northridge. The mountains are secondary contributors to the Santa Clara and Los Angeles river watersheds. Named after the old railroad town of Santa Susanna ("St. Susan"), which is now the city of Simi Valley, the mountains are home to Six Flags Magic Mountain (the thrill capital of the world!), Grimes Canyon, Pico Canyon (site of the first commercially successful oil well in California), the notorious (and particularly gaseous) Aliso Canyon, Big Sky Movie Ranch, Rocky Peak Park (where Boba Fett showed up on 'The Mandalorian') and Michael Antonovich Regional Park. A notable geologic formation in the Santa Susanas is the Chatsworth Formation, a group of sandstone outcroppings (which also contain marine fossils) formed by sand deposits and underwater ocean currents over 65 million years ago, which can be easily seen in the northwestern corner of the San Fernando Valley. It also covers the adjacent Simi Hills to the west.

Santa Ynez Mountains

The Santa Ynez Mountains north of Ventura, as seen from the 101.
The Santa Ynez are to Santa Barbara what the San Gabriels are to Pasadena - You really can't escape them. Located between the Pacific Ocean and the Topatopa Mountains, and primarily within Santa Barbara County, the Santa Ynez Mountains are the westernmost of the Transverses. Both the Santa Ynez and Santa Monica mountains are the only Transverse Ranges that reach the Pacific Ocean. And just like the Santa Monicas, the Santa Ynez Mountains are mostly sedimentary rock, with ancient igneous volcanic rock on their western end. They are created by the uplift of the Santa Ynez Fault. Their highest peak is the unimaginatively-named Peak 4864 (4,864 feet - shocking!), located due north of Santa Barbara but nestled where it can't be seen from that city. Named after Mission Santa Inés (St. Agnes) near Solvang, the Santa Ynez Mountains are home to the Vandenberg Launch Complex (where all those local SpaceX launches originate), Santa Barbara Bowl amphitheater, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Gaviota State Park, Knapp's Castle, Cachuma Lake and Lake Casitas. Notable geologic formations are the Chumash Painted Cave - a sandstone cave above Santa Barbara that is adorned with 400+ year-old rock art made by the indigenous Chumash people and the Gaviota Wind Caves.

Sierra Pelona Mountains
The Sierra Pelona Mountains from San Francisquito Canyon, north of Santa Clarita.
Located northwest of the San Gabriels and south of the extreme western edge of the Mojave Desert and Antelope Valley, the Sierra Pelona ("Bald Mountain Range" in Español) Mountains have the San Andreas Fault slicing through their northern edge. They overlook the city of Santa Clarita and the 14 Freeway, both to the range's south. The highest peak is Burnt Peak (5,791 feet). Primarily composed of metamorphic rock, with some sedimentary and igneous zones, Gold was discovered in these mountains in 1842 (six years before that more famous gold rush up north) and was actively mined until the 1890s. The range was also the location of the ill-fated St. Francis Dam (designed by William Mulholland), which collapsed on March 12, 1928. Speaking of Mulholland, the Los Angeles Aqueduct runs through this mountain range via both underground tunnels and siphon pipes, which include two DWP hydroelectric power stations that run off the cascading water from the pipes. The Bouquet Reservoir (St. Francis' replacement) now stores water from the Aqueduct. Meanwhile, Los Angeles' other major water source, the California Aqueduct, has branches that run along the northern base of the mountains (heading towards the Inland Empire) and another through the western part of the range, with a hydroelectric plant and storage facility at Castaic Lake. Notablegeologic formations include the it-should-have-a-Hollywood-agent Vasquez Rocksin Agua Dulce (created by San Andreas Fault uplift) and Neenach Volcano, which last erupted 23 million years ago and was sliced in half by the San Andreas: the other half was moved by the fault over time some 200 miles northand now forms Pinnacles National Park in Northern California.

Tehachapi Mountains

Double Mountain (7,981 feet), with wind turbines at its foothills,
looms over the north end of the Antelope Valley.

The northernmost of the Transverse Ranges, the Tehachapi Mountains run some 40 miles between the Tejon Pass in the Grapevine and the Tehachapi Pass in the mountain range's eponymous city. Named after the native Kawaiisu word tihachipia ("difficult climb"), They separate the low-lying farmlands of the San Joaquin Valley to its northwest from the Joshua Tree-dotted Mojave Desert landscape of the Antelope Valley to their southeast. The mountain range is formed by the Garlock Fault, the second-longest tectonic fault in California and unique among faults as a "Left-Lateral Fault," meaning that if you stand in front of the fault line, the land on the other side is moving towards the left (whereas on the San Andreas and most others, the land moves towards the right). This quirk is one of the reasons why the San Andreas has a noticeable bend in Southern California and why the Transverse Ranges exist in the first place. The Tehachapis' highest peak is Double Mountain (7,981 feet), which overlooks the Antelope Valley to the south and the town of Tehachapi to the north. The Tehachapis are home to the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in Keene, the Tehachapi Pass Wind Turbine Farm and the famous Tehachapi railroad loop.

Topatopa Mountains

The Topatopa Mountains, as seen from the town of Fillmore.
Located mostly within Ventura County (with their extreme eastern end in Los Angeles County), the Topatopa Mountains span over 40 miles between the I-5 on the east and Highway 33 on the west. Named after the Chumash word "topa" which are the rush or reed plants that grow in the wetlands of the area, the mountains are home to the town of Ojai, the Los Padres National Forest, the Sesepe Condor Sanctuary, Lake Piru and Pyramid Lake (both artificially-made reservoirs). The tallest peak in the Topatopas is Cobblestone Mountain (6,738 feet).

Verdugo Mountains

The Ikea Mountai..er...Verdugo Mountains, as seen from Beautiful Downtown Burbank.
The shortest (in length) of the Transverse Ranges, the Verdugos run just 8 miles between Lake View Terrace and Glendale, separating the San Fernando Valley from the Crescenta Valley. Formed by the Verdugo Fault, their highest peak is Verdugo Peak (3,126 feet). Unlike the other mountain ranges, the Verdugos are surrounded by urban development on all sides, making their flora and fauna habitat a virtual island of sorts. Named after Jose Maria Verdugo, the Spanish/Mexican soldier who owned Rancho San Rafael, which encompassed the nearby lowlands, the Verdugos are the home of Glendale's Brand Library, Burbank's The Castaway Restaurant and Starlight Bowl amphitheatre, as well as several parks, including La Tuna Canyon Park, Verdugo Mountain Park and Verdugo Mountains Open Space Preserve.


Peninsular Ranges

Okay, we've covered the Transverse Ranges, but we got normal-type north-south mountains too (well, a few...). Called the Peninsular Ranges (referring to the Baja California Peninsula, in which this mountain cordillera extends all the way down to Cabo San Lucas), they are comprised primarily of igneous granitic rock, which is of the same composition as the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the north. In fact, the Sierra, the Salinian Block (remember that one?) and the Peninsular Ranges (all granitic rock) were once the same mountain range formed by the same geologic process...until the San Andreas Fault came along and done messed things up. Locally, our Peninsular Ranges of concern are the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange, Riverside and northern San Diego counties; and the Temescal and San Jacinto mountains in Riverside County.

San Jacinto Mountains

The snowcapped Mt. San Jacinto towers over the Coachella Valley below
The northernmost of the Peninsular Ranges, the 30 mile-long San Jacinto Mountains are located between the Perris Valley in the west and the Coachella Valley in the east. Surrounded by the 10 Freeway and Highway 74, the range is to the south of the San Bernardino Mountains and to the north of the Santa Rosa Mountains. The mountains form the watershed of the San Jacinto River, which feeds Lake Elsinore. They also contribute to the Santa Ana River watershed and the Whitewater River watershed, which ends up in the Salton Sea. Their highest peak is Mt. San Jacinto (10, 834 feet), and the rest of the range is rather prominent, thanks to the influence of both the San Jacinto Fault (west) and San Andreas Fault (east). Named after the numerous "Rancho San Jacinto" land grants that were located in today's Perris Valley/Hemet Valley area, the range is home to the town of Idyllwild, the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Mt. San Jacinto State Park and Soboba Casino Resort. A notable geologic feature is Oswit Rock, agranodiorite outcropping that overlooks the southern end of Palm Springs.

Santa Ana Mountains
The Saddleback of the Santa Ana Mountains (Santiago Peak (R) and Modjeska Peak (C),
as seen from Highway 241 in Irvine.

Overlooking much of Orange County are the Santa Ana Mountains. Situated between (sub)urban Orange County in the west and the Inland Empire in the east, the range runs 61 miles from Santa Ana Canyon down to Camp Pendleton near Oceanside. Much like the Santa Monica Mountains, they trap the cool coastal breezes within OC (windward side) and help make the IE (leeward side) hot AF. The range also contributes to the Santa Ana Winds both in function and in name: The hot desert winds funnel through the mountain range's namesake canyon at their northern edge are the origin of the winds' moniker. Their tallest peak is Santiago Peak (5,689 feet). Together with its shorter neighbor, Modjeska Peak (5,496 feet), they form the Saddleback Ridge, which overlooks Orange County and can be seen from as far as the Santa Monica Mountains. The Santa Ana Mountains form the watersheds for Trabuco and San Juan creeks, both of which flow into the Pacific at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point. Named after the Santa Ana Valley (where Mission Viejo and San Juan Capistrano reside), the mountains are home to Irvine Lake, Santiago Canyon, Modjeska Canyon, Trabuco Canyon and Glen Ivy Hot Springs.

Temescal Mountains
California Golden Poppies decorate the Temescal Mountains near Corona
during the 2019 Superbloom.
These low-lying mountains in the IE, stretching some 21 miles from the Santa Ana River down to the San Jacinto River, with the Temescal Valley to the west and the Perris Valley to the east, are the Temescal Mountains, still comprised of the same granitic rock as its taller Peninsular Range neighbors. Gold and tin were mined here in the 1800s. Formed by the Elsinore Fault Zone, their highest peak is Estelle Mountain, (2,762 feet). Named after Rancho Temescal (which ran down the Temscal Valley into the Oceanside area), they are home to Walker Canyon (a.k.a. the Lake Elsinore Poppyfields), Painted Rock, which features ancient pictographs made by the indigenous Luiseño (Payómkowishum) people, the Lake Matthews reservoir (which is the southern terminus of the California Aqueduct) and Lake Matthews Estelle Mountain Reserve.

The Sierra

Sierra Nevada Mountains

Mt. Tom and the rest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains overlook the town of Bishop.

"Wait," you might say, "This isn't in Southern California!" Geographically, they may not be, but their influence on the Los Angeles area looms as high as they are. Stretching 400 miles from Fredonyer Pass in Lassen County to Tehachapi Pass in Kern County, the Sierra (not "Sierras," BTW) forms California's backbone, literally and figuratively. You may or may not know that some shiny mineral called gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill along the American River (one of the many Sierra Nevada rivers) in 1848. The rest is history. They are also California's icebox, storing the record snowpack from the Great Wet and Snowy California Winter of 2022-2023. Wanna talk watershed? They are the watershed of all watersheds: The snow on top of the mountains will melt into the Kings and San Joaquin Rivers and flow westward into the San Francisco Bay Delta and then south via the California Aqueduct, providing irrigation and livestock water for San Joaquin Valley farms and Central and Southern California municipal water supplies. The snow will also melt eastward into the Owens River and get intercepted by the Los Angeles Aqueduct, heading south through the Owens and Antelope valleys into the City of Los Angeles' municipal water supply (which also gets a good percentage from the CA Aqueduct). Even the city of San Francisco does some Sierra Snowmelt Stealing of their own - from the Hetch Hetchy Valley. That bottle of Crystal Geyser you bought from the liquor store? It originated from snowmelt from Olancha Peak, filters down into an aquifer in the Owens Valley and goes into that bottle. The water that you drink, bathe, swim in, water your plants with, wash your hands for 20 seconds with...a good percentage of it came from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. They're that important, not just to our area, but to every county between Sacramento and Los Angeles. Though not located in geographical Southern California per se, the Sierra Nevada Mountains are still a huge influence on our area, and are part of cultural Southern California: the Mammoth Mountain ski resort (founded by El Segundo native and former LADWP hydrologist Dave McCoy) is a popular skiing destination for SoCal folks (Nor Cal people prefer to head east on I-80 and ski Tahoe), Eastern Sierra towns like Mammoth Lakes and Bishop have Los Angeles Times newsracks, Dodger game broadcasts on the radio and Vons (and not Safeway) supermarkets. Born from magma lifted from deep in the earth some 115 million years ago through the subduction of an ancient tectonic plate into the North American continental plate; the jagged profile of the mountains was carved from glaciers that began over 2 million years ago. You already know that the tallest peak is Mt. Whitney (14,505 feet), but 8 of the 10 tallest peaks in the Golden State reside in the Sierra. Named the "snowy mountains" by Spanish priest Pedro Font in a map he charted in 1777, the Sierra Nevada mountains are home to none other than Yosemite, Sequoia, and King's Canyon national parks, Plumas, Eldorado, Stanislaus, Sierra and Sequoia national forests, the Pacific Crest and John Muir trails, and numerous alpine lakes - most notably the king of all alpine lakes: Lake Tahoe. Notable geologic features include the needs-no-introduction Yosemite Valley, the cinemagenic rounded granite Alabama Hills near the town of Lone Pine and the Palisades Glacier - the southernmost glacier on the North American continent - near the town of Big Pine.

So there you go! A little knowledge on our local ranges. Did you learn something new? Do you feel the mountains calling? Do you have a newfound appreciation for our local peaks? Support The Militant's endeavors via PayPal!

Much Militant thanks to the following who have shown their support over the past few weeks! You are appreciated!

Lily Cosgrove
Michael Gonzalez
Catherine Kay
Lydia Otero
Ramona Monteros
Joe Ryan
Sudeep Sharma
Anthony Swilley, Jr.
Michael Turmon
Kari Wenger
Christina Wilson
Arthur Wong




Places Of The Water!

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The sights of spring! The seasonally verdant San Gabriel Mountains overlook a gated subdivision and the San Gabriel River uncharacteristically rushing down below.

Friday, March 24 was a bright and clear day - high winds the night before blew the last remnants of the previous rainstorm away and Angelenos awoke to a sky of blue. Though the Vernal Equinox came and went earlier in the week, today was surely the unofficial official First Day of Spring, if the fully-opened California Golden Poppies on the grounds of The Militant's Compound was an indication.

The Militant headed east by car (he wasn't quite ready for a Metro + bike adventure just yet for an unspecified reason) to the 626. Though the 210 is normally a breeze, it slogged with 405esque slowness for most of the journey from the Rose Bowl onward. The destination: Azusa Canyon! The Militant looked forward to the northernmost reaches of State Route 39 to As Far As He Could Go.

Upon exiting Azusa Avenue, he headed due north, past the Metro station, reminding himself that he hasn't been around These Here Parts since the Gold Line Foothill Extension's grand opening some seven years ago this month. Has it really been that long?

Why Azusa Canyon? Though a light frosting of snow on the upper reaches of the middle San Gabriels (which overlook Pasadena) greeted us down below, the warm, sunny temperatures meant some of that snow was melting already, as well as some of the rainwater that came down during the past few days. The canyon is where the San Gabriel River begins upon its descent down to the San Gabriel Valley and on to its terminus in Seal Beach. After all, Azusa was named after the Tongva village of Asuksagna (later called "Rancho El Susa" by the 19th century Mexicans), which means, "Place of the water." So there you go.

The Militant's plans were slightly dashed when an orange Caltrans road condition sign trailer was set out on Highway 39 bearing the words, "AZUSA CANYON CLOSED." Booo! But The Militant still wanted to see how far he'd go. 

It wasn't long until he saw a set of cones on the road and two CHP vehicles blocking the way. The Militant took a U-turn onto a dirt lot on the side of the road, parked The Militant Mobile and heard the sound of rushing water. The dirt lot was conveniently set on a cliff overlooking the raging San Gabriel River down below. And was it raging. There was water alright, LOTS OF IT.

Not far from where The Militant stood, there was a bicycle/jogging trail that ended in a small cul-de sac. Guess The Militant could have biked up here after all. Noted for next time. After marveling at the sight of blue sky, green mountains and tan-colored rushing water, he made his way back southwards for a bit before crossing the river on a bridge leading to a gated community. But he was able to park on the un-gated street just west of the bridge and walked up to it.

The raging San Gabriel River as seen from the Mountain Laurel Way Bridge.

Though The Militant went as far as he was able to, he didn't want the day to go to waste. He realized that he wasn't too far from Glendora, so he made his way down Azusa Avenue and took a left on Route 66 to get his kicks. In The Militant's Lil'Mil days, Glendora was a familiar place, being where a family friend once lived and owned a business (no longer there). But back then he was not yet attuned to the legendary appeal of the one they call The Donut Man.

The Militant is almost embarrassed to admit that he never partook in the culinary wonder known as The Strawberry Donut, and even though TDM opened a location three years ago that was much, much closer to The Militant Compound, to be initiated into the sacred Strawberry Donuthood rite at a Donut Man location that wasn't the O.G. spot just didn't feel right. So he bought a few of them, as well as their almost-as-legendary Tiger Tail - a delightfully twisted chocolate-with-honey-glaze splendor. The Militant couldn't wait, so he opened the box on the trunk of The Militant Mobile and sank his teeth into the jelly-slathered strawberry wonder sandwiched between two horizontally-cut donut halves. OMG. The hype is real.

Now The Militant has finally earned his right to get one of these at Grand Central Market.

Since he was in Glendora, he might as well check up on the progress of the under-construction Metro L-previously-known-as-Gold-but-soon-to-be-known-as-A-previously-known-as-Blue Line station. He parked next to the Glendora USPS Post Office on Ada Avenue, and there it was, just a few yards up.

The Metro Rail Glendora station. Coming 2025. Or 2026. Or 2027. One of those.

Though the rails were in place, there was little to the station but its concrete foundation and a couple installed-but-non-functioning railroad crossing signals. Seems as though they have a ways to go. But for those of you already making your Foothill Extension Opening Day plans, The Donut Man is a 1 1/4-mile walk to/from the Glendora Metro station (great way to work off those carbs!). Just so you know!

The marquee of the old Azusa Foothill Drive-In Theatre (1961-2001).

Heading back to Azusa, the sight of the Azusa Foothill Drive-In Theatre marquee caught his eye. The drive-in, built in 1961, was, at the turn of the 21st century, the last remaining drive-in theatre along Route 66 west of Oklahoma. It closed in 2001 but the sign was declared a historic monument and was saved. The drive-in location is now the parking lot for APU (no, not that one).

A is for Asuksagna.

The Militant also caught sight of a white letter "A" on a mountainside overlooking The Canyon City. Yes, Azusa has a Hillside Letter (or a Mountain Monogram), a western U.S. phenomenon of placing the initial of a city, town or educational institution on the side of a mountain.

A piece of public art built in 2021 is based around the poem,
"The Stone, The River, The Door," by Krystal Chang.


A tiny cap of snow sits atop Monrovia Peak, as seen from Downtown Azusa.

Housing in Azusa - future and past.

The Union Station-bound L-Line train leaves the Azusa Downtown station with some snow-capped San Gabe peaks in the background.

The Militant wanted to walk around Downtown Azusa for a bit, so he parked off of Azusa Avenue on 6th Street - coincidentally, also in front of a USPS Post Office. He passed a playground that what was once the Azusa Theatre (1926-1972) and a modern mixed-use development a block up the street that features a facade that pays homage to the old theatre. There was also much public art in the form of wall murals, utility box art and a steel public art structure which bore the words of a poem. He went as far as the Metro Station and Target before walking back on the other side of the street. He also happened upon the Azusa  outpost of Congregation Ale House, conveniently just three short blocks from the Metro Rail station. Hmmm...noted.

Heading west on the 210, The Militant exited in Doorty, parked at Encanto Park and visited an old friend he had not seen since September 2015 - the 1907 Puente Largo Bridge, one of the featured surviving Pacific Electric remnants on his Pacific Electric Archaeology Map. It carried the Red Cars between Downtown and Glendora until 1951 and was renovated to its modern purpose as a pedestrian and bicycling path in 1989. The 1,019-foot bridge (the U.S. Bank Tower in Downtown Los Angeles could rest on the bridge end-to-end in its entirety with a foot to spare each side) spans the normally dry banks of the San Gabriel River - but not this day! The river was rollin' and raging! He was just a few miles south of where he was previously, and this water was well on its way to the spreading grounds in nearby Irwindale, where it will enter the groundwater table to be later used by the MWD and some of the local municipal water utilities.

The Puente Largo Bridge in Duarte. Not bad for a 116 year-old.

The riverbed was so much greener than when he was last there - the banks of the river also had small basins that caught excess flow from culverts. The basins also functioned as vernal pools, with wild (though invasive) mustard flowers popping up nearly everywhere. There was also a bike bath along the east bank of the river that reminded The Militant that he should take on this river path via two wheels sometime.

Vernal pools past the east bank of the San Gabriel River, with the bike path to the left.

The Militant continued on westward on the 210, but he wanted more. While searching for a place to eat, he saw a sign along Altadena Drive that read, "Eaton Canyon Natural Area Park." Hmmm. So he followed the signs up the road, past New York Avenue and entered an area right at the foothills with bushes and wildflowers galore. As soon as he got out of his car, he heard it: The sound of rushing water.

Eaton Wash is alive!
The Militant got so excited, he climbed down into the creek bed, crouched down and scooped up a handful of cold, clear water that made its way down the San Gabriels. It was this hardcore city boy's little moment with nature and it was quite awesome.

Wild Bush Sunflowers were in bloom.
Back on the trail, he was surrounded by rows and rows of native Bush Sunflowers in bloom. There were some prickly pear cacti in the area. A couple that was hiking asked him where the waterfall was. Though unfamiliar with the trail, he knew that it went in a roughly straight-line direction northward, so he pointed to the mountains. But he was curious about it now that the topic came up. So he kept walking towards the San Gabes. Several yards ahead, the trail dipped down in elevation slightly and the sound of rushing water grew louder. He saw another couple (one of them carrying a baby) walking across the shallow, yet fast-moving Eaton Wash, the water whitened as rapids by nearby large rocks. He didn't think crossing the water was a smart idea, but he watched vigilantly and at the ready while The Adventure Family was reaching the other bank, just in case there was a potential emergency. Fortunately, Adventure Family made it across safely, but The Militant didn't want to get his boots soaked, so he just stayed on the south bank, taking pictures and video.

Heading back, he stopped by the little Nature Center that had a small exhibit on the water table in the area. Eaton Canyon's watershed is part of what is called The Raymond Water Table, by which the cities of Pasadena, Altadena and other nearby municipalities pump for use in their respective water supplies. So no, this water doesn't go wasted out to sea. It is part of the greater Los Angeles River watershed, as it flows into the Rio Hondo, which meets the Los Angeles River in the South Gate area. There was also a cool California native plant garden outside of the Nature Center building.

The Militant headed out and back to Altadena Drive, being in awe that the Eaton Wash's rapids were just a few hundred yards from the streets of Pasadena. He proceeded south on Altadena Drive and west on Washington Street and found a place called Baja Cali Fish & Tacos.

Baja Cali's #3 combo with two Baja Cali Tacos, fries and drink for $11.99
The tacos had grilled fish and shrimp. Nothing mind-blowing, but it was pretty good. The restaurant seems to be a local chain with locations in the San Gabriel Valley, as well as in Long Beach and Highland Park. He'd definitely try out the other items next time (the potato and birria taco selections sound appealing).

He made his way back to the Militant Compound as the sun was setting on the first clear evening in a long-ass time. Here's to spring, here's to watersheds and wildflowers!




Where The Wild (Flowery) Things Are: The Militant's Spring 2023 Southern California Wildflower Map!

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A smattering of wildflowers in Walker Canyon near Lake Elsinore,
taken during the Spring 2019 Superbloom.

"L.A. has no seasons," goes the mantra of The Typical Transplant. But ah, why then are our mountain ranges green and not brown during the 2nd quarter of the year? Why are the stands of Dodger Stadium awash with blue again? And why does the sight of wildflowers attract people of all ages from young Instagram influencers to elderly grandparents?

It's wildflower season. It's the time when our native flora is present and alive. It's when humans go wild over the sight of countless plant genitalia. And we're blessed to have many areas that are not so far away from us where we can appreciate their ephemeral beauty. Do enjoy them now, for in a few months' time, the summer heat will dominate, the flowers will wither away, and the green will give way to golden brown. It's the Circle of Life, Simba.

The record winter rains have made our local wildflowers not only abundant, but have extended their season well into late April and perhaps May. The California Golden Poppy is the big star of the springtime show in this state, but other petals of red, white, purple, blue and yellow persuasions also make their presence known.

And so, The Militant has made a handy Google Map of the confirmed wildflower locations in Southern California - from San Luis Obispo County to San Diego County. All locations are based on personal, word-of-mouth and photographically-documented online observations. Do note that the addresses are based on the general publicly-accessible location (i.e. a park, nature preserve or hiking trail) and not necessarily the exact location of the blooms. But when you get there, the presence of the blooms should be obvious.



This map only includes areas where these flowers grow in the wild (hence, wildflowers - duh) and not any botanical gardens. Nothing against organized gardens, but it's more fun to see fish swim in the sea than in an aquarium, right?

This map is also continuously updated by The Militant several times a week, and certain locations known for wildflower blooms have not appeared on the map yet, because either the flowers have not yet bloomed, or The Militant has not yet seen or received reports of the bloom.

If you want to contribute to the map, shoot an email to The Militant (militantangeleno at gmail dot com) or send him a DM or @ on Twitter with a name and address of the location. If you're a wildflower-spotter and can ID the flowers, great! If you want, you can submit a photo and you'll get credit.

One more thing: Don't Doom The Bloom! Respect the marked trails and any property lines (if there are restricted areas). Don't step on the flowers! Nature is the main attraction here, not you! And Don't pick the flowers! They're not souvenirs, and they will quickly wilt anyway. Also, do note that not only have the flowers awoken from their winter hibernation, but so have the rattlesnakes. It's their home, not yours! Don't intrude on their area and they won't mess with you.

"But wait, Militant," you might ask, "Aren't you making things worse? These are closely-guarded secrets! They'll be ruined now that you're listing them all!" But au contraire - while the mainstream media only focuses on one location (as Lake Elsinore's Walker Canyon was back in 2019 - now it's currently closed to the public), the purpose of this map is to emphasize the fact that wildflowers are EVERYWHERE, and instead of focusing on one over-hyped location, The Militant is spreading out the crowds to other locations so that those other unsung locations can be appreciated and the handful of hyped-up "hot spots" won't be overloaded with crowds. You'll also notice that some areas, like the Antelope Valley and the southern Inland Empire have clusters of wildflower locations. You're strongly encouraged to make a day of it and visit them all! The Militant is doing a public service here!

Enjoy your spring superbloom, Southern California! And if you found this useful, help support The Militant Angeleno via PayPal!


The Militant's Epic CicLAvia Tour XLIV!!

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Springtime is here! Dodger baseball is in full swing (pitch clock and all...), wildflowers are in bloom, our local transverse mountain ranges are significantly greener in color, and the second of eight CicLAvias in 2021 (the 44th iteration of Los Angeles' open streets event) is upon us this weekend, this time running four miles through the southern end of Central Los Angeles. It's not a new route - The "Mid-City Meets Pico-Union" alignment was last done on June 30, 2019, and the first "To The Sea" CicLAvia route on April 21, 2013 ran through the Venice Boulevard section of this route. Sandwiched between Hancock Park/Koreatown to the north and South Los Angeles al sur, the Mid-City neighborhoods feature a diverse mix of African American, Latín, Immigrant African, Korean and Caribbean residents.

It's an area that was an "urban suburb" of streetcar corridors (The Pacific Electric on Venice, the Los Angeles Railway on Washington), houses, shops and houses of worship in popular early 20th-century aesthetic styles, with well-defined artistic pockets, both historic and contemporary. As usual, see you or not see you on the streets this Sunday!

1. Powers Place - Shortest Street in Los Angeles
1904
Powers Place and Alvarado Terrace, Pico-Union

You all know that the longest street in Los Angeles is Sepulveda Boulevard, right? But the shortest street in the city is right here! It's called Powers Place, a whopping 30 feet in length! Named after onetime Los Angeles City Council president (1900-1902) Pomeroy Powers, who spearheaded the effort to create a city park (originally named Terrace Park) at the neighborhood of Craftsman, Tudor and Victorian-style houses built in the early 1900s decade. All six historic houses along Alvarado Terrace were designated by the City as Historic-Cultural Monuments in 1971.


2. Iglesia Adventista Central/1st Church of Christ, Scientist
1912
1366 S. Alvarado Street, Pico-Union

Currently the site of a 7th Day Adventist Church catering to a Spanish-speaking congregation, this 107-year old Mediterranean Romanesque Revival house of worship has changed owners - even denominations - and has had a long, and even dark, history behind it. Built in 1912 as the 1st Church of Christ, Scientist, it served its Christian Science congregation for six decades, before it became a Jewish synagogue for a few years. In the mid-1970s, it became the Los Angeles location of The People's Temple, the cult founded by Jim Jones, who infamously led over 900 his followers to live in a commune in Jonestown, Guyana, and consequently, to die in the largest mass-suicide in history (which spawned the euphemism, "Don't drink the Kool-Aid"). The current Adventist church has been there since the late 1970s, since, Jim Jones uh...couldn't really use it anymore. The church structure was inducted into the National Register of Historic Sites in 1984.


3. Hoover Street - Original City Boundary
1850
Hoover Street, Pico-Union

The CicLAvia route begins/ends at this street, but note how all the streets east of Hoover run in a diagonal fashion, and all the streets west run perfectly east-west. Yes, Virginia, Los Angeles was not always big and sprawled. From 1850 to 1896, Hoover was the original western boundary of the City of Los Angeles, which meant that over 120 years ago, you'd be on the Westside. On April 2, 1896, the "Western Addition" was annexed into the City, extending the boundaries a few miles west to Arlington Avenue (more on this later...)


4. Loyola High School
1917
1901 Venice Blvd, Byzantine-Latino Quarter

Founded in 1865 at St. Vincent Court off of 7th Street in Downtown (a spot on the "Heart of LA" CicLAvia Tour), this Jesuit-run Catholic boys' high school is the oldest continuously-running educational institution in Los Angeles. The school moved to its current location in 1917 after splitting from the affiliated Loyola Marymount University, and after Irish philanthropist Thomas P. Higgins (who owned the Higgins Building on 2nd and Main in Downtown) donated land in what was then the southwestern corner of the city. Home of the Cubs, the school celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2015. Famous alums include volleyball great Sinjin Smith, Vons grocery founder Wilfred Von der Ahe, broadcaster Stan Chambers and holy Homeboy Fr. Greg Boyle.


5. Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery
1884
1831 W. Washington Blvd, West Adams

This 65-acre memorial park, originally established as Rosedale Cemetery, has been serving Los Angeles for nearly 140 years, and is the final resting place of a number of historic Angelenos, such as Port of Los Angeles founder Phineas Banning, the City of Burbank's namesake Dr. David Burbank, jazz legend Eric Dolphy, actress Hattie McDaniel and mayors George Alexander, Arthur C. Harper, Owen McAleer, John G. Nichols, Frank Rader and Frederick T. Woodman. One of the most notable graves is that of Catalina Island developer George Shatto, who is interred in a pyramid (pictured above)!

6. Westmoreland Heights Tract Gateway
1902
Westmoreland Avenue and Venice Boulevard, Harvard Heights

In an era before cities erected standard street signs on corners, tract home developments established concrete or masonry gateway monuments bearing the name of the development as well as the street. This one bears the name of the Westmoreland Heights tract, established in 1899, featuring homes built in the Craftsman, Tudor/Craftsman and American Foursquare styles. Many of the residents were the owners of large local businesses. If you notice, the sign facing Venice Blvd bears the name "16th Street." West of Downtown, 16th Street is nowhere to be found on any maps (not even in La Guía de los Hermanos Tomas) - that's because 16th Street was re-named Venice Boulevard in 1932.

7. Ray Charles RPM International Studios
1964
2107 W. Washington Blvd, Harvard Heights.

Just a few blocks south of the CicLAvia route, this 11,488 square foot, two -story building, designed by Joe Adams and Ray Charles himself, opened in 1964 as the legendary musician's personal recording studio and offices (he lived in nearby Leimert Park at the time). One of his biggest hits, "Georgia On My Mind" was recorded here, as well as his 2004 Grammy-winning swan song album, Genius Loves Company. It was designated as a Historic-Cultural Monument by the City of Los Angeles in 2004, just prior to Charles' death, and since 2010 functions as the Ray Charles Memorial Library, a museum dedicated to the singer's career, featuring free tours of the facility (by appointment) on Mondays thru Wednesdays.


8. Arlington Ave - Old City Boundary
1909
Arlington Ave, Arlington Heights

Continuing the Los Angeles City Boundary history, Arlington Avenue was once the westernmost border of the City from 1896 to 1909, when the Colegrove Addition (which stretched north towards Hollywood) was annexed into the City. Note how the street dramatically widens west of Arlington - that, of course, was to accommodate both automobiles and the Pacific Electric Red Car tracks, which run the rest of the way along Venice Blvd.


9. Washington Square Market/Swap Meet
1964
4060 Washington Blvd, Mid-City

This shopping center, built in the mid-1960s used to feature a Ralphs supermarket (hence the vestigal red oval sign) and local shops. Since the 1980s the shopping center has hosted an indoor swap meet, akin to the large Slauson Swap Meet in South Los Angeles, an indoor bazaar featuring clothing, shoes, sporting goods, repair/service stalls, salons and eateries owned by upstart immigrant entrepreneurs.


10. St. Paul's Catholic Church
1937
4120 Washington Blvd, Mid-City

Originally established on the site of a convent in 1917 among bean fields and oil derricks, the current Romanesque church building (inspired by the Basilica Papale San Paolo fuori le Mura in Rome) was built 20 years later and designed by famed Los Angeles architects John C. Austin and Frederick Ashley, who also designed the Griffith Observatory (which opened two years earlier). Today, St. Paul's serves a Spanish, English and Korean-speaking congregation.


11. Wellington Square
1914
Victoria Avenue, Wellington Road, Virginia Road and Buckingham Road (south of Washington Boulevard), Mid-City

Developed by M.J. Nolan on land formerly owned by George L. Crenshaw (Yup - that Crenshaw), this four-block neighborhood features over 200 Spanish Colonial, Tudor, French Norman, Craftsman and Revival-style residences. Today, the neighborhood is starting to get Capital "G," but you can check out their weekly Farmers' Market on the parking lot at Wellington Road and Washington Boulevard, also happening during CicLAvia Sunday (and every Sunday) between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.


12. First Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles
1924
1809 West Boulevard, Mid-City

This Presbyterian church community, which moved several times around Los Angeles in its 136-year history, settled at this location in 1924. The congregation became predominantly African American in makeup in the 1960s, which it remains today, although the church shares the building with a separate Korean church. This Gothic Revival church structure was also designed by John C. Austin and Frederick Ashley (architects of St. Paul's down the street, remember?), along with Frederic Roehrig, who designed Pasadena's iconic Hotel Green. Check out the old-school incinerator chimney facing Washington Blvd!


13. Nate Holden Performing Arts Center/Ebony Showcase Theater
2004/1950
4718 Washington Blvd, Mid-City

Named after the longtime African American Los Angeles city councilman (1987-2002), this City-owned facility, which opened in 2004, hosts community-based performing arts and arts education programs. It was built on the site of the Ebony Showcase Theater, the first African American-owned theater building in Los Angeles, which was founded in 1950 by actor Nick Stewart (who voiced Brer Bear in Disney's "Song of the South") and his wife Edna. That theater featured community-based performing arts programs which ran until the 1998, when the City's Community Redevelopment Agency took over the Northridge earthquake-damaged building by eminent domain.


14. Trabue Pittman Building/Willing Workers Building
1931
4801 Washington Blvd, Mid-City

This Art Deco structure, built in 1931 at the northwest corner of Washington and Rimpau (where the Los Angeles Railway's W Line ended) was designed by celebrated architect S. Charles Lee. Owned by the Tabue Pittman Corporation, it was leased to various businesses over the years, including an F.W. Woolworth's store and a Bank of America branch. Today it is the home of Willing Workers, Inc, a non-profit that trains developmentally-disabled adults for workforce employment.


15. St. Elmo Village
1969
4830 St. Elmo Drive, Mid-City

This unique artists community was founded by the late African American artist Rozzell Sykes and his nephew Roderick, who purchased several homes in the neighborhood to save them from demolition and create a multicultural artists' community as an urban experiment. The community organizes the annual St. Elmo Festival every May to celebrate the arts. Over 50 years later, now run by Roderick Sykes, the community is still going strong.


16. U.S. Post Office, West Adams Ray Charles Station
1983
4960 W. Washington Blvd, Mid-City

This post office building, which opened in 1983 and serves the 90016 ZIP code, was dedicated as the Ray Charles Station U.S. Post Office in August 2005, in memory of the one of neighborhood's most prominent figures, whose RPM International Studios is located just a mile and a half east (See #7 on this guide). The post office joins other facilities named after legendary musical artists, such as Nat King Cole on Western and 3rd and Marvin Gaye, on Vermont and 35th.

Happy CicLAvia!

BONUS: THE OFFICIAL MILITANT ANGELENO EPIC CICLAVIA TOUR FOOD GUIDE!


1. Dino's Chicken and Burgers
2575 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90006
www.dinoschickenandburgers.com

Get the Chicken and Fries. French fries, drenched in spicy grilled chicken grease. Served with cole slaw and tortillas. All for $7.95.

2. Papa Cristo's
2771 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90006
papacristos.com

They're one of the reasons (along with St. Sophia's Orthodox Church and the annual Greek Festival) for the "Byzantine" part in the Byzantine-Latino Quarter. One of Los Angeles' iconic long-time eateries for a Hellas-good meal.

3. Pupusa Stand

S. Bronson Avenue, south of Washington Boulevard, Mid-City.

Nice neighborhood sidewalk pupusa stand. Not guaranteed to be here during CicLAvia, but they're usually there on Sundays to serve churchgoers from across the street. Stop by to check it out!

4. Gish Bac
4163 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90018
gishbac.com

A nice Oaxacan option in Mid-City to get your mole on.

5. Simply D'Licious
4641 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016
www.simplydliciousca.com

If Soul Food is what you're craving on CicLAvia Sunday, this is just the place, but don't be surprised if it's crowded or there's a line forming at the door, as it's already a popular local spot on normal Sundays.

6. Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles
1865 S La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90019
https://www.roscoeschickenandwaffles.com/

The classic, well-loved, presidentially-endorsed Pico location may now be gone, but this modern replacement for it is right here if you're craving some 'Scoes.

7. Leo's Tacos Truck
1515 South La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90019
leostacostruck.com

The O.G. location of what is regarded as the best Al Pastor in town, long lines form at the parking lot of this Sinclair gas station every evening, but you just might have a chance to get your trompo with the piña on the top with a shorter wait during CicLAvia.

Enjoy this Epic CicLAvia Tour guide? Show some support to The Militant Angeleno via PayPal!

The Militant's Epic CicLAvia Tour XLV!!!

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Interactive map! Click here for larger version.


The third CicLAvia of 2023, and the 45th-ever such open streets event in Los Angeles has gotten quite a bit smaller - on purpose. The first of two CicLAvia-branded "CicLAmini" bite-sized events this year is upon us this Sunday. This time, although we're in Daylight Saving Time, the CicLAmini hours are the same as the Standard Time CicLAvias (9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. as opposed to the 4:00 p.m. end time). And instead of taking the streets on your bike (which is still allowed), the focus on the CicLAmini is to emphasize walkability, as well as smaller human-propelled vehicles (e.g. skateboards, scooters, rollerblades, etc). In the spirit of the event, and because taking a bike to a 1-mile CicLAvia route is kinda overkill, The Militant will be marching all 1.08 miles of Sunday's CicLAmini Watts in his combat boots. He's walked a few CicLAvia routes before, so this won't be new territory.

Speaking of territory. the community of Watts is no stranger to CicLAvias. Having taken part in some five previous events, the most recent of which was just less than 6 months ago, in December 2022. But this time, we venture south of 103rd Street for the first time and are greeted by some brand-spankin' new bicycle infrastructure, which made its debut earlier this year.

Being only a one-mile route, there isn't much to an Epic CicLAvia Guide, is there? Well, acshully...The Militant found nine points of interest on the route! And stay tuned for some bonus sites on his Twitter account.

As usual...see you or not see you on the streets this Sunday!

Oh yeah, if you found this Epic CicLAvia Tour guide useful and visit any of these sites, please add the #EpicCicLAviaTour hashtag to any social media post that includes it. The Militant will be glad to re-tweet/re-whatevertheycallthatonMastadon!

And if you appreciate The Militant's work, kick him a little love via PayPal! He *hates* asking for money, but you know how it is these days...A Militant's gotta pay his bills! Your support is much appreciated!

Support The Militant Angeleno!
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=K5XC5AM9G33K8


1. Mudtown Farms
2022
2001 E. 103rd St., Watts

A project of the influential locally-based community nonprofit Watts Labor Community Action Center (you will be hearing their name a lot in this guide...) to create sustainable urban farming to combat food insecurity and provide a closer bonds to nature and associated wellness, this 2.5 acre farm, garden and community center features fruits and vegetables, flower gardens, raised beds, exercise stations and walking paths. WLCAC purchased the land in 2005 and received a $5 million grant from California state Proposition 84 funds to create Mudtown farms, named after the part of Watts where African Americans were segregated in, known for its mud-covered streets. The facility, which broke ground in 2012 and was formally dedicated in 2022, also includes a two-story training center, a greenhouse, orchard and an outdoor classroom. The next phase of Mudtown Farms will feature a cannery, general store and a roadside produce stand.


2. Watts Towers
1921
1727 E. 107th St, Watts

You all know the story by now: Italian immigrant Sabato "Simon" Rodia collects scrap reinforced steel bars (using the adjacent Pacific Electric Santa Ana Line tracks as a fulcrum to bend them) and other found scrap material from rocks to broken glass to bottle caps, and builds 17 structures on his property over a period of 33 years. Then in 1955, he up and left for Northern California and never came back. Now that you know the story, see them up close for yourself. You don't deserve to call yourself an Angeleno if you've never visited the Watts Towers before. Signore Rodia's creation is 102 years old now, and recently fully restored for Angelenos to admire them for generations to come.


3. Pacific Electric Watts Depot
1904
1686 E. 103rd Street, Watts

Adjacent to the Metro A Line's 103rd St/Watts Towers station is a mustard-colored building that was once the Pacific Electric's Watts depot. A popular stop along the old PE Long Beach Line, the building survived not only the PE's abandonment, but was the only wooden structure that was not set on fire during the 1965 Watts Riots. After a renovation project in the 1980s, the Watts Station has functioned since 1989 as a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customer service center.


4. Children's Institute Watts Campus
2022
10200 S. Success Ave, Watts

This regional early childhood and youth/family resources nonprofit has locationsacross the greater Los Angeles area. Its 5th and newest campus right here in Watts opened in June 2022 was designed by none other than the Santa Monica-based starchitect Frank Gehry.  

5. Ted Watkins Memorial Park
Dedicated 1995
1335 E. 103rd Street, Watts

Originally built in the 1930s to memorialize Western actor Will Rogers, this 28-acre Los Angeles County park was re-named in 1995 after the late Ted Watkins (1912-1993), a local community activist and the founder of the Watts Labor Community Action Center, which he started in 1965, just months before the Watts Riots. The aftermath of the uprising heightened the purpose of his nonprofit agency, which dealt with social services, community development and empowerment for the Watts area. The park also features a youth baseball field built by the Los Angeles Dodgers, a newly-built community swimming pool and gym with basketball courts.

6. Watts Central Avenue Great Streets Project
2023
Central Avenue between Century Blvd and Imperial Hwy

You may or may not have noticed that one of the "hidden agendas" of CicLAvia is to create or improve bicycle infrastructure on the streets of its routes. The "Heart of L.A." routes during the 2010s birthed the existing DTLA bicycle infrastructure on 7th Street, Spring Street and Broadway. The streets of Watts have hosted five previous CicLAvias and this 1.1-mile LADOT Great Streets project, spearheaded by the Watts Labor Community Action Committee to alleviate the high number of car crashes along the thoroughfare, became the end result. Completed in February 2023, it features protected bicycle lanes along Central Avenue between Century and Imperial Highway

7. WLCAC Skate Park
2010
10950 S. Central Ave, Watts

Conceived in 2006 as a project of local nonprofit Watts Labor Community Action Center (which is headquartered on-site in the surrounding 7-acre campus) and skatepark builder Spohn Ranch, this 4,000 square foot skateboarding facility was created to give Watts youth a safe and quality space to ollie. If you brought your board to CicLAmini, you have just the place to channel your inner Tony Hawk.
8. Pacific Electric El Segundo/San Pedro Branch
1911

The railroad track that crosses Central Avenue just south of the southern terminus of the CicLAmini route is the El Segundo/Torrance branch of the Union Pacific Railroad, which emerges from the track that parallels the Metro A Line just south of the 103rd St/Watts Towers station. But this track has quite some history. It carried Pacific Electric interurban cars from Downtown Los Angeles and on to El Segundo (1911-1930), Redondo Beach (1912-1940) and San Pedro (1912-1940). After 1940, the tracks were used for local freight trains of the Southern Pacific Railroad until it merged with the Union Pacific in 1996. The plate girder bridge to the west of Central Avenue may or may not have been a Pacific Electric relic (The Militant won't add it to his Pacific Electric Archaeology Map until he can confirm it).

9. Compton Creek
Running from Main Street & 107th St to the Los Angeles River

Just to the west of Central Avenue is Compton Creek, the southernmost tributary of the Los Angeles River. It is a remnant of a time when what is now South Los Angeles and the South Bay were dotted with wetland marshes replenished by winter rains and underwater aquifers, surrounded by forests of Willow and Cottonwood trees. In fact, the unincorporated Los Angeles County community known as Willowbrook was named after what the creek originally looked like. Originally called "Avila Creek" (after the family that owned the original Rancho La Tajauta, which became the Watts/Willowbrook area), The creek began in a onetime marsh in South Los Angeles, where its source was forced into an underground channel circa 1940s and emerges east of South Main St near 107th Street. Passing its namesake city, the creek heads southeasterly and joins the Los Angeles River just east of the 710 and south of Del Amo Blvd. Like its destination waterway and other creeks in Southern California, this 8.5-mile arroyo was channelized in the 1940s to function as flood control (although the southernmost 2.7 miles still have a natural bottom, providing an important ecosystem for avian, aquatic and reptilian wildlife).

Happy CicLAmini!

BONUS: THE OFFICIAL MILITANT ANGELENO EPIC CICLAVIA TOUR FOOD GUIDE!

First off, The Militant really wanted a nice list here for Watts. Unfortunately, things have changed over the years. The experimental healthier fast food joint Locol, located on 103rd between the Watts Pacific Electric Station and Mudtown Farms, closed down for good in 2018. And the Instagram-famous Mexi-Fusion stand All Flavor No Grease since graduated to a food truck after vending from a residential driveway on 108th Street, but unfortunately for us, the truck plans to sell at the Fair in Pomona this weekend. The Militant has spotted a few taco trucks along Compton Avenue north of 103rd, but can't vouch for their menu or quality. So since this is a very short CicLAvia, the list will likewise be very short. So here goes:

1. Hawkins House of Burgers
11603 Slater St, Willowbrook
www.hawkinsburgers.com

Rollin' down Imperial highway, big nasty burger at your side is this institution, in business since 1939. Having survived riots, uprisings and a big-ass freeway built next door, this family-run business is in the hands of Cynthia Hawkins, the third-generation family member to helm this stand that specializes in angus beef hamburgers, expertly-grilled, thick and juicy with a sesame-seed wheat bun, fresh thinly-chipped red onions, romaine lettuce and a generous slice of tomato. A burger (turkey, chicken, fish and veggie patty options are also available) with fries and a drink will cost about $15-$20 but it's totally worth it. They also sell chicken and waffles, fried catfish/salmon, tacos and burritos. The Militant considers Hawkins one of this Top 10 best burgers in Los Angeles. Yes, there's probably going to be a crazy long line on Sunday (open until 6:30 p.m.) but...YOLO.





The Militant's Epic CicLAvia Tour XLVI!!!

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Interactive map! Click here for larger view.

The 46th CicLAvia is upon us this Sunday, the fourth of eight such open streets events in 2023, and this is the first, and perhaps only all-new route in this year's lot that doesn't include a portion or alteration of a previous CicLAvia route. At 6.2 miles, its one of the longest CicLAvias this year (especially since last month's CicLAmini edition in Watts was so dang short...). This time, we head deep down Vermont from the 30s to the 90s-numbered streets. It was a corridor which was quite a happening place back in the 1930s-1940s, and some of the vestiges of that era remain in buildings with Art Deco and Streamline Moderne architecture, and some very unique business signage (Forgive the lateness of this Epic CicLAvia Tour Guide post - Life and The Metro Regional Connector opening got in the way...It's going on 6 a.m. Saturday morning as he's typing this and The Militant is looking forward to at least a couple hours' sleep...Zzzzz...).

Welp, see you or not see you on the streets this Sunday!

Oh yeah, if you found this Epic CicLAvia Tour guide useful and visit any of these sites, please add the #EpicCicLAviaTour hashtag to any social media post that includes it. The Militant will be glad to re-tweet!

And if you appreciate The Militant's work, kick him a little love via PayPal! He *hates* asking for money, but you know how it is these days...A Militant's gotta pay his bills! He sacrifices a lot of his time to do this! Your support is much appreciated!

Support The Militant Angeleno!
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=K5XC5AM9G33K8



1. Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
2025
Vermont Avenue and 39th Street, Exposition Park

Taking shape on west side of Exposition Park like a Naboo Royal Starship is the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (or, "The Luke," as The Militant would like to call it), a state-of-the-art visual, cinematic and interactive museum founded by 'Star Wars' creator and filmmaker George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson. The site, located in close proximity to Lucas' alma mater, USC, beat out other site proposals in San Francisco (home of Lucasfilm, Ltd) and Chicago (Lucas' birthplace) when it was announced in 2017. Originally intended to open in 2021, it was delayed to 2025 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and various construction delays.


2. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
1923
3911 S. Figueroa Street, Exposition Park

You all know this sports venue. Chances are you've been to a sporting event, concert or other gathering here at last once in your life. Opened on May 1, 1923 - 100 years ago - in honor of the local soldiers who died in World War I (hence the "Memorial" in the name), it is THE home of Los Angeles sports. It was designed by Los Angeles icon architects, the father-and-son team of John and Donald Parkinson. At one time or another, it has been the home turf of the Rams, Raiders, Chargers, Dodgers, UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans (who still play there today). Its iconic peristyle torch tower lets you know that it has hosted two Olympic Games (1932 and 1984, with a third in 2028), one World Series (1959) and two Super Bowls - including the first-ever (1967, and later 1973). And there's been so many more. Happy 100th to the Coliseum!

3. Manual Arts High School
1910
4131 S. Vermont Avenue, Exposition Park

Built in 1910, it is the oldest high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District still standing on its original site (Los Angeles HS moved from Downtown to Mid-City in 1917 and Polytechnic HS moved from Downtown to Sun Valley in 1957). It suffered serious damage in the 6.4 1933 Long Beach Earthquake, and its buildings were rebuilt through the mid-1930s, this time in its current WPA Streamline Moderne style, designed by none other than John and Donald Parkinson. Notable alumni include film director Frank Capra, Jackie Robinson's widow Rachel Robinson and former Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke. From 1911-1915, a teacher by the name of Ethel Percy Andrus taught at Manual Arts. In 1916, she moved on to Lincoln High School where she became the first woman in California to become a high school principal. After her retirement, she founded the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), which also happens to be a major sponsor of CicLAvia. Full circle!

4. Vermont Square Branch Library
1913
1201 W. 48th Street, Vermont Square

Built at a cost of $35,000 from steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie's library fund, Vermont Square was the oldest and first of the Los Angeles Public Library system's 72 branches to be built, and the first library to be owned by the LAPL (the Central Library opened 13 years later and its predecessor was in a leased building). The single-story Italian Renaissance Revival building was designed by architects Hunt & Burns, who also designed the Wilshire Ebell Theatre and the Automobile Club of Southern California headquarters on Figueroa. It was the first of six (and three surviving) such LAPL branches built from the $210,000 Carnegie Libraries grant in the 1910s (the other surviving branches are the Lincoln Heights Branch, and the Cahuenga Branch in East Hollywood). The Militant visited the Vermont Square Branch Library back in 2011.

5. Santa Fe Railway Harbor Subdivision/Metro Rail To Rail Project
1880s/2024
Paralleling Slauson Avenue, South Los Angeles.

The CicLAvia route crosses a set of railroad tracks in the street...but there are no more tracks to the east or west of Vermont Avenue. Whatup with that?! Well, this abandoned railroad right-of-way was an important part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (a.k.a. the Santa Fe) and Los Angeles transportation. It was built in the 1880s as the railroad's access to local sea ports (initially Redondo Beach in 1888, and later extended through Torrance to Los Angeles Harbor in the 1920s). It provided freight transport access for local industries - particularly the oil industry in El Segundo, as well as passenger/local commuter rail service up until the early 20th century. The line was abandoned in 2002 with the opening of the Alameda Corridor, providing a shared, direct access to the Harbor for all of the freight railroads. It is now owned by Metro, where a bicycle/pedestrian path currently known as the "Metro Rail to Rail Project" is under construction. The path will start from the K Line Fairview Heights station and head east along the former freight line to the Metro A Line Slauson station. A later phase will continue even father east to the Los Angeles River.


6. The Gage Avenue Bends
1930
Gage Avenue, South Los Angeles

Take a look at 11-mile Gage Avenue on a map and you'll readily notice that the street, which stretches from Bell Gardens in the east to Los Angeles' Hyde Park neighborhood in the west, is not as quite as straight as the other major thoroughfares in the absolute N-S-E-W Jeffersonian Grid dominant in Los Angeles (outside of the angled Spanish Grid of Downtown, of course). Why is this so? Was it a rail line? Not for most of the alignment (there were short sections that bore Los Angeles Railway and freight railroad tracks). The answer lies in how Gage Avenue was created: Named after California governor Henry T. Gage (1852-1924), who served from 1899-1903, the far eastern end of the avenue (where the Gage family hacienda was located) was named "Gage Road" in 1925, presumably in memory of the recently-deceased former governor. In 1930, Gage Avenue was designated, which involved the piecemeal merging of the former 63rd Street, Hyde Park Boulevard, and Baker, Merrill and Irvington avenues. Curved sections of road were carved out of city blocks to create a continuous alignment, and Gage Avenue was born.


7. Congress Theatre
1939
7506 S. Vermont Avenue, Vermont Knolls

Back in the day, this part of town - then known as "Southwest L.A." (hence Los Angeles Southwest College just a few miles away), was a pretty happening place, with numerous shopping destinations and neighborhood theatres. One of them was the Art Deco Congress Theatre, designed by Clarence J. Smale. The architect  designed other theatres in Southern California, such as the Hawaii Theater in Hollywood, the Colorado Theatre in Pasadena and the Loyola Theater in Westchester, as well as a number of private homes, such as that of actor Buster Keaton. The 869-seat cinema opened on May 25, 1939 and featured 'Flirting With Fate' and 'Gunga Din' with a few celebrities of the day in attendance. In the 1940s, the theatre was bought by Harry Vinnicof, whose Vinnicof Theatres chain ran a number of other movie houses along Vermont Avenue, such as the Madrid, the Regent, the Temple and the Vermont (no, not the one that exists today - that was called the Campus Theatre). The Congress was popular for screening sci-fi and horror/monster movies. It the last reel rolled in Fall 1960 and a number of churches have used the building ever since.


8. Faith Dome/Site of Original Pepperdine University Campus

1937/1989
7901 Vermont Avenue, Vermont Knolls

This was the original campus of Pepperdine University (a faith-based liberal arts college founded by auto parts magnate George Pepperdine), which opened in September 1937. The 1930s Streamline Moderne structures of the original campus, designed by John M. Cooper (Santa Monica's NuWilshire Theatre, DTLA's Roxie Theatre) are still standing towards the southern and eastern ends of the property.
Pepperdine moved to its current Malibu campus after growing racial tensions between its predominantly White student body and staff and the predominantly Black residents of the surrounding neighborhood tragically culminated in the shooting death of a local teen by a university security guard in 1968. In 1981 the old Pepperdine campus property was purchased by a church called the Crenshaw Christian Center, which built the 10,146-seat Faith Dome (they put the "God" in "geodesic," you could say...) as their primary place of worship in 1989.


9. Hattem's Shopping Center
1931
8039 S. Vermont Avenue, Vermont Knolls

This towering Art Deco delight seems to be out of place on South Vermont. But back in the day, it was just another Art Deco/Streamline Moderne structure on the avenue. Isadore M. Hattem, a Turkish-born Shephardic Jew, was one of the pioneering merchants of the early 20th century, having started out as a produce vendor at Grand Central Market. In 1927, he created the first supermarket in Los Angeles, Hattem's Market, located in a Spanish revival building designed by architect Walter R. Hagedohm (who also designed Newport Beach's Balboa Inn) on Western and 43rd Street. In 1931, Hattem  opened a larger 2nd location here on Vermont, called Hattem's Shopping Center, also designed by Hagedohm. It was a 24-hour supermarket that boasted its own parking court and adjoining buildings with other retail spaces. In the 1940s, the market became Allen & Huck Markets, which closed in the early 1960s. It was later purchased by Pepperdine University and functioned as its administration building until they moved out to Malibu in 1969. The building, largely intact and renovated, is now a community center for the Church of Scientology.


10. Vermont Knolls
1928
Area bounded by 79th Street, New Hampshire Avenue, 83rd Street and Normandie Avenue, Vermont Knolls

You might have heard of various knolls - Bixby, Canterbury, Beyoncé...Well this collection of Spanish Colonial Revival and French Revival single-family homes, originally known as Vermont Avenue Knolls was created in the late 1920s in an area then-known as Southwest Los Angeles, marketed a middle-class neighborhood with affordably-priced homes accessible to Downtown by the Los Angeles Railway's F Line on Vermont, but also bearing driveways and detached garages. If you look at a map, you'll see an elliptical pattern formed by 81st Street and 81st Place. Where have we seen those patterns before? Why yes, in Leimert Park. In fact, Vermont Avenue Knolls was developed by The Walter H. Leimert company, at around the same time his larger Leimert Park development was built. The homes are recognized by the City of Los Angeles as the Vermont Knolls Historic District.


11. Balboa Theatre

1926
8713 S. Vermont Avenue, South Los Angeles

South Vermont had no shortage of cinemas. This one such Spanish Churrigueresque movie house, the Balboa Theatre, which seated 1,250, was designed by Lewis A. Smith, who also designed the almost-century-old Vista Theatre in East Hollywood/Los Feliz. Opened on April 6, 1926 as part of the West Coast Theatres chain, it was later part of the Fox Theatres chain and known as the Fox Balboa in the '30s, and later under the ownership of Southside Theatres. Its movie days came to a fin in the 1960s. In the 1980s, the Balboa was revived as a live music venue, specializing in punk and metal concerts (The Dead Kennedys performed here in 1985). In the '90s and '00s, it became a Nation of Islam mosque and is currently known as Pan-Andreas West, a movie production/filming facility.


12. Million Article Thompson Sign

1932
8938 S. Vermont Avenue, South Los Angeles

What is a Million Article Thompson? Who is Million Article Thompson? Was he a prolific journalist who wrote a million articles for some long-gone newspaper (gotta be the evening edition of that paper, perhaps)? Actually, Million Article Thompson was the name of a local hardware store in the below retail space. The store opened in 1932 and they bore a decidedly large neon sign on its roof to tell the whole world who they were. The store closed sometime later, but the sign remained (though its neon tubes long gone due to weather and decay), and is a curious vestige of the aesthetics of the Great Depression/Art Deco/Streamline Moderne/WPA era.


13. Happy Bear Sign
c. 1930s/1940s
9640 S. Vermont Avenue, South Los Angeles

The business currently known as Perfect Paint & Body features a rusted metal silhouette of what looks like a twerking teddy bear holding up some sort of rectangular sign. From the 1920s to 1950s, auto shops across the US had these signs, known as "Happy Bear" or "Laughing Bear" signs. Bear Manufacturing Company of Rock Island, IL was known for producing automobile wheel alignment  and diagnostic tools. Auto mechanic shops bearing (no pun intended, but maybe it was) the Happy Bear signs let customers know that the mechanics at the shop were trained by Bear and they were using their tools. Many servicemen returning from World War II in the late 1940s went to train at Bear's mechanic school in Illinois to learn new trades and start their own mechanic shops. Only about three dozen "Happy Bear" signs are still in existence nationwide, most of which are here in Southern California.

14. Kindle's Donuts/The Original Big Do-Nut
1950
10003 S. Normandie Avenue, Westmont

You might look at this ginormous donut sitting atop a single-story stand and scoff at it being a Bought-on-Wish.com version of Randy's Donuts. But hole on, your mind is in a twist here. You're actually looking at The O.G. Ginormous Donut Stand. Donut entrepreneur Russell C. Wendell opened the first of his Big Do-Nut stands right here in 1950. It was designed by Harry J. Goodwin and featured a ginormous 32-foot gunnite donut atop the retail stand. He opened nine other locations across Southern California, from Bellflower to Reseda. Big Do-Nut lasted for some 25 years, after which the individual locations went independent. The Inglewood Big Do-Nut, in operation since 1953, was bought by Robert Eskow in 1976 and re-named it after his son, Randy. The rest is history. Russell C. Wendell later moved on from donuts to tacos and hot dogs and started a chain called Pup-N-Taco (You might have heard of it). This location was bought by Gary Kindle in 1977. Of the five surviving Big Do-Nut locations, this is the only one to spell "Donut"/"Donuts" as "Do-Nut" from the original name. Definitely try the Texas Glazed here. It's almost as ginormous as the donut on top of the building!


15. Jesse Owens Park

1950
9651 S. Western Avenue, Westmont

The Militant remembers passing by this place during his Lil'Mil days before the 105 Freeway existed, when his family would make that 7-mile surface street trek along Century Boulevard from the 110 to get to LAX. This 20-acre Los Angeles County Regional Park seems to have it all: A gymnasium, a swimming pool (including heated indoor pools), basketball and tennis courts, a Dodgers Field of Dreams baseball diamond, a children's playground, a soccer field and a 9-hole, 3-par golf course. Originally built in the 1950s as Southwest Sportman's Park, it was re-named in 1980 following the death of Olympian Jesse Owens, the Track and Field athlete who won 4 Gold Medals (the first American to do so in that sport) at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. As both an American and a Black man, his record-setting performance at the time was a symbolic "up yours" to Adolf Hitler, who was present at the games and attempted to use the Berlin Olympics as a propaganda vehicle for Nazi Germany and the supposed superiority of the Aryan race (Well that didn't quite work out, did it?).

Happy CicLAvia!

BONUS: THE OFFICIAL MILITANT ANGELENO EPIC CICLAVIA TOUR FOOD GUIDE!

1. Mr. Fries Man
3844 S Figueroa Street, Exposition Park

Started in 2016 as a Gardena-based food truck whose loaded fries gained viral popularity via the Instagram platform. The Militant has been to its K-Line accessible Inglewood location. This one is right on the other side of the Coliseum, check it out!

2. Barbeque King
5309 Vermont Avenue, South Los Angeles

The place to go for tri-tip, ribs and links. Burgers also made here as well.

3. Slauson Barbacoa Corridor
All along Slauson Avenue, South Los Angeles

Perhaps one of the biggest hidden food secrets in Los Angeles. For the past few years now on weekends, a number of authentic Mexican barbacoa stands have set up along the abandoned BNSF railroad right of way along Slauson Avenue. Despite the Rail to Rail Project construction, many of them are still around, albeit moved to the other side of the street. The Militant can't recommend any single stand, try any of 'em, or judge them on the size of the lines/crowds. You can't miss here really.

4. Carnitas El Valy
Southeast corner of Vermont and Gage avenues, South Los Angeles

They're only here during the weekends, which is perfect timing for CicLAvia. This stand sells carnitas plates, as well as tacos.

5. Casa Honduras
9131 S. Vermont Avenue, South Los Angeles

In the mood for some Central American cuisine? This is the place for some authentic Honduran dishes.


6. Gorditas Salcido
9715 S. Vermont Avenue, South Los Angeles

Also only open on weekends, this stand sells authentic Mexican gorditas.

7. Kindle's Donuts
10003 S. Normandie Avenue, Westmont

The original Big Do-Nut stand! Try the ginormous Texas Glazed!

8. Dulan's on Century
1714 W Century Blvd, Westmont

Down for some Soul Food? This local institution's main location on Crenshaw is currently closed for renovation, its K-Line close Inglewood location is packed, but this low-key location on Century is just right, especially on CicLAvia Sunday.












Moving Right Along...

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 All good things may or may not come to an end. After 16 years, the Militant is making his last post on This Here Blog Site...Because he has recently purchased his own domain and has set up a brand-spankin' new WordPress blog site! So, no, The Militant isn't calling it quits, he's just moving. He's had it with this Blogger.com platform and its very user-unfriendly formatting. But history-loving archivist he is, he will keep this site up as The Militant Archives and continue to link to this one when and where appropriate. Some important posts will be updated and migrated to the new site as time permits though.

In the meantime, you can find The Militant at his new website: militantangeleno.com! See you or see you there!





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