Thanks to initiatives like these, York Boulevard remains an eclectic thoroughfare where everything-from auto repair shots to street murals, Mexican mini markets, vegan sports bars, record stores, and more-seems to converge. Local watering hole The York supports schools and libraries in the neighborhood, including funding the Arroyo Seco Regional Library’s summer reading program. Taiwanese restaurant Joy pays homage to its previous tenant, a fabled fixture called Elsa’s Bakery, by baking Mexican wedding cookies and donating proceeds from sales to Highland Park-based nonprofits or the greater NELA area. “What I love most is how our long-standing mom-and-pop businesses are still thriving alongside the new,” she remarked.įortunately, many of Highland Park’s newer entrepreneurs are committed to enriching the community-whether by hiring locals, collaborating with youth programs, or giving back. Nogueira, who created the El Mercado York Village Arts & Craft Festival to honor traditional Mexican-American and Chicanx cultures, says neighbors come together and look out for each other. In large part thanks to people like Paredes and Highland Park Chamber of Commerce President Yolanda Nogueira, there’s more desire than ever to preserve the neighborhood’s heart and soul. ![]() Now that Highland Park is nice, shiny, and attractive, forget that there were people who worked hard to make it into what they perceive to be ‘hip.’” York Blvd | Tiffany Tse “We gave back to the community and helped the youth. “We were here when there was a lot of gang violence, when it was considered a ‘bad’ city to some,” Paredes explained. “York is a breeding ground for activism, with anti-gentrification demonstrations, Black Lives Matter protests, and festivals raising awareness about anti-Asian hate taking place on the street in the past,” said former Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council President Estrella Sainburg.Īs development reshapes York and its neighboring streets, some residents-like homegrown restaurateur Gabriel Paredes of Nativo-chafe against the displacement of long-established locals who feel priced out of their homes and Highland Park’s newly minted reputation as a hipster haven. It continues to serve as a hub for advocacy and community involvement too. Rich in history, art, architecture, and great food, this progressive neighborhood has always maintained a culturally significant identity in LA. ![]() As these first-generation newcomers lived and worked alongside more established Mexican-American residents, a dynamic, flourishing, and tight-knit Latinx metropolis began to take shape-one whose cultures, customs, and perspectives are still deeply embedded in this vibrant Northeast LA community. ![]() The ‘70s sprouted an exciting Chicano arts movement in Highland Park, while civil conflicts in Central America during the ‘80s drew Guatemalan, Salvadoran, Honduran, and Nicaraguan immigrants. The latter half of the century spurred a major demographic shift as other suburbs developed, white families moved out and Mexican-American families moved in. Their creative legacy and bohemian spirit are still very much alive today-with one of the West Coast’s oldest liberal arts schools, Occidental College, located just off York Boulevard, which has long served as the main thoroughfare and nexus of the neighborhood. At the turn of the century, writers, intellectuals, and artists of the Arts and Crafts movement called the area home and helped build the Craftsman-style homes that came to define the neighborhood. ![]() It attracted creators and visionaries from the start. Bordered by the Arroyo Seco and wedged between Eagle Rock and Pasadena, Highland Park was annexed to the city in 1895, making it one of LA’s earliest suburbs.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |