California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Cypress Park

In this installment of the California Fool’s Gold, we visit Cypress Park.

 

Cypress Park is sometimes refered to as Cypress Parque — and as Chavala Park by silly haters. However, most Angelenos erroneously refer to it (when they do at all) as Highland Park. Nonetheless, Cypress Park has a unique history and is the location of several places of historical note.

 

For a city as famous for its murals as Los Angeles is, for the most part Cypress Park has very few. On the left is Tlaloc.

 

Cypress Park is located in the narrow lowlands between the river and the hills to the northeast and south. Some of the older houses are, not surprisingly, quaint, attractive and often feature well-tended yards. As with much of Los Angeles, there are also loads of hideous dingbats the color of dirty, faded band-aids and protected by security bars. Cypress Park’s residents are 82% Latino (mostly Mexican) of any race, 11% Asian (mostly Chinese), and 5% white.

The Jeffries family were some of the earliest residents of note in the modern era. They were responsible for developing what was then known as the Jeffries-Highland. Their Victorian mansion was removed to build Florence Nightingale Middle School. Florence Nightingale’s story has been the subject of several films and plays. Below is a clip from one featuring two of my favorite actors, Jeremy Brett and Jaclyn Smith.

Along San Fernando Road, in the western portion of the neighborhood, is a long industrial corridor, quite like most, with nameless, faceless manufacturers, collision repair specialists, &c.

Behind the corridor, where Isabel Street comes to an end (after an intersection with Bank Street) as a very narrow dead end, the so-called “Avenida Assecinos” [sic] became notorious when a white family was shot there around 3 a.m., looking for a shortcut or drugs, depending on who you believe. Although Cypress Park unfortunately has a fairly high crime rate, white people being killed there is rare and was serious enough that it resulted in Bill Clinton getting involved.

 

Back in the 1960s, the 247-acre freight switching facility known as Taylor Yard wound down. In the 1980s it was just used for storage and maintenance. Although there’s still some train stuff over there, a large portion of the former yard is now the nicely done Rio de Los Angeles park, with multiple soccer fields, basketball and tennis courts, and baseball diamonds.

In the early part of the 20th century, Cypress Park was a mostly working class Italian neighborhood. Now, most of the residents are of Mexican or Chinese backgrounds. Nonetheless, a few guilt-plagued weddos have apologetically suggested that their going to the popular bar Footsies (not possessive) on weekends amounts to gentrification. Not to worry, when they head back across the river, the resultant white flight erases the unavoidable “damage” done by Caucasian migration.

Footsies is a bar owned or co-owned by Greg Dulli of Afghan Whigs and Twilight Singers. Footsies is also notable for nearly always containing at least one Amoeba employee, whether drinking, DJing or bar-backing… (or all three). The video below immortalizes the bar, although it features no Amoebas.