California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Highland Park

EARLY ARROYO HISTORY The Chumash lived in the region over 10,000 years ago before moving further north as the Hahamog’na branch Tongva arrived from the south. For tens of thousands of years the landscape was predominantly rolling hills and grasslands with wild grapes, clematis, sycamore, California live oak, willows and black walnut trees growing along the Arroyo Seco, a seasonally dry creek fed by springs.

EARLY HIGHLAND PARK In 1885, the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad built the first wooden trestle bridge across the Arroyo Seco where Avenue 64 crosses the Arroyo Seco Parkway. The same year, developers Albert H. Judson and George W. Morgan bought a land which in 1886 they subdivided as the Highland Park Tract. That year, William Lees Judson and his three sons established the Colonial Glass Company and the Pasadena Street Railroad established a horse-drawn trolley line through the area.  Development followed, although by 1888, the land boom had gone bust. Nonetheless, Highland Park was largely spared and Sycamore Grove was annexed in 1895. Garvanza was annexed in 1899. Today, they, along with districts like York Valley are more often viewed as sub-districts of Highland Park rather than separate communities, although all have very distinct atmosphere.

Highland Park Theater first opened in 1925 as a one screen theater with 1450 seats. It was designed the previous year by L.A. Smith. The theater boasted an orchestra pit, a stage for vaudeville acts and large ceiling frescoes. In 1963, it was the last operating Highland Park theater and resorted to showing Spanish-Language movies and porno. In 1974, Highland Park residents picketed the theatre and they stopped showing pornos and added children’s matinees.   It was unfortunately divided into a triplex in 1983. It was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1991. The sign, with more than 750 incandescent light bulbs, was restored and re-lit in the late 1990s through a collaboration of the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Neon Program and the Targeted Neighborhood Initiative Program.

The 895 seat Franklin Theatre opened in 1936. The building opened in 1922 as an auto shop. By 1929, it was a Chevy dealership. In 1934, it was converted to a market. After that, it operated as a theater at least until 1951. In the early 1990s, its parapet and towers were removed. In 1994, it became protected and was included in the Highland Park Historic Preservation Overlay Zone.

EXODUS 

Even though Highland Park boasted considerable charm, the development of Midtown in the 1920s and ’30s siphoned away residents. Even in 2006, Highland Park was home of more than ten percent of the recognized historic-cultural monuments in the entire city. A large Jewish community remained for a time. The Highland Park Hebrew School Association began there in 1923 and built the Spanish Colonial Revival Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park and Echo Park in 1930. Today it is the second oldest synagogue in Los Angeles still operating (after the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Midtown’s Wilshire Center neighborhood).

Highland Park has a fairly vibrant underground music scene. Highland Park is mentioned in the Monolators‘ “Eagle Fighting Zebra.” The bands Bodies of Water, Fol Chen, Seasons, Random Patterns, Crooked Cowboy & the Freshwater Indians, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Mellowdrone and Go Set Go all represent Highland Park’s rock music scene. The Highland Park punk scene produced A.D. Do, FCDN Tormentor, and Hawaii’s Hardcore.

Though born in Germany, Jackson Browne grew up in Highland Park in the Abbey San Encino, a home built by his grandfather. Peanut Butter Wolf’s Stones Throw Records is currently located in HLP.Wombleton Records is the newest record store in the neighborhood.

Although it hasn’t happened for the last two years, maybe in the future they’ll revive the Highland Park Music Festival.

Bands from surrounding communities (and occasionally other countries) often come to Highland Park to play at the American Legion Hall and Mr. T’s Bowl. The building in which Mr. T’s is located originally opened in 1929 as a garage. In the 1940s it was a bowling alley, having likely been converted in 1935. In 1966, it was purchased by Joseph “Mr. T” Teresa, a son of an Italian immigrant who owned a nearby liquor store. Mr. T set up a buffet area and hired big bands to entertain the bowlers. In the 1980s, the lanes closed. In the early 1990s, promoter Jac Zingers started Fuzzyland, which made its home at Mr. T’s. On Thanksgiving Day in 1994, Zinder was killed in a car crash in Silver Lake and Fuzzyland ended. By then, the music and dancing had spilled over into other nights, including karaoke. Mr. T once told me I had a lovely voice after tackling a Smokey Robinson & the Miracles song. He died at 87 on 22 June 22, 2003 but Mr. T’s remains Highland Park’s preeminent live venue.

HIGHLAND PARK NIGHTS

Besides Mr. T’s, there are several spaces for night owls, including Highland Park Billiards. If you just fancy a bar, however, there’s also Dusty’s, Hermosillo, Marty’s, Johnny’s, Little Cave and The York.

HIGHLAND PARK ON SCREEN

Several films have been shot in part or in their entirety in Highland Park, including La Bamba, Better Off Dead, Biker Boyz, Caddy Shack, The Cell, Closer, Cutter’s Way, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, H.O.T.S., Karate Kid 2, Yes, Man, Grease, Reservoir Dogs, Slums of Beverly Hills, Tom Boy, Tuff Turf, Up in Smoke and parts of the TV series 10-8: Officers on Duty, NCIS, MacGyver and Roseanne.