In the twentieth century, Boyle Heights and East LA were LA’s version of Ellis Island–home to a wide assortment of immigrants and ethnic groups–and in the first half of the century in particular, the area had an enormous Jewish population (Canter’s started in Boyle Heights). There are almost no Jews left anymore, and today the LA Times introduces us to a depressing remnant of the old days: the Mount Zion Cemetery, originally opened in 1916 “by a burial society dedicated to provide free burials for poor Jews.” It’s chained up, its graves have been knocked over and vandalized, and no one’s even sure who owns it at this point. Here’s just a small roundup of sad things about this place:

– “Where other cemeteries featured vast expanses of trimmed grass, handsome columns and statuary, Mount Zion was mostly concrete and dirt.”

– “A sign stamped on a wall of bright bougainvillea on Downey Road asks visitors to call a neighboring graveyard if they want to go in. The phone number doesn’t exist anymore.”

– “hundreds of tombstones were on the ground, some lying like small, toppled Stonehenges. On one tomb, a vandal scrawled a cryptic graffiti: ‘Here lies Horse. RIP.’”

– “Throughout the cemetery, rounded, oval photographs set in enamel lay on the ground. The caretaker, Lupe Munoz, said vandals probably used rocks or screwdrivers to pry them off.”

– It’s home to the grave of Lamed Shapiro, a great Yiddish writer “of gruesomely dark stories of pogroms in Eastern Europe who died a pauper in Los Angeles in 1948. Shapiro’s tombstone, in the shape of an open book, had rolled to the ground like a decapitated head but, by a stroke of fortune, landed face-up.” Shapiro was known for his “stories bathed in hyper-violent acts of murder, rape and even cannibalism.”

– During Prohibition, “the cemetery hosted the funeral for a murdered ‘alcohol broker.’ ‘No big shots were at the funeral,’ it was reported in the Los Angeles Times, ‘although a number of lesser lights from the underworld appeared both at the undertaking parlors and the cemetery.’”

– In 1932, a 50-year-old man “shot himself in the head inside Mount Zion. A second bullet pierced his heart, apparently the result of a reflexive movement of his gun hand after the first pierced his skull.”

– “[Neighboring Jewish cemetery] Home of Peace and the Jewish Federation agreed to look after the cemetery many years ago, but neither organization knows who actually owns the property, and county records are inconclusive, listing the name of the apparently defunct burial society.”

– In the early ’90s, “the federation sent a letter to all known living heirs of Mount Zion’s dead. ‘They were almost all elderly people living on fixed incomes,’ [the president of the Jewish Federation] said. ‘Since then, they’ve all passed away….’”

– While Home of Peace Jewish cemetery has about 100 burials a year, Mount Zion hasn’t seen one in about six years.
· Jewish dead lie forgotten in East L.A. graves [LAT]

Curbed LA

Curbed Cup voting is on hold for the holiday weekend as we ponder the week’s results and our final four contenders. There’s only one Downtown neighborhood left, but it’s a biggie (South Park); meanwhile, perennial favorite Hollywood is still in the running, but Atwater Village pulled out a massive upset over other perennial favorite Historic Core. And Silver Lake continues to be incredibly popular (while of course maintaining its veneer of indie cred). Whatever happens, no one’s going west of La Brea. The neighborhoods will battle it out next week amidst the Curbed Awards, our year-end tribute to the 2012 happenings in real estate, architecture, urban planning, and neighborhoods. Stay tuned!
· Curbed Cup 2012 [Curbed LA]

Curbed LA

WESTWOOD: Target representative were out in the Village today passing out free canvas bags and announcing the July 29 opening of LA’s first CityTarget (DTLA gets one later this year). As you can see from the pic, the bullseye sign is up on the store’s exterior, while inside there’s a hive of activity. In case you’re wondering, CityTargets are simply smaller stores that the chain opens in urban areas. Even though it’s more petite (a touch under 100K square feet) than a typical Target (126K square feet), the company is still hiring 250 people to staff the Westwood outpost. [Curbed Staff]

SANTA MONICA: KCRW’s Frances Anderton would like to thank everyone who voted for her article on architectural writer and thinker Esther McCoy on KCET’s Artbound site, which picks two KCET articles every week and puts them to a vote by readers. Although Anderton’s piece was the editors’ pick, an article on OC pinball aficionados won the most votes. Either way, Anderton’s article gave some much-need attention to the Ocean Park-based McCoy, an influential figure in Southern California architecture for much of the 20th century. Once a draftsman for R.M. Schindler, McCoy is now the namesake of the USC School of Architecture Esther McCoy Award (which Anderton won recently). As a 40-year-old woman, McCoy, sadly, was discouraged from joining USC’s architecture school. [Curbed Inbox]

Curbed LA

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission has finalized (but not yet passed) a lease that would put USC in control of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, aka Trojan football home turf. USC has been negotiating for a while now to take over in exchange for making much-needed improvements (read about an earlier version of the proposed lease here). Meanwhile, the Coliseum has been the subject of scandal after scandal; last month, “criminal charges were filed against three former Coliseum managers, two prominent rave concert promoters and a stadium janitorial contractor,” according to the LA Times, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The property is also losing money: $ 1.4 million in the last year. Here’s some of what’s covered in the deal with USC–it’s a bit complicated because the state owns the land under the Coliseum; the Coliseum Commission leases it from the state in a deal that will expire in 2054, and will sublease it to USC.

– The lease covers the Coliseum, the Sports Arena, and some of the parking lot parcels.
– Options to lease for up to 42 years, with the end of the lease coinciding with the end of the Commission’s lease on the state property, on December 31, 2054.
– USC is currently negotiating a deal with the state to control the property after 2054, for a total of 99 years.
– USC would have to pay about $ 1 million in rent annually.
– USC would also have to make significant renovations to the stadium–it’s said it’ll put about $ 70 million in.
– Large events, totaling more than 25,000 people, would be limited to 25 times year (according to the LAT, “state and county museums near the Coliseum have expressed concern that too many large events will overwhelm the parking lots”).
– The Coliseum Commissioners will get 90 free tickets to USC games, which is about half of what they get now. They’d also get premium parking and “access to a VIP hospitality area on game days.”

The new lease could be passed in early May.
· Coliseum unveils proposed lease with USC [LAT]
· Here’s What’s In the Potential USC-Memorial Coliseum Deal [Curbed LA]

Curbed LA

Image via Eastsider LA

The creation of a six foot tall wall at the pedestrian-popular intersection of Sunset and Sanborn remains a hot topic in Silver Lake. Councilmember Eric Garcetti’s office says that, following a complaint, the Department of Building and Safety is investigating the wall, part of an addition to Cafe Stella that the owner says is intended to keep children from seeing adults drinking. It’ll be discussed at a neighborhood council meeting tonight. Cafe Stella owner Gareth Kantner tells Eastsider LA that the wall will be more aesthetically pleasing once blue paint and vines are added–he provided this rendering to the blog. Meanwhile, he discusses even more of his plans (including Moroccan lamps, a possible community board, and lights on the corner) with Echo Park Patch. Will the additions mollify the neighborhood?
· Will blue paint and vines win over Silver Lake wall critics? [Eastsider LA]
· Complaint Filed Over Sunset Junction’s Big New Concrete Wall [Curbed LA]

Curbed LA

Metro has released its final environmental impact report for the Regional Connector rail line–early! We hope that bodes well for a speedy construction. The line is set to run through Downtown and link up the Blue, Gold, and Expo Lines (at Seventh St./Metro and Little Tokyo), for no-transfer rides between Long Beach and Montclair and East LA to Santa Monica. The EIR looks at three “build” options and two no-build options (nothing at all and a shuttle option); the Metro Board of Directors has already voted on a preferred route that would travel underground from Seventh/Metro, north under Flower, then east under Second to Central Ave., before finally heading northeast under First and Alameda Streets. According to the EIR, “An underground junction would be constructed beneath the intersection of 1st Street and Alameda Street. To the north and east of the junction, trains would rise to the surface through two new portals to connect to the Metro Gold Line heading north to Montclair and east towards I-605.”

Stops are planned for Second/Hope, Second/Broadway, and First/Central (that one would replace the current Gold Line Little Tokyo/Arts District station), with “pocket track” that would make it possible to add a future fourth stop at Fifth/Flower (that station was axed to cut costs). The Second/Hope station would also connect to Eli Broad’s under construction art museum up on Grand Ave. with “an elevator from the station entrance to the plaza”–an entrance up on Grand happened to be on a wishlist that Broad and several other rich guys sent to Metro last fall.

The FEIR notes that a lot of people in Little Tokyo are concerned about the effects the project will have on the neighborhood’s businesses. LT will lose about 130 off-street parking spaces in the process, but will get “parking services such as valet parking” during construction. Metro also promises to continue working with the community.

And if any tunnel nerds have been watching New York’s progress on the Second Ave. subway and feeling jealous of their giant drill, here’s a little news on the RC’s Tunnel Boring Machine: plans call for it to be inserted northeast of First and Alameda at the Mangrove property and transported underground to Central Ave., south of First, “where it would begin excavating westward.” That method would allow tunneling to go farther down Flower, to Fourth St., rather than only to Second and Hope.

There will be a 30 day public review period on the FEIR starting January 20.
· Final EIS/EIR [Metro]
· Regional Connector Archives [Curbed LA]

Curbed LA

Voting for the second round of the Curbed Cup wrapped up this afternoon and now here are your final four contestants for Neighborhood of the Year: The Historic Core and Hollywood continue to crush everything they meet, Highland Park pulled an Eve Harrington on Echo Park, and Pasadena somehow slayed the happening Arts District (it’s Neighborhood of the Year for 2011, guys, not 1911). We’ll meet you back here next week for the final rounds of Curbed Cup voting and for the Curbed Awards, our year-end tribute to the best and worst of Los Angeles real estate, architecture, urban planning, and neighborhood news.
· Curbed Cup 2011 [Curbed LA]

Curbed LA