Then, this last weekend, the event came and went; and I was unable to attend. But, fortunately for all of LA, these are writers involved; and of course, they wrote about it so we all could experience it from varied perspectives:
Eric Garcetti's roundup
LAVoice reaction
Jillian's take
Sha's observations
Don's perspective (pics)
LATaco Nerds have an interesting take on the whole event, and the Echo Park Nerd points to the LA Times article on the lacking Lotus.
So, with all the hubbub swirling around Echo Park Lake & the Lotus Festival this week, I thought I'd share some facts that may not be known by all... "Nerdisms of the Echo Park Lake":
First, a great overview of the lake & its evolution can be found here and the story of the Lotus in the lake, here.
But there are some pieces missing the lake's history, especially regarding boating.
Boating & Boat Racing in the Lake...
In 1901, the City let the boating rights for Echo Park Lake for $84, and the permittee agreed to maintain order and drive out the undesirables who hung around the lake [LA Times].
Boating in the Lake always had its competitions: in 1933, an all-female canoe crew challenged any female team to a race; and in 1935, men raced in War Canoes for trophy's put up by the local Kiwanis [LA Times].
In 1902, The Yale English & Classical School secured the rights to use Echo Park Lake as a place of instruction for boating and promises of regatta races where anticipated [LA Times].
In 1922, the Evening Herald-Express hosted/sponsored the first Model Yaht Regatta and continued to do so until at least 1957. The Times also sponsored a speed-boat regatta as early as 1931 at the Lake (photo above) [LA Public Library].
Echo Park Lake was used as park for "Hometown Picnics"” celebrations, with "scores of brightly painted Indian Canoes"” according to the LA Times in 1924
In 1965, the City's Department of Recreation and Parks held "Learn to canoe" classes every Saturday at Echo Park lake to teach "the proper method of sitting in a canoe" [LA Times].
Echo Park Lake Improvements...
First, when the Lake was built, according the to the LA Times in the early 1890s, the City saw limited funds for park improvements Citywide. Echopark had needs of grading for roads and dealing with the "water problem."” In 1892, Echo Park was referred to in an official budget/tax report as the "“so-called Echo Park,"” lending to reason that it was an idea of a park and not quite the park we know today. In December of 1893, The Times described a more familiar Echo Park:
"Echo Park contains about 33 acres, most of which is a lake. It is north of Bellevue Avenue and one block north of the Temple street railway [modern day 101?]. About 5000 yards of dirt excavated from the lake have been used in building an island in the lake, and 275 loads of rock from Elysian Park have been used to riprap the island. The lake would, in the future, be a desirable place for boatraces [sic] on a small scale."
So, the Lake was once much larger. And water issue mentioned above was one of a stench and swamp-like condition that pervaded the lake for years. This also shows the desire for boat races.
In summer 1902 when the lake was let to go dry, Mulholland explained that the reason the Lake was dry was because water is being sold to irrigators in the City. So, the Parks Department asked that the Lake be connected to the City's water system and no longer dependent on the original Zanja (ditch) system.
As of 1908, it was on the books that a street was dedicated that travels through Echo Park Lake. The City Council removed Bellevue from the records because of the lake; but in July 1914, Bellevue had been filled in, and the City Engineer asked the City Council to re-instate the roadway, which they did [LA Times]. This further shows the lake was once bigger than it is now.
In 1922, the Egyptian lotus beds were planted in Echo Park, according to the Times.
In 1928, the Angeleno Heights Improvement Assn. petitioned for a new boat house, and then in 1932, the lake was drained for two months in spring for the construction of that new boat house [LA Times].
The lake was drained maintenanceintainance in 1948 [LA Times].
In 1931, there was a proposal to use relief funds to fill the lake from 16-18 feet at the center to 4 feet due the large numbers of drowning deaths from overturned boats. The Angeleno Heights Improvement Assn. protested such action [LA Times].
Other items of note...
Multiple people committed or attempted to commit suicide by jumping into the Lake, and since the turn of the centrury, many died in overturned boats, many of whom where teenagers who could not swim [LA Times].
From at least 1954 to 1974, the City hosted the "Becky Thatcher-Tom Sawyer Fishing Rodeo" & costume contest at Echo Park Lake (& also at Lincoln Park & Reseda) [LA Public Library].
Almost 20,000 fish were placed in Echo Park Lake in 1950 out of 40,000 in all city lakes combined [LA Times].
In December 1963, a floating Santa, reindeer, and tree were launched and stayed there, playing Christmas carols until eveningch evenign through January 3rd [LA Times].
3 comments:
I went to pre-school at Echo Park (early-mid 1980's). Word around the playground had it that El Cucuy lived at the bottom of the lake.
(There is this small brownish-red brick building close to the lake. That was where the Pre-School was. I wonder if its still a pre-school.)
Excellent write up!
While the lake was a little larger it was never the size depicted on early city maps that often illustrated the lakes edge extending several blocks north of Reservoir (Sunset Blvd.). What these maps described was the potential extent of the lake if the owners had raised the dam to its permitted height and flooded more of the former Arroyo de los Reyes. The original dam stretched from the current intersection of Echo Park Avenue and Bellevue to a point southwest beneath the 101 Freeway and Glendale Blvd. This small area of lake was lost when it was filled in and Bellevue was extended. In 1905 a plan was proposed to build a concrete Bellevue Bridge from the west bluff above Glendale Blvd followed by a steel bridge/ramp down to Echo Park Avenue. At the northwest corner of the park a small inlet of water reached from the lotus bed to the corner of Lakeshore (Glendale Blvd) and Park Avenue where the waters of the LA River feed the lake via the Canal and Reservoir Company’s ditch. When the ditch was abandoned this inlet was filled in and a second smaller bridge spanning it was removed.
Early letters to the City describe the lake being drained so many times to look for drowning victims that the boathouse operators were regularly asking for breaks on rent since their boats were sitting on the mud of the drained lake.
Well, technically, JOZ committed last year to racing - you just reminded me what she signed us up for ;-) But thanks for doing so. And thanks for the roundup on dragon boat posts, and the history of the lake. My own family history with Echo Park goes back to when my grandfather used to take my mother on the paddleboats there, and now I've successfully led a dragonboat team to victory over KTLA.
Post a Comment