Bulldozers Hit Echo Park

Monday saw demolition work start on two controversial projects, the 9A elementary school site near Alvarado Street and Sunset Boulevard and Angelus Temple’s giant parking garage near Echo Park Lake. The church destroyed a 1920’s era bungalow court on Glendale Boulevard just south of Sunset Boulevard. It’s part of a group of apartments and other buildings that the church wants to demolish to make way for a six-story, 500-car garage. The buildings sit in the middle of a potential historic district, and the city has placed a ban on demolition on new construction until a study can be completed. But the church received demo permits for two of the buildings before the ban was put in place.
The church has ignored efforts by the EPHS to consider other alternatives and designs that would preserve the structures and pedestrian-friendly environment.
On the 9A site, the school district’s hired demo crews started to tear apart commercial buildings (pictured) on Alvarado Street just south of Sunset Boulevard. This is just the beginning, and the district will eventually flatten nearly two blocks and about 50 homes and apartments. It’s the biggest single loss of homes in the area since the destruction of Chavez Ravine (now the site of Dodger Stadium). Click here for 9A details.