WITH SHANTY PADS SQUATTING ON MUD HILLS





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EARLY HISTORY OF THE AREA

SPANISH &

MEXICAN

ERA

EARLY AMERICAN ERA

GETTING TO ROSE HILL





Detail of a Pacific Electric map of Los Angeles map (1920)

THE ROSE HILL TRACT



Advertisements for Grider & Hamilton's Rose Hill subdivision

ROSE HILL SCHOOL - HUNTINGTON DRIVE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL





Huntington Drive School -- fka Rose Hill School

ANNEXATION OF ROSE HILL

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE – ROSE HILL





Our Lady of Guadalupe – Rose Hill

ROSE HILL PHARMACY







Rose Hill Pharmacy





Rose Hill Pharmacy used to stand at 4543 Huntington Drive (at the intersection with Monterey Road -- where a self-cleaning restroom labeled "Rose Hills/El Sereno" now stands). On Christmas Eve of 1926, William Edward Hickman and his accomplice Welby L. Hunt attempted a hold-up of the pharmacy that was interrupted by a cop walking in. A shoot-put ensued in which the store proprietor, 24-year-old Clarence Ivy Toms, was shot in the chest and killed. Hickman would go on to commit one of Los Angeles's most well-known and heinous crimes, the kidnapping and murder of young Marion Baker. He was hanged in 1928. I'm not sure when the pharmacy was demolished. used to stand at(at the intersection with-- where a self-cleaning restroom labeled "Rose Hills/El Sereno" now stands). Onof 1926,and his accompliceattempted a hold-up of the pharmacy that was interrupted by a cop walking in. A shoot-put ensued in which the store proprietor, 24-year-old, was shot in the chest and killed. Hickman would go on to commit one of Los Angeles's most well-known and heinous crimes, the kidnapping and murder of young Marion Baker. He was hanged in 1928. I'm not sure when the pharmacy was demolished.

MEXICAN-AMERICANS IN ROSE HILL

ROSE HILL COURTS







Rose Hill Courts



Rose Hill Courts landscape



A view of Rose Hill Courts from above



Two residences that look to me as if they were at one time stores





Brick building on Huntington from 1922





ROSE HILL GANG

ELDRIDGE CLEAVER

ROSE HILL TODAY

ROSE HILL EATS





El Palenque and the sleeping Mexican

La Milpa by Los Diego's

GETTING THERE AND GETTING AROUND





Pretty sad Metro stop at the base of Buffalo Gourd and Cheddar Jalapeño Cheetos Hill

A muddy trail that leads to the narrowest gate at the end of a cul-de-sac





Rose Hill Drive -- held together by a soggy carpet patch







There are several public staircases which, since the publication of Charles Flemming 's book Secret Stairs , have seemingly catalyzed a real revival in their usage. His book includes a walk, Walk #10 , titled “Happy Valley and Montecito Heights” that includes stairs in Rose Hill (and is rated 5 out of 5 in difficulty). The most impressive stairway in Rose Hill is the 223-stair Tourmaline Stairway , which connects Tourmaline Street below to Rose Hill Drive above.





The bottom of Tourmaline Street Stairs





The top of the Tourmaline Street Stairs









Stairway to Heaven (or Hell)





ROSE HILL PARKS



Rose Hill graffiti on a tree? A trail in Debs Park



Native American Terraced Garden

Rose Hill Recreation Center





Rose Hill is also home to Rose Hill Recreation Center. I'm not sure when it was constructed or the park on which its built opened. Anyone?



I'm not sure when it was constructed or the park on which its built opened. Anyone?

FILM & MUSIC OF

ROSE HILL





Rock N Roll (crossed out) and Dooley









MORE ROSE HILL



I wasn't able to find any great histories of just Rose Hill. The Los Angeles Public Library has a pretty great collection of historical photos from Rose Hill. To see them, click here. If you know of any other sources, please share them in the comment section.





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As always, I welcome corrections, additions, and personal accounts of Rose Hill experiences. To vote for other Los Angeles neighborhoods to be the subject of a future piece, vote here . To vote for Los Angeles County communities , vote here . To vote for Orange County communities and neighborhoods , vote here .



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Follow Eric's Blog and check out more episodes of California Fool's Gold I wasn't able to find any great histories of just Rose Hill. Thehas a pretty great collection of historical photos from Rose Hill. To see them,. If you know of any other sources, please share them in the comment section.As always, I welcome corrections, additions, and personal accounts of Rose Hill experiences.

The site of thewas chosen due to its accessibility to and by public transit. The primary developer responsible for it was. In 1857, Grider had moved towith his family. He began his foray into real estate with the establishment ofinin 1886. He changed partners and locations over the years, formingin 1902. On 3 October, 1904, Grider & Hamilton put up 132 lots of their streetcar suburb for sale, advertising it as being just twelve minutes tovia. In Grider's obituary he was described as being the first developer to sell neighborhoods via the “excursion method,” in which saw he transported potential homeowners via streetcar to then-new toonervilles where they would additionally plied with free. Grider also served onand after retiring from both politics and real estate, opened a pet store called's lots sold quickly and the first community school, known as, opened in 1909. In 1928, some years afterwas annexed by, it was renamed, and later,That just-mentioned annexation of the then-youngtook place on 9 February, 1912, when thes expanded northeasterly with itsThat annexation moved the city's easternmost edge to its present location. A few years later, in 1915,– which includes the bulk of modern day– followed, and proved to be the city's final eastern annexation.The roots ofchurch were in the, which was established in 1921. In 1924 that congregation changed its name to. In 1957 a school,, was added to the church.The transformation ofintojust a few years later is probably a reflection of an early, significant demographic shift. Beginning in 1910, theprovided ample reason for manyto immigrate to. Beforetransformed into, many of Los Angeles'slived aroundand. After the advent of the revolution, new barrios were established in places likeand later other pockets of thebeyond Boyle Heights.In 1928, thechoseas the site of the annual work party for its Mexican-American employees (workers' party was thrown in). It's no coincidence that the dates of thecorrespond almost exactly to those of the, which both increased' impetus for leavingand forhostility towards immigrants. From 1929 until 1939 (not coincidentally when the US entered), around 2 million Mexican-Americans (in many cases US citizens) were forcibly deported to Mexico – thousands from the US. Photos of Rose Hill in theandsuggest that the population was then home to both large percentages of Anglos and Latinos.The) formed in 1938 seemingly with the admirable goal of providing safe, affordable housing to's poorest inhabitants. Soon after, in the name of “slum clearance,” several (invariably minority) communities were leveled and replaced with new housing projects. The first such housing project wasin. During, more project construction continued with, and(all in Boyle Heights),(in),(in),(in),(in), and, built in Rose Hill in 1942.Rose Hill Courts were designed by architectsand. The design of the garden apartments also involved the input of landscape architects, in's case,-born. After starting with the, Hammond went on to establish his own firm and in addition to designing the grounds at Rose Hill was responsible for those atandin, and therenovation inAfter the passage of the, there was a second wave of public housing construction which saw the opening ofinin, andin. Tiny Rose Hill Courts, built with just 100 units, were planned to be part of a massive expansion into the mostly uninhabited area to the north then known as, creating 2,100 additional units of affordable housing. The Rose Hill Courts expansion was scuppered (along with the better-knownin) when right wing forces successfully convinced those in power that affordable housing (often for war vets) was a "socialistic" attack on the American Way.After, most of the non-residents of thebegan to move elsewhere. Mostmoved west, mostmoved east, and mostmoved south. As with Happy Valley, Rose Hill had acquired a reputation as a Mexican-American barrio.As early as 1939 there was already a record of a Happy Valley-Rose Hillgang. A 1941 picture of the so-called slum on Rose Hill's(taken to lend support for slum clearance and the construction of the projects) depicts a well-dressed, smiling, young Latino cradling a child in his arms and bears the caption, “gang leader.”According to one source, thesplit into their own club over a high school football rivalry with kids involved in. As they battledservicemen and gangs fromthey evolved into a street gang.In 1946, the most famous resident ofmoved to the neighborhood with his family – future author and. Among other subjects, Cleaver often documented his childhood in Rose Hill, which he described in 1978'sas “one of these old, proud Chicano communities, like Mara, Happy Valley, Alpine, and so on” that “boasted one of the fiercest gangs in Los Angeles.”, however, Cleaver painted a gentler image of the neighborhood with an untitled poem that includes the lines, “No smog in Rose Hill/ Far from the industrial heart of Los Angeles/ A forgotten hamlet/ A peaceful spot/ site of home.” For those playing at home, the title of this blog entry is taken from that same poem.Althoughwrote of Rose Hill's then-growingpopulation and their efforts to establish a local church, today black Angelenos make up only about 3% of Rose Hill's neighborhood population. TheAnglo population is only about 8%, thepopulation is roughly 12%, and thepopulation about 77%. Although almost entirely residential although there are a few businesses situated mostly alongAs far as I know there is currently only one restaurant in. Judging by the décor and reviews, it serves. Ifreviews are anything to go by (and they're usually but not always not), it's pretty decent food at that. A mural on one of it's walls depicts the dated-but-still-popular image of a Mexican peasant improbably enjoying siesta against a saguaro.The mural on the back of the restaurant is far more unique. Attributed to “is a cosmic-educational mural that covers the entire wall.In addition to El Palenque, there's also a market calledthat seems to be unrelated to the newer,that opened up the street and over the hill in nearbytrain service toended in 1951 but theline serves pretty much the same route. Rose Hill is also served bylinesandRose Hill proved to be one of the least-easily-walked neighborhoods that I've yet explored – made more difficult by rain that had fallen the night before. Firstly, there are numerous "paper streets" – streets that exist only on maps (both paper and online). Secondly, existing streets are often in extremely poor condition -- in many cases nothing more than dirt roads. Parts ofmake Bolivia 'slook positively well-maintained.Other stairs are not so great.and I trudged up a rain-and-mud slickened stairwell thatshowed connecting to a street, but which in fact dead ended behind someone's back yard. Facing no alternative but to return down the slippery steps, I did so as Dooley eagerly pulled downward. After losing my footing I might very well have added my own spilled brains to the garbage-covered hillside were it not for my anorak's hood getting caught on a rusty stair rail.Unfortunately I wasn't able to determine exactly whenopened although train maps from theinclude it. Around the time that the expansion ofwas shot down, the formerarea broke ground asRose Hill Regional Park was renamed(described by various sources as's second or third largest park although it's certainly smaller than, and). Today it seems to be more often associated withthan. Nonetheless it blends almost seemlessly into Rose Hill Park and is easily accessed from the neighborhood., in fact, is more easily accessed from Rose Hill than any other neighborhood. It's located just east of Rose Hill Court.My research was unable to locate any filmmakers or actors from. I was, however, able to find one filming location at the neighorhood's edge., constructed for the old rails that formerly traveled up, is where theknown ashung out before killingin thefilm,(1983).I also wasn't able to find any musicians from the neighborhood, although someone onmentioned a local rapper known aswho apparently has a songEven though in a square of the sidewalk in front ofsomeone wroteand crossed it out – or had it crossed out – there are undoubtedly some rockers in the neighborhood too so please let me know of them in the comment section.