RUN TO THE HILLSIDE -- HILLSIDE VILLAGE



HILLSIDE VILLAGE

Pendersleigh & Sons Cartography's map of Hillside Village

EARLY HISTORY OF THE AREA



Detail of J.R. Prince's Territory Annexed to Los Angeles, 1781-1916 (source: Big Maps Blog )



UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD & HILLSIDE VILLAGE'S INDUSTRIAL SECTION







USC HEALTH SCIENCES CAMPUS









The Edmondson Building







On the other side of the tracks are some other older buildings, including several properties owned by the expanding USC Empire, whose massive and ever-expanding LAC+USC Medical Center is located just south of the tracks in Boyle Heights. The first of the USC Health Sciences Campus buildings was the Burrell O. Raulston Memorial Research Building, which opened in Boyle Heights in 1952. Over the decades that followed, USC's medical campus expanded greatly -- in some cases acquiring already extant buildings and repurposing them and in other cases building new ones. The University of Southern California Dorothy and Hugh Edmondson Research Building was built in 1961. Looking at it from the outside it looks like it's mostly used as a storage warehouse these days. To the east of that is the Valley Boulevard Building (which was built by the County for some other purpose). East of that is another group of buildings with USC signage dating from 1930. I can't tell what they're used for. On the other side of the tracks are some other older buildings, including several properties owned by the expanding, whose massive and ever-expandingis located just south of the tracks in Boyle Heights. The first of thebuildings was the, which opened in Boyle Heights in 1952. Over the decades that followed, USC's medical campus expanded greatly -- in some cases acquiring already extant buildings and repurposing them and in other cases building new ones. Thewas built in 1961. Looking at it from the outside it looks like it's mostly used as a storage warehouse these days. To the east of that is the Valley Boulevard Building (which was built by the County for some other purpose). East of that is another group of buildings with USC signage dating from 1930. I can't tell what they're used for.







USC-owned building from 1930

ASCOT SPEEDWAY





New Ascot Speedway in 1924 (image source: LincolnHeightsLA )



Place your bets -- in the Beverly Hills of the Eastside (aka the Beverly Hills of El Sereno)



Lawn jockeys and Zumba



Beautiful, drought tolerant, no-mow Zoysia -- aka Korean Velvet Grass aka Temple Grass



Air Raid Siren Number: 192 and a late Art Deco/vaguely Streamline Moderne apartment building from 1948



Hillside Village storefronts on Valley

Downtown Hillside Village -- the mall

Map showing gang territories of 1978 Modern placa in Hillside Village suggesting borders have changed



Ascot Hills Park behind Hillside Village homes

ASCOT HILLS PARK







Ascot Hills from Woodrow Wilson High School

SCHOOLS



HOUSES OF WORSHIP

Ming Ya (明月居士林)







Behind the gates



Yet another view of the temple

VILLAGE EATS



Cha Cha Chili





Valeria Market





King Torta -- not much from the outside but try the food



Johnnie's -- with some nice, commercial mural work

GETTING THERE AND AROUND

HILLSIDE VILLAGE ARTS SCENE



Fire Station No. 16

Dooley investigates the Dalmatian

Two Hillside Village examples of Jose Antonio Aguirre's A Luminarias Journey







*****

Follow Eric's Blog and check out more episodes of California Fool's Gold







LastI had a stint house-sitting inI spent much of my time exploring that neighborhood with a dog namedwho belongs to the owners of the home I was... sitting. This fall I again returned to theand Dooley I resumed our epic walks. This time we explored, and on one afternoon and early evening, a neighborhood considered by many to be part of El Sereno --is a small neighborhood surrounded by the rest ofto the north and east,to the east,andto the south, andto the west. For what appears to this nonpartisan outsider to be nothing more than a tempest in a teapot, the argument over whether or not Hillside Village is part of El Sereno is surprisingly heated -- at least between a few zealous parties inin one corner and thein the other.I can understand some of the arguments of both sides. Ever sincesplit fromback in '39 other Los Angeles neighborhoods have followed suit whenever a group of residents decide that changing their name will at least distance them from perceived negative associations -- if not actually change anything about where their neighborhood is. On the other hand, elevating or reviving a forgotten tract name to neighborhood status -- or coming up with a new neighborhood name (as will the's) seems like it could be an expression of something more positive. Whatever the case may be, the "Hillside Village" designation has been around for at least five decades and doesn't show any signs of going away so without further adieu, here's a brief history of the area...13,000 years ago, roughly the time when the first people began living in the area, there was no El Sereno and no Hillside Village. We don't know what these people called the area, if anything, nor what they even what they called themselves. Spring ahead about 10,000 years and the ancestors of thearrived from the, ultimately establishing the villages ofto the east andto the west. The Tongva reign ended shortly after's overland expedition passed through the area in 1769, setting the stage for Spanish conquest. In 1771, the conquerors constructed, first in. In 1776 the mission was moved to its present location in, nine kilometers east of what's now Hillside Village. A few years later, in 1781,was founded about five kilometers to the west of the neighborhood's location.The area that now comprises Hillside Village straddled Mission lands to the east and Pueblo lands of the west. Spanish rule ended whenachieved independence in 1821 and the mission holdings were secularized. Mexico's rule would prove even shorter than Spain's and ended in 1848 whenwas conquered by the. In 1850, California entered the union and Los Angeles incorporated as a city and neighboring Lincoln Heights was one of the city's first suburbs. The rest of what what's now Hillside Village was annexed as part of theof 10 June, 1915, which also included most of the rest of El Sereno and what's now University Hills.The southern border of the Hillside Village is generally formed by afreight train line. Los Angeles's borders extend just a bit to the south to include a small, rail-adjacent industrial area north of East Los Angeles alongbetweenandthat's home to the beguilingproperty. The Roscoe Moss facility is a red brick building that was constructed in 1925 and (more than any pretentious bar) looks like it should be lit with Edison bulbs.Anyway, this industrial corridor is situated along a Union Pacific freight line which that company acquired with its acquisition ofin 1996. Southern Pacific was the first transcontinental railway to reach Los Angeles, back in 1876. I don't believe (but I'm not sure) that this section of the rail was part of the original route connecting the city toalthough I believe that I read that it was installed in the. Back then the train also carried passengers to Los Angeles and in 1885, when thebroke their rival's monopoly, a rate war saw trips fromdrop to just $1 per passenger. As I write that last sentence, I heard it whistle blowing although, as I said, it's a freight train now so there are probably rich folks eating in fancy dining cars.After the arrival of the rail, the next big noise in the area was a midget car track that opened on 24 January, 1924 --. It was so named because the first Ascot Speedway had opened in theneighborhood in 1907. For four years it struggled to draw sufficient crowds when thestepped in and subsequently convincedto get behind the operation, at which point it became the. In 1936, after a total of 24 race car drivers had died on the track, the Glendale Legion decided to withdraw from the deadly operation. It was then finally rebranded theand soldiered on until one final, deadly accident on 25 January of that year that took the lives ofand. After that the speedway was closed. Eight months later the grandstand burned to the ground, conflagrating that chapter in one fiery swoop.A few years passed before most of what's now Hillside Village was subdivided. Most of the homes were constructed between 1940 and 1942 in tracts with unglamorous names likeand my favorite,'m not sure when folks started calling what was originally part of the El Sereno neighborhood "Hillside Village." At least as early as thelisted Hillside Village as being one of the communities that it covered alongside, and(although spelled "Rose Hills)". There was also formerly aat least as early as the early-(anyone?) but it does have a fairly distinct-era suburban vibe -- not that homogeneous sameness does a neighborhood make.It's just that most of it looks like like it stepped out of an episode of-- although it seems that many Hillside Villagers are converting their thirsty and boring carpets of grass intolawns or other more interesting options.Still, I'm never going to refer to it asunless I want to illustrate why some are rubbed the wrong way by the neighborhood's reputation as an oasis of pretense in an otherwise pretty unpretentious area.Get this and get it straight -- Hillside Village has a lot in common with the rest of the Eastside and comparatively little with the. There are seemingly as many angry dogs as people (78%, 16%, 5%, and 1%) and I saw none being carried in Coach handbags. As I walked down Valley, a lowrider bounced past me -- hardly a typical site inor even laid back. School was out for a winter break so it was probably quieter than usual but that heavy silence was broken by an ice cream truck bumping thatjam,as well as both crowing roosters and squawking parrots. Actually, it was so quiet for the most part that at one point I thought that I hear crickets breaking into song even though it was still light out. That noise turned out, after investigation, to be the sound of a loose belt in the machinery at a small strip mall that, along with the rest of Valley Boulevard, serves as the neighborhood's primary commercial corridor.Although none of it made me think that I was magically transported into the Westside, there were a few signs that this neighborhood was unlike the others. I smelled no weed being smoked (although it was surely taking place) and instead of hearingorcoming from passing cars I only heard'sandCoincidentally, both songs were released in 1978 and in researching the neighborhood I found a map that someone made of Eastside gang territories from that year. It showed most of "The Village" being claimed by an organization known asAlthough as Eastside barrios go Hillside Village is relatively un-scarred by placas, I did see numerous ones fromand none from Hillside suggesting that Hillside are no more and that theclika doesn't recognize Hillside Village as being distinct from El Sereno. Neither, then, did the media who whenvisited, referred to the area (erroneously and ignominiously) as "East L.A."There areneighborhood signs designating the area "Hillside Village" that went up in 1998. However, the El Sereno Historical Society alleges in one of the least-subscribed-to conspiracy theories (on theirthat they are counterfeit. Not exactly through the looking glass but there you have it.Although located just north of Hillside Village, the 93 acreis practically the community's backyard. Plans to turn the space into a park began in 1930 but it instead was used as antraining center for many years -- visible to people not part of that utility mafia through bars and fences (much like Los Feliz's tantalizing-but-off-limits-to-the-public). Before it opened as a park, the largest park on the Eastside was a cemetery -- that is, if one conveniently excludes the much largerinfrom one's definition of the Eastside for the sake of a good quote (e.g. "Until the groundbreaking for the park in 2005, the largest open space in East Los Angeles was Evergreen Cemetery. This sent the wrong message to our children. If you want open space, you have to die first.")The main school in the neighborhood is. The high school first began in 1937 at what's now. After outgrowing that location, it relocated to the present campus in 1970. The school's architecture was designed by the great local architect. Twice a year, at homecoming and graduation, the school puts on a fireworks show. There's also. I don't have any other information about it but it didn't look that interesting from the street and probably shouldn't be to anyone who's not enrolled there are related to someone who is.There's a huge worship hall on. From that fact alone you might expect the high priest to bebut because it's actually achurch -- a denomination with roots in decidedly un-druidic. The Los Angeles Christian Presbyterian Church (나성한인교회) congregation moved into this mega-church in 1984.The building thatis located in was constructed in 1951 and was once the home of the aforementioned(now located across the boulevard). The last tenants before thewas. Ming Ya acquired the building around twenty years ago and even though it seemed to be all locked up and empty, the smell of joss sticks still hung heavy in the surrounding air. I've still yet to go inside but in my experience, most Buddhist temples are worth a peek -- and maybe more.There are a few restaurants and markets located in Hillside Village, most on or near. They include, and. Cha Cha Chili began in 2009 asand I've eaten there on another occasion. It's a tinyplace and the tacos are good. The tortas are cheap and delicious at King Torta -- in my opinion it's a real gem of the area. Johnnie's Market also sells sandwiches although I've only bought water for Dooley there (after I thought I'd broken her with an epic walk). It was established in theby. Last year I asked the man behind the counter how long it's been run by current owners ---- and he guessed 38 years or so. Valeria's Market also sells its own food, including at least tamales.The small neighborhood is served well by public transit, including theine and's 251/252 , andlines. Althoughhas separate date for neighboring University Hills, they lump Hillside Village in with the rest of El Sereno, to which they only give a walk score of 53. Their transit score for the neighborhood is 41 and the bike score is 39. Nowhere within Hillside Village is more than half a kilometer from a bus line and although there might not be many bike lines, it's all quite easily biked and only, andsee any significant automobile traffic. I suppose though that due to the limited number of businesses one might have to leave the neighborhood to accomplish many errands.Although there was a band called a skate punk band calledI have doubts about them being from the neighborhood or their name being a reference to it. I'm certain, however, that there are musicians from the neighborhood because I heard someone practicing drums somewhere and on a walk through Ascot Hills Park on a previous occasion, Dooley was entranced by a high schooler playing the saxophone at a bus stop.As far as film, there are no movie shops, no theaters, no films shot in part or whole there, nor any filmmakers or actors from there that I know of. If I'm missing something, please let me know in the comments! Same goes for games, literature, theater, dance, and the other arts.There is a little bit of public art in the neighborhood. In front of, there's one statue of a firefighter and statue or figurine of a dalmatian (that Dooley took an entirely wholesome interest in). One plaque on the stations wall is dedicated to, who died in the line of duty on 12 November, 1947 (the same day that themade its only flight). Another informs us that the fire station was built in 1962.There's also's, a collection of public art pieces installed near thehonoring significant figures inhistory. And wherever there's freight rail, there's invariably(or at least) although I've never really explored along the rails in the area.