Echo Park and the Big 59

Well folks, yesterday was my 59th birthday. I wanted to do a little exploring around the home area, so we went up to Los Angeles, about an hour away. We went to Echo Park. I had seen it in movies and on TV and I wanted to see it in real time.

Echo Park is located in central Los Angeles, next to Elysian Park ( a nature park with lots of trails) and Dodger Stadium.

The main feature of this densely populated area is Echo Lake. It was built to serve as a drinking water reservoir - #4 - in 1860. In 1892, it was recommissioned as a park. It was closed and renovated in 2013, opening in late 2014.

The bridge to the island was locked shut.

It is just a short 2 or 3 block walk to Sunset Boulevard and all kinds of restaurants and little shops.

We had lunch at a local restaurant called Masas's. We went in after we cruised down Sunset a bit and looked around to get the lay of the land.

I had a meatball pannini and Doc had a club pannini. They were delicious.

Then we went into a few shops, charity stores and bookstores. By the way, parking is tight. We drove up Sunset on Logan and parked on a street called West Kensington. Here are a couple of the gorgeous Victorian houses up there. More on Victorian houses later.

Aren't they lovely?? After our shopping, we drove to Echo Lake, about 3 blocks away. Once again, we had to cruise around and find parking, but we did. Echo Lake has a walking path around it that is about 1 mile long. There are some food carts and a cafe, and a boathouse where you can rent a paddle boat for $10 a person.

One of the more unusual things was that there were several models posing around the lake, with numerous photographers snapping away. Here is one view of that scene:

There were quite a few, and I didn't recognize anyone, but that doesn't mean much.

There are three jets spouting in the center of the lake. People rent the paddle boats and drive under the water, especially when it's hot and sunny. It was in the low 70s today.

There are numerous areas with lots of lotus lily pads. Supposedly they are in full bloom from April to August. There were quite a few right now, as you can see:

After we walked around Echo Lake, we headed up to an area called Angelino Heights. It is very close, less than a mile away. I heard that the house used as a backdrop for the show Charmed was there, and it was. This is it - it's pretty small in real life.

The area with the highest concentration of Victorians is Carroll Avenue. There were a few people besides us taking pictures of the breathtaking homes.

Check out the widow's watch on the top of this one:

This one was my favorite. It was meticulously maintained, and I liked the turrets and the circular opening, the veranda and the arched entry.  Just beautiful.

Anyhow, that was my birthday. I had fun - I like to see how different other's lives can be, and how very interesting to see their neighborhoods. So now I have seen Echo Park, and will remember it fondly.