LA Digs - Northeast LA Real Estate Blog

Calls for participation, employment opportunities, a workshop and a talk.

BRAND LIBRARY OPERA TALK - THE MEN OF THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG

Brand Library & Art Center, Associates of Brand Library/Glendale Public Library, 1601 W. Mountain St., Glendale 91201
818-548-2051, www.brandlibrary.org
Tu & Thu 12-8 pm/Wed 12-6 pm/Fri & Sat 10-5 pm
Saturday, May 22, 2010 at 2:00 PM

The Brand Library will be hosting a talk entitled The Men of the Ring of the Nibelung. Richard Wagner never knew his father. However there were many male influences throughout his life: philosophically, spiritually, personally and creatively. In this talk the speaker will look at a number of these male influences and their connection to the characters that Wagner created in his monumental “Ring Cycle”. The talk will be given by Los Angeles Opera Speaker's Bureau member Steve Kohn. Admission is FREE. For more information on the LA Opera production of the Ring Cycle: http://www.laoperaring.com

CALL FOR ARTISTS – CASAS ARTE HOME NTERVENTION PROJECT

Avenue 50 Studio, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit art gallery, 131 North Avenue 50, Highland Park 90042
323-258-1435, http://www.avenue50studio.com
The meeting will be held on Thursday, May 27, 2010, 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., at Avenue 50 Studio.

Refreshments will be served.

A community meeting for Los Angeles County-based artists is being called by Kathy Gallegos, Director, Avenue 50 Studio; and Luis Ituarte, Director, Consejo Fronterizo de Arte y Cultura (COFAC) to provide information about our joint transnational “Casas Arte Home Intervention Project” in Highland Park and Tijuana, B.C., Mexico. A video highlighting part one of the project completed in 2009 in Tijuana will be presented along with in-person comments from some of the Tijuana artists who worked on the project. Part two of the project is scheduled between June 2010-June 2011 as a collaboration between artist Daniel Ruanova and Julio Orozsco in Tijuana with two artists to be selected from Los Angeles. Application forms will be available. Part 1 of this project was funded by CONACULTA, Mexico and Part 2 is funded by the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC)/Ford Foundation. Avenue 50 Studio and COFAC continues our partnership to strengthen and enhance art and culture opportunities between Los Angeles and Tijuana.

CHALK ARTISTS WANTED

SkyPilot Theatre Company of Los Angeles is looking for an Artist who can work with chalk to draw a clown and a play title before and during our upcoming performances of the west coast premiere of "The Clowny Plays", 3 short one-acts with a colorfully absurd twist. The Artist would be drawing the picture for about 15 minutes while the audience is entering the theatre along with the title of the first play. Then, in between plays they would come out and erase the title and draw the next one while the actors get ready for the next show (probably between 2 and 3 minutes time). If you have ever had an interest in working with live theatre with a reputable theatre company, this is a great opportunity.

$20 perdium per show. If interested, please call artistic director Bob Rusch at 323-229-2753 or email him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

ISHMAEL HOUSTON-JONES WORKSHOP

Pieter, 420 W. Avenue 33 Unit 10, Lincoln Heights 90031
Sat May 29, 12:30 – 4:30
$30
Doing It. What is your first impulse? Can you trust it? What happens when the judge falls asleep? Can sight be a handicap? Can you know too much? This is a workshop about improvisation.

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: CITY OF PASADENA PROGRAM COORDINATOR II - PUBLIC ARTS

The Cultural Affairs Division enhances the economic health of Pasadena by marketing Pasadena as a cultural destination through its multi-institutional initiatives, producing two "ArtNights" annually, supporting the arts through the General Fund annual grants program and the Cultural Trust Fund, acts as a liaison with PUSD for life long learning, and will develop the City's first Public Art Master Plan and priorities. Finally, Cultural Affairs manages the Private Development Public Art Program and the City Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Public Art Program.

The Program Coordinator II- Public Arts, under supervision, plans and coordinates the administration of the City's Public Art Program that includes programs for private development and city construction projects; the Neighborhood Enhancement Mural Program; Storefront Art Program, and the Rotating Public Art Exhibition Program.
BS Art History, Visual Arts, Art Administration, Public Art& 3+ yrs exp. Master's Degree highly desired.
$33.72 - $42.15 hourly. This position is scheduled for 30 hours per week and includes a generous benefits package Closing Date: 05/27/10. Interested applicants should visit the City of Pasadena's website at www.cityofpasadena.net for complete job information and online application.

EDUCATION DIRECTOR, ABREU FELLOWS PROGRAM, EL SISTEMA USA BASED AT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY

http://necmusic.edu/about-nec/employment/education-director-abreu-fellows-program

The Abreu Fellows Program, beginning its second year in October 2010, is the first major initiative of El Sistema USA and aims to train a corps of highly skilled leaders to found and direct El Sistema inspired programs in the U.S. and beyond. The Education Director will be a key member of the leadership of El Sistema USA and will be directly responsible for the academic program and learning of the Abreu Fellows. For more information about El Sistema USA and the Abreu Fellows Program, please visit http://www.elsistemausa.org. This will be an accelerated search process as we hope to have the successful candidate in place by July 1, 2010.

one of the many great things about Los Angeles is the huge variety and excellent quality of massage opportunities.

Coming Attractions From the Arroyo Arts Collective

There is so much to do around here! Luckily, many of these shows run for a few weeks, but if you want to attend the openings, you'll have to pack most of them into Saturday, March 13!

Coming Attractions From the Arroyo Arts Collective

There is so much to do around here! Luckily, many of these shows run for a few weeks, but if you want to attend the openings, you'll have to pack most of them into Saturday, March 13!
GERARDO HACER: THE MYTH
PE Lofts Gallery, 610 S. Main St. LA 90017
Reception: Thursday, March 11, 2010 from 12:00 noon to 10:00 PM
Presented by The Avenue 50 Studio, with the support of Los Angeles Trade-Tech College (LATTC) at the Downtown Art Walk in the PE Lofts Gallery (corner of 6th and Main Street).
The work of Los Angeles-based sculptor, Gerardo Hacer, consists of monumental structural, metal, origami animals in bold, flat, solid colors. The centerpiece of the show, Gerardo Hacer: The Myth, is a 2-ton fourteen-foot Pegasus entitled, "Education Gives You Wings To Fly" that will be permanently installed at the gateway of the main entrance to Los Angeles Trade-Tech College's new $250M campus. A former graduate, Gerardo was selected as the face of their multimedia campaign, "Trade As Art". His works have received coverage from SoCal News, Huell Howser's "California Gold", as well as, featured on public transit DASH buses. Contact: Ashley Lund - 310-405-5285

ART AND ARCHITECTURE: MERGING THE CONTEMPORARY AND THE HISTORICAL
Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock, 2225 Colorado Blvd., Los Angeles 90041
323.226.1617, www.centerartseaglerock.org
Panel Discussion: March 13, 2010, 4-6 pm
Panelists: Gwynne Pugh (Pugh + Scarpa), Isotta Poggi (Getty Research Institute), John O'Brien, Cielo Pessione
Bruno Bondanelli will be making a brief presentation on behalf of Italian Living Umbria at the end of the round table conversation and offering Baci Perugina for all.
FOLLOWED by NELAart Second Saturday Gallery Night 7-10 pm
The March 13, 2010 panel discussion about "Art and Architecture: Merging the contemporary and the historical" is particularly relevant at CFAER, a historically listed 1914 Carnegie Library Building, that was itself transformed into a multicultural community center for arts and culture.

ASSEMBLAGE & COLLAGE
Howeeduzzit Gallery, 821 S. Raymond #27, Alhambra 91803
626.458.8811, www.howeeduzzitgallery.com
February 21st – March 13th, 2010
Closing Reception March 13th, 2:00-5:00 PM
Featured artists: Kathy Carvalles, Ruth DeNicola, Charles Dickson, Jack Fenn, Clare Graham, Frank Gutierrez, Cookie Hanson, Cidne Hart, Heather Hoggan, Jeffrey Kibbe, Dave Lovejoy, Mavis Leahy, Jaime Sabatte, Richard Sculley, Suzanne Siegel, Joseph Sims, Richard Turner, Howard Swerdloff, LaMonte Westmoreland

THE VIRGIN MARY CHAINSMOKING AT THE BEACH AND A COUPLE OTHER REALLY AWFUL THINGS I SAW WHEN I DITCHED SCHOOL THAT DAY
Future Studio Gallery, 5558 N. Figueroa St., LA 90042
futurestudiogallery.com
Opening Saturday March 13, 7 to 10 pm, part of NELAart.com Second Saturday Gallery Night
Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta: Drawings, Piñatas, Videos, Prints, Collages, and Photographs
(Don't forget to pick up your free Tati artist trading card at the gallery during the opening)
March's Chicken Boy Trading Card #6, also available Second Saturday. (It's CB, a guy's guy, repairing his cycle)
CUENTOS DE HADAS
Avenue 50 Studio, 131 North Avenue 50, Highland Park 90042
323.258.1435, www.avenue50studio.com
Mercedes Gertz and Esau Andrade reinterpret fairy tales with photographs by Elizabeth Beristain
Opening Night Reception: Saturday, March 13, 2010 from 7-10 pm
The Avenue 50 Studio is proud to present “Cuentos de Hadas” (Fairy Tales), an exhibition of works by two contemporary Mexican artists. Through a narrative language, Gertz and Andrade portray the female vs. male versions of fairy tales. The exhibit opens with an artists’ reception on Saturday evening, March 13, 2010 from 7 to 10 p.m. and closes on Sunday, April 4, 2010.
Mercedes Gertz. Using humor and sensuality, Gertz’s fairy tale series asks us to consider where women are in the 21st century. Her heroines are unapologetic symbols of female confidence. We sense in them a comfort with the body, with play and decoration. They confidently own the sensual, and relish in being a woman in charge. “These … fairy or folk tales … recur over and over through millennia in the guise of innocent stories telling us time and again that the docile, young body gets the prince, that the girl brave enough to venture into the woods—the space of men--meets her fate at the hands of the big bad wolf. Peter Pan lives forever as a boy, Wendy must grow up--it is her calling, her duty, her essential nature.” -- Marlena Doktorczyk-Donohue, Art Critic, Essayist, Poet
Esau Andrade. Following in the footsteps of the Latin American surrealists, Esau Andrade twists reality, creating canvases bursting with color that are pop in nature. He instills a childlike exuberance into his delightful paintings. Andrade comes from a folk art background, as both his mother Guadalupe Valencia and brother Raymundo Andrade are also artists. He is mainly a self-taught painter, although attended La Escuela de Artes Plasticas de la Universidad de Guadalajara. “Unlike the candy colored confections of his more stylized folk art paintings, these other works by Andrade place him firmly in the surrealist tradition shared by many Latin masters. He retains a naiveté and originality with quirky images that are both charming and serious, and also remain indebted to his rich culture for visual symbols that are vivid and intense.” -- Kathy Zimmerer, Artscene 11/2004
Elizabeth Beristain. Elizabeth was born in Mexico City. A graduate of the Escuela Activa de Fotografia and staff photographer for “El Reforma,” one of the top national daily newspapers in Mexico, she moved to Los Angeles as a freelance photographer and later became Photography Editor for the cultural publication Latino Weekly Review. A product of her Mexican mother’s artistic sensitivity and her Portuguese father’s decidedly more adventurous side, this subtle mixture of Old and the New World influences are germinal elements of Elizabeth’s artistry. Additionally, in devising the art direction of her own work, a wider range of crucial creative features shine through, from the world of opera, painting, music, and cinema, in a vision where a unique sense of artistry never intrudes with a boundless appreciation of our common humanity. Elizabeth has participated in various collective and solo shows, both in Mexico and Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband, cinematographer Gabriel Beristain ASC, BSC, and their two children Max and Victoria. She is currently at work on her new series, entitled Crowned Nuns.

And the Annex Presents:
A PRAYER FOR JUAREZ, A CURSE ON THE KILLERS
March 13 through April 4, 2010
Opening Night Reception: Saturday, March 13, 2010 from 7-10 pm
Alfonso Aceves, Ismael de Anda, Antonio Escalante, Judithe Hernandez, Cindy Suriyani, vincentmayakovsky

DECKED OUT - ART ON RECYCLED SKATE DECKS
Cactus Gallery, 4534 Eagle Rock Blvd. Eagle Rock 90041
323-256-6117, http://www.eclecticcactus.com
w/ Featured Artist Michael Pukac plus group show
March 13th – April 7th 2010, Gallery Hours: Weds-Sun 12-6pm
Opening Saturday, March 13, 2010 – 7-10pm
Group Show Artists: Amanda Sage, Motion One, Hans Haveron, L. Croskey, John Park, Spectr, Tommii Lim, Stix and Jones, Yuki Miyazaki, Nick Wildermuth, Ted Von Heiland, Anna Chung, Shahid Brown, Patrick Haemmerlein, Max Neutra, Jacob E. Roanhaus, Jose Carabes, Elle Seven, Liz Brizzi, Jonathan Bueno, Kelly Thompson, Carlos Ramsey, Dicapria, Mikolaj Wyszynski, Walt Hall, Art Martinez, Douglas Alvarez, Julie B., Delphia, Mike Russek, Amy Bernays, Krystle Smith, Alfie Numeric, and more.
Beats by Mr. Numberwonderful
Curated by The Imaginary Light Bulb Factory
10% of proceeds will go to Greenizm: a 501.3c rehabilitating neglected urban landscape into green skate parks in LA County while promoting the arts to skate culture.
More info: ArtSlant Event Page - http://www.artslant.com/la/events/show/92985-decked-out,
Facebook Event Page - http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=301594547342&ref=ts

MICK & FRIENDS: A COLLECTION OF ROCK & ROLL PHOTOGRAPHY
drkrm/gallery, 2121 San Fernando Road Suite 3, Los Angele 90065
323.223.6867, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
March 13th- April 3rd, 2010, Tue-Sat 11-5 Sun 1-4
Opening Reception Saturday March 13th 7-10pm
drkrm/gallery announces it first show of 2010, a group show retrospective of fine art Rock & Roll photographs. Featuring Ethan Russell's 1968 portrait of John and Yoko, Cecil Beaton's portraits of Mick Jagger on the set of the film Performance and Travis Shinn's recent photographs of Morrissey and Marilyn Manson. The Exhibition will run though April 3rd. There will be an opening reception Saturday March 12 from 7-10 pm with several of the artists in attendance.
Also featured are images of Bob Marley from the 1980's by Neville Garrick, Paul Zone's photos of KISS playing a small Queens NY club in 1973 and a 1969 Grateful Dead concert in San Francisco photographed by Ryan Herz plus many more.
The Land of Odd Gallery, 4690 Eagle Rock Blvd. Los Angeles 90041
March 13, 2010 – March 27, 2010
Opening Reception: March 13, 2010 from 6pm to 12am
Come to The Land of Odd Gallery's 5×7″ Group Show, opening on the evening of March 13, 2010 from 6pm to 12am. We will also be continuing our $100 and Under Art Show so if you missed getting to see it, now is your chance to come by and check it out. This event will be held in conjunction with the NELA 2nd Saturday art walk. As always refreshments will be served and the event is FREE!
We are proud to have the following artists participating in the 5×7″ show: Chito Arellano, Christie Bastet, Jeff Bertrand, Julie Bossinger, Deryke Cardenaz, Jennifer Cuellar, Brad Davis, Jolly de Guzman, Diane Harrelson, Chuck Hodi, Edith Ben Horin, Jinx, Bruce Kaplan, Patrick Quinn, Pablo Ramos, Monica Roache, Annalise Sullivan, Jason Sullivan, Melissa Sullivan, and Christopher Umana. Most of these works have been created especially for this event and have never been exhibited before, so come by and show your support.
We will also be continuing our $100 and Under Art Show, featuring the artwork of; Douglas Alvarez, Christie Bastet, Edith Ben-Horin, Charles Bennett, Terri Berman, Jeff Bertrand, Deborah Blanco-Flores, Chris Bonno, Heidi K. Born, Deryke Cardenaz, Bryan Collins, Emma Cooper, Josh Cooper, Creep Creepersin, David Daniel, Brett Gilbert, Jolly de Guzman, Brad Davis, William Reynolds Green, Joe B. Hall, Benjamin Harmon, Santiago Heredia, Nicholas Hernandez, John Hicks, Chuck Hodi, K. Howell, Chris Isner, Jinx, Bruce Kaplan, Amelia Lewis, Cynthia Llanes, Vivian Nguyen, Sean Madden, Demi Pietchell, Patrick Quinn, Pablo Ramos, Monica Roache, Glenda Rolle, Lisa Rosso, Therese Solone, Evil Paul Springer, Melissa Sullivan, Jason Sullivan, and Ckay Walker.
Mention the phrase — "The greatest FREE print on Earth" — and you may choose a FREE 5×7″ linoleum print. You might want to mention it to someone who works at the gallery. Otherwise people will just think you are weird.

MOSTLY SCULPTURE SHOW
Sea and Space Explorations, 4744 York Boulevard, Los Angeles 90042
March 13-28, 2010, Gallery Hours Friday/Saturday 1-6 pm, Sunday 1-5 pm
Opening Saturday March 13, 7-10 pm
This is a show of work that centers on material exploration. The six artists’ works are unified by their emphasis on process and innovation. Each artist engages in a pas-de-deux with specific materials in a poetry of making. In the tradition of Schwitters, Tuttle, Franz West, Kippenberger, and Genzkin, this work is strongly formal and has to do with specific methods of making. Encompassing materials from draped fabric to dyed carrara marble to sheetrock to newspaper to fireproof canvas to human stand-ins and fake flowers, the show is made up of work that is sculptural and mostly sculpture.
Artists: Kathryn Andrews, Alice Clements, Heather Cook, Patrick Hill, Alice Konitz, Brett Lund

MIRROR TO A WORLD
José Vera Fine Art & Antiques, 2012 Colorado Blvd., Los Angeles 90041
323.258.5050, www.joseveragallery.com
Gallery Hours: Wed.-Sun. 11am-6pm
Opening Reception on Saturday, March 13th, from 6 - 9
José Vera Fine Art & Antiques invites you to join us for our upcoming exhibit, featuring the work of Irene Carranza in her solo show "Mirror To A World". We are pleased to showcase her work from March 3 - April 11, 2010, with an Opening Reception on Saturday, March 13th, from 6 - 9 pm, in conjunction with the NELA ArtWalk. Please join us for wine, appetizers and a meet-and-greet with the artist herself.
Artist Statement: On the surface, Carranza's work is about women; that is the subject matter. At a deeper level, however, the works are about issues that women face, and they pay tribute to the resilient female spirit. Some of the images explore challenges of identity that we confront as women as we attempt to reconcile modern life with traditional Latino culture. Thus the art can be viewed as affirmations of strength and celebrations of a complex yet incredibly diverse presence as female human beings. She also explores themes of beauty, nature, solitude, death and rebirth. Feminism is expressed in many forms-virgins, mothers, mermaids, maidens, field workers, musicians and prostitutes, reflecting on the tender aspects of mankind. Carranza prefers to work with organic and richly layered oil pastels, using mineral spirits to blend, achieving painterly results. She also works with acrylic and oil paints, and occasionally some printmaking, such as aquatints, etchings and collographs. The artist's recent explorations of color are done with acrylic paintings on black-gessoed surfaces of canvas and wood, and oil pastels and oil bars on black museum board. She considers these pieces as transformations of darkness into light, or darkness and lightvying with one another. This fascination may come from early childhood memories of the Mexican paintings on black velvet she saw everywhere during visits across the border. It may also stem from her immersion in Catholicism growing up in religious schools and a deeply religious home, where the concepts of good vs. evil and light coming out of darkness were pervasive.

HOW OLD DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO BE AN ARTIST?
The Judson Studios Gallery, 200 So. Avenue 66, Los Angeles 90042
Saturday,March 13th , 6:00PM~9:00PM
Students of ROOM 13, an international network of student-operated art studios will show work at The Judson Studios Gallery as part of NELA Art Night. Three ROOM 13 studios, including James Foshay Learning Center in South Los Angeles, Eliot Middle School in Altadena, and Marjorie Street in South Bay, will showcase paintings, drawings, sculptures, mixed media, assemblage, muralart and animation at this collaborative art installation. The Judson Studios, an internationally known stained glass maker run by five generations of family members, was also the first home to the USC School of Fine Arts until 1920.
Room13 originated in Caol, Scotland in1994 and has grown into an international network of student-designed and operated creative studios. It now provides learning and business enterprise skills to students in Scotland, Britain, Nepal, India and South Africa, and is currently expanding to Mexico, Turkey, China and Austria. The director of theTate Galleries has called Room 13 "the most important model for artistic teaching in school that we have in the UK."
In 2008, Light Bringer Project, a nonprofit arts provider, engaged with the program's international trustees and decided to take advantage of this opportunity for our own public school children. Partnering with Project Design Studio, the organization launched the first ROOM 13 in America at James Foshay Learning Center in South Los Angeles. They proceeded to found ROOM 13 at Eliot Middle School in Altadena. The third, an dmost recent model, ROOM 13 at Marjorie Street, was formed early this year in the South Bay vicinity. Like its peers, each creative studio operates as a physical space flourishing within a public school or community setting and is solely managed by the students.ROOM 13 is dedicated to provingthe worth of the individual with with the support and mentorship of schoolstaff and community members. Facilitated by an artist-in-residence, also from the community, students work in teams, as partners or alone, determining the scope and content of their own creative projects. ROOM 13 artists also learn self-reliance by designing a business model that will sustain their own studio operation. TBWAChiatDay advertising has also provided support of the ROOM 13 network through the contributed help of its creative professionals.
Proceeds from the sale of artworks will benefit ROOM 13 studios.

Dan Koeppel created this fascinating hike through the urban landscape of Los Angeles from the heart of downtown at Angel's Flight to the Hollywood Sign.

It’s amazing what a well-chosen new paint color scheme can do for the exterior of your home. It’s the least expensive major upgrade you can invest in and actually expect to make money on when you sell your home.

Market Update Eagle Rock 90041

At last we have a Multiple Listing Service that has all the listings in one place, no matter what far-flung MLS an agent might put a listing in. So our sales data are now much more complete and, boy, is it interesting. The following table is a sales overview comparing 2007 to 2008:
Eagle Rock followed the news of the day pretty faithfully in that the prices and number of sales dropped a bunch from the second half of 2007. But there are many stories in the details. Look how the number of units sold went down from 2007 through the first half of 2008, but then picked up again. Why? Because the prices continued to drop. This indicates to me that Eagle Rock reached a bottom, at which buyers were seeing value in the market and going for it. Does that mean that prices are going to bounce back up? I don't think so. One expert said that this market cycle is not like a "V" shape, but rather like an "L," where we are in a bottom that stays down flat for some time.

Comparing the two years, you see that 9% fewer units sold in 2008 than in 2007. But if you look at the highest 6 months which were the first half of 2007, compared with the lowest 6 months which were the last half of 2008, you have 12% fewer sold. The lowest price home sold was actually 50% lower in 2008 than in 2007! And the highest price sold was 25% less than in 2007. More indicative numbers were the 19% and 20% drops in the median and average prices. Does that mean the value of your home dropped 20% in the last year? Maybe, maybe not. The really good, well-done homes have maybe only dropped 10%, maybe even less. Because we live in a community of individual, more or less custom homes, it's very tricky to try to generalize.

More facts: 27 of the homes sold in 2008 were REOs or foreclosures, and most of them were in the lower-priced half of the sales. 22% of the homes sold in 2008 were REO, and I'd say that's a significant number for our little town of Eagle Rock.

7% of the homes sold were short sales, while 10% were trusts or probates. So almost 40% of the homes sold in Eagle Rock last year were not "regular" sales. Another way of looking at that is that 60% were "regular" sales.

What about now, 2009? So glad you asked. Of the 43 single family homes active on the market today, 15 are short sales, 9 are REOs, and none are trust sales. That's 35% short sales, 21% REOs over half the properties on the market are distress sales! 28 properties are now in escrow of which 11 are short sales, 8 are REOs, and 2 are trust sales. Percentages again are 39% short sales, 29% are REOS, and only 7% are trust sales, with all of 25% of them regular sales. Again, well over half are distress sales.

Here are the bullet points:

• There are 131 listings today, December 4, in zip code 90042, and 98 of them are asking less than $499,000.
• Highland Park has a long and honorable history in the development of Los Angeles.
• Highland Park has the first and largest HPOZ in Los Angeles with many contributing structures that could qualify for Mills Act Property Tax Relief and also help to ensure that your neighborhood doesn'tend up being ruined by unbridled development.
• There is a vibrant, unique, growing artistic element that adds style and character to the town.
• There are lots of shops, galleries, restaurants and bars within easy access.

1. As in many somewhat economically lower end neighborhoods, HP was hit hard by the recent downturn and experienced probably three times as many shortsales and foreclosures than its neighbor, Eagle Rock, which today has 56 total listings with 23 less than $500k. So you can now find decent 2-3 bedroom, 1-2 bath homes in decent neighborhoods for anywhere from $300,000 to $450,000. Many need work and therein lies even more opportunity. Read about FHA loan opportunities in a soon-to-be published blog of mine and come shopping with me!

2. Highland Park, one of the oldest suburbs in Los Angeles, began as a lushly verdant area studded with sycamores and oaks that attracted artists, writers, and academics. Large Victorian, then Arts and Crafts-style homes lined the main thoroughfares and hillsides. Several universities began in Highland Park including the Los Angeles College of Fine Arts and Architecture, USC, what is now Azusa Pacific University, Whittier, Loyola Marymount, and Occidental College.

4. A number of artists, writers and academics remained in Highland Park and are increasing in number as higher prices have driven them out of Echo Park, Silverlake and Los Feliz. The Arroyo Arts Collective just had its 16^th tour, featuring about 100 artists in studios and homes all over Northeast Los Angeles, but concentrated mostly in Highland Park. Many of these artists have lived in the area for decades, through all the changes, the economies going up and down, the concrete going in, the bars and fences going up. There is also an upward looking commercial environment including restaurants, bars, art studios, and a variety of all the regular businesses that serve a community. Also, NELAart sponsors the Second Saturday Gallery Night where you can wander through the various galleries and see what's happening or join the Bike Tour sponsored by BikeOven and "go green."

5. Check out Folliero's, a neighborhood Italian restaurant since 1968, serving great pizza with thin crust still made by the founder, Tony Folliero. His daughter, Titina, now runs the place and you will love the staff, the food, and the convenient location at 5566 Figueroa St. Another great restaurant just across the street is the more recently established Cinnamon Vegetarianat 5511 Figueroa. Hipsters priced out of Hollywood are edging into a growing club scene that includes hangouts like The Little Caveand Mr. T's on Figueroa. A York Blvd scene near Avenue 51 is growing with The York PubJohnny's, and Marty's Bar (with valet parking, no less) all within a block of each other. You can check all these out on my Restaurant Guide, which you can have emailed or mailed to you for free if you contact me and ask for it.

One of my favorite discoveries is the Future Studio, which is the home of "Chicken Boy," a great icon of the offbeat artistic vibe of Northeast Los Angeles. Art Fein nicknamed Chicken Boy the Statue of Liberty of Los Angeles. A 22 ft high statue of a man with the head of a chicken, Chicken Boy once stood above the Chicken Boy Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. Constructed in 1969, saved from destruction in 1984, Future Studio acquired the fiberglass statue and began searching for a home for it. Several museums turned down the opportunity to house Chicken Boy in their sculpture gardens. Finally, in 2007, Future Studio installed the statue at 5558 N. Figueroa St. You can see the statue anytime since it's outside on the roof, but the Studio is open by appointment (323-254-4565 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.and on NELAArt.com's Second Saturday Art Walks. There is a room devoted to Chicken Boy including many actual items with Chicken Boy on them, and the profits go to the upkeep and preservation of Chicken Boy himself. For more info go to chickenboy.com. This Saturday, December 6, Future Studio has its Christmas sale from noon to 6 pm.