Elysian Park is a neighborhood in Central Los Angeles, California. It is a predominantly low-income community, and has a population of more than 2,600 people. A city park,

Elysian Park Elysian Park is one of the largest parks in Los Angeles at 600 acres (240 ha). Most of Elysian Park falls in the neighborhood of the same name, but a small portion of the park falls in Echo Park. The park was created by city ordinance on April 5, ...

, and

Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a baseball stadium in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a cost of ...

are within the neighborhood, as are an all-boys Catholic high school and an elementary school.

History

On August 2, 1769, the

Portolá expedition thumbnail, 250px, Point of San Francisco Bay Discovery The Portolá expedition ( es, Expedición de Portolá) was a Spanish voyage of exploration in 1769–1770 that was the first recorded European land entry and exploration of the interior of ...

(the first Europeans to see inland areas of California) camped close to the

Los Angeles River , name_etymology = , image = File:Los Angeles River from Fletcher Drive Bridge 2019.jpg , image_caption = L.A. River from Fletcher Drive Bridge , image_size = 300 , map = LARmap.jpg , map_size ...

near what is now the southeastern corner of the city park. California Historical Landmark #655 ( Portolá Trail Campsite) is at the park's Meadow Road entrance.

Geography

According to the Mapping L.A. project of the ''Los Angeles Times'', the Elysian Park neighborhood is flanked on the north and northeast by

Elysian Valley __NOTOC__ Elysian Valley, commonly known as Frogtown, is a neighborhood in Central Los Angeles, California, adjoining the Los Angeles River. It has two parks, both maintained by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA). The Frog ...

, on the east by Lincoln Heights, on the southeast and south by Chinatown and on the southwest, west and northwest by

Echo Park Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake to the west and Chinatown to the east. The culturally diverse neighborhood has become known f ...

."Central L.A.,"
Mapping L.A., ''Los Angeles Times'' Street and other boundaries are: the northern apex at Exit 138 of the

Golden State Freeway Interstate 5 (I-5) is a major north–south route of the Interstate Highway System in the United States, stretching from the Mexican border at the San Ysidro crossing to the Canadian border near Blaine, Washington. The segment of I-5 in ...

, thence southeasterly along the freeway, southerly along the

, westerly along North

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, northwesterly along Stadium Way, Academy Road and northerly along Elysian Park Drive."Elysian Park," Mapping L.A., ''Los Angeles Times''
/ref>''The Thomas Guide, Los Angeles County'', 2004, pp. 594, 634

Population

North Broadway entrance to Elysian Park, ca

The 2000 U.S. census of the Elysian Park neighborhood counted 2,530 residents in its 1.65 square miles, which includes all the city park land as well as

—an average of 1,538 people per square mile, one of the lowest population densities in Los Angeles county. In 2008 the city estimated that the population had increased to 2,659. The median age for residents was 31, about average for Los Angeles; the percentage of residents aged 11 to 18 were among the county's highest. The neighborhood was moderately ethnically diverse. The breakdown was

Latinos Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spaniards, Spanish and/or Latin Americans, Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include a ...

, 47.6%; Asians, 43.4%;

whites White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...

, 3.1%;

blacks Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in ...

, 2.1%, and others, 3.7%. China (32.3%) and Mexico (27.3%) were the most common places of birth for the 54.4% of the residents who were born abroad, a high figure compared to rest of the city. The median yearly household income in 2008 dollars was $28,263, low for Los Angeles; a high percentage of households had an income of $20,000 or less. The average household size of 3.1 people was high for the city of Los Angeles. Renters occupied 81.9% of the housing stock, and house- or apartment owners 18.1%.

Education

Thirteen percent of the neighborhood residents aged 25 and older had earned a four-year degree by 2000, an average figure for the city. The schools operating within the Elysian Park neighborhood borders are:"Elysian Park Schools"
Mapping L.A., ''Los Angeles Times'' * Cathedral High School, private, 1253 Bishops Road. It was founded by Archbishop

John Joseph Cantwell John Joseph Cantwell (December 1, 1874 – October 30, 1947) was an Irish-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. He led the Archdiocese of Los Angeles from 1917 until his death in 1947, becoming its first archbishop in 1936. Cantwell wa ...

as the first Los Angeles Archdiocesan

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

for boys in fall 1925. The Christian Brothers have operated the school since its opening. It was designated

Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria. History The Historic-Cult ...

number 281 in 1984. * Solano Avenue Elementary School,

LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...

, 615 Solano Avenue. In 1955, the school, which then had 230 pupils, was honored as one of the 221 schools given a California Distinguished School award. The ''Los Angeles Times'' reported that:

At Solano Avenue Elementary School, things are done right. Parents chip in, teachers stick around for years, children learn, and the surrounding community claims it for their own. The campus is a thing of pride-no graffiti or trash problems here.

:Principal John Stoll noted that nearly half the children began school speaking limited English, having been raised in Spanish or Cantonese-speaking homes. The school was "adopted" by the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

in 1980, and it was known for sending the student choir to

to sing the

National Anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

before a ballgame. It is a Solano tradition to hold culmination ceremonies at Dodger Stadium. The class of 2001, however, did not have this privilege. Marilyn Martinez, "Pride at Solano Helps Earn It State Honor," ''Los Angeles Times,'' June 18, 1995, page 8
/ref>

Park

The park is one of largest in Los Angeles at . It is also the city's oldest park, founded in 1886 by the Elysian Park Enabling Ordinance. It hosted

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles ...

as well as the shooting part of the modern pentathlon event for the 1932 Summer Olympics. In 1964 the Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park was founded to prevent the City of Los Angeles from constructing the Municipal Convention Center on of park land. In 1968, it hosted a hippie "Love-In."

Figueroa Street Tunnels

The Figueroa Street Tunnels take northbound State Route 110 (the Pasadena Freeway) through the park.

Solano Canyon

Solano Canyon is a canyon within Elysian Park and also the name of a residential district at the southern extremity of the Elysian Park neighborhood, directly north of the

Los Angeles State Historic Park Los Angeles State Historic Park (LASHP) is a California State Park within the Chinatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. Also known as the Cornfield, the former brownfield consists of a long open space between Spring Street and the tracks of the Me ...

. The district is bisected near its southern tip by the

Arroyo Seco Parkway The Arroyo Seco Parkway, also known as the Pasadena Freeway, is one of the oldest freeways built in the United States. It connects Los Angeles with Pasadena alongside the Arroyo Seco seasonal river. It is notable not only for being an early f ...

, and it shares a border with

Chinatown (Los Angeles) Chinatown is a neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles, California, that became a commercial center for Chinese and other Asian businesses in Central Los Angeles in 1938. The area includes restaurants, shops, and art galleries, but also has a resi ...

. Solano Canyon was also an old name for a ravine in the

Hollywood Hills The Hollywood Hills are a residential neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Geography The Hollywood Hills straddle the Cahuenga Pass within the Santa Monica Mountains. The neighborhood touches Studio City, Univer ...

that was later named Runyon Canyon."M'Cormack's Wife Arrives," ''Los Angeles Times,'' January 14, 1931, page A-10
/ref>

References

External links

History of Elysian Park
Elysian Park neighborhood crime map and statistics]

SolanoCanyon.org

Solano Canyon can be seen on the horizon of this 1873 photograph, labeled No. 50, as published in "The Story of Fifty Years: Where the City: In Which Southern California and the Los Angeles Times Grew Up Together," ''Los Angeles Times,'' December 4, 1931, page E-3. {{Olympic venues shooting Elysian Park, Los Angeles, Parks in Los Angeles Neighborhoods in Los Angeles Central Los Angeles Northwest Los Angeles Municipal parks in California Santa Monica Mountains Populated places in the Santa Monica Mountains Venues of the 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic modern pentathlon venues Olympic shooting venues 1886 establishments in California