This Park Echoes Hope

Yesterday morning we drove a few miles south to Echo Park, Las Angeles. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting but from stories my aunt Kathe told me, who lived there some 20+ years ago, I was gearin up to be mugged and beaten. As we drove to get coffee and walk around the lake my aunt shared gruesome stories: beatings near the park, bodies in the lake…not pretty stuff. Those who know my rebellious spirit know that this made the outing more intriguing. So you can imagine my disappointment when we pulled up and there were no sirens, no caution tape…nothin! 

p.s. let me clarify something real quick: it’s not that I love scary or unsafe places purely for that reason alone. It’s that I love places people have disregarded and given up on, places that are dirty and grungy and daunting on the outside but that have those hidden jewels;  those beautiful, quirky, gritty, poetic places that speak to pieces of your spirit. (Or maybe it’s cause I’m a sucker for underdogs and places that go unnoticed remind me of teams that no one is rooting for).  I realize my explanation doesn’t make it any safer for me to travel into places like this, but understand that I don’t go out looking for trouble! 

Anyways, so as we turned the corner off the main boulevard the landscape drastically changed, there were cute little shops and artsy cafés. The one we popped into had Seattle written all over it. (I’ll admit I even compared it to Herkimer, so you know it was good!). Next to this fair trade coffee shop was a tacky thrift shop with one piece denim outfits that I KNOW Macklemore would be all about! People were wearing plaid and skinny jeans and had beards…it was that, “I did shower I just want it to look like I didn’t” kinda swag that I feel like Seattle has perfected.

As we walked down to Echo Park and around the little man-made lake I felt as though I had been transported home and walking around Wrights Park in Tacoma. There was the occasional drug dealer, a handful of homeless youth and a man sitting on a bench that seemed to be having a fascinating conversation with an invisible friend. BUT the park was also filled with families! There was a group of people from what we gathered was a Quinceanera celebration, couples in paddleboats on the lake, people picnicking and throwing a frisbee on the grass. You couldn’t argue that there wasn’t life at that park that day!

Although I was a little upset that it wasn’t the sketchy, make your heart race kinda place I had envisioned, I loved that I felt at home and I loved the message behind what I was seeing. Transformation.  People movin into the neighborhood. Hope.