After two years of applications, planning, negotiating, and working, Parkman Triangle is finally open. You can now grab a cafecito at Cafe Tropical and enjoy it with a guava cheese pie on one of the rocks (just throw away your trash, of course!).
Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti will be in attendance this Saturday, August 14, at 11:00 a.m. for the ribbon cutting ceremony that will officially open Silver Lake’s new “urban lounge!” Councilman Garcetti was a huge part of the project: his office contributed over $4000 which was used to demolish that old patch of asphalt that paved the way to creating a new green space for the district’s residents who live south of Sunset Boulevard.
Yesterday, on a warm Sunday afternoon, we joined a few hundred people who walked to remember Dr. Marc Abrams. The Walking Man of Silver Lake passed away last week unexpectedly at a very young age of 58.
California has an outdated and inefficient form of government: the County of Los Angeles is a textbook case. Perhaps its time to merge city and county government, which would be a step in streamlining the decision-making process.
One of LA Mayor’s Antonio Villaraigosa’s first initiatives was his 1,000,000 Tree Campaign for a greener Los Angeles. The project was ambitious. By having residents take an online test and then picking up trees at various locations for their yards, homeowners would plant these trees, providing shade and helping to heal LA’s dirty air. Other trees were given away at city events and street fairs. The program, sadly, was a failure. And a visit to Griffith Park taught me why.
As you drive west on Silver Lake Boulevard, you are now greeted by a berm showcasing blue fescue and Mexican feather grass; spots of color tease the eyes thanks to tea tree buses and coral-like Sticks of Fire; and three young jacaranda trees have been staked to grow towards the sky, giving current and future residents shade in a few years.
Years ago, David Davis, who has lived in an apartment on Parkman and Silver Lake Boulevard for 19 years, wanted to do something with that huge swath of asphalt in front of his building. Today, his wish is almost complete.
Parkman Triangle’s transformation continued with the planting of about 1/3 of its ground cover yesterday. Several volunteers showed up yesterday and planted lavender, Mexican feather grass, and blue fescue grass. We also received another delivery of boulders, which will make this 2000 square foot space look like more like southern California’s original landscape.