Echo Park Historical Society
NEWS
Autumn 2007 Volume 11 Number 3
2007 Home Tour features
Echo Park “Stairway Living”
Take a step back into the past by ex-
ploring our neighborhood’s unique net-
work of public stairways that will be
featured on the upcoming 2007 Historic
Echo Park Home Tour.
“Flights of Fancy: The Stairway
Homes of Echo Park,” will highlight
homes located on or near the public stair-
ways that scale the hills of Echo Park,
Angelino Heights and Elysian Heights.
Find out what “stairway living” is all
about by taking the tour on Sunday, Nov.
11, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The approximately eight properties
on this year’s tour range from a 1920s era
Spanish-Colonial compound overlook-
ing Echo Park Lake to nearly century-old
Craftsman bungalows in the hills of Ely-
sian Heights. For the first time, the tour
EPHS Quarterly Meeting
Just Say “Tex”
The Story of L.A.’s Oldest
French Restaurant
Wednesday, October 10, at 7 pm
Barlow Library at Barlow Hospital
2000 Stadium Way
In 1927, Marius Taix Jr. opened a
downtown restaurant featuring 50-cent
chicken dinners served at communal
tables (25 cents more got you a private
booth). Eighty years later, Taix French
Restaurant is still going strong under
its third generation of family ownership
at its “new” Echo Park location, which
opened in 1962. Marius’ grandson,
Michael Taix, will present the colorful
story and vintage photos of this restau-
rant that has survived eight decades
of intense competition and constantly
changing tastes.
This presentation, which is free and
open to the public, is part of our quar-
terly meeting and includes updates and
other news related to neighborhood
history and preservation.
features a newly constructed structure,
a post-and-beam house that is one of the
few homes to be built on an Echo Park
stairway in decades.
The public stairways that scale Echo
Park’s sometimes ridiculously steep hills
are relics of the days before automobiles
began to dominate the landscape and
culture of Los Angeles. They reflect a
time when most residents traveled either
by horse and carriage, trolley or (gasp) on
foot. (Please see pages 4 &5 for a stairway
map and stories.)
Now in its fifth year, the Historic Echo
Park Home Tour is designed to generate
interest in the preservation of old and
historic homes as well as raise funds to
support our ongoing preservation and
historic-research programs.
The self-guided tour starts at Wil-
liams Hall, 2000 Stadium Way. Tour visi-
tors will pick up tickets, a program and
map at Williams Hall and can then see
the homes in any order.
Admission is $20 general, $15 for
EPHS members. During the month of
October, the general public can purchase
$15 discount tickets online and through
the mail. See Page 6 for a ticket order
form.
For more information about the tour,
headed by Holly Hampton, please visit
HistoricEchoPark.org. More maps and
information on Echo Park Stairways is
available in the History & Landmarks
section of HistoricEchoPark.org
Get a cardio workout and history lesson
A Note on Access on this year’s home tour.
The nature of this year’s tour will make
access extremely difficult for people with more from the nearest available parking
physical disabilities. In addition to being space.
located on public stairways, some of the See Page 6 for ticket order form.
homes also have multiple steps and stair-
ways. Also, because of restricted park- See Pages 4 & 5 for a
ing and our narrow streets, some of the stairway map and stories
homes will be located about 1.5 blocks or on “Stairway Living.”

www.HistoricEchoPark.org
 Calendar
OCTOBER
EPHS Quarterly Membership
Meeting
Wednesday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m.
Please see front page for details.
EPHS Board Meeting
Monday, October 15 at 7 p.m.
Our monthly board meeting is open to
all members. Please call (323) 860-8874
for location information.
Library Book Display
Saturday, October 20 12 p.m. – 3 p.m..
Stop by the Edendale branch library,
2011 Sunset Blvd., and take a peak at
the books on local history and historic
preservation that we are donating as
part of our Ron Emler Memorial Book
Program (a similar display was set up at
the Echo Park branch in October). EPHS
volunteer Rowena Magana will staff a
display of the books as well as historic
photos and other materials. This year’s
titles range from a book on watercolor
artist Phil Dike to a book of bungalow
blueprints. We would like to thank gen-
erous donations from the Greater Echo
Park Elysian Neighborhood Council- Dis-
trict 3 and Carla Ballard for defraying
the costs of purchasing the books.
Elysian Park Walking Tour
Saturday, October 27 at 10 a.m..
The Elysian Park Tour, which is co-spon-
sored by the Citizens Committee to
Save Elysian Park, focuses on the less-
er known but historically rich eastern
edge of the park. Starting Place: Fre-
mont Monument at North Broadway and
Elysian Park Road. Reservations are
required. Please call (323) 860-8874
or visit the Walking Tour section of
www.HistoricEchoPark.org for more
details.
NOVEMBER
Echo Park Library 10th Anniversary
Saturday, Nov. 3.
Stop by the Echo Park Branch Library,
1410 W. Temple St., to celebrate its 10th
birthday in its current location. The EPHS
will present a history slideshow from 2
p.m. – 3 p.m..
2007 Historic Echo Park Home Tour
Sunday, Nov 11 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
See Page 1 for details.
EPHS Board Meeting
Monday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.
See October events for details.
Echo Park Stairway Tour
Saturday, Nov. 24 at 10 AM
The walk includes the Baxter Stairs (pos-
sibly the city’s longest) as well as Fel-
lowship Park, Red Hill and the modern-
ist Harwell Harris house. Starting Place:
Elysian Heights Elementary 1562 Bax-
ter St. at Echo Park Ave. Reservations
are required. Please Call (323) 860-8874
or visit the Walking Tour section of www.
HistoricEchoPark.org for more details.
CALENDAR continued on page 7

news/Updates
Paddle Boats in Dry Dock
There was a big splash around the
paddle boats this summer when they were
threatened with eviction from the newly
renovated boathouse at Echo Park Lake.
Councilman Eric Garcetti got creative
and came up with some money to keep
the concession going. He also announced
at a lakeside press conference that as long
as he was in office the boats would paddle
for the public. But the paddle boat opera-
tion closed for the summer in early Sep-
tember and no reopening date has been
announced.
The Department of Recreation and
Parks said the paddle boat program runs
a $90,000 a year deficit it can no longer
afford (though it’s not clear if other rec &
park programs are supposed to pay their
way).
“The Council Member is looking into
ways to make it a more financially sus-
tainable operation,” said council office
field deputy Kabira Stokes Hochberg in
an email to the Chicken Corner Blog. “The
boats will return, we are just not certain
as to when.”
In the meantime, Echo Park photog-
rapher Martin Cox is organizing a group
photo exhibit featuring the paddle boats;
she show is tentatively scheduled to be
displayed in November. We hope this is
not the last time we will see paddle boats
in Echo Park.
Church Wants to Override
Demo Ban
Angelus Temple is seeking an exemp-
tion from the city to demolish the remain-
ing apartment buildings it owns on Lem-
oyne Street south of Sunset Boulevard to
build a giant parking structure.
The city imposed a moratorium on
new construction and demolition in the
area as it looks to study the creation of
a possible historic district around Echo
Park Lake. The church had received two
demo permits before the moratorium
took effect. A spokesman for Los Angeles
Councilman Eric Garcetti told the Gar-
ment & Citizen newspaper that Angelus
Temple officials “plan to seek a waiver on
the moratorium for additional demoli-
tions related to the project.”
In early September, church officials
discussed the church’s plans with the his-
torical society and other neighborhood
www.HistoricEchoPark.org
groups. The historical society has urged
the church to preserve the two-story
buildings, dating from the 1920s and
1930s, that create an inviting and pedes-
trian-friendly link between the Sunset
Boulevard business district and the lake.
Instead, the church wants to build a 60-
foot-tall parking structure with no store-
fronts or apartments at ground level.
What Real Estate Bust?
One of Echo Park’s most significant
residential homes, the Ross House de-
signed by modernist architect Rafael So-
riano, sold in late August after being on
the market for less than two weeks. The
International-style house, which is locat-
ed at 2123 Valentine St., was built in 1938
and is one of Soriano’s best early works,
according to the book Architecture in Los
Angeles. The home was later occupied by
the late movie art director Albert Nozaki
and his family, who owned the home un-
til its recent sale. The asking price for the
1,700-square-foot home was $859,000.
Echo Park Historical Society
P.O. Box 261022 - Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 860-8874
email: ephs@historicechopark.org
www.HistoricEchoPark.org
Founded 1995
The Echo Park Historical Society is dedicated
to the preservation and promotion of diverse
cultural and architectural heritage of our
community.
Board of Directors
President
Kevin Kuzma
Vice-President
Mary-Austin Klein
Recording Secretary
Jim Schneeweis
At-Large
Scott Fajack, Jenny Burman,
Christine Peters, David Schnepp
Newsletter Staff
Desktop Publishing: Terri Lloyd Company
Editor: Jenny Burman
Ad Manager: Rosie Betanzos
Contributing Writers: Becky Koppenhhaver,
Kevin Kuzma, Vanessa McGee, David Ptach
‘School of Success’ found
good vibe in Echo Park
Before we had informercials, before
self-improvement schemes were part of
our city’s DNA, Los Angeles had the Seg-
no School of Success – a dubious educa-
tional enterprise perched right atop a cliff
above Echo Park Lake.
In 1902, A. Victor Segno began pro-
moting himself as someone who could
read palms and guide Angelenos in the
ways of “Mentalism,” the practice of put-
ting one’s brain waves on the right fre-
quency – a practice that was sure to bring
success.
To get their brain waves in order,
Segno promised to send out the right
vibrations. But he also told his acolytes
they could get the scoop on mentalism
by mailing $1 to -- who else? -- A. Victor
Segno. By 1903, Segno had 12,000 sub-
scribers to his publications, a fact that
infuriated an indignant Los Angeles
Times.
“It seems incredible that there should
be even a thousand cheerful suckers for
every month of the year who are clamor-
ing for the opportunity to contributed $1
‘per’ for the support of a scheme so rank,”
the Times wrote.
Segno’s popularity took off in 1904,
when he built an elaborate two-story
concrete building at Clinton and Bellevue
avenues, directly above Echo Park Lake
on the promontory he called Inspiration
Point. With lecture halls, an octagonal
reception room and distinctive domes,
the building immediately grabbed the at-
tention of anyone who walked around the
lake, then only a decade old.
The marketing schemes did not end
with brain waves, either. With help from
Segnogram Printing, Segno sold self-
improvement books like How to Possess
Top: American Institute of Mentalism
a perfect head of Hair, Personal Mag-
and Home of the Segno Success Club.
netism and How to Be Happy Though
Bottom: Court and gardens, Inspiration
Married.
Point, Echo Park.
As it turned out, Segno wasn’t so
happy about being married himself. In
1911, he ran off with his (also married) in the late 1960s to make way for the
secretary, abruptly leaving town in 1911 complex now known as the Lago Vista.
to the consternation of the city. By 1915, Although the complex now houses 48
he found himself in World War I-era condos, a tiny piece of the old success
Berlin. factory – a cupola -- can be seen in front
A few years later, Segno was back in of the red house across the street.
Los Angeles pursuing other schemes. But To see more School of Success photos,
his popularity had peaked, even as his please go to the History & Landmarks
educational palace was sold off to others. page of www.HistoricEchoPark.org. Click
The school of success, and the nearby on “Echo Park People” and look for the
Segnogram printing, were demolished Segno entries.

www.HistoricEchoPark.org
Where do you live?
Life on a stairway street
has its ups and downs
Echo Park’s more than 30 public stair-
ways are concrete reminders of the days
before the automobile began to dominate
the landscape and culture of Los Angeles,
when most Angelenos traveled by horse
and buggy, trolley car and, gasp, even on
foot.
Many are small and practical in scale,
helping link hillside residents with the
streetcar lines and businesses below. But
some, including the Laveta Terrace, Bax-
ter and Clinton stairways, are impressive
and stylish public landmarks that reward
those who climb them with stunning
views. In fact, at more than 230 steps,
the Baxter Stairway is among the tallest
in the city.
For many Echo Park residents, the
stairways are far more than historic cu-
riosities. The stairways provide the only
physical link between their homes and
the rest of the world. It’s a unique en-
vironment, and the EPHS asked a few
stairway dwellers to write about the ups
and downs about stairway life:
Stairway Makes
For Good Neighbors
The 30 steps of the Fellowship Park
Stairway leads to the hilltop that Dave
Ptach calls home.
Living on a stair street is not for ev-
eryone. You have to hunt for street park-
ing, schlep everything from groceries to
refrigerators up countless flights of stairs,
not to mention the logistics of getting a
pizza delivered.
Most stair street homes are small
(current building codes make it very hard
to build without off-street parking) with
narrow yards, a bit of an anomaly in Mc-
Mansion-friendly Los Angeles and the
country as a whole, where we tend to over-
consume everything from cars to food to
housing. But to live on a stair street is to
embrace the small home aesthetic.
Each stair street has its own person-
ality, its own ambience. Some are littered
with trash and scarred by graffiti; others
are a leafy bucolic paradise with pan-
oramic views. Stair streets tend to foster
a sense of community, as I see my neigh-
bors walking past my house everyday.
People from the neighborhood walk their

dogs up the
stairs as
part of their
cardio rou-
tine. On
several eve-
nings I have
returned
home to find
a dozen or
so neighbors Heather and Michan Conner relax on the Sunset Stairway
gossiping while Dave Ptach stands at the Fellowship Park Stairway
in my front yard, the kids playing in the we enjoy peace and quiet that few others
hammock and the dogs rolling in the cool do. When the Gas Company technician
grass. turned on our service four years ago, he
I ended up living on a stair street said he’d “never known there was a house
completely by accident. I was looking for up here.”
a house while living on the Westside but Our staircase, unlike many in Echo
was unable to afford anything on that Park, does not connect two streets, so it’s
side of town. So, I headed to the Eastside. more akin to a cul-de-sac than a through
With an Echo Park address in hand of street. We share a community with a
one of the few homes in my price range, I few neighbors, but few others make the
drove up and down a street, but was un- trip to the top. As much as we’ve come
able to find the house listed. to love our place, our experiences pale in
I returned to search for the house comparison to our closest neighbor, who
two more times before I realized that the has lived across the staircase with her
street ended and turned into a staircase, husband for forty years. She recalls many
barely visible beneath an overgrown changes to the neighborhood and the city,
thicket of bougainvillea. and landmarks of her youth in Bunker
Intrigued, I climbed the staircase and Hill and Chavez Ravine that have been
entered a magical, secret world. I couldn’t taken away by urban renewal. She’s seen
believe that this oasis existed in the mid- the ups and downs of Echo Park, and is
dle of this huge metropolis. I felt like Alice surprised by its recent boom. She’s been
going down the rabbit hole and emerging approached by developers offering mon-
in Wonderland. ey for her property, but she’s quite un-
Needless to say, I bought the house derstandably proud to be able to say no.
and have lived there happily ever since. She keeps an eye on things while we’re at
To this day I meet lifelong Echo Park work, and often brings us baked goods
residents who still do not know my street and holiday treats, which we’ve tried to
exists, and that’s the way I like it: No one help pay back by hauling her empty gar-
can find me unless I want them to. bage bins back up the stairs, though she
often refuses to let us, saying the exercise
Steps Above A Busy Boulevard
keeps her young. Neighbors at the Bud-
Heather & Michan Connor live at the
dhist temple below us on the stairs brings
top of 60-step Sunset Stairway.
us egg rolls and fried rice almost weekly
Our house by itself is modest and after their celebrations. We try to recip-
simple. It’s distinguished mostly by its rocate by trimming our trees so they don’t
age (built in 1904) and its bright lav- hang down on their property!
ender hue. Yet, it is unique because it’s It wouldn’t be the same house if it
insulated from one of the busiest streets weren’t located at the top of a staircase.
in Los Angeles by a flight of sixty steps. Its location provides us with community,
Though we have our minor struggles privacy, solitude, and (like it or not) plen-
with the garbage bins and the groceries, ty of exercise!
and budget for extra tips for deliveries,
www.HistoricEchoPark.org
The Stairways of Echo Park
To learn more about the stairways please visit the walking tours section of
www.historicechopark.org

1. Court Street Stairway

2. Bellevue Stairway
3. Clinton Stairway
4. Kent Stairway
5. Crosby Stairway
6. Sunset/Glendale Stairway
7. Effie Stairway
8. Ewing Staircase Sidewalk
9. Ewing Stairway West
10. Fargo Stairway
11. Cove Stairway
12. Oak Glen Stairway
13. Loma Vista Stairway
14. Peru Stairway
15. Landa Stairway
16. Fellowship Park Stairway
17. Donaldson West Stairway
18. Curran Stairway
19. Donaldson East Stairway
20. Baxter Stairway
21. Preston Stairway
22. Little Fargo Stairway
23. Ewing Stairway East
24. Avalon West Stairway
25. Avaon East Stairway
26. Delta Stairway
27. Lucretia Stairway
28. Fairbanks Stairway
29. Montana Stairway
30. Laveta Terrace Stairway
31. McDuff Stairway
32. Innes Stairway
33. Sunset Stairway

www.HistoricEchoPark.org
 2007 Historic Echo Park Home Tour

Flights of Fancy:
The Stairway Homes of Echo Park
Sunday, November 11
11:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.

(please detach this section and return with payment)

Orders Must Be Postmarked No Later than Nov. 3, 2007

Advance Purchase Tickets ..........................$15.00
Name_________________________________________________________________________
Address_______________________________________________________________________
City_ _______________________________________________Zip Code___________________
Phone_ ________________________________ Email__________________________________
Number of tickets @ $15 each __________________ Total Amount Enclosed $_______________

Please make check or money order payable to the “Echo Park Historical Society”
Mail to:
EPHS / Attn: Home Tour
P.O. Box 261022
Los Angeles, CA. 90026
* Pick up tickets at Will Call (Williams Hall, 2000 Stadium Way) on the day of tour.
* Directions/map will be mailed with confirmation of your order.
You can also purchase tickets online with a credit card on the
Home Tour section of www.HistoricEchoPark.org.

Contact us at (323) 860-8874 or ephs@HistoricEchoPark.org with any questions.

A Note on Access:
The nature of this year’s tour will make access extremely difficult for people with physical disabilities.
In addition to being located on public stairways, some of the homes also have multiple steps and
stairways. Also, because of restricted parking and our narrow streets, some of the homes will be
located about 1-/1/2 blocks or more from the nearest available parking space.

www.HistoricEchoPark.org
 perspectives

Stairways Reflect another. Most of us who honor the his-

Echo Park History
and Sensibility
 
Much ado about stairway. As you likely
have noticed by now, we’re all over them
in this issue. We’re all over the stairways
this season, in fact. Not only do we con-
duct tours of the staircases but we are in
the process of applying for historic land-
mark status for the public stair streets of
Echo Park. They are part of our history
here as well as being a distinctive feature
that the neighborhood has used effective-
ly in keeping the scale of homes, well, in
scale.
 The Echo Park Historical Society
cares more about history, scale and ori-
entation than about preferring one ar-
chitectural style of home building over
tory of this complex neighborhood would
rather see a small modern glass box next
to a small prairie wood box nestled into
a hillside than a faux-Craftsman jumbo
container that bears no relation to the site
or the neighborhood.  borhood in daily terms, architecturally,
Take the Landa stairs, for example.
Developers are interested in building spec
houses that would dwarf the cottage-like
homes on the hillsides around them. The
builders’ interest is not in honoring what
is here in cultural/lifestyle terms, but in
maximizing a profit on a neighborhood
that is perceived as up-and-coming. But
the people in the stairway bungalows,
some of which are truly tiny, do not con-
sider where they live to be up-and-com-
ing. Quite the opposite if boxy, out-of-
scale spec houses are allowed to squash
the tucked-away atmosphere many peo-
ple seek on a stair street, or almost any-
where in Echo Park.
Our history is written all around us
in real space. There are books and docu-
ments, words and what people remem-
ber, but in the most physical, direct way
we experience the history of our neigh-
as we move through the streets and walk-
ways. It is meaningful that most of the
stair street homes have doorways that
face toward the steps.
In stark terms, do you move to a
neighborhood – or build a house there
– because you want to be part of what you
already find there, or because you can’t
get what you want elsewhere, so you hope
to create it in opposition to what’s already
established?
If the neighbors object, is it a question
of “be like us?” Or is it a question of “don’t
come in and squash us?”

Calendar  
continued from page 2

DECEMBER
Echo Park Landmarks with your nomination. Include an ad-
dress or approximate location as well as
Holiday Pot Luck Party an information you might have on the
Saturday, Dec 8 at 7 PM
EPHS members and supporters are in- Think you might have a landmark site’s historic significance. Read more
vited to attend our annual Holiday Pot- on your block? The EPHS is planning about Echo Park landmarks and interest-
luck. EPHS members should look for an to compile a list of neighborhood land- ing places on our website, www.Historic-
invitation in the mail in late November
with location information and other de- marks and needs your help in identifying EchoPark.org.
tails. buildings and sites
EPHS Board Meeting that might be of his-
Monday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. toric interest. The list
See October events for details. will help the EPHS
Echo Park Lake Walking Tour identify the sites that
Saturday, Dec. 22 at 10 AM would be worthy of
This tour features many of the neighbor-
hood’s most prominent landmarks, in- being designated as
cluding Echo Park Lake, Angelus Temple official landmarks
and Jensen’s Recreation Center. Start- by the City of Los
ing Place: Echo Park Boathouse, 751
Echo Park Ave. Reservations are re- Angeles or other gov-
quired. Please Call (323) 860-8874 or ernment agencies.
visit the Walking Tour section of www. Contact us at ephs@
HistoricEchoPark.org for more details. historicechopark.org

JOVELLE NARCISE
Zpvs!Ofjhicpsippe!Sfbmups ©

P R U D E N T I A L C A L I F O R N I A R E A LT Y

323.671.1227 › OFFICE
213.718.1110 › MOBILE

XXX/KPWFMMF/DPN
KPWFMMFAQSVM B/DPN

E C H O PA R K > S I LV E R L A K E > L O S F E L I Z > H O L LY W O O D H I L L S


www.HistoricEchoPark.org
Your membership support and involvement makes possible our programs, mailings and
educational activities.
Please make your check payable to:
Echo Park Historical Society - P.O. Box 261022 - Los Angeles, CA 90026
Or pay online using PayPal at www.HistoricEchoPark.org
Name: _________________________________ INDIVIDUAL................. $15.00
HOUSEHOLD.................. $25.00
Address: ________________________________ BUSINESS/
ORGANIZATION............ $40.00
CORPORATE................ $500.00
City: ________________________State:_______
LIFETIME
(INDIVIDUAL)............ $250.00
Phone: _________________________________

Email: _________________________________

New Member Renewal

Would you be willing to lend a helping hand in any of the following areas?
Education ___________ Preservation __________ Fundraising __________
Research/Archives __________ Oral Histories ___________ Special Events __________

Echo Park Historical Society

P.O. Box 261022
Los Angeles, CA 90026