Picture of the Month 2012

The pictures above come courtesy of the friendly and hard-working employees at Arrowhead Brass.  The company is located in El Sereno, at 5147 Alhambra Avenue, between Lombardy Blvd and Belleglade Ave. 
 

The pictures above show one of the few surviving murals in El Sereno, as well as the artist's drawing of the mural and the company's building where the mural is located.  The mural was painted many years ago, during a time when murals and the artist behind them were better appreciated.  Now-a-days, murals are deemed eye-sores and graffiti and the artist labeled vandals.  Most of the community's historic murals have disappeared, even the ones that were painted by talented artistwho put a lot of quality, meaning, and care into the murals.  Even the murals that were painted with the permission and blessing of the building's owner have vanished.  A lot of times the murals are destroyed at the hands of none-other than our own city employees.  The city's anti-graffiti trucks have been known to stop and paint over these artistic gems, just because a knuckle-head has tagged up the mural or right next to the mural.  Others have been erased by those who don't know the value of these art-works and what the murals mean to the community.  The mural is then lost forever; it's meaning and artistic beauty never to be shared again. 
 

The 26 year old gem (mural) presented this month has survived the many hazards that has destroyed other murals by having 2 things on its side- luck and love; the luck of being safely locked behind a steel gate when work-time is over and the love someone felt towards the mural to have put it an a place where it could be safely guarded by a gate.  Luck and love has brought the mural to this day, where it could be presented and appreciated by so many in the community. 

Though the mural is not as old or historic as other murals in LA, it is a unique piece of our community's history and deserves to be recognized.  Hopefully the mural will survive so that someday it will be officially recognized and preserved as a unique historic piece of art work in El Sereno.  The El Sereno Historical Society's mission is to help preserve our community's history.  The history of our El Sereno Community does not stop on any specific date. The history of a community is the Past, Present, and Future of that community. We seek to preserve not only the very old history, but also the community's more recent history.  In doing so, the El Sereno Historical Society hopes to educate our community about the value of preserving our unique local landmarks and buildings.  Hopefully, many, many years from now, these cherished landmarks will still be around and can be shared with the new up-and-coming generation; to be appreciated as part of El Sereno's long historical legacy. 
 

We would like to send our thanks and appreciation to Rick Harrington-Director of Operations, Valeria, Sandra, and all the great employees at Arrowhead Brass & Plumbing.  Not only for having chosen our community as the place for the company's location; but also for their friendly treatment and generous attitudes.  Below is a brief history about the company and the story behind this majestic mural.  The words below have been shared with us by Rick and his staff. The El Sereno Historical Society felt that the employees at Arrowhead Brass & Plumbing did a superb writing job and editing out any part of their words would be a dis-service to our audience.  We hope you enjoy this local artistic gem and the story behind it's creation at Arrowhead Brass & Plumbing.  Thank you.
 

Arrowhead Brass Product's Mural
 
For over 76 years, Arrowhead Brass Products has been known for its top quality products made and assembled in the USA.   Arrowhead Brass was started in a garage in 1936 by Frank V. Enterante.  The company's main business is in the manufacturing of hose bibbs, sill faucets, boiler drains, compression stops, washing machine valves and log lighter valves, standard and anti-siphon frost proof hydrants and vacuum breakers. In 1982 the company expanded its sales East of the Rockies and besides assembling, also began manufacturing.   In recent years, Arrowhead has added new foundry and assembly equipment which has increased its efficiency and productivity through automation. The company's corporate office is located in East Los Angeles, California.
 
In 1986, the owner of the company, Lou Enterante, hired a young  local artist by the initials of "LUT" to paint a mural in the front entrance of our company's Arrowhead Brass building.
  
The artist was painting a mural across from the company's building and Lou, interested by his ability, asked the young artist if he would do a mural for the front entrance of our company.
 

The young artist, enthusiastic by the interest from Lou, asked to be given a tour of the company, so the mural could have a sentimental and personal value to employees and the company itself.   Sure enough, to this day, the mural is a great representation of our foundry and the hard working employees that still continue to work for us, so many years after the mural's creation.
 

Arrowhead Brass & Plumbing is an American Company that manufactures only American made products and proudly provides American jobs.  Arrowhead Brass & Plumbing will continue providing jobs here in the United States for years to come.
 

If you have any information about this mural or about the artist "LUT" who created it, please let us know at info@ElSerenoHistoricalSociety.org.
 

For more information about Arrowhead Brass & Plumbing, visit their website at www.arrowheadbrass.com.

ELEPHANT HILL 

The feature for this month is not actually a photo, but a video sent to us by a concerned resident who created the video to inform the community about the threat Elephant Hill currently faces.  More importantly, the video is also to make the community aware of the current destruction and development taking place on what was supposed to be our "Saved"  Elephant Hill.  

The facts are that even-though we heard much about Elephant Hill having been saved and their was a lot of media attention when L.A. City Council decided to buy the 19 acres of land developers wanted to build on, the total area covering what is known as Elephant Hill is more like 100  acres.  That means that even-though the City has bought about 19 acres (at the cost of about 9 million dollars), there are still roughly 81 acres of privately owned land that may still be developed (For more  information about Elephant Hill visit--L.A. Times:El Sereno Saves the Heavens, LA.StreetsBlog.org, NELA Lives!, L.A. Times: City Council/El Sereno) .  

More alarming is the fact that some of this land IS being developed as we speak.  Bulldozers have already stripped away and  graded part of a hillside and have cleared trees and bushes to make way for the new developments.  The  problem is that the community is NOT aware of this and no one from the City or Councilman's office is informing the community. 

Thankfully, there are those in the community who care and want others to know, which is why we chose to present the video and some history/information concerning Elephant Hill.  We hope you enjoy the video, BUT, more than anything, we hope you get informed and start asking our Councilman's Office questions about Elephant Hills' current destruction. 

"Elephant Hill" is a simple title referring to over 100 acres of open space sandwiched between El Sereno and South Pasadena in Los Angeles.  These hills have not seen any new construction for 30 years and were the subject of a major lawsuit against the city from unscrupulous developers hoping to carve up the hills with million dollar luxury homes. Concerned citizens were relieved to hear that the City settled with the developers to purchase these 20 acres, (5 of which have been sold to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy) although many are unaware the the largest area of "Elephant Hill",  the remaining 80 acres, is now being primed for new development via City Planning.
 
As we speak, illegal pre-emptive grading has destroyed an entire hillside that overlooks a historic valley (Yoakum and Harriman).  In order to gain perspective on the importance of saving this open space and it's eco-system, we must look at the history of these much debated hills.
 

In the earliest records available, the Spanish from local missions grazed their  "Churro" in these hills resulting in the destruction of native vegetation and introduction of Mustard and annual grasses. Very quickly the home of the native Tongva was forever changed. As more settlers began pouring west in the 1800's the landscape and history of Los Angeles was swiftly buried under hasty construction, re-routing of water, and oil derricks.
 

El Sereno was called Bairdstown until it's incorporation in 1915.  It was an early Los Angeles pioneer settlement that included "Elephant Hill".  In the valley at the end of Harriman Ave was one of the earliest African American settlements in Los Angeles.  Over a dozen cabins filled  the valley and saw the birth of Eldridge Cleaver and provided respite for BB King during his time in the city.  This history has long since been bulldozed due to fire concerns.
 

There is a sister set of hills in fact that was razed and back-filled in the 1970s and cluttered with massive condominiums.  Due to the unstable Monterey Shale that makes up these hills and illegal back-filling, many of these buildings settled resulting in the largest lawsuit the City had ever seen.  With the arrival of the Monterey Hills Condos, Elephant Hill was the last remaining open space in El Sereno north of Huntington  Drive.  Luckily for local residents south of Huntington Dr., the State purchased and has preserved a 150 acre area off of Eastern Ave previously owned by LADWP known as Ascot Reservoir.
 

Now "Elephant Hill" stands alone as refuge for countless native bird species including owls, red-tail haws, and falcons.  There are healthy coyote populations that migrate between Highland Park's Debb's Park and "Elephant Hill",  dependent on the healthy populations of rabbits, opossums, ground squirrels, gray squirrels, gophers, and gopher snakes.  They are often seen hunting in the aforementioned valley at the end of  Harriman Ave. which carries the majority of the ground squirrel population. Unfortunately, this valley is the first on the list to be  developed and is currently being destroyed by illegal grading.
 

Most notable however is the fact that these hills have been enjoyed  by generations in this community and continue to be a retreat for the city-weary residents of El Sereno.  This is a blue collar community that takes pride in it's preservation of this space and the flora and  fauna that provide an unlikely oasis in this urban sprawl.  To see it destroyed by City Planning and out-of-town developers hoping to build  mini-mansions the residents themselves could never afford is nothing  short of thievery.
 

Unfortunately, most people are unaware that "Elephant Hill" has NOT  been saved.  The only way to save these hills is through a concerted community effort and an educated campaign which might inform and  galvanize City Council and it's constituents. Dedicating 5 acres out of  110 is a good start but by no means a victory.  
 

Video and history about Elephant Hill are courtesy of Concerned Resident.  We thank this person(s) for their time and effort, and for caring about our Community of El Sereno.
 

BELOW:  Recent photos showing the damage already done by the grading as well as the physical change to the hill that is caused as a result of grading.   Even adding one or two homes on these historic hills has a ever-lasting  effect on the hill itself and the surrounding environment. 

The photo above comes from USC's Digital Archive.  The caption states--Photo of a view along what appears to be a water-flow channel  near an unidentified residence, [s.d.]. At center, a deep and narrow dirt trench is visible extending towards a collection of buildings in the distance, where they abut the edge of nearby dirt road.   While  the residence might be unknown, the location where this picture was taken is not.  This picture offers a rare glimpse of Ascot Hills as it used to be before LADWP bought up the land. We can see that although  sparsely settled, people were living among the hills and valleys of what we now know as Ascot Hills Park. Besides the photo(s), we would also  like to share a little more information on the history of Ascot Hills, courtesy of the Ascot Park Draft Environmental Report.
 

SITE HISTORY:  The LADWP began acquiring real estate within and around the existing Ascot property in the early 1920s.  An earthen dam was constructed in  the north-central part of the property in the late 1920s to create an approximately seven-acre open surface water storage reservoir.  A caretaker's house was constructed north of the reservoir, accessed off  Bowman Boulevard.  Acquisition of additional parcels around the Ascot property to provide protection for the reservoir water supply continued until the 1950s.
 

Portions of the original Ascot property have since been disposed of by the  LADWP.  in 1964, an area southeast of the current property boundary was granted to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), which subsequently used the land as the site for the construction of Wilson  High School.  The perimeter of the existing LADWP Ascot property is  entirely fenced.
 

The reservoir was taken out of service in 1987.  It was replaced in generally the same location with a 30.7 acre-foot covered concrete water storage tank, which was completed in 1990.  Facilities located in the north-central part of the property, associated with the water storage tank, include a chlorination station and a pumping station.  The former caretaker's house also remains on the property, although it is unoccupied.  An approximately 30-acre area surrounding the water tank is secured by a fence.
 

********************************************

Below are a series of photos showing Ascot Hills prior to LADWP buying up the area (pre-1920s), as well as photos the early 1940s, when the reservoir was reconstructed in order to build a roof to cover the water stored there.  We also included a few photos depicting the first water pumped in from the Colorado River and which began to flow to the City in early 1941.  This seems to have been another reason for the reservoir's upgrade and happened soon after the completion of the roof over Ascot Hills reservoir.