After two years of chain link purgatory, the food vendors have returned, and Echo Park Lake is finally a great place to party and picnic again.
There has been a fence around Echo Park Lake a scant few times since its conversion from a man - made reservoir into a public park in the 1890s . In the 21st C , there was a major two - year renovation from 2011 to 2013 , in which the lake was drained and redesigned to prefer water cleanliness , and the surrounding park was re - landscape to oppose the neighbourhood ’s progressively voguish image . And then there was the controversial closedown in 2021 , in which former City Council phallus Mitch O’Farrell and the LAPD forcibly force out some 200 unhoused residents who created a community of interests in the parking area . The ballpark was totally closed for two months , then reopened with a chain radio link fencing and only a few entrances and exit . Now , more than two days by and by , the fencing is down , and Echo Park Lake is full assailable again , just in fourth dimension for prime snap and park hangout season .
The essence on the atmosphere is directly apparent — even on a weekday afternoon , hoi polloi lounge all over the softly sloping dope , gosling and ducklings stray from the shore up to the sidewalk to snack on breadcrumb and shed takis , and joggers turn laps around the route . In brusk , the park is active . Not that any of this was stringently impossible with the fence up , but there was something undeniably oppressive about judge to kick back in an area fence by chain link with operate access points . It felt claustrophobic and dystopian like you were live in a walled city , and there was the unshakeable intuitive feeling that you were under surveillance .
That ’s not to say it was paradise before the closing , but the energy was proficient , and in a metre with fall options forThird Places , it was the rare biotic community hub where you were not expected to spend any money , a truly public blank space , unlikethe shopping mall that so often fill that purpose . As such , it attracted a various crew , from big family natal day parties at the walkover table to young couple on pedal gravy boat date and trendy transplants impertinent out of Brooklyn or Culver City . Park exercise slowed during the pandemic , of line , and the overall condition of the park take down in kind , but it was truly jarring to see it all of a sudden thrust into a weird sorting of kettled purgatory .
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And there was another casualty of Echo Park ’s brand conducting wire era — the trafficker who sold food and beverage in the green were give an unceremonious boot too . They were forced to cluster out on the sidewalk , near but not too near one of the entrances on Echo Park Ave . , subjugate to extra examination and turn out from the interior and most of the — suddenly limited — substructure dealings on the path around the lake . Many abandoned the commons entirely , dot in hunt of more potential customers .
Before the closure , there was a regular vendor electrocute churros to tell , so they came out crispy and light , give to you so fresh the crude had n’t even begun to tarnish the snowy bag translucent . There was an elotero broil ears of corn over oxford gray , and there were often pupusa vendor , a juice stand , and all sorts of other snack .
Now that the fencing is gone and the park is really open again , vendor have begun to douse their toes back into the lake . weekday remain relatively quiet , with the stock - issue ice cream go-cart and collation stall , but the parking area really comes to life on the weekend . On a recent Friday , you could snag a hoagie from a tatted - up musician with a cooler full of sandwiches , then saunter around the lake to pick up nieves in playfulness flavors like rompope or mamey . Sabbatum bestow more marketer selling elote , woven blankets , confect , pupusas , and a better - than - self-colored cup of the lightly turn masa boozing tejuino .
Photo by Ben Mesirow for Thrillist
The neighborhood has embraced the fenceless rebirth of the park , too . It ’s evident in the crowds already cluster there . The natal day parties are back , and so are the hipsters and the citizenry provide to both groups . At around five autopsy , a brace of brand embassador in logoed - out athleisure drop back a waggon in a sluggish lap , give-up the ghost out rear end of zip drinkable to anyone sit down in the park , adult and kids likewise . On further inspection , the material has 300 milligram of caffeine , which is tantamount to about three cups of coffee and precisely the right amount to give a parent a heart attempt when their kidskin runs over with a half - full can .
It ’s still not paradise . Empty DOE drink can roll around the grass , the exhaust fumes and noise from the nearby 101 floats over everything , and the twat can get uncomfortably territorial . But on a gay afternoon , with elote in one hand and an energy drink in the other , with someone ’s icky Bluetooth speaker kicking out former aughts anthem and the lotuses blooming on the water system , it might be about as close as you may get around here .
