Echo Park: From Childhood Memories to Gentrification
I had just turned three when my family and I migrated from El Salvador to Echo Park, California. I grew up there for most of my childhood, from pre-kindergarten to middle school. Many of the kids like myself in my area would attend a certain elementary school, so it was normal to see classmates at the Hispanic market called La Guadalupana or even walking to school. When I would be home, all the kids at my apartment would knock on each other’s door, and we would play in the hallway. At other times, I would also love to go to the park in my pink Barbie jeep and stroll with my dolls in their strollers.
When my family and I would go out, we would sometimes go to my aunt’s restaurant called Café La Paz, which was well-known in Echo Park. I always enjoyed eating its pupusas because they were so delicious. Over time, Café La Paz went out of business, but it wasn’t the only one that did.
Looking back now that I am 23 years old, Echo Park is not what it used to be. Many of the stores that were there when I was a child no longer exist, largely due to gentrification. And because of the pandemic, several annual events like its flower festival were affected. It’s a bit sad because the area that I used to live in for over ten years no longer is completely recognizable for me and others compared to our youth years. But there is one area of my community that I would like to learn more about. And that is the apartment I used to live in called Jensen’s Recreation Center, a historical landmark in Echo Park.
As a broadcast journalism major, I get my news from the internet, television, radio and podcasts. These range from Telemundo, Univision, AP News and many others. Now that we are more digitally connected than ever before, I would assume other people in my community would get their news through social media, television and other sources of information.
