Boyle Hotel Goes to The Birds. . .

...for the present. The Fat Cats that are already buying up the area are sure to be swooping in as the Gold Line's Soto Street station nears completion.

The Boyle Hotel, situated between two Gold Line construction sites at teh corner of E. First and Boyle Ave., was in 2007 purchased by the nonprofit organisation East L.A. Community Corp., which claims that high costs have prevented refurbishing the building even as the group alleges to be saving the tenants from slumlords. The residents have complained about the deteriorating conditions and are in fear of being removed; the Gold Line, they maintain, is sure to gentrify the area. They feel they will be the first to go.

Across the street, encroached upon by one of the MTA sites, Mariachi Square is populated by what appears to be an equal volume of musicians and pigeons. No one is in the pagoda, and the thick carpet of bird-shit is the reason.

Nevertheless, there is a beauty in the dilapidated Boyle. It is sad that the 119-year-olde building's brilliance may not be brought out until the present tenants are expelled and the rents have been raised exponentially.

The nabe has more than a few great places, too. The laundromat offers free coffee and fortune cookies in the morning; there are several great places to eat, and there are a few other things that I refuse to disclose because I feel one should either visit or miss out. I am afraid the time is short for everyone there.

The unflattering photos in today's L.A. Times (in print and on line) are artless, so I decided to show some photos I took some time ago. (One will note that the street is not only NOT closed off but that the sun is just coming up.)

   

-BusTard

Comments

[ricek]

gottdam! That article was awful. So this NGO is making haste to comply with the hotplate codes, but not doing the rat abatement. What is up with that? They're holding computer classes, but not removing the rats? Someone needs to explain something to the management that rats are disgusting and scary. They need to get a cat or two, to deal with the vermin. Yes, cats are not really to code, but cats do a better job than poisons and traps. They also need to fix the leaks. Take care of these basics, and renovate and remodel communal areas. Then they can rip out the customizations. If the communal facilities are nice, people will let go of their own stuff a little more easily. Then, after that, they can do individual refurbs on the units. Forget about computer classes. Install internet and give people crap computers. Teach them to record their music and sell it on iTunes or some other online store.

[BusTard]

I agree.

I do not have a cat. b

But I do have a wife. And while I do not have a rat problem, I have killed one mouse (just two days ago) and captured and inadvertently released another one. (Just Sunday; bastard bit me!)

Nevertheless, I understand that folk at the Boyle have it worse, even if they are not married.