Editor’s note: This is part of our “My LA” series — a look at how changing demographics are shifting culture in LA’s historic neighborhoods and communities — told by the people from those communities.
The large banner that went up in July on the front of Junior’s Discount store at York Boulevard and Avenue 50 was heartbreaking. The shop where our family had long purchased piñatas, Mylar balloons and other party supplies was threatened by a hefty rent increase from a new property owner. The following month, the neighboring Sip Snack was forced to move.
Junior’s remains, and the banner has been taken down, but the impact on the block has been felt: Four other businesses have shuttered or relocated.
It is a loss for the community, but it is not surprising. As someone who has lived in Highland Park for 24 years, I feel torn. The neighborhood has been a wonderful and warm place to live and raise kids. But at the same time, it’s been difficult to hear about neighbors being displaced due to rising rents, and watching beloved shops, like Elsa’s Bakery with its cases of pan dulce, close.
‘LA’s first suburb’
We moved to Highland Park in August 2002, and much of the period since then has been defined by churn, especially on York, a street some know from an epic chase-and-shootout scene in 1992’s “Reservoir Dogs.”
We didn’t intend to wind up in what PBS SoCal identified as one of Los Angeles’ first suburbs, annexed by the city in 1895. Julia and I had each been renting in Echo Park when we met, and as we prepared to get hitched, we wanted to stay there. But prices in that neighborhood and Silver Lake were already preposterous. We couldn’t afford it.
The realtor we were working with, who we nicknamed “The Captain” because of his comprehensive knowledge, started showing us more affordable homes up the 2 Freeway.
The median gross rent in that ZIP Code, 90042, back then was $626, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, and the median home value was $159,300.
The 1921 farmhouse-style residence, with a tree-filled backyard and located across from an apartment building in a traditionally Latino working-class community, was what a journalist and documentary filmmaker could afford. Even that was difficult, but we scratched together the down payment.
This was, of course, before Highland Park ignited.
LA’s ‘new culture district’
We loved our home and the community from day one. We discovered Galco’s soda emporium our first week, and the locksmith next door has been our go-to. We met a delightful couple who have lived in their home on the block for 50 years. The husband, Steve, told me he played football at the high school where our son is now on the team, and saw a succession of tenants move in and out of the apartment building.
We’re not oblivious to the fact that many families and businesses had been here for decades before us, and that we were the new arrivals who had to fit in. We also never had any desire to be in the next “hot” neighborhood. We just wanted a place where we could live and start a family.
Julia was pregnant on the day in 2007 when we first met the couple who were about to open Cafe de Leche on York, across the street from Junior’s. It was among the first of the “new” businesses to debut, and two years later it was mentioned in a New York Times story dubbed “Highland Park: A New Culture District in Los Angeles.”
The floodgates opened, with shops and restaurants rushing to York and, on the east side of the community, Figueroa Street.
In 2013, LAist reported on a Redfin survey naming Highland Park the hottest neighborhood in the country. In 2016, as the word “gentrification” got tossed around a lot, the L.A. Times reported that My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way had sold his home in “hipster Highland Park” for $1.158 million. Three years later, Highland Park resident Billie Eilish released her first album, and my little neighborhood became internationally known.
Positive and distressing forces
Naturally, prices have gone bonkers. The median gross rent is now $1,913, according to the Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey. And good luck buying for under seven figures — 47.7% of the homes are valued at more than $1 million. Another 42.8% are north of $500,000.
The signs of change — both positive and distressing — are inescapable. In the early years, our block suffered occasional gunfire, and a teenager was shot to death just steps from our gate. That doesn’t happen anymore, and neither does the gang tagging of our garage.
Multiple long-dead storefronts within walking distance from our home now house buzzworthy restaurants, and while some are too pricey except for special occasions, this means activated spaces, jobs and tax revenue. A defunct gas station at the southwest corner of York and Avenue 50 is now a popular children’s playground, thanks to the work of former Councilmember José Huizar — yes, that Huizar.
Signs of hipness
Then there’s the churn. Long before Junior’s faced its rent increase, we saw stores and restaurants open and close. Bub & Grandma’s is the third pizza place in its location. The wonderful Joy and Belle’s Bagels each replaced failed ventures. Some landmarks, like El Huarache Azteca and Troy Burger, remain, but they’re the exception, not the rule.
The signs of, yes, hipness are constant, starting with the litany of flipped homes with horizontal fences and sans-serif house numbers. Somehow, our stretch of York holds six cannabis dispensaries.
Perhaps the most telling change comes in another economic statistic: In 2020, the household median income (HMI) in ZIP Code 90042 was $36,064, about $6,000 below the nation’s HMI. The figure today is $95,282 — around $11,500 above the nationwide HMI, according to the 2024 American Community Survey.
People tell me this is good for my home value, but that really only matters when you sell. Julia and I have lived here for nearly a quarter-century, and our boys, both in their late teens, have grown up Highland Park through and through. When friends visit, they can walk to York for dinner and dessert, which was unthinkable when The Captain first showed us around. So home value is nice, but more important to us is the fact that Highland Park is our home. We’re here to stay.
I hope Junior’s Discount can find a way to stay, too.
Jon Regardie is a veteran Los Angeles journalist who has contributed news, politics, business and entertainment stories to dozens of print and online publications. A recipient of the L.A. Press Club’s 2020 Journalist of the Year award, he also regularly comments on civic matters on local radio stations. He plays basketball frequently, albeit poorly.
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