"Highland Park is a hilly community that hugs the Arroyo Seco northeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It is bilingual, multi-cultural, blue collar, musical, artistic. Jacaranda trees bloom here in season, their blossoms falling in fiery purple flakes. Parents raise families here, kids play ball in the parks, clerics preach, teachers teach, musicians play Latin, rock, and jazz music, artists sculpt, paint murals, and detail classic automobiles, gardeners raise avocados and roses and citrus fruits. Highland Park was a cradle of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Gene Roddenberry graduated from high school here. Diane Keaton was a kid here, and so was Jackson Browne. And maybe, just maybe, the cheeseburger was invented here. A lot of things were hecho en Highland Park...." Journey through Highland Park, one of Northeast LA's most eclectic, historic, and contested neighborhoods. Originally a green and pleasant district that attracted ranchers, farmers, clerics, artists, thinkers, and families, after the mid-20th century Highland Park devolved into a zone riddled with drugs and gangs-but many residents refused to abandon their homes and businesses. In the new millennium, vibrant communities of immigrants, artists, merchants, preservationists, and hipsters are trying to restore the HLP's past glory. But the criminal element isn't going quietly. See Highland Park at this key moment in its history, when longtime locals, developers, and gangs stake claims on its soul. History Contemporary Urban Exploration Photography Los Angeles