Looking Toward The Next Life For Lincoln Heights Jail

Councilmember Ed Reyes.

Within a maze of avenues, the building still called Lincoln Heights Jail sits in solitary confinement from the rest of Los Angeles, isolated by the I-5 and Pasadena Freeway that slices through L.A.'s Northeast neighborhoods.

Recently an RFP has been sent out to seek developers with ideas on how to reuse and adapt the historic facility. The city and First District Councilman Ed Reyes sees the lot and building as a potential gateway to the Los Angeles River.

On the roof of the former Los Angeles City Jail, Reyes points out to the vistas and neighboring Los Angeles River, Chinatown and Downtown to the South, and the stalled developments to the North.

"We want to re-shift the zoning so we can continue an urban village all the way up to here," says Reyes. "If you look at the river as a long corridor . . . this is one of those pivotal points."

The site is only one lot of city owned or controlled yard that sit where the Los Angeles River takes a bend around the hills of Elysian Park, between the Arroyo Seco and the Los Angeles State Historic Park (the Cornfields).

The elevated Metro Gold Line passes by giving riders a glimpse of the 1931 Art Deco building. On the other side is the 1949 extension where part of the ground floor is home to The Bilingual Foundation of the Arts. On one upper floor, a boxing gym is improvised inside the former offices and in some sections, bars from windows leave shadows down long dusty hallways with empty holding cells.

Former tenants on other floors included an arts group and pigeons, both leaving a mess before being asked to leave by the city.  In the 70s and 80s, the arts group was at first a successful grassroots program that allowed experimental works to be produced until it was infiltrated by promoters who staged after-hours parties.

Pigeons took over an upper floor and left so much of themselves behind, not even a major studio took an offer to use the facility for free if they cleaned up years of bird droppings.

And all over, you see leftover film set pieces; fake bars and offices stand next to former real cells and offices.

"We want to invite investors to see what kind of creative thinking, what kind of mixed use can go in this building . . .that's a shell," says Reyes, adding its role can be a destination.

Then he laughs.

"Hopefully, it can have a name other than the old jail.  But that's what it is."

Comments

[LAYAC MEMBER]

IS THIS WHY YOU CLOSED DOWN OUR GYM TO BUILD THAT'S OUR HOME WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ALL THE KID'S AND ADULTS THAT TRAIN THERE?

[sean stone]

The gym was apparently closed because of problems on the roof above the 5th floor which included water leakage, broken tiles, and coding problems. The Bilingual Foundation is still going strong on the bottom floor, and talk of building lofts are well, just talk. It would take years of business development, drafting, renditions, revisions, etc. before the work would even begin. I'm sorry to hear about the gym, I've been there a number of times and I think that it did tremendous good for the young community.... it will be missed.