Saturday: Gunfire in South Atwater Village

A NEIGHBOR WRITES about yesterday's incident: "Shooting on Hollydale & Tyburn. Cops have the area blocked off, there are shell casings on the street. Any idea what's going on?"

Neighbors on the AVNC forum report: "About 15 rounds were shot into the house on the corner of Tyburn and Hollydale around 3:20pm [Jan. 30]."

What gives? Anyone hit? Is this gang-related? LAPD presence seemed heavier than normal Saturday evening, too, with patrol cars throughout the neighborhood.

Movements Boutique to Close

ONE OF THE women's clothing stores in central Atwater Village is calling it quits. Movements Boutique, 3125 Glendale Blvd., is posting discounts of 20% to 70% on everything in the store, including fixtures.

What Would Be in New Park on Casitas Avenue?

A NEW CITY PARK may be developed in Atwater Village, if LA City Council District 13 gets funding, on a half-acre lot at the corner of Glendale Boulevard and Casitas Avenue. (Looks like it'll go next to the railroad tracks and just above Glendale.) Interested neighbors can fill in a survey to help determine what might be in the new park. Vote for the swimming pool. See if they can fit on one 22,000 square feet of dirt. You can also attend a CD13 presentation about the new park tonight:

• Thursday, Jan. 28, 6:30pm
• Atwater Park Church Community Room
• 3370 Perlita Avenue

LA River Before & After January Rains

Before & After January Rains, originally uploaded by Atwater Village Newbie.

PHOTO TAKEN on January 23, 2010.

Fixed! Google Maps Remove Space from Valleybrink

THANKS TO months of neighbor complaints, it looks like Google Maps has at last removed the space from Valley Brink Road and now properly displays this central Atwater Village street as Valleybrink Road. Pizza deliverers rejoice.

Golf Course Flooded! A Possible Explanation

A NEW REPORT on Winter Storm 2010 from a neighborhood photographer: "I noticed on your Twitter feed that you linked to my video of the river. I've attached some photos of the Los Feliz Municipal Golf Course. I was wondering why it was flooded so badly. Then, I discovered why (or so I think). One of the drainage pipes was flowing like a river, while the other was plugged with old leaves (assuming they were sycamore)." Good catch. Thanks for the report! See all the Jan. 19 photos.

AVNC Candidates, the Clock is Ticking

FILING DEADLINE is today, Jan. 19, at 5:00pm, for anyone interested in becoming a candidate for the March 20 Atwater Village Neighborhood Council (AVNC) Board Election. Get the whole scoop, including candidate filing form.

Between Storms: LA River Rises Through Village

Between Storms, originally uploaded by Atwater Village Newbie.

Yum! Oyster Night Returns to Canele Bistro

FRESH ON THE heels of last Sunday's appearance on ABC's Brothers & Sisters (about 34:30 into the video) neighborhood fave Canele Bistro brings back oyster night. From their email: "Maestro of the Mollusk Luc Chamberland is coming for the second annual Consider the Oyster feast and celebration! We'll be shucking, roasting, po'boying, and who-knows-what-else with those little gems." The deets:

• Monday, Jan. 18, 6:30pm
• Canele Bistro, 3219 Glendale Blvd.
• $70 by reservation; "includes wine and champagne, accompanying delectables and a little something sweet at the end"
• RSVP (323) 666-7133

Atwater Village is 19th Most Walkable LA Neighborhood

DO YOU NEED a car to live in Atwater Village? Maybe not. Our 8,000-resident neighborhood scores 19th out of all Los Angeles hoods with a walkability score of 77 (out of 100) according to WalkScore.com. Central AV does better, scoring 86 at Glendale and Glenfeliz Boulevards. Both scores earn a rating of "Very Walkable: It's possible to get by without owning a car."

Los Angeles Neighborhood Walkability Scores

1. Mid City West: 92 out of 100
2. Downtown: 90
3. Hollywood: 89
4. New Downtown: 88
5. Mid Wilshire: 88
6. Sawtelle: 87
7. Civic Center / Little Tokyo: 87
8. South Park: 86
9. Westlake: 85
10. Los Feliz: 85
11. Wholesale District / Skid Row: 84
12. Century City: 83
13. Palms: 82
14. Valley Village: 82
15. Pico-Robertson: 82
16. Silver Lake: 79
17. Highland Park: 79
18. Fashion District: 77
19. Atwater Village: 77
20. Mid City: 76

It's true, most amenities are footsteps away. Even real grocery stores (Trader Joe's, Gelson's) are just a mile walk over the Hyperion bridge. Harder to walk to: movie theaters, malls, jobs, the ocean. See WalkScore.com.

Good News, Bad News for Atwater Village Crime in 2009

YEAR-END STATS from Northeast LAPD show mostly good news for 2009 crime rates in Atwater Village. Total crime was down 19.3 percent:

• Homicide: Down 66% (3 in 2008, 1 in 2009)
• Robbery: Down 57.8%
• Aggravated Assault: Down 21.1%
• Larceny: Down 6%
• Grand Theft Auto: Down 24%
• Theft from Vehicle: Down 27.5%

Police give some of the credit to the North Atwater Village takedown of the Toonerville gang in July 2009. The bad news?

• Rape: Even (1 in 2008, 1 in 2009)
• Burglary of Residence/Business: Up 6%

Important 2010 Dates for AVNC Candidates

ATWATER VILLAGE Neighborhood Council (AVNC) elections are upon us, with deadlines coming for interested candidates. AVNC seeks:

• 2 North Atwater Residents
• 2 Central Atwater Residents
• 2 South Atwater Residents
• 2 Business Reps
• 2 Community Group/Non-profit Reps
• 2 Church/Religion Reps
• 1 School Rep
• 1 Parks & Recreation Rep
• 1 At-Large Rep

One way to declare your candidacy is by filing a form at the next AVNC meeting: Thursday Jan. 14, 7:30pm, Christ's Church, 3852 Edenhurst Avenue.

Registration deadline is Tuesday Jan. 19 and the AVNC election is March 20.

Download the entire AVNC candidate filing packet.

Atwater Village Gives Thumbs Up to the Pale, Wounded Narcissism

EVER WONDER what your neighbors are renting from Netflix? Last year, residents of ZIP code 90039, including Atwater Village, requested Rachel Getting Married more than any other movie. This New York Times map shows the popularity of Rachel in a diagonal swath across LA County, from Santa Monica to Pasadena and beyond. The darker the shading, the more popular Rachel was in that ZIP Code. White people, represent. Here are 90039's top 10 Netflix movies in 2009:

• Rachel Getting Married
• Milk
• The Wrestler
• Burn After Reading
• Twilight
• Doubt
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Changeling
• Religulous
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (ranked 10th in 90039) and Frost/Nixon (ranked 25th) map a similar pattern to Rachel. Get more analysis from the New York Times and LAist.

Become a Landlord in North Atwater Village

View Larger Map

FOR SALE: A 4-unit apartment building in a formerly gang-ridden area of Atwater Village. The "garden style" building at 4031 Sequoia Street offers units with 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, hardwood floors (under carpet), patios and fireplaces.

• Listing: $599,000

Let's say you buy the place with a great 5 percent mortgage rate and 20 percent down. Your monthly payments would be about $2,500. Considering ongoing maintenance and management, would you make your money back if 4 tenants paid $1,000/month each? Would you pay that to live on Sequoia?

Best Joke from Bigfoot Lodge's First Comedy Night

LAST NIGHT marked the debut of The Laura Palmer Comedy Hour at Bigfoot Lodge in Atwater Village. Wide assortment of comics, from safe to rude, most working from notes, but a promising start for this free event scheduled for the first Tuesday of each month. Best joke? From Jim Hamilton:

Funyuns?

More like...

Actually, Funyuns is the perfect name.

The Mews Grand Opening: Third Week of January

THE ECO-FRIENDLY, 23-unit housing development in North Atwater Village has set a tentative grand opening for the week of January 18, 2010. Units in The Mews, as the development is called, at 4254 to 4310 Perlita Ave., start at $599,000 for a 3-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom, 1,600-square-footer.

• More: The Mews Indoor/Outdoor Homes

'We Also Help to Bring Newcomers to Our Community'

READ ALL OF the "Tastemaker" interview with 55 Degree Wine owner Andy Hasroun on City Sipper Los Angeles. Andy's advice for wine newbies? "Try as many wines as you can, that is the only way you are going to develop and learn your palate." More here.