For young, rising hipsters in Northeast LA, the Frogtown Free Crawl was the hottest new event to fulfill their Instagram-perfect dreams.
For many residents of the historically working-class Latinx community, it was a breaking point.
This fall, the event anticipated Los Angeles’ debate over gentrification, as long-smoldering neighborhood tensions exploded and a vocal group of residents finally drove the ultra-popular flea market from the city. It became a flashpoint.
The twice-monthly tour consisted of approximately eight mini-markets featuring clothing, food, and jewelry vendors scattered along the LA River in Elysian Valley, also known as Frogtown. Opening in spring 2023, it has quickly become one of the trendiest places to visit, with the help of social media and vintage fashion influencers.
According to Arturo Gomez, by spring 2024, the event will routinely attract hundreds of “trust fund hipsters” who will cause traffic jams, block driveways, leave trash behind, and public He even urinated in the area. Gomez is president of the Elysian Valley Riverside Neighborhood Association, but he was speaking as a resident of Frogtown.
Residents aren’t just annoyed by the nuisance caused by crawlers, he explained. Many also believed the project was a symbol of the economic forces that were slowly erasing the close-knit communities in which they had grown up.
A customer visited Frogtown Brewery on October 13th.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Frogtown is “home to a large Hispanic and Latino community that has cherished this place for generations,” local resident Trisha Herrera said at a recent neighborhood association meeting. “This (flea crawling) is what fuels gentrification and makes us feel like strangers in our own communities.”
Twenty years ago, Elysian Valley was an industrial working-class community, and Frogtown referred to the name of a local Mexican Mafia gang. But now, Frogtown is the moniker of one of L.A.’s hottest new neighborhoods, with expensive new housing developments, vegan bakeries, breweries, and upscale restaurants serving eight-course omakase sushi menus. Masu.
According to the U.S. Census, the percentage of Hispanic or Latino residents in the area will rise from about 60% in 2000 to 43% in 2022, with median household incomes ranging from about $37,000 to It rose to $78,000.
The flea-crawling spree comes against a backdrop of rising rents and increasing neighborhood density.
Gomez said those in attendance “have a right to say that this neighborhood is for people who want to treat it like a playground, as opposed to the people who live here who are just trying to live their lives.” It shows that there is an attitude.”
In September, supporters and critics of the event began sparring on social media and at increasingly hostile neighborhood association meetings. One video asking people to boycott flea crawling has been viewed more than 100,000 times on TikTok.
Following the outpouring of anger, event founder Annalize Anderson suspended the event in October to try to come up with a solution to address residents’ concerns.
“Once again, I would like to directly apologize for not addressing your feedback sooner. I am sorry for the impact my actions had,” she said at the Oct. 9 City Council meeting. “This has been a great learning experience and we are committed to improving ourselves and the market based on your feedback.”
However, many residents were not interested in what she had to say.
“I’m not trying to repair bridges,” Emilia Sanchez, a lifelong Elysian Valley resident, said at the meeting. “If the residents tell you to leave, I think you need to leave.”
Sanchez said he didn’t think the residential area was a good place to host a large public event, given that it’s sandwiched between the L.A. River and Highway 5, with only two roads leading in and out. said.
“There are people in this neighborhood who have to wake up at like 3:45 a.m. to go to work, and then they get really tired and wake up at 6 p.m., wanting to get some time with their families. I get home at 7 o’clock, but there’s an event going on and cars are blocking my driveway,” Sanchez said. “That’s not cool.”
“If the residents are telling you to leave, I think you need to leave,” Emilia Sanchez, a lifelong resident of Elysian Valley, told Frogtown Flea Crawl founders at a public meeting. Ta.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Local resident Lili Sanchez said neighborhood startups benefit economically from the large crowds that attend events, but that benefit is not shared with the larger community.
“I think what people don’t think about is that as a working-class community, we can’t afford a lot of the things that are sold in flea hunting,” she said. “We can’t even afford the prices of local companies.”
At the Oct. 9 meeting, Anderson said he would reduce the frequency of events, add traffic signs, hire trash pickup help, encourage alternative transportation, create feedback emails and benefit neighborhood groups. He suggested several ideas to alleviate residents’ concerns, including incorporating a charitable element.
She said she takes concerns about gentrification very seriously and is committed to working with residents, businesses and councils on solutions to keep the flea crawling going.
Several of her vendors spoke in favor of the event, saying it fosters community and supports small businesses, including many vendors of color, who rely on these types of events for income. expressed.
Still, many in the crowd remained unmoved.
“This really feels like a public relations stunt,” said local resident Lisette Gomez, adding that Anderson’s proposal was being made in an “atmosphere of mistrust.”
Neighborhood President Arturo Gomez said that until recently, Anderson had not attended council meetings, worked with local nonprofits, or attempted to address long-standing concerns of residents. spoke.
Last spring, neighborhood association members asked the Los Angeles Fire Department to investigate excessive vehicle and pedestrian traffic during the event to ensure it was not creating a fire hazard. In an email to the fire inspector in May, Anderson called the concerns “petty neighborly disputes,” and several residents said they had no choice but to respond to Anderson’s comments when they posted their concerns about the incident. claims to have blocked them on social media.
Bike path in the Frogtown area.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
When the Times reached out to Anderson for comment, she responded with a statement Wednesday saying she was canceling the event.
“Out of respect for our residents and their concerns, we have decided to end the Frogtown Flea Patrol,” the statement said. “It’s important to me that we allow Elysian Valley residents to step back and lead the conversation about what’s best for our changing region, because they are the ones most directly affected. .”
The next day, she officially announced the cancellation on Instagram, but was met with disappointment from vendors and enthusiastic event attendees.
“Damn. This really hurts. I loved this flea because it was completely different from other fleas in Los Angeles,” seller Liz Nyaudina wrote in a comment. “It’s unfortunate that there was no compromise.”
Another vendor, Abigail Grzewicz, lamented the loss of economic opportunity and friendships, writing, “This space was more than a flea market to many people.”
Meanwhile, Arturo Gómez called the cancellation “a classic example of the success of citizens and their representatives coming together to protect their communities.”
Trisha Herrera, from left, Arturo Gomez, Lisette Gomez and Lili Sanchez were among those who opposed the flea crawling.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Elysian Valley’s history dates back to the late 1800s, when it was home to several farms. In the 1900s, many factories opened in the area, providing employment for the growing Latino community.
It was nicknamed Frogtown after the flocks of frogs that thrived in the Los Angeles River and flew around the neighborhood until they became extinct in the 1970s.
Due in part to river pollution, violence, and geographic isolation, the area has not seen the level of gentrification that transformed the neighboring neighborhoods of Silver Lake and Atwater Village in the 1990s and early 2000s. . It endured significant job losses due to factory closures.
In 2013, then City Atty. Mike Feuer issued a gang injunction to curb violence by gang members in Frogtown. In 2014, the city began planning a $1.4 billion river restoration project.
Gentrification has recently arrived in Elysian Valley, raising costs and forcing some local residents to leave the area.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Both marked important turning points for the region. As safety and cleanliness increased, investment began to flow in, rents rose, and many long-time residents were forced out.
After seeing affordable housing disappear, high-wage factory jobs disappear, and generations of community bonds crumble, problems related to flea crawling are becoming more and more of a concern for some residents. It ignited the anger that had been smoldering between us. And while some may see the community’s level of anger as an overreaction to the flea market, Arturo Gomez said he deeply empathizes with the community’s frustrations.
“At this point, the people who want to jump on the benefits that can be had here are trying to understand the fact that many of us are bemoaning this area turning into something hipper or more upwardly mobile. “I think we need to recognize that,” he said. and the future community. ”
