The box-like cinderblock building at the corner of Lucretia and Echo Park Avenue was an evangelical church for many years. The church moved, but I still see its pastor frequently, making house calls to some elderly nieghbors of mine. After the church left the space there was an art gallery briefly. And after that it was a sparse junk shop, opened at odd hours. Then several months ago, there was work on it again. I poked my head (or nose) in to ask about it, saw cooking equipment and learned that soon it would be a southern bakery. But "soon" turned out to be relative. The building was painted in a stlyish feminine manner -- pale yellow brown and blue, with snap dragons and dahlia's planted in the parkway. "Delilah" was painted on a deep-slanting cursive. But there were permit troubles, including, I was told 3rd- or 4th-hand, parking issues: the city wanted them to build underground parking. I am sure it took some doing to get past that hurdle. (I don't believe they have any parking spaces.) The entire space is probably 400 hundred square feet. Many months passed.

Then yesterday Delilah's did open -- to quite a warm reception from the neighborhood. My husband, daughter, dog and I all walked down Echo Park Avenue to sample the new arrival, making an outing of it. On our way there and back we passed dozens of people -- hipsters, families, artists -- who were doing the same. Friends honked at us from cars on their way to get there. We ran into one group of four who told us the bakery was running out of goods there were so many people. And it was true. When we got there -- at eleven -- almost everything was cleared out and our cinnamon rolls were a bit undercooked, as if they had been rushed out of the oven. In Echo Park, the people were hungry for cake and pie! The proprietor, who is from Orange County originally but has studied and loved southern cuisine, told me she simply hadn't expected so many people to show up. I couldn't decide if the decor was an odd fit for Echo Park or right up its alley: lots of vintage, fiftie's style knick-knacks, tea roses in a milk jar, floral wall paper and an antique mantle with splotchy mirror. But I could tell the decor soon would be taken for granted. With several outdoor tables right on the sidewalk, it's likely to become a new community gathering spot.

Yes it's a boutique bakery that looks like final proof of the neighborhood's (can I say it?) gentrification. If the reeses peanut butter pie is good should we wish it were something else?

****************

Today's LA Times has a nice pair of photos of the reservoir in Elysian Park in a story about the decades-old controversy over whether and how to cover the open water sources that serve Los Angeles. Not mentioned in the story is that over the last couple of years the public was invited to participate in drafting a master plan for Elysian Park. There were workshops and question-and-answer sessions. The desire to have the reservoir covered and turned into recreational space -- parkland -- has been clear. So it's a bit alarming to read a quote from DWP official Glenn Singley, who seemed to be arguing the fiscal utility of dropping a metal dome over the water and calling it a day. Green space is worth working for, and it's worth paying for. The paucity of it in Los Angeles is a disgrace.