Watching a hole where the mail went in. ... I've been getting emails today, both on the list serv and several addressed to Chicken Corner, with reports of more U.S. mailboxes gone missing in Echo Park. (Not to mention everywhere else in the U.S.)

A reader named Allison and two others pointed out the site of the former mail drop at Armitage, which was my own box of choice when I didn't go directly to the post office. Allison said:

Just wanted to let you know that I was annoyed to see they removed the mailbox at Echo Park and Armitage...several weeks ago. I thought it was done to get out of the way of the recent sidewalk construction around there but when it didn't return after construction completed, I called the post office. They were very nice about helping me locate the next closest mailbox to my house, but they've removed all the boxes along Echo Park that are north of EP and Morton. I was told that you can call and complain to "Cindy" no last name the manager of the Edendale Post Office at 213) 413-3839 though I doubt this will make any difference.

My friend Richard Cromelin wrote:

also one i used often on cerro gordo near lake shore--drove by the other day to mail something and it was gone...i hate exiting the parking lot at that post office....

It's true. Who doesn't see their life flash before their eyes as they turn right (no other choice) onto Alvarado? Where there is a curve in the road just before the turn lane, and fast-moving, desperate traffic. There are days when I am not in the mood to face mortality, but there I am, with a string of motorist-mail-senders waiting behind me as I try to make that awful turn. All for the sake of beating the posted pickup time.

On the Echo-Elysian list serv a well-known community activist and personality wrote:

I tried to raise this issue some years ago at one of the Town Hall meetings sponsored by Xavier Becerra, since this is a federal issue. Mail boxes are an endangered species - over 50 have been removed from Echo Park (this fact from a postal employee). There used to be one at Echo Park Ave./Laguna Ave., near the Episcopalian Cathedral - and when I phoned to complain about its sudden disappearance, was told it didn't generate 50 pieces of mail a week! With the church so close, I don't believe that was true. Perhaps we need a campaign to start getting boxes back. i have to use the ones on Sunset Blvd./Echo Park Ave., or Sunset Blvd./Lemoyne.

Again on the neighborhood list serv, my friend Scott posted the pictorial answer to some of our questions:

Photo by Matt Cohen

Lost your mailbox? Soon you'll find it on eBay.

Not to make a federal case of it, but so much for walking to the mailbox. When you can drive.