Tacos and beer make sense. Pasta and wine. Sake and sushi. When an all-day cafe, Highly Likely, serving salads and bowls, went before the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council requesting a full line of liquor, I thought, “Wait a minute.” Do we need another bar?
Walking Figueroa Street and York Boulevard—Highland Parks' main stretches—intending to photograph La Estrella Tacos, Coco's Bakery Restaurant, Dollar Deal, and Botanica Ashe that all had recently closed, the numerous “Public Notice of Application to Sell Alcoholic Beverages” signs are what captured my attention.
“Approving more of these permits will further neglect our communities’ basic needs,” a young person I work with said. Conversations with Highland Park residents about the oversaturation of permits led to forming relationships with those most impacted by this prioritization of profit over people.
Gentrification, rooted in historically racist policies surrounding housing in the United States, is not inevitable like we have been led to believe. Instead, it is preventable or manageable. However, if regulations are not upheld, “gentrification inevitably leads to corporate control of neighborhoods,” according to How to Kill a City by P.E. Moskowitz.