With its residential foothills and warehouse-pocked industrial avenues, Glassell Park has yet to undergo the rampant development and ensuing gentrification that has rapidly changed the face of its Northeast L.A. neighbors.
But a handful of life-long locals sense the creeping suffocation to come, beginning with those first dreadful dominoes of high-priced menus, bars full of bogus bohemians, and art galleries that can swiftly lead to displacement and cultural white-washing.
A new battlefield has been established in the movement to "Defend L.A." from the redevelopment-wielding barbarians-at-the-gate. An eponymous new restaurant helmed by Southern-raised chef Brian Dunsmoor opened this week on Eagle Rock Boulevard amid a volley of local protest intent on stopping it in its tracks.
L.A. TACO first learned about the effort to shut the restaurant down this week when contacted with a press release pointing us to the DunsmoorIsDone Instagram account, where the lone post reads:
Come help us make Dunsmoor DONE like dinner tomorrow, Wednesday June 29th on their opening night! This restaurant group not only threatens to turn Glassell Park into Highland Park v.2.0 but has plans to spread to other areas of LA, and will bring gentrifiers chomping at the bit willing to pay $200 per dinner from all over the County to this neighborhood which has not yet fully gentrified - the players involved have already helped further gentrify other LA neighborhoods with their restaurants, including Culver City, Mar Vista, and Venice, and now they've set their speculative sights eastward and beyond.
This restaurant group WILL cause heightened displacement - and homelessness - unless they are stopped. Please come and help us send a clear message that these people not only chose the wrong neighborhood - but that gentrification pioneers can no longer count on feeling entitled to set up shop and cause displacement- and homelessness - wherever they see fit. Help us make it true, that Dunsmoor is DONE.