Elysian Valley, Los Angeles

Elysian Valley Frogtown
Neighborhood of Los Angeles
Dorris Place Elementary School
Elysian Valley as drawn by the Los Angeles Times
Elysian Valley Location within Northeast Los Angeles
Coordinates: 34°05′40″N 118°14′25″W / 34.09445°N 118.240366°W / 34.09445; -118.240366

Elysian Valley, also known as Frogtown, is a neighborhood of more than 7,700 residents within Central Los Angeles, California, adjoining the Los Angeles River. It has a large percentage of children between the ages of 11 and 18 and a high number of Latinos and Asians. There is one elementary school in the neighborhood, Dorris Place Elementary School, but children have also historically attended Allesandro Elementary School.

With the announcement of the $1 Billion restoration Project for the Los Angeles River, also known as Alternative 20, many residents felt the pressure of new investment and development in the community, causing them to organize for lower density. This push for low density from within the neighborhood is not new and was documented in an article as far back as 1987.

According to the Mapping L.A. project of the Los Angeles Times, the Elysian Valley neighborhood is flanked on the north by Atwater Village, on the northeast and east by Glassell Park, on the southeast by Cypress Park, on the south and southwest by Elysian Park and on the west and northwest by Echo Park and Silver Lake. Street and other boundaries are: the Los Angeles River on the north and east, Riverside Drive on the west and Fletcher Drive on the northwest.

The 2000 U.S. census counted 7,387 residents in the 0.79-square-mile neighborhood—an average of 9,354 people per square mile, about the same population density as the rest of the city. In 2008 the city estimated that the population had increased to 7,781. The median age for residents was 31, about average for Los Angeles, but the percentage of residents aged 11 to 18 was among the county's highest.

The neighborhood is moderately diverse ethnically, and the percentage of Asians and Latinos is comparatively high. The breakdown in 2000 was Latinos, 61.0%; Asians, 35.9%; whites, 9.7%; blacks, 1.1%, and others, and 2.6%. Mexico was the most common places of birth for the 47.5% of the residents who were born abroad, a high figure compared to rest of the city.