Students Take a Lap at Echo Park Lake as Street Closures for Sunday's Marathon Announced

They won't be the only ones running through Echo Park this week.  But Gillon Blank’s ninth and 10th graders from the Downtown Magnets High School may be the first.  I caught them running a lap around Echo Park Lake Monday afternoon.  They’d walked up from the school at Temple Street and Beaudry Avenue. It was quite a sight—lots of green and white--as I hope the accompanying pictures make clear.

Blank, who teaches history and physical education at DMHS, said his students will be there every Monday through June.  They’re in training, with the goal for the men to finish the approximately one-mile loop around the lake in five and a half minutes by June. Monday’s goal was a simple 9:45.  That number will drop each week, until mid-June's 5:30 benchmark.

The 26th annual Los Angeles marathon, of course, will also bring runners to Echo Park streets on Sunday. The city Department of Transportation has released the list of streets that will be closed Sunday to make way for the event.  Closures will begin as early as 3:15 a.m. for the early stages of the race, which are mainly in Echo Park and surrounding areas.

Here’s a list of closures that will hurt the most:

From 3:15 a.m. to 10:20 a.m.

 -- Elysian Park Avenue between Dodger Stadium and Sunset Boulevard;   

-- Sunset Boulevard/Cesar Chavez Avenue between Douglas Street and Alameda Street (may be closed to Vignes Street, if necessary);   

-- Temple Street between Alameda Street and Glendale Boulevard;  

-- Beaudry Avenue between First Street and Sunset Boulevard;   

-- East Edgeware Road between Temple Street. and Bellevue Avenue;   

-- Bellevue Avenue between East Edgeware Road and Glendale Boulevard;

-- Glendale Boulevard between Scott Avenue and Temple Street.  

Between 3:45 and 10:52 a.m.

-- Parkman Avenue between Glendale Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard;   

-- Sunset Boulevard between Echo Park Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard;  

 -- Alvarado Street between Glendale Boulevard and Temple Street;   

-- Santa Monica Boulevard between Hoover Street and Sunset Boulevard;   

-- Griffith Park Boulevard between Effie Street and Sunset Boulevard;   

-- Fountain Avenue between Myra and Virgil avenues;   

-- Hillhurst Avenue/Virgil Avenue between Franklin and Fountain avenues (may be closed to Santa Monica Blvd., if necessary);

-- Sunset Boulevard between Vermont and Virgil avenues.

Not all of these are in our core Echo Park area. But knowing that won’t make it any easier to get around. Thus, this slightly more expansive list.

Find out more about the marathon route by clicking on this link.