Flat Top in Montecito Heights is Saved and Will Become a Park

The beloved hilltop fireworks-watching spot known as Flat Top (between Lincoln Heights and Montecito Heights) has been saved from development and will officially become a park. The news came down today that an environmental group will buy the roughly 37-acre property, owned by the Foursquare Church of Echo Park, for about $1.4 million, which will cover the cost of the land (but not the cost of turning it into a park or the eventual day-to-day maintenance); eventually, the city will take over the land, says Eastsider LA.

The purchase does not include the seven or so acres of the space that are occupied by cell phone and radio towers, but the majority of the area that's become a popular hiking destination (it's next to Debs Park) will be preserved. In 2012, the Church unveiled its plans to turn the space—empty for the more than 80 years—into a residential development, much to the chagrin of the neighbors and community members who'd always known it as wide open space.