Nina Zippay

It was almost eight years ago that I went to my first summer fun meeting hosted by the Mount Washington Association. We were living on the Westside and looking for a home to purchase. Finding nothing in our budget on the Westside but over-priced tear-downs falsely labeled as fixer-uppers – a friend suggested checking out Mount Washington. Once I realized it was a neighborhood and not a historic site near the nation’s capital I went in search of the elusive neighborhood.

Rob Schraff

For those of us who lived through the 90’s in Mount Washington, with that decade’s focus on real-estate values, ever-bigger homes and what seemed, at least to me, like an unstated desire of some to turn Mount Washington into Bel-Air East, Nina Zippay’s recent Patch article was a delightful breath of fresh air. We have reprinted it here because Nina deftly captures what brought so many of us to Mount Washington in the first place – Mount Washington’s sense of community, an unusual brand of togetherness based on tolerance of wide differences and sincere appreciation of other points of view. I think the Mount Washington Association’s half-century of welcoming all voices has a lot do with this sense of our community and should make us all feel a little pride in that long history.

Zack Christensen and Antonio Villaraigosa Jr.

For so many of the residents of Mount Washington, our verdant neighborhood with its bohemian spirit and stunning vistas has been an important facet of our lives. Its collective identity holds an irreplaceable value for those of us who grew up here. So it was also for Jack Rohman. Jack, who passed away in January after a battle with schizophrenia, often spoke of a special place in his heart for Mount Washington and about his future plans for living here. We were his friends, and we propose to install a mural in his memory on the concrete bulkhead supporting Mount Washington Drive between Canyon Vista and San Rafael.

Kim Axelrod Ohanneson

I have high hopes for the youth of today.

I’ll admit that my perception might be skewed; I’m basing it on the young adults of Mount Washington, and I’m willing to acknowledge that they represent an extraordinary segment of their demographic.

Kim Axelrod Ohanneson

Here are some things you should know about Jack Rohman:
He was tall and thin.
His hair was messy.
If there was a pen nearby, he took it apart.