About Us

Our Mission

To be a center of peace and beauty in the community where the cultivation of vegetables, fruits and flowers as well as creative ideas, artistic expression and neighborly values may take place.

The Milagro Allegro Community Garden integrates urban farming, art and education in the heart of the Highland Park neighborhood.  Garden plots will be available for interested community members.  A community gathering space will host classes, workshops and events.  Local schools may incorporate the garden into curriculum or after-school activities.

Click here to read more about the significance of our name

Location and History

The Milagro Allegro garden is located at 115 S. Avenue 56 in the Northeast Los Angeles community of Highland Park. The garden features 10,000 square feet of land divided into 32 raised plots for cultivating fruits, vegetables and flowers. The garden also features a gathering circle for hosting classes, workshops and community events.

Milagro Allegro is located behind the historic Highland Theater, on 10,000 square feet of land belonging to the City of Los Angeles. Before Milagro Allegro began negotiations for a community garden, the land had remained vacant for 30 years—full of weeds and surrounded by barbed wire.

Thanks to the tremendous efforts of several community members and the support of Los Angeles City Councilmember Ed Reyes, Assemblyman Kevin De Leon, L.A. Department of Transportation, L.A. Community Garden Council, L.A. Conservation Corps, Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council and Home Depot, the Milagro Allegro Community Garden was able to open its doors.

The Milagro Allegro Community Garden is organized under the Los Angeles Community Garden Council, which supports 70 community gardens throughout Los Angeles County. Collectively, the gardens serve nearly 4,000 families and have become a vibrant part of their communities aimed at reducing poverty, mitigating global warming and benefiting the environment.

Timeline

• February 5, 2009: The lease was signed with the City of Los Angeles for the Milagro Allegro Community Garden
• February 21, 2009: Councilman Ed Reyes performed the ceremonial groundbreaking of the site. That same day, 37 fruit trees, donated by Tree People, were planted at the site.
• May 9, 2009: Milagro hosted its grand opening. Native American spiritual leader John Funmaker, of the Ho’Chunk Nation, blessed the land. Speakers at the event included Robert Gottlieb, PhD, director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College; Katherine Alexander, PhD, and Emily Ventura, PhD, MPH, from the Deparment of Preventative Medicine at the University of Southern California. Councilman Ed Reyes and Assemblyman Kevin De Leon also attended the ceremony.
• Late May 2009: Lottery took place to determine garden plot assignments.  We had twice as many applications as plots available!
• May/June 2009: First group of Milagro Allegro gardeners began working on their plots.

Board of Directors

Oscar Duardo

Oscar Duardo has considered Highland Park home since 1967. Trained as a serigrapher, Oscar has over 30 years’ experience creating prints through the silk-screen process. A self-described jack of all trades, Oscar has experience fighting fires, working with the California Conservation Corps, and has planted over 500 trees with North East Trees, a local environmental nonprofit.

Alfredo Chavez

Having grown up in a farm, Alfredo was first introduced to organic farming as a young boy. Alfredo received a horticulturalist certificate at the University of California, Los Angeles and has worked as a professional arborist at Universal Studios for the past 21 years. Alfredo continued his education and received an arborist certificate in 2005. Alfredo credits his contributions with the Community Food Security Coalition, which strives to obtain a safe and decent nutritional diet for all communities, with being inspired from César Chávez and his early involvement with the grape boycott.

Maria Kim

Maria has spent most of her life in the Los Angeles basin and has come to find a deep connection with the area’s immigrant population. Growing up as an athlete, Maria has found that gardening is one of the activities that helps her channel her abundant physical energy With a love for cooking and eating, Maria relishes the opportunity to share a home-cooked meal with others.

Nicole Gatto

Nicole Gatto is the garden’s director and has been gardening since childhood, when she came to consider that having a vegetable and fruit garden was an integral part of life. A native Angeleno, Nicole loves cooking and sharing good food with friends, traveling, yoga, world music and the outdoors. Nicole volunteers at the Eagle Rock farmer’s market on Friday evenings, where she sells produce for a local family of three generations of farmers. Nicole currently works as an Epidemiologist, teaching and researching on environmental and occupational risk factors for neurological disease. Nicole holds graduate degrees in Public Health (MPH) and Preventative Medicine (PhD).

Jerry A. Henry

Jerry has a prolific career in the film industry spanning 10 years and many prestigious awards, among them the Directors Guild of America Student Award for his short documentary “I Promise Africa.” Jerry attended the University of California, Los Angeles, earning a degree from the MFA Production Program, with an emphasis on documentary, cinematography and digital media. As a cinematographer/producer, Jerry has worked for over 60 reality television programs and shot over 80 reality television programs and documentary series for network and cable television. Jerry continues to explore experimental Super 8mm filmmaking and time-lapse photography, all while enjoying fatherhood.

Matt Mihm

Matt Mihm currently teaches fifth grade at Loreto Street Elementary School in Cypress Park. Matt moved to Highland Park in 2001, after earning degrees in Economics and Philosophy from Occidental College. After working briefly as a consultant in Century City, Matt switched gears and started working as an elementary school teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Matt hopes that his involvement with Milagro will bring students in the area to the garden to become an integral part of Milagro Allegro.