Apparently one step closer to becoming a sovereign nation, the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council discovered that the Bureau of Street Services has officially recognized the intersection of Hollywood/Sunset/Hillhurst/Virgil as an East Hollywood Neighborhood Council border.

The CBS/Decaux revenue-producing kiosk, complete with "East Hollywood" tag, can only mean that an official "neighborhood designation" is right around the corner.

East Hollywood is the youngest of the 88 Neighborhood Councils and yet it has already set the pace for innovation in community representation.

The EHNC uses music videos and short films to promote the NC and has challenged city leadership to spend more time on YouTube and less time in committee.

East Hollywood is a diverse neighborhood with many ethnicities represented, resulting in a cacophony of languages spoken (100 within the NC) and a wide variety of great restaurants. Last year LAist spent a month reviewing the Thai restaurants that are all within walking distance of each other in E*Ho.

Home to three Metro Red Line stations, E*Ho is not only Metro ultra-accessible but the NC fights to make sure the neighborhood is also walkable and ridable. In fact, the EHNC was the first Neighborhood Council to endorse the Cyclists' Bill of Rights.

Of course, man cannot survive on Pad Thai and bicycles alone, and so the EHNC recently stepped up to sponsor the Independent Shakespeare Company's 2008 summer season of free performances at the Barnsdall Art Park, which begin in late June.

While the locals of Little Armenia, Thai Town and Virgil Village are out riding their bikes and eating gelato, the NC is busy planting trees, cleaning streets and hoping you'll come visit, sit a spell, perhaps spend a summer evening atop Barnsdall Park.