Big days in Elysian Park. Over the weekend, there were countless birthday parties and picnics. As usual, Spanish was the majority language, but there was French, too, as a group of French chefs gathered and offered treats of food and wine for a cover of $50. The Citizens' Committee to Save Elysian Park had its annual sell-out dinner. They showed off the four finalists for Elysian Park gates -- symbolic gates that never open and never close. There were sacred-mound-type gates, heavy metal gates and nutty twisted fantastical gates. The display was off on the side of the crowded banquet room, which was well-stocked with old-guard lefties like Art Goldberg. ... Not everyone had a happy party in the park, though. One citizen reported on the Echo Park Animal Alliance list that -- earlier in the day -- some hoods with two pitbulls made moves toward letting their dogs attack her smaller, non-power breed dog -- just for sport. ...