LA Eastside

With the Dodgers so close in the playoffs, Angelenos are anticipating for their beloved team to bring home another World Championship!

It was 1988 when the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Oakland Athletics four games to one. It was by far an exciting time in Dodger history, but that was well over twenty years ago it’s time for for another well deserved victory!

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I got to thinking what ever happened to the old Dodger Championship Mural that was located next door to The Original Texas BBQ KIng on N Cesar Chavez and Figueroa. I remember always looking and seeing the old faded mural when ever I passed by. Artist Peter Quezada painted the mural in 1988 shortly after the Dodger victory.

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I was looking for a quote from a Norman Klein book on google when I found this passage instead (in a book about TELACU by John Chavez published way back in that ancient era of 1998) which mentions the vague boundaries of the Eastside:

The Eastside as Homeland

Though the federal government once confined TELACU to a clearly delineated “special impact area,” the Eastside as a whole has vague boundaries. Most observers would agree that it includes at the least Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, El Sereno, and East Los Angeles; … Others would add Highland Park, Commerce, Montebello, and even Monterey Park. … Though not initially within TELACU’s purview, Eagle Rock, Vernon, Maywood, Huntington Park, and Bell also merit consideration as parts of the Eastside. … This political fragmentation is nevertheless obviated by a high degree of demographic and cultural unity, for the Eastside shapes distinctly Mexican-American Los Angeles. TELACU’s founders dedicated the institution to the recovery of this “homeland” in 1968.

Click here for a link to this text

I guess back in 1998, when we still hadn’t received the latest “fluidity” memo the boundaries were also vague, but oh so very far from Echo Park and Silver Lake. And a history lesson from 10 years ago? C’mon Mr. Chavez, new people just moved into the city a few years ago and they want to try their hand at defining their new playground. Who are we to dare such a minor resistance to this “erasure of memory“?

Speaking of resistance, the person that made the “This is Not the East Side” stickers got in touch with us and gave us a small stack (thanks Comrade!) which we plan to share with you, dear readers! Send us a mailing address via our contact page and you’ll get a few of your own.

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You know who he is. He’s all over the local media. He’s written a book about himself, Orange County: A Personal History, and it’s reputed to be serious. He’s going to be signing it at Borders in Pico Rivera, at the corner of Washington and Rosemead, relatively convenient to Eastsiders. Starts at 7:00 PM. La Bloga has details. (He’s in OC on the 18th at Libreria Martinez, his home turf.)

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One of my fondest memories growing up was going to the movies with my parents. Even in San Diego, we had our version of the Million Dollar Theatre, but ours was in Logan Heights.“El Coronet” was where Mexican cinema was a weekly Mecca for the culturally starved and homesick. It didn’t matter if I had a small Spanish vocabulary, at 8 years old I began to understand the tension between women and men giving into love, keeping their principles and resolving their differences to come together. All this visual-audio negotiation took place in a spectacular romantic Ranchera Musical, with fabulous costumes, handsome leading men and strong principled women. It was there that the emotionally charged scaled notes began to send chills up my spine, at the same time made my heart well up with cultural pride. My friend, John Santos an Afro-Cuban drummer told me he feels the same deep emotion when he hears bagpipes, because he is part Irish. Makes me wonder if sounds are also part of our genetic make-up. Denise Chavez’novel Loving Pedro Infante reaffirms that we Chicanitas learn about our ideal hombre through these icons of Mexican cinema.

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I was going to go to the SiteLA’s (SiteLA is a Quicksilver marketing campaign) Heya party on Friday, August 22nd.

The transportation event sponsored by Toyota??!!!! I know. How could I NOT comment on that? How can I NOT make fun of SiteLA (I’ve got nothing to lose I’m not in Quicksilver’s demographic. Black girls don’t surf.) I think it’s fab that inspired people who are getting nonunion wages to make a very long commercial are doing inspiring things, but come on.

On Friday evening I was going there to make fun of the “random” coolness (and get free beer,) but then I got an email with a bit from Tina Dupuy.

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If you take even a casual interest in some of the literature about Los Angeles (you know, like in books) you’ll eventually run across references to the Eastside that are properly located and don’t play around with those coy and “fluid” demarcations that have been the rage amongst the newbie set; its East of the river, y punto. I come across these references every once in awhile and I get a tiny jolt of satisfaction seeing them in print, an insignificant validation of what most of us already know. That glee quickly turns into a sigh when I think about it for a second; this shouldn’t even be an issue. Que se le va hacer?

Well, this is what I plan to do: instead of getting angry about yet another careless use of the term by people that don’t matter, I’m hoping to occasionally post some quotes, references, or pictures that give the communities East of the River the respect they deserve. Easy enough, que no?

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