Botanitas: January 29, 2009


The infamous tumbleweeds of Lincoln Heights. This one was found at the foot of Holgate Square.

Botanitas is an ongoing feature bringing you stories and news from various sources, upcoming events and other bits of ephemera that might be of interest to LA Eastside readers. Suggestions welcome!

Read below for ten-cent conchitas, North Broadway nightlife, CNN tacos, the Eastside extension, details on who is Taking Over and a bonus guilty pleasure!

Panaderia Pachanga!

Please come and join the Huerta, Martinez, and Ortiz Families in the 60th Anniversary celebration of El Gallo Mexican Bakery in East Los Angeles.

The price of Conchitas will be 10-cents as they were in 1949, with tours of the Bakery, Live Music, Pinatas, Food, Kids Activities, and of course Mariachis too! Come join us as the we celebrate the 60th Anniversary on Sunday, February 1, 2009.

These folks make some of the best pan dulce in Los Angeles, way better than the overrated and overpriced La Mascota.

Sunday, Feb 1
12PM-7PM
El Gallo Bakery
4546 Cesar E. Chavez Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90022
Phone: (323) 263-5528

Just heard there will be pinatas broken on the hour and live music too!

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North Broadway the next live music hotspot?

Greetings,
It’s my pleasure to invite you to experience the contagious dance rhythms of Oakland-based, Fuga!, performing live in support of their new album Relatos Rebeldes, on Thursday, February 5th at the Lincoln Heights Community Art Gallery. The event will begin with DJ Mando Fever (Descarga/Real Wednesdays/Anda) and will also feature a very special performance by Grammy Award Winner, Sr. Mendez! In the spirit of promoting local talent, the night will also include live projections by Carlos Cardona (Palenke Soul Tribe) during Sr. Mendez’s set; as well as compelling paintings by Loushana Roybal-Rose, and photographic projections by Pablo Aguilar in the gallery. The event is produced by J² Productions, in association with Rage.One.

Info: Jennifer Sanchez/ indigitalproduction@yahoo.com
Media: Jennifer Cuevas/ jeneratemedia@sbcglobal.net

www.myspace.com/fuguista
www.myspace.com/lajuanifera
www.myspace.com/descargaclubla

The Lincoln Heights Community Art Center
2701 Broadway L.A., CA. 90031 (@ Workman)
February 5, 2009
9pm-2am, 21 + over
$10 or $15 with a Relatos Rebeldes CD

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From the mailbag:

“If you go to the Travel column on the CNN website you can find a new article
lauding Taco Culture that cites the “best” trucks in Los Angeles, but of
course, completely forgets that terra incognita to the east of the river. I
guess they still feel its not safe for their readers to venture into the
wilds of East L.A.”
-Concerned LA Eastside Reader

Thanks, reader for the tip! CNN managed to go to La Estrella in HP. I guess they couldn’t find a guide to take them into the heart of the Eastside. CNN website here.

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“I feel like I’m a tourist in my own city…”

East Coast playwright/artist/actor Danny Hoch sounds like he’s talking about many of the same gentrification issues we’ve been discussing here at LA Eastside except his neighborhood is on the East Coast. Nonetheless, I can relate.

From the Los Angeles Times:

“Here we have our little hipster couple,” Hoch continues, nodding toward a bohemian pair perambulating west on Sunset Boulevard. “They’re not bad people, but they’re certainly in their costumes. And back over here — turn around real quick, you’re missing them! — were two sort of neighborhood folks. Now, the neighborhood folks are hanging out on the corner, because this is their neighborhood and they feel proprietary about it. And those folks [the hipsters] are looking in the stores to see what they can buy.”

…..

But he acknowledges that his razor-edged observations make certain people feel very defensive, provoked, even outraged. “When I say things like that, they sound really divisive, probably, and at times maybe even bigoted,” he says. “I think what happens in my show . . . is that you walk in and you feel assaulted and insulted, and then you walk out more confused and [angry] than when you walked in.”

His play, Taking Over is about gentrification in his hometown of Williamsburg (which the LA Times assumes we know is in New York). You have to go all the way to Culver City to see it.
He was interviewed on Larry Mantle this morning. It’s worth a listen.

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Paso el tren y no pito

From Steve Hymon at the Los Angeles Times L.A. Now blog:

A little bit of history occurred this morning on the Gold Line light rail extension from Los Angeles Union Station to East Los Angeles: the first train cars rolled along the tracks of the $898-million line expected to open this summer. The above photo was taken at the intersection of Alameda Avenue and 1st Street in Little Tokyo.

Hear that folks? The Eastside rail extension and no, it doesn’t run through Silver Lake.

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And to get you ready for the weekend, a little blast from the past for all the old-time Eastside cha-cha’s out there. You know who you are…

Tapps @ The Airliner, Lincoln Heights 3/31/07. Thanks to MyLincolnHeights for the video!

6 thoughts on “Botanitas: January 29, 2009

  1. I’d to go to the show @ the LHCAC but I’m so broke. Maybe some *free* things to do around town? That’d be nice.

    🙂

  2. I’ve seen some huge tumbleweeds tumbling down griffin on windy days, like from out of some scene of a Western ghost town. Except cars were swerving to avoid them, many unsuccessfully.

  3. Coachella line-up is whack. Always has been. Rather go to a small show than one of these giant festivals. The bands I _may_ want to see I’d never want to see on a giant stage.

    So alienating.

    Our society: big screen TVs, big SUVs, big portioned fast-food, big-stage festivals.

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