Looks like the Eastside debate is heating up once again. Not to add fuel to the fire, but this morning I happened to come across Patt Morrison’s piece on where the Eastside really is and how haters need to stop frontin’, “What lights my fuse is the attempted rebranding of Silver Lake as the “Eastside,” mostly, I think, by people who stand to make a buck by appropriating the name of one part of L.A. and slapping it on another.” What lights my fuse are those sexy hats she likes to wear hahahaha.
Ed also gets into it and talks about the The L.A. Times trying to map the city, but as he points out, the arts district got the shaft. I also noticed that there’s a South Los Angeles and a Historic South Central Los Angeles. I don’t know exactly what they’re smoking over there at the Times, but in my mind there’s only ONE South Central Los Angeles and that’s the one I lived in on and off as a kid. For anyone who feels inclined to voice their two cents about the map, they also allow you to correct them by submitting a geocomment, which lets you define your hood in the little map they provide.
There never was any debate, just a small number of people who believed whatever was printed by people hoping to profit from using the term “Eastside.”
Can’t even be counted among LA’s little brothers. 🙁 ,thx allot jerks.
I think for starters they just lumped a lot of smaller areas into bigger neighborhoods and haven’t broken it out yet. Or at least, that’s why I assume they put Little Armenia under Los Feliz, for example.
ya me enfadaron con esta chingadera del east y el west. >=[
Pat Morrison pretty much told it like it is good article!
I just saw a short film via LA Observed’s YouTube account that said that, for about 30 years, people from the Central Avenue area in South L.A. called themselves “Eastsiders”.
As soon as I saw that, I knew people here on this blog would have something to talk about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDijNKy8kqg&fmt=18
The piece is entitled “Chicano Rock and the original L.A. Eastside”.
Check it out at minute 1:50.
http://www.eighthandwall.org/theeastsiders/index.html
But where is the Sideside district? Am I nothing to all of you?
Pat Morrison said it best.
Yes they are missing alot like City Terrace, Hermon, Rose Hills, Hazard Park (and their projects), what about Dogtown projects, ugh that will probably start a whole other debate on Dogtown in Venice vs the real Dogtown by China town, where the Venice boys jacked the name from.
Patt Morrison’s hats are very sexy.
I want to know more bout that dogtown, whats the deal with that?
That article was the shizzle.
Edraid,
Don’t worry homes, we don’t need L.A. to put us on the map! PURO SOUTH GATE!!!
Damn, who knew so many folks had the hots for Patt Morrison? I’m always impressed when I listen to her radio show, she’s awesome!
Her piece is one of the best I’ve read so far regarding the appropriation of the Eastside name. Like Patt, I’ve also attempted to contact Mayor Villaraigosa through email and also through his Facebook page to ask where he stands on the Eastside issue. I never got any response.
I’m glad someone else knows where the real Dogtown is. I remember getting schooled about the issue as a kid by my friends father when he saw my ‘Dogtown’ skateboard.
“Dogtown” is in East Los – them whiteboys in Venice are trippin’, and you’re riding a lie…
So where does Patt Morrison live exactly? She claimed the Eastside without getting too specific…
Great article by Pat Morrison! And she states in it that she lives on the Eastside and is proud of it. Orale! She also dogs the gentrimanderers in Silver Lake for trying to claim Eastside and wonders what SilverLake should be called.
How about Silver Lake? Or, with all due respect to my Gay brothers and sisters, how about what it has been referred to for many years, “The Swish Alps”?
Wait a minute, was The Swish Alps Silver Lake or Mt Washington? Ni modo, it’s all good.
It wasn’t just a bunch of white boys in Dogtown on thein Venice. You’re just letting some Hollywood documentary about skateboarding cloud your vision. Locals know what is up – Suicidal Tendencies, V13, Sho Line Crips, and a bunch of other names I forgot 10 years ago, they were all a pretty mixed bag ethnically.
Those skaters said they were from Dogtown, because that is what the gang in the area painted on the walls.
If they came up in the late 1980’s it would have been “18th Street” skaters – because that gang was all over the westside for a while.
Seriously, what is the history of Dogtown Gang? My best guess is that it did start at the projects on Main, and then migrated west to the massive Lincoln Place projects in Venice.
Pat Morrison lives in Mount Washington. The Holmby Hills of the East-Sideeeeeee!
“swish alps”? “It’s all good”?
Let’s put some brakes on all that groundswell of due respect, brother.
PS.. This is not to distract for the fact that Patt Morrison IS awesome…
Montebello here… 8 miles south east of downtown los angeles 🙂
I must need my protein and fiber cause my anti-spam word was: eat beans …lol
Walt asks about the history of the real Dogtown and also about the so called Dogtown skateboarders of Venice.
At one time Walt, the Dogtown neighborhood was a lot larger than it is now, which is basically the projects on N. Main.St. Before the So. Pacific Rail and truck facilities were built, before Carnation Milk Co and many more industrial bldgs were built, and the homes torn down, Dogtown was a fairly large neighborhood of small single family houses,this industrialization also impacted heavily on what is called the Eastside Clover neighborhood.
The area was referred to as Dogtown because that is where the central LA “Dog Pound” facility was, and everyone referred to the neighborhood surrounding the “Dog Pound” as “Dogtown”.
As far as the name of the skateboarders and movie of the same name, “Dogtown and Z boys” and all the speculation about how this group of mainly white boy skateboarders came to borrow the name “Dogtown”, here’s the story, and I have personal first person information on this from Stacy Peralta, of Peralta skateboards and movie fame, himself.
I know the Peralta family and did lots of construction business with them on homes in Malibu and West LA/ Culver City. Here’s the skinny.
Ed Peralta, Stacy Peralta’s Dad is originally from the old Dogtown neighborhood, but after being drafted in the service during WW 2, he like so many Chicano’s took advantage of the GI Bill of Rights and got an education.
Ed then went to work for Hughes Aircraft, which was located in El Segundo and at other Westside facilities, so he relocated his family to the Westside of LA.
Ed had a tattoo between his thumb and index finger that Stacy as a kid was fascinated with.
It was the old traditional gang tat of “DT” standing for “Dogtown”. Ed would tell Stacy about his old tough neighborhood on the Eastside and all the story’s about gangfights and a tough upbringing.
So according to Stacy Peralta himself, when he and the other surfers and skateboarders got together as a kind of group effort he borrowed and used the name of his Dads old tough Eastside neighborhood “Dogtown”.
The rest including the movie and a very lucrative business career is history.
Thanks Don Q for the history lesson. Like Walt, I’ve wondered how the Dogtown name migrated west.
Ubrayj02, I lived in Venice in the early 90s, used to work at the Venice Ocean Park Co-op on Brooks and Lincoln, just east of the Oakwood projects. I’m know the neighborhood pretty well.
I’m from the non LA LABEL
The South East Los Angeles
Maywood, Bell, Huntington Park, Cudahy, Southgate
the numbers still run through maywood
and we got commerce seperating us between east LA
go South east LA!!!!
This is one of those debates that well never end. Most of the debate is how people perceive communities and where they live. Take Boyle Heights for example most people will refer to it as East LA. but we all know there is a difference.
But i agree with Pat, if ur not east of the river or ur address contains west in it, ur not the eastside.
Oh and for Random Hero, whats up man? it was nice meeting at the BH community workshop. I think what Pat and the LA Times is referring to as the historic south central and current south central, is that the historic S.C. was the community during the 1930s that was located around South Central Ave that was the center of the Black community with a very rich cultural center for art and music. Think Ceaser Chavez Ave and Mariachi Plaza, but for black people. As compared to the current area known as South Central, which for a lack of better words is basically a community where blacks live
Very reliable local sources have told me stories about how lovers used to go out to Echo Park Lake in the middle of the night and take the paddle boats out into the middle of the water where they could enjoy their sexual liasons. This brought about the new name the park was known as(eew!):
Meco Park.
“Swish Alps” is a hostile term. I got to go on record with that. I didn’t get it until right now. I’m not the PC police, but to me I take the Monroe’s Gilmore definition of it which is personal courtesy:
http://www.main.nc.us/wncceib/Gilmourpolcorrect42201.htm
I don’t know who made up the term, but eek.
But moving on, Patt Morrison rocks she reminds me of my mom on days when we get along. While reading the print edition of the LA Times (bought it owing to Patt’s article) I missed my bus, so damn the LA Times…lol…
Browne
there’s no such thing as south east la that’s a civillian type label for la county strictly for school’s libary’s when you go to jail you go to la county which is in the city but la county is a government system that’s it!!!those city’s like norwalk paramount south gate notice they got american name’s that was sold land from mexico to the white man but land of the city of los angeles was never sold it was the foundation of meaning for mexico kind of like when they named some of east la nela the white man trying to seperate eastsiders and start a war in the mid 80’s but to non ignorant people it will alway’s be east la stll so many people done gave in to the system with no shame but the fact will forever stand.