Stop Right There!

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STOP RIGHT THERE! FROM THIS DAY FORWARD I PROCLAIM THIS LAND “LA EASTSIDE” (The actual LA Eastside can figure out some other name for themselves, maybe “Tierra Incognito”.)

From the new LA section at Huffington Post, a renewed frontal attack on the real LA Eastside by the Bourgeoisie Forces of the “OTTES” (other than the Eastside).

$8.00 cup of coffee? Perfect setting for a Vanity Fair interview? Not anywhere on my LA Eastside.

Say whaaaaat? Ezell below on the gritty LA Eastside of her imagination.

*“Best Old School:* When it comes to coffee on the east side, *Café Tropical* is OG – original gangster – so old school it doesn’t sell any variation of its café con leche except decaf (and that will cost you extra). Their coffee is bold, strong, and hot. They sell Cuban sandwiches”

OG-original gangster? Café Tropical? Not on the LA Eastside I know.

Most Likely Setting for a Vanity Fair Interview and Best $8 Cup of Coffee: LAMILL. With tableside barista service, an exotic menu, and a Beverly-Hills-Regency-meets-Silver-Lake decor, LAMILL is exactly where you’ll want to take your out of town guests this holiday season. Their beverage menu is a monograph – it might even have footnotes. LAMILL’s special brewing methods produce rich, aromatic coffee, free of sediment. Watching them make it is half the fun. When you want something different, go to LAMILL.

Best in Bookstore: Yes, Virginia, there is a bookstore in Echo Park. The added twist is Stories‘ café: sandwiches (turkey pesto on walnut raisin, grilled cheese on brioche), veggie chili, and salads. Their coffee is Cafecito Organico – the brand sold at local farmers markets. Pick up a new book or an old classic you promised yourself you’d read after grad school (Moby-Dick anyone?). Plop yourself down on Stories’ back patio for an urban idyll. Since the café opens at 8:30 a.m. on weekdays, bring your Times, and have a baked egg or a bowl of oatmeal with your morning joe outside. On December 12, Stories is part of the first-ever Echo Park Shop Hop along with neighbors 826 LA and The Echo. Have an espresso and get your picture taken with Santa. Try that at The Grove.

No, try that at Brooklyn and Soto!

62 thoughts on “Stop Right There!”

  1. pinche gente pendeja..seriously honestly

    most of these fools are white and under 40

    I love the Huffington Post but seriously these examples are definitely geared towards the “cock-asians” aka gringos 🙂

    white is not right!

  2. Why am I not surprised? Yet another “local” blog with a very narrow and very middle class view of the city. Huffington Post? Man, we can take on that puny site, watcha!

  5. Long time reader to LA Eastside, first time writer.
    After reading that post, I did my due-dilligence and had to make a comment on this woman’s post on Huff Po(if you go, you will see). I even offered a tour of the Eastside. Estoy bien cansada with these people who think they can use these geographic terms so carelessly.

  6. The Tropical is OG? Really, what is it with these idiots? I lived around the corner way back when there were a few marielitos who hung around and acted tough, but recently I saw a dude hanging out in his pink polo shirt right by his shiny Harley, smoking a cig (cupped hand) after the AA meeting and talking to the cute AA chick. He looked like an actor from New York. I was afraid for my life, I tells ya.

  7. Huffington Post…ugh. Good site when it started off, back when Bill Maher and Robert Evans used to leave articles there once a week. Who are these people that blog there now? A bunch of b list actors that get a spot just because they’re liberal, and who think that just because they have strong political views that it somehow means they can write, too. I agree with most of their big world politics, but it’s just boring stuff. And I’m so glad they explained what “O.G.” means. Well, to be honest, I really don’t know what O.G. coffee is, so maybe I should at least entertain their explanation. Coffee with socko and gin?

    Oh, and regarding Gwenyth Paltrow. Didn’t she say something like only people from “the projects” should rap, when she was asked about Joaquin Phoenix cutting a hip hop record? Wow. Well, she’s the authority.

  8. OG coffee refers to “zero Grounds”. It’s instant coffee, Rob. Like Taster’s Choice you know? When I’m running late in the morning a lot of times I’ll just take a spoonful and let it dissolve in my mouth as I sprint for the Metro.

  9. Here we go again. How many times has this happened in 2009? Tin Marín de dos Pingüés, Cúcara, Mácara, Títere fue. Yo no fui, fue Teté, pégale, pégale que ese merito se fue.

  11. What I’m curious about is who decided and when was it decided that the real LA Eastside would cease to exist, and by Proxy the gentrifuckers and rude appropriators proclaimed that from hence forth parts of the LA Westside, Los Feliz, Hollywood, Silverlake, and Echo Park would be known as the “LA Eastside”.

    Did I miss school the day this took place?

  12. Hilarious!!!!

    I love when the “cock-asians” declare Silver Lake or Echo Park as the Eastside!!!

    white is not right!!!!!?

    so many refreshing, and interesting points of view on this blog. Too bad you spend 90% of your time complaining about an irrelevant issue.

    p.s. the rest of the blogoshpere is baiting you guys. I’m surprised you haven’t wised up.

  13. “Too bad you spend 90% of your time complaining about an irrelevant issue.”

    I’m not sure how it’s irrelevant when our history and our neighborhood is being ignored and written out of existence by the so-called “blogosphere.” But just for the record, this blog was started specifically to challenge and inform those who would aim to ignore those of us on the Eastside.

    The domain name was bought way back in the early 2000s when we first started noticing the newspaper The Silver Lake Free Press use the term Eastside to describe their neighborhood. They got letters informing them of their misuse but chose to ignore them. Well, the blogosphere may try and ignore us now but here we are annoying them and apparently you with our attempts to set the record straight.

    Before this blog started, there was no consistent voice speaking up for the millions of us who according to the blogosphere did not exist. We’re glad the discussion is taking place now, we’re excited that the term the Eastside is once again gaining popularity among those of us East of the River. We’re happy Esmeralda Bermudez did her LA Times piece and for the comments on the website it generated. And cheers to all the Eastside artists, musicians and writers who have helped to promote the Eastside through their work.

    Also, I’m not sure why we need to “wise up” when it’s not us who are continually misusing the term “Eastside.”

    Personally, I would prefer the discussion not be reduced so quickly to race and the comments about gringos and “cock-asians” bother me. I think there are better ways to talk about these things but that’s just my opinion.

  14. These hipsters are living out a fantasy of being part of the big bad Eastside. They like to fantasize they are “slumming it”, eating “OG” tacos, and if they stand behind a cholito in line somewhere they fantasize that a lil bit of that “OG Gangsta” has rubbed off on them giving them “street cred”. Imitating motorcycle diaries, Jack Kerouac and their patron saint Beck, they are living out a poverty=great philosophical/artistic revelations fantasy. Identifying with “The Eastside” is THE perfect fantasy backdrop, which is why the name is being taken.
    The sad reality is the obvious segregation between the practically all white crowds hanging at their hipster spots and the rest of the community.

  15. It’s “irrelevant”, yet the “rest of the blogosphere” is baiting people here on the topic?

  16. “It’s “irrelevant”, yet the “rest of the blogosphere” is baiting people here on the topic?”

    Yes – that’s exactly it.

    You guys may have started this blog just to call out people who disrespect other parts of the city – but it’s not doing anyone justice.

    Your collective and stronger writing is about the amazing things that happen in the areas that are really the Eastide.

    Talk about the restaurants, the art, culture, music, people; the good things, the bad things, education, homeless, police, immigration.

    Talking about what IS the Eastside will clarify your argument a lot faster then all this discussion and generalization about every white person who has moved to Los Angeles.

    I read this blog every day and enjoy it.

    So someone tell me the 8 best places to get coffee in the Eastside already.

  17. “Talking about what IS the Eastside will clarify your argument a lot faster then all this discussion and generalization about every white person who has moved to Los Angeles.”

    Si Patrón! Gwee deedn’t sabe abou how to write on theese blog antes, Gracias!
    All this time I thought it was Tattallgia, until this day I didn’t know it was Barzini all along.

  19. “Cock-asians”? “White is not right”? Wow.

    Could it possibly be just as simple as this blogger not knowing the real history behind the Eastside / Westside division? Maybe she just didn’t know.

    I do have to give her some cred for knowing about the Onyx Cafe (but which was also not on the Eastside).

    She doesn’t appear to be addressing the issue in the comments on her post. I’d advise most writers to be open to critique when they make a mistake in a blog post. I screwed up on this very issue years ago, and El Chavo schooled me. I then admitted my mistake.

    I dunno how willing I would have been to admit my mistake, though, if people started race-baiting me.

  21. I apologize, I didn’t intend to offend, just merely trying to add to the discussion.

    I think the blog has much more to offer then the Eastside vs Eastide argument. But that’s only my opinion.

  22. fauxhipster,

    You wrote “Eastide” twice. Once when mentioning the real eastside and again when mentioning the “Eastside vs Eastide” arguement.

    The first time I saw it, I assumed it was a typo.

    What are trying to do with mispelling the [eastside]? Is it intentional?

  23. “what are trying to do with mispelling the [eastside]?”

    nice.

    “Eastside vs. Eastside”

    Implying that there are two different places arguing over which is the real one.

    Should I have put “Eastside vs. Cock-Asian Gentrifaland”?

  24. I admit I sometimes write in fragments, it is not intentional. But, since this is not a school essay, I could care less about perfect grammer.

    I asked you a question and you have not answered, I am giving you the benefit of a dought, and letting you explain yourself.

    Instead, YOU are race bating.

  25. a good designation or requirement for east side status should be… a gold line stop!!!

    HLP has one (altho its reall NELA)
    Lincln Hts
    Byl Hts
    East Los
    all have some

    end of discussion.

  26. hipster,

    How irrelevant can the topic be if the whole blogosphere, as you put it, is coming here to bait people on the topic? If it’s irrelevant, why so much attention by the “blogosphere”? Why would so many people feel the need to come here and bait people on it if it’s irrelevant, as you put it? It has to be one or the other.

    I don’t see where this blog calls out other parts of the city. From what I can see, very little of this blog has to do with other parts of L.A. It’s mostly about the East Side, events going on in the East Side, etc. So, I just don’t get your point that this blog needs to focus more on positives in the East Side. About 4 out of every 5 threads is about positive things on the East Side.

  27. Faux hipster,
    Thanks for reading the site and I’m glad you enjoy the majority of the posts here. Like you, I get kind of tired of talking about where the Eastside is too. I wish it wasn’t even an issue but sadly it is and obviously there’s still lots of folks who are in the dark about the Eastside controversy. Maybe you can just skip these posts in the future. 🙂
    I appreciate your willingness to bring up the issue because I’m sure there are many other readers who feel the same way as you. I know some of my friends and family are prolly sick of hearing me talk about the Eastside battle as well.
    Also, to everyone else, please don’t confuse the opinion of commentors here with the issue being presented in the post. Most bloggers and blog readers should know the difference. I too have a problem with the language being used in some of the comments above but it has little to do with what was written by Don Quixote.

  28. I read this blog everyday. I really didn’t intend to upset anyone and I’m very happy that people can speak so honestly and with such fervor.

    90% of the posts are NOT about the silver lake/ echo park vs. the Eastside nonsense. Personally I don’t think that SL and EXP are the east-side.

    And I don’t think posters here are racist, and I wouldn’t judge the blog on the comments section.
    I REALLY wanted to tell all of the writers here to keep writing. Because people are reading…

  29. what’s up with the vulgar use of the term c***-asians? it isn’t funny, or clever, nor does it even make sense! it seems rude to asians, when you seem to be attacking whites. if you’re going to try and make some sort of pun, you’ve gotta do better than this. buena suerte!

  30. Hey, it bugs me too when those who don’t know refer to Echo Park, Silverlake, etc. as the Eastside. I’m a white guy that grew up on the Westside, but have always known where the Eastside is. For those of you that feel the need to bring race into the discussion, you better check your history books. East LA is not and has never been exclusively brown. I don’t like the ‘gentrifiers’ anymore than you do, I’m working class all the way. Keep schoolin’ ’em El Chavo!

    -a guero in NELA

  31. Your very right Chris, this assault on the Eastside, which although is overwhelmingly Mexican American, has everything to do with economics and social class as the Eastside has always included immigrants and thier offspring whether Mexican, Irish, Russian, Jewish, Italian, Japanese, Armenian, and many others.

  32. Listen up, ONE person mentioned race in the comments section, so respond to that comment specifically. Don’t use it as a way to deflect away from the issue DQ brought up, which is a clueless writer got hired to write for the HuffPost.

  33. One more thing, to those of you who are offended by some of the comments here, I invite you to check out the comments section of LA Curbed where some of the most racist, classist and vilest comments can be found. Funny though, those folks never seem to get called out like people here do.

  34. LA Curbed sucks! That clueless blog is so biased against working class people. It is so irritating (and irrelevant).

  35. With all the plaintive wails about reverse racism, and the pooh-poohing and tsk-tsking, when the mainly Mexican American residents and proud former residents stand up and call out foul and bogus, the attempts by mainly middle and upper class Anglo Americans to usurp one of the only things the essentially powerless and working class residents of the Eastside still obtain, namely, the name of their place of residence, origin, history, and culture, “The LA Eastside”!
    Shit if it wasn’t for the legalized ghettoization of people of color (and religion, namely Jewish), yes, in the form of those documents referred to as “CC an R’s”, Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions that the largely “White” Burgermeisters and LA power brokers used for so many years to segregate themselves from the working class people of color, there probably wouldn’t be an LA Eastside, a place where all the “Mexicans” were contained and maintained for so many years.

    And so now after all those many years of forced segregation and discrimination, and all those people (of all colors), generations of people, who developed a pride and toughness that is unique to the LA Eastside, after all those struggles and hardships, we of the LA Eastside are called a bunch of Jeremiah’s, over reacting and wasting time on a non-issue.
    Curious.

  37. I’ve never read LA Curbed, but thanks to you guys, I don’t feel the need to. Racism is a sickness I can do without.

  38. I don’t see where anyone here has been racist, Chris. I think people are just responding to obvious racism coming from other blogs, and fighting fire with fire. I’ve read LA Curb’s comments a few times and there are some real, active racists over there. I just dont’ see that here.

  39. “White is not right!” “Most of these fools are white and under 40”

    Sounds pretty racist to me. Thankfully, only one person here felt the need to lower themselves to that level.

    Rob, my comment was referring to the racism over at LA Curbed and my lack of desire to experience it firsthand.

  40. Chris, I don’t see it as lowering to any level. From what I’m seeing, it’s these so called hipsters saying the most crude and provocative race baiting things, then crying like babies whenever they get some heat thrown back at them. I’m seeing it from them both here and at the other blogs. I’m just not seeing that kind of baiting going on by the regulars here.

  43. “cock asia” is also the name of a song by shannon cow’s band heroine sheiks. can be found on the “out of aferica” album….

  44. I love the Huffington Post but seriously these examples are definitely geared towards the “cock-asians” aka gringos 🙂

    i wrote that^ and yes i was fighting “fire with fire” and if you read the whole comment in context you could read,understand and tell that my spelling of “caucasians” (does include asian word in it but i was emphasizing cock) was my attempt at humor towards the whites aka gringos which had written that article over at the Huffington Post.

    My intention was humor and not to offend as i finished it off with a smile.

    The “white is not right” comment was added as a nod to my white boyfriend- i learned that term from him, well he says- “white is right”.

    I am a proud Mexican-American gay guy (we are everywhere) and he is Caucasian.

    – in the end you see what you want to see-

    after all comments are subjective and open to interpretation (and i got a thick skin i can take it as well as i give it)

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091216/ap_on_go_ot/us_white_minority

    -survivors not victims please! 🙂

  45. Chris, considering the context in which the comment was said, I don’t think it’s racist. Sorry, no sale.

  47. Yo no compro la acusación de Chris que el primer comentario es racista. Eso es lo que signifiqué.

  49. Thank Google’s translator, Bar Fan. My Spanish is about as good as Pamela Ezell’s street slang.

  50. I am more concerned about our local politicans, like mayor Villaraigosa spending wasting our precious money traveling the globe first class and staying in $1,000 a night hotels with his entourage of hangers-on and bodyguards.

    The dreams about how clean-tech technologies and green energy jobs but it’s all just talk and empty promises when this city is falling apart, slashing staff and services and suffering from massive unemployment and soaring poverty.

    Who gives a shit about, what a no-name repoter writes at the Huffington post?

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