I hereby declare 2009 year of the Eastside!
It was in this past year that there was finally some awareness on both sides of the river that the name the Eastside had been misappropriated by a confused bunch of folks. Thanks to the Los Angeles Times article on the Eastside, the “This is Not the Eastside” stickers pasted by unknown propagandists all over Silver Lake, and to the efforts of Eastside artists, writers, bloggers and the countless others who have publicly reclaimed and reaffirmed Eastside culture and geography, I finally felt like we have turned a corner. Many battles were won and those who ignorantly used the Eastside to refer to those neighborhoods west of the river were put in check.
As promised, here’s a look back at some of the more popular posts of 2009. I used the number of comments as a way to gage popular posts only because this blog doesn’t have the software to definitively check for hits and links. There were so many great posts written this past year that didn’t get a huge amount of comments but were excellent and thought provoking nonetheless. I encourage readers to go back through the archives and check some of the posts you might have missed.
January 2009
Dear Gato 103.1 (72 comments)
What Y’all Know About the Eastside? (54 comments)
Mas Revolucion (41 comments)
February 2009
Awkward Moments in Los Angeles (64 comments)
Why are “you people†so protective and uptight? (40 comments)
Purgatory Pizza (35 comments)
March 2009
Eastside Memories (62 comments)
Walter Moore Hates Spanish Speaking Mexicans (56 comments)
Memories of A Lost Boulevard; Ghosts of the Eastside (47 comments)
April 2009
Bad Neighbors (53 comments)
Glassell Park on TV (33 comments)
How Mexican Are You? (30 comments)
May 2009
LA Times Article About the Eastside (40 comments)
Save The Site of The Golden Gate Theater! (32 comments)
The Fifth (22 comments)
June 2009
Lakers Fans In Eastside Riot! (108 comments)
EXTRA! BREAKING NEWS ON EASTSIDE-WESTSIDE CONTROVERSY! (58 comments)
How It Begins: Renaming a Neighborhood (50 comments)
July 2009
Highland Park in the NY Times (123 comments)
Thee Eastside Theme Song Poll (35 comments)
The Cost of Bagging Groceries (34 comments)
August 2009
Separate but Equal Treatment via Rail Lines in L.A. (123 comments)
August 11-18. RAM LA. Free root canals, glasses, pap smears, minor med procedures (including cataract surgery,) blood lab work and MORE!! (58 comments)
The LA Eastside in the Movies (31 comments)
September 2009
Can You Hear Me Now?: Whine Tasting Is Not My Cup of Tea (30 comments)
LA Eastside Goldline (24 comments)
Jack in the Box Accepting Food Stamps (20 comments)
October 2009
Silver Lake is not the Eastside and consumerism isn’t GREEN!! (52 comments)
Target’s humorous “illegal alien†costume (42 comments)
Festival de la Gente CANCELLED !!!!!!!!! (33 comments)
November 2009
It didn’t take long… (65 comments)
Eastside Gold Line Safety signs in local lingo (52 comments)
Eastside Extension: Now Open! (42 comments)
December 2009
Stop Right There! (62 comments)
Gentrifier Irony (45 comments)
Childhood Games (31 comments)
………………………………………….
Not surprising the posts with the most comments were either about the Eastside, gentrification and other topics that provoked discussions of race and/or class.
Most commented on posts of the year:
Separate but Equal Treatment via Rail Lines in L.A. (123 comments)
Highland Park in the NY Times (123 comments)
Lakers Fans In Eastside Riot! (108 comments)
So readers and contributors, please share with us your favorite posts of 2009. Or let us know some of you favorite comments and/or commenters.
Also, what would you like to see in 2010? Give us some inspiration!
Thanks again for reading and helping along this little project of ours. We appreciate the dialogue.
My favorite posts are about good food recipies, and tamale recipies made with Kraft cheese slices don’t need apply. Tamales are never to be make with Tofu either !!!!!!!!
Hilarious post of 2009: City Terrace\’s review of Latino Book Festival at CSU LA
I only just recently found your site…but browsing through the posts under books I found City Terrace\’s review of the Latino book Festival held at CSU LA back in October. http://laeastside.com/2009/10/rambling-on-my-mind-12th-annua
l-latino-book-and-family-festival-day-1-recon/
I bookmarked that page to go back to it later for a good laugh. A bit harsh, true, but honest. And laughed more reading some of the comments including Gustavo Arrellano\’s \”Gracias for reading my book!\”
I\’m guess I\’m glad I talked myself out of driving up from San Diego to attend. Though I missed Roberto Cantu \”Was he busting some rhymes, doing the hokey pokey or just being interviewed?\” (must see orig. post for pix)!
too funny.
Just hope I\’m never on a panel when your around.
Keep up the great work.
All the best for 2010.
It has been a great year full of laughs, heated discussions and random rambling. What took me by surprise the most is that not only people read the site regularly, but a lot of “big shots” like the times and politicos are reading and responding. I can’t wait to what this next year is going to bring. We need to have another party !!!!
Congratulations, East Side. I think this blog’s really starting to catch on, and I think it’s important that it is because it counters the absolutely idiotic opinions about LA’s demographics and geography that comes from a lot of blogs based on the other side of the river.
One of my fav posts was Art’s friend’s LA River hideaway:
http://laeastside.com/2009/06/landscape-architecture-101/
Oh, and Don~a Junta’s River Mission adventure:
http://laeastside.com/2009/04/sites-on-mission-road/
I like vicariously exploring the urban wilds.
To be honest, I love most of the posts on LA Eastside so it’s difficult to pick out just a few. I remember these because it’s stuff I’ve never seen anywhere else.
I also got a big kick out of Alza responding to the post about himself!
http://laeastside.com/2008/06/the-signs-of-alza/
There’s so much more…
I really want to thank all the frequent commenters (like Rob Thomas), you really keep the site going and help inspire us to write more. You’d be surprised how even just a small comment can make your day.
Aww thanks chimatli, I liked that adventure too, except for the giant man! Lol I need to post more I know hopfully 2010 gives me more ideas!
Armenians, Jews, Italians and Japanese. Many new Mexican immigrants migrated to California and some of them found their way into communities like Boyle Heights which is in East Los Angeles. The Mexican section of the Boyle Heights, which was very small, was bounded by 4th Street to the north, Whittier Blvd to the south, Euclid Ave to the west and Lorena St to the east. It was a very close knit community. Everybody knew eachother from the neighborhood and almost every Mexican family attended the local catholic church which was called La Purissima. La Purissima Church was the heart and focus point of the community. It not only served as a spiritual center but as a social center aswell. The leaders of the Church sponserd an athletic club to foster brotherhood and friendship among the Mexican/Chicano minority members within the community. During the 1920s and 30s there was alot of rascism and violence towards Chicanos and Mexican immigrants in the Boyle Heights area. School aged children were regularly harrased and bullied by members of the larger ethnic groups. Working men did not have the ability to defend thier children while away from the home and most Police at the time did not care what happened to “lil mexican kids”. The younger boys in the community decided to form a self protection group which would serve as escorts to and from school for their younger brothers and sisters. This group became known as Lil Fence or The Fence . The name had a dual meaning. Many of the houses in the “Mexican” section of Boyle Heights had White picket Fences along the front portions of homes and walkways plus the City of Los Angles erected a long row of White Fences along Whittier Blvd. Also a Fence is both sybolic and practical as a means of self protection. The Fence began to become a presence on the street corners of Boyle Heights. There were many clashes and bloodshed through out the streets of Boyle Heights during these times. The original group or “OGs” were very succesfull in assuring that no children would become victims of random acts of violence at the hands of other ethnic groups. As time passed they began to rival with other chicano groups that sprouted up in various parts of Los Angeles. Some of the other “clubs” had names like Alpine St, East Side Clover, Primer Flats, Clantone, Diamond St, and Hoyo Maravilla. During the next couple of years White Fence slowly moved from self protection group, to aggresive barrio gang. By 1939 The Los Angeles Times was writting articles about the “White Fence Gang” which murdered 2 males and left thier bodies along Whittier Blvd.
Why is it okay to go to another community and slap a sticker where ever you feel like it?