The circus is in Boyle Heights

So uhh the circus is in Boyle Heights. I’m kinda conflicted by its presence here though. I mean it’s awesome that there’s something for families to check out on the weekend or during the week. To have the opportunity to see acrobatics, crazy stunts of some kind, clowns making fools of themselves and animals. Since the last two weeks it’s been here I’ve seen families leave with huge smiles on their faces and kids painted like kitty cats, eating their cotton candy, mesmerized by the show they saw. That part I love, but the part about the animals being kept in small confined cages all day until they perform, that’s the part I hate.

Victoria and I were gonna go check it out to see what it’s all about, but the tickets are $20 a pop. I can do a lot of things with $20 and watching clowns, acrobats and animals go in circles isn’t one of them. So instead I’ll give y’all a tour of the outside of the circus. They perform once a day Monday through Friday and twice on weekends.

The circus is set up in the empty lot on Cesar Chavez and Fickett, where there use to be a swapmeet before it got torn down a few years ago. You can’t really see inside, but you can hear the ring master every now and then. Between the huge tent, their trailers and animal enclosures, there’s no space for rides or food carts.

Thankfully they don’t have any big animals like elephants, just cute mini horses, a Clydesdale, and lamas.

They also have zebras and some horses.

They also had a sad camel. I mean, if I was kept in  cage all day long, force to perform tricks and let people ride on top me I would feel sad too. But that only happens to me metaphorically. Poor camel. I wanted to give him/her a hug despite the smell of crap all over the place. This is really why I won’t go support the circus. It’s fucking depressing to see these animals be enslaved like they are and gawked at all day long. Still, how often do kids from the barrio get to see these kind of shows come through the hood ? That must count for something.

9 thoughts on “The circus is in Boyle Heights

  1. Are these animal better off or worse than zoo animals, pit bulls on chains in backyards, the cows people eat in a Dino’s chili-burger, the snakeskin from your uncle’s Narco belt, research lab animal that are used in the name of science, or the Laker basketball that is dribbling as people cheer on the sidelines? Just asking.

  2. The other day, I was driving home and had to wait for the light at Pasadena & Figueroa. Two guys, crossing the street at opposite ends both had Pit Bulls on a leash and when they got close, both dogs began to bark and tried to go at each other.

    Both owners pulled away their dogs and kept crossing the street. Each one took about 10 steps and then began to beat the shit out of each dog with the other end of the leash, punishing each dog for wanting to go at the other.

    We recently rescued a Chihuahua mix (friends found him covered in motor oil, shaking and eating something out of a trash can). He has never been properly socialized and so we are working on that with him, hard since he’s about 2 yrs old. The point is: Ignorance.

    Ignorance on the part of people who don’t know how to care for animals and who don’t know the proper place for animals to begin with. It’s not the dogs fault they’re going at each other, they haven’t been properly socialized. If you teach people that they should beat the shit out of their dogs to correct their behavior, the dogs will only be more aggressive.

    As the light turned green, I thought to myself “I bet both of these assholes are the type that take their family on a ‘night out’ to the circus.”

    In my humble opinion, the circus should be done away with, kind of like back in the 60s when it wasn’t illegal to go to Africa and kill as many elephants as you wanted.

  3. Luis, I see that lots on the eastside—many Mexicanos that treat their animals in an inhumane way: tied up all day & night(for weeks) with a 4 foot leash in the hot sun, no water, no bathing. I reported one across the street from me—because I just felt horrible about him (also a pit bull). Then there are some Christian Mexicanos that live next door (with an “America” sign on their door). They bought a special tent for their drive-way to park their car in—but they had a little toy puppy out doors on a short lease for days under a bush. I was going to call them out on it—but then the dog was gone. Maybe they we just sitting for it. On the other side of the coin, my cat rules me AND my brother (special food, baths and personal all-day door service).

  4. I don’t think holding animals captive (like owning a dog, for instance, or someone riding an elephant in the circus) is quite as abusive as beating a dog with the end of leash, but I tend to agree with Luis and Saldivar in principle. I really wanted to see that Great White shark they had at the aquarium in Monterrey a few years back, but I didn’t go because I didn’t want to see it in captivity. Don’t know why. Been to the zoo and to aquariums before, but I just felt like I was cheating nature by seeing the Great White in captivity, just because it’s so magnificent and dangerous. You just can’t see that thing when its trapped in a swimming pool. It’s against the code of the ocean. lol. You’ve got to risk losing your limb (or perhaps being chopped in two) by seeing it in its natural habitat. It’s only right.

  5. ok–I pondered my racial-profiling comment above about Mexicanos, Christians, et al and their treatment of animals. I recant—thanks everyone for not making me walk the hot coal path. I recall a friend (who is Chicano AND a French Chef) who kept wanting to steal a goat from a petting zoo at an elementary school in South Pasa a few years back. He wanted to make birria with it. Naturally, I was appalled and must have blocked it out of my mind. I guess we all have out relationship with animals, their purpose and their treatment.

  6. “Thankfully they don’t have any big animals like elephants…”

    there WAS an elephant there. are u being sarcastic or did u just not see it? the elephant was eating hay or something. i saw it from the sidewalk.

    $20 is way too much for me and my family.

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