Spend a buck today. End the recession tomorrow. Beverly and Benton Way, circa 1993
The old school way of trying to solve an economic crisis, through billboards!
With the bank bailouts, mortgage and housing predicaments and thousands of folks seeing their life savings reduced to half their value, perhaps another round of billboards is needed.
Monterey Park‘s attempt to go upscale.
photograph from Sal Si Puedes #3
This past day or so, I’ve felt a bit like a negative nelly for my somewhat smug reaction to the demise of Tu Ciudad. When someone recently asked me, “what magazines do you like?” I stammered thinking of a response. Hmmm, the first thing that popped in my head was Readymade but to be honest, that magazine can be much too hipster for my taste. I have a thing for Planet but haven’t got around to getting a subscription. And I admit, I secretly read Vice on the side, but shhh, don’t tell anyone!
Then it came to me (okay, it came to me after I read kualyque’s comment on the Tu Ciudad post), one of my favorite magazines to come out of Los Angeles has been the infrequently published, hard to find zine: Sal Si Puedes. After reading this fine publication, you will no longer feel justified in calling City Terrace by it’s rhyming name (you know which one!) Keep reading for an awesome review by El Chavo that I shamelessly borrowed from another site.
Tu Ciudad, May 2008. Never received the June issue.
According to LA Observed, Tu Ciudad, the magazine aimed at upwardly mobile “acculturated Latinos” (chuppies?) in Los Angeles has folded.
I have mixed feelings about the magazine’s demise. In the magazine’s first year, I really enjoyed the articles and their LA based coverage. Lately though, it seems like the writers and editors are all living in Brentwood or something because almost nothing in the magazine interests me. Each page was filled with mundane things I couldn’t afford to buy and the articles were a bit boring. On the other hand, I did look forward to reading it for the occasional guest writer and because I enjoyed smirking and rolling my eyes at the people and businesses they were promoting. It was obvious they all ran in the same circles and worse yet, it seemed the staff rarely ventured over to the Eastside. I’m basing this assumption on their frequent exultations to Loteria Grill. There are at least four restaurants in Lincoln Heights alone better than that bland cuisine. Well, Tu Ciudad you made a decent attempt, but in the end I bid farewell to your good idea/bad execution magazine!
Anyone else shedding crocodile tears for Tu Ciudad?
Hmmm, I wonder what will happen with my subscription?
Survey LA , part 2 of 3 (check out 5:40 for Lincoln Heights’ Church of the Epiphany)
Survey LA is a new project initiated by the Office of Historic Resources. A description from their website:
SurveyLA – the Los Angeles Historic Resources Survey – is Los Angeles’ first-ever comprehensive program to identify significant historic resources throughout our city. The survey marks a coming-of-age for Los Angeles’ historic preservation movement, and will serve as a centerpiece for the City’s first truly comprehensive preservation program.
Click through for more videos and a drawing for a free book!
Marcel Dzama
Last weekend was the Book Expo America, the book publishing world’s big annual convention where booksellers and librarians get to hobnob with authors and celebrities. It comes every four years or so to Los Angeles and for the second time, I was able to score a free ticket, yay! The perks of attending the convention are the free books, the author signings and the so-called parties. If standing in line for an hour to get Garrison Keillor’s autograph sounds like a good time to you, the BEA just might be your thing. Personally, I can do without the James Pattersons and Dean Koontz of the literary world and I had no inclination to listen to Anderson Cooper blabber on, so my quest was to search out the hidden booths of indie publishers, while trying to stay clear of the Harlequin Romance aisle. I scored a few good books along with some cool Marcel Dzama trading cards (above) from Mc Sweeney’s and a nice Bookforum tote bag.
Here are some titles I found at the event that looked promising, some are new and some have been around for awhile:
It may come as a surprise to some but the first zoo and one of the first movie studios in Los Angeles were located in Lincoln Heights, near Lincoln Park (previously known as Eastlake Park).
The entrance of the zoo was quite grand, giant stone arches decorated with animal motifs and full size sculptures of elephants, lions and other zoo creatures.
Unfortunately when the zoo closed down in 1930’s, the giant stone animals that flanked the entrance went missing and forgotten.
This excellent video by Dig Where You Stand documents the rediscovery of this small bit of Los Angeles history. It even includes an interview with everyone’s favorite Los Angeles historian, Mike Davis. He talks a bit about the animal statues in his book, City of Quartz.
For more information and photos, check out this wonderful site dedicated to the history of Lincoln Heights:
www.lincolnheightsla.com
Botanitas will be 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!
Click ahead for more:
(click flyer above for more images)
There’s been lots of buzz about the upcoming show, Vexing: Female Voices from East L.A. Punk at The Claremont Museum of Art. Much like the misconceptions of the skateboarding scene, there’s many who don’t realize the involvement and contributions of Eastside folks to the history of Los Angeles punk. From the early days of The Bags and The Brat to current groups like Union 13 and Resistant Culture, punk is alive and well in the streets East of the River.
Just came across this short clip on Lincoln Heights’ very own skateboard store, IDS Boardshop. They say skating has only recently been popular with Latinos but I disagree. I’ve known Chicano skate kids from way back. (Tony Alva, anyone?) What do you all think?
Cinco de Mayo is coming up and for those who don’t know, let me tell you now, most Mexicans do not celebrate Cinco de Mayo! It’s a holiday invented (okay, not exactly invented – it commemorates the Battle of Puebla when Mexicans drove out the French) by Mexican-American educators so they could promote Mexican/Chicano pride on a day when kids were in school. The real Mexican Independence Day, September 16 comes too early in the school year for a proper celebration. Greet a Mexican immigrant with “Feliz Cinco de Mayo” and they will most likely respond with a quizzical and/or bemused look. And to all the corporations: it’s not a “Latino” holiday. Ask a Guatemalteco, Salvadoreño or a Boricua what they think about Cinco de Mayo.
Since there are lots of folks who like to do “Mexican Night” on Cinco de Mayo, I thought I would share a little recipe with you all.
Two days after the riots started, somewhere near Normandie-photo taken by me
16 years ago today was the beginning of one of the biggest social upheavals in this city, The Los Angeles Riots (or Uprising for you KPFK listeners).
Whenever the riots are remembered, the discussion focuses on dichotomous forces: Black vs. Whites, Blacks vs. Koreans, Blacks vs. Police etc. What is rarely mentioned is that for some (this includes people of all ethnicities and races), the riots were the best time of their lives. I’m not trying to discount the death, violence or heavy repression that went along with this event. I think most of that has been well documented. However, I have many friends that participated in the riots and describe a festival atmosphere. They will wistfully recount tales of three day drunkenness, street parties and a sense of liberation. If you don’t believe me, it’s because these people were never asked their opinion or asked to share their stories. When they have, their perspective has been totally discounted. Just a different viewpoint on an event that’s been described as one of the worst times in Los Angeles history.