About chimatli

In the fourth-grade, I won second place in the Humphreys Elementary School poetry contest. It's been all downhill from there.

The Pharmacy Time Forgot


Cards purchased in the 2000s from McMonkman Pharmacy in Lincoln Heights

Not too long ago, at the corner of Daly and North Broadway in Lincoln Heights was a pharmacy untouched by time. It seems the good folks of Lincoln Heights had no reason to buy anything from this store except medication from the pharmacy. This resulted in a drugstore that masqueraded as a museum of products from the 1970s. The store never cleared it’s shelves and items stood dusty on display patiently waiting for an uninformed shopper to carry them home.

As you can imagine, a store like this piqued the interest of a curious person like myself. I would wind through the purposely created maze like shelves – shoplifting deterrents – purveying cosmetic items from decades past. La Maja, the dusting powder my mother and grandmother used featured a vampy raven haired Spanish dancer on the front of the box, and as a little girl, I thought she was the epitome of beauty.


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Everybody walks in Boyle Heights

While walking around Boyle Heights today, I came across this friendly rooster. He followed me as I walked along the fence of his house. His other feathered friends were curious, but those roosters kept their distance. So I decided to take a picture of him. A lady walking by with her son gave me one of those amused smiles like, what a loca/mensa, why is she taking a picture of a rooster? Hrrmph, señora, some of us have hobbies.

If you feel like walking around Boyle Heights and possibly have people laugh at you for taking pictures, join The Boyle Heights Historical Society this morning for a walking tour of historic buildings and the unveiling of the City sponsored Survey LA which “serves as the primary planning tool to identify, record and evaluate historic properties and districts within Los Angeles.” One of their pilot survey projects was in Boyle Heights.

Community Survey Unveiling & Tour
Saturday, January 15, 2011

Presentation, Open House & Free Refreshments: 10 AM
Free Walking Tours: 11:30 AM – 2 PM

Puente Learning Center
501 S. Boyle Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90033

More info at The Boyle Heights Historical Society

The Magic Christmas Tree


The Magic Christmas Tree (1964)

My favorite Christmas movie and I’ve never even seen the whole thing! Filmed in La Verne and looking like it was made for $12 bucks, it’s absolutely creepy in the most mundane and sinister way. Most of it used to be up on Youtube but unfortunately, has since been removed. There is a weird slapstick chase scene at the end where the little boy, star of the film and probably the producer’s kid, has been granted wishes and drunk on power, causes mayhem and havoc in his small suburban town. Think old runaway cars, pies-in-the-face and mad dashes – La Verne must’ve been some place in the 1960s! There are also witches, giants and a sassy talking, tinsel Christmas tree that has “the voice of an irritated antiques dealer.”

I was introduced to this movie through this NPR segment a few years ago called The Best Merry Scary Christmas Movies by Mark Jordan Legan. Follow the highlighted link to listen to the hilarious piece. The bit about The Magic Christmas Tree starts at 4:16.
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Sidewalk Stamps

A collection of sidewalk stamps I’ve photographed on pedestrian dérives around Lincoln Heights, Highland Park and Downtown L.A. Exact locations have been forgotten.

For more on sidewalk history, see this previous post.

Botanitas: December 8, 2010


Spotted on Mission Road aka Car Window Alley

There are way too many things to do in Los Angeles! So many in fact, I sometimes don’t end up doing anything because there’s always so much to choose from. So how to decide? With the help of Botanitas, of course!

Botanitas is 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!
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Stream Dream: Johnston’s Lake


Johnston’s Lake, 1888. Photo courtesy of the USC Digital Archives.

Awhile back, I was re-reading Charles J. Fisher’s book on Highland Park which is brimming with old photos of the Northeast LA area. One photo that caught my attention was of a flock of sheep gathered around a small “natural” lake in the San Rafael neighborhood just north of Highland Park. I figured it was lake that had been filled in and forgotten because if it still existed, we’d know about it, right?

By coincidence, a few days later, I read an article in the Los Angeles Times about a garden in the San Rafael neighborhood which was said to be across the street from a lake. Could this be the lake in the photo? The article provided some geographical clues and with the aid of Google maps I was able to locate the general area of the mystery body of water. Time for a visit to the San Rafael Hills!

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