Author Archives: EL CHAVO!

About EL CHAVO!

I like poetry, romantic candlelit dinners, and quiet walks on the beach.

How It Begins: Renaming a Neighborhood

Posted on by
51

soho

I don’t get it. Why do newcomers feel a need to come up with new names for their neighborhoods? Is this one of those customs of the middle-class species? Or is it just someone trying to make a buck?

Check out this paper I recently picked up over in the Fairfax District and their attempts to rename the area as SOHO aka South Hollywood. First, that name is pretty fucking stupid: it continues this needless fascination with New York for cultural guidance. (WWMAD?) Plus it’s the tired moniker of choice for every fake ass “creative” neighborhood, and yes, that includes you NOHO.

Lucky for us, this paper actually has a long-winded “story” about how they came up with this new uninspired name for the Fairfax area. The website they link doesn’t have that info, but click ahead to see why they feel at ease taking an eraser to some of the common names for this area.

Continue reading →

Lakers Celebration in LH

Posted on by
11

lake1

I drove by to quickly check out the scene but as of around 8:40 pm, the streets of Lincoln Heights were pretty calm, at least compared to the crazy partying that happened when the Lakers won that other time. But there were still a few people walking around, just wanting to celebrate a win of their favorite sports team. It seems people are gathering in East Los and some fools are trying to burn living trees over by the Staples center, but for now LH is just a few cars cruising, honking, celebrating.

Click ahead for a few more pics.

Continue reading →

Where was that?

Posted on by
5

laehealing
(Look what I found today: our very own healing center!)

If you read the comments on my post mentioning the LA Times article regarding the location of the Eastside, or the comments at the LAT article, the public seems squarely to agree it’s East of the river. A few wackos still think it’s somewhere near Hollywood but for the most part, the people are knowledgeable. Maybe it’s cuz all the hipsters and real estate agents were too busy styling their hair to leave comments!

Ahh, that was cold. And mean. I apologize.

Better yet, since they didn’t get a chance to voice their opinions, I’m going to do something really brash and irresponsible: I’m going to let Democracy work its magic!

Using the basic principals of the democratic process I’ve conjured up this poll below where you can all decide for yourselves, without having to leave the comfort of your milk crate, the location of the Eastside. Yes, I’m going to get into BIG trouble for arbitrarily renaming a place but whatever, I just want us all to heal and for Los Angeles to be as united and understanding of each other as we’ve always been. Maybe we can even schedule a hug-fest over on the 6th St bridge?  I’m getting carried away, choked up, and ahead of myself thinking about the rekindling of our friendships. So let’s get started! For the last and final time, winner takes all, decide: Where is the Eastside?

[poll id=”1″]

Oops, looks like the poll plugin messed up the commenting option! Working on it…

Update: Should be fixed, let the healing comments continue!

Poor Food

Posted on by
19

pf1

You can take that title two different ways.  As in either poor quality food or just food of the poor. Sometimes it can mean both things. Which did you assume?

This was my lunch today. (Well, only half of it was, the rest went into the trash bin.) I was down on N. Broadway, thought I’d have some hot and sour soup from the new Chinese food place, as everyone knows that’s my favorite soup ever. Or now they do. Yes, even over menudo or sopa de zanahoria. Hmm, for only $2 more I can get the “combo”, seems like a good deal.

And that’s how it starts.

Continue reading →

More Videos from the Eastside Luv event

Posted on by
2

el1

Is it tomorrow yet? Yeah, I was hoping to post these earlier pero que se le va hacer, I’m not racing against some clock. We try to get posts up here regularly but you know, people gotta do stuff. Besides, even if its a week late, where else would you find these fine videos (and a few pics) from East of the river? I thought so.

Click ahead to see que paso!

Continue reading →

Dewey Tafoya at Eastside Luv

Posted on by
6

So I braved the poetry and the “wine bar” scene and came away quite energized by this gathering of Eastsiders; people that mostly come from a history of having land stolen, not willing to accept our name be taken as well. It’s late at the moment and I have to get my feo rest but I wanted to post this video so you can all get an idea of what went down in BH. (I hope to post more on this event tomorrow.)

It seems some people have had issues with the title of the event, as they think it might be inappropriate. Where you from? – that inescapable loaded question of my youth. What they don’t understand is the reality of how non-gang members experienced the question, having to say “I’m from nowhere” just to avoid getting beaten up, or worse. Intimidated to being from nowhere. Which is no different when newcomers to the city tell me, not ask me, that the term that has defined our reality is suddenly their domain, that they’re gonna tell me about some “fluidity” and their new logical reasons why I’m, yet again, from Nowhere. Yeah, fuck that.

I was especially awed by Dewey’s piece because the last time I spent much time with him was at Hollenbeck , where we were friends cuz of our fondness for Heavy Metal. I’m glad that all these years later we still have something in common: an understanding of where we come from,  and pride for our Eastside. Nothing like shared experiences to teach you the value of something as simple as a term.

Eastside, presente!

Poems as Ammo

Posted on by
13

eslwhereyoufrom

I get the feeling all the fake ass newbie “eastsiders” over in Silver Lake are starting to get a bit hot under the collar as the heat of their erroneous ways starts to rise. They’ve been schooled repeatedly about where the Eastside isn’t, but they try to act all “what, I didn’t catch that” as if ignorance will keep them from getting burned. Now that Pat Morrison has joined our guerrilla army and we are winning some skirmishes, the time is ripe for a full frontal assault!

A renegade band of insurgents has started their own cell in this major effort (who’s leading this splinter group, is it you Al Desmadre?) and will be battling this Thursday May 7 2009 at Eastside Luv  using poems as weapons. What the? Poetry? Oh well, I guess we can use all kinds of things to throw out our enemies. Sticks, stones and names. I think I’m gonna suspend my permanent ban on all things poetic just to check this event out, cuz it looks like it might be fun. And it finally gives me an excuse to check out Eastside Luv, which also means suspending my ban on “wine bars”.

Damn, this could be a trap…

See ya there!

Eastside Luv 1835 E First St 323.262.7442

La Crisis: Huevos Rancheros: El Ranchero

Posted on by
2

hr_ranchero1

You will have to excuse me for posting this here, as I usually put my HR reviews over on my personal site. (And you’ll also have to excuse the multiple colons and the terrible title!) But I thought this special offer was too good to keep to myself, especially in these times of La Crisis.  And I’m not talking about the 50 cent tacos either, I’m here for the Mexican breakfast dish known as Huevos Rancheros!

Continue reading →