Author Archives: EL CHAVO!

About EL CHAVO!

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

El Gallo Bakery: 60th Anniversary Celebration

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LA Magazine recently did a story on the “top 20” bakeries of Los Angeles. As usual, their tastes run a bit skewed from mine and squarely on the side of the American taste for desserts and sweets, so no Mexican Panaderias made the list. I had a friend who was crazy into baking and she didn’t “understand” pan dulce, since she was comparing it to cakes and pies and thought it wasn’t sweet enough. I tried to explain the concept and offered her some fresh examples from El Gallo, but it was of no use. I’d offer some to LA Mag but I expect the results might be the same.

It’s okay though, I don’t make my eating decisions based on that magazine. And for 60 years, neither have many East Los residents that have considered this the go-to bakery for pan dulce and a good source for teleras, that required pan for a proper torta.

I stopped by today for a quick look at their 60th year celebration. Click ahead for a few pics.

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La Crisis: One Bad Solution

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Okay, it can’t be that bad. Let me tell you what it reads:

1. Sevende ropa exclusiva interior para hombre.

2. Masaje de hombre para hombres y mujeres, que quieran salir de la rutina experimentar algo nuevo, llamadas serias por favor $ open

And if you read between the lines (literally) in english it reads:

Sale interior man ander weres different sizes & models.

Man to man masage women’s welcom IM BI

And if you read between the lines figuratively, it’s an ad for sex, complete with phone number and address. Sex for pay is nothing new but I thought it was a bit desparate to see it at a crosswalk, with so much information on where to get these services. And I thought knock-on-my-door-pupusas were brazen! Salir de la rutina indeed.

Sas!

PS. info blurred to protect the job seeker.

La Crisis: One Solution

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It’s not uncommon for people to sell stuff from their homes in working class communities; every little bit helps to make ends meet. And I don’t mean ebay either, though I bet that computer route is getting popular too. Often it’s food items, sold mostly via a mobile setup (ala eloteros, tamaleros, etc) or from a makeshift outdoor kitchen that hangs the open sign during the evening dinner rush. I’ve known of places where you can knock on the door and ask for a plate of something, and the lady would get to cooking. But since these sorts of kitchens are probably illegal, they were kept kinda quiet, advertising being done by word of mouth. But I guess things are really getting rough: in Lincoln Heights, Jose the pupusa vendor put up a sign with his phone and Apt. number so you can purchase some of his $1.50 Salvadoran treats. “Savado y Domingo Solamente.”

When you don’t have a trust fund to fall back on, parents that can pay your rent or front you the money for a house, an inheritance that’s just a heartbeat away, the right connections, or the various forms of plan B middle class people crazily assume everyone has, then you learn to be resourceful. Hats off to Jose and his knock-on-my-door pupusa solution, a self-bailout plan that we can all emulate!

Yes, Los Angeles Has Spanish Speakers

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There’s been lots of mentions on various blogs about the demise of Indie 103.1, purportedly a source for awesome independent non-corporate music. Maybe that was true, but I didn’t listen to that station so I’ll have to take them at their word. But since the corporation that gave you said Indie station is only changing the format and language, I’m pretty sure it was kinda corporate and will continue to be corporate, only this time in a language some people in Los Angeles can’t understand.

If I really liked this “indie” format, I’d probably be sad too. But as I’ve noticed when it’s happened before, there seems to be an additional undercurrent of loathing for the transition from English to Spanish, as if they could tolerate any other insipid music better if it was only in a language they could understand. Kinda like they lost one for the team. As some guy mentions:

“Yeah, because what LA desperately needs is another Latin station. Thank you, Clear Channel, for being so fucking awesome!”

Sorry for your loss ese, but damn, we are part of LA too, you know. A pretty big part, as our corporate overlords have noticed. I can understand crap music in two languages so I know that the problem with bad music is the corporate/money model and not the lengua it’s in, that’s just the way the beast works.  Plus, let’s not lose the forest for the trees: you do realize that El Gato is supposedly going to be playing cumbias? I really doubt they’ll keep to that but that should be a salve for the Spanish wound. Err, you all like cumbias, right?

Now if only they could turn KROQ into a 24 hour station for Los Originales de San Juan, then 2009 could safely be declared a perfect year!

PS. The picture above has nothing to do with anything.

LH Micro Loft Fails to Catch Interest

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An enterprising citizen of Lincoln Heights gave Micro Loft living a go recently on a busy intersection of N. Broadway, but locals mostly ignored the concept, as can be seen in the photo above. With a small area for the Tupperware kitchen, a lightpost headboard, and some “facilities”, this attempt at urban space reclamation was short lived, all signs of this experiment had vanished a few days later when I went back to this corner. Even though the rent was appropriately priced, the constant flow of pedestrians thru the bedroom and the excessive banging on the crosswalk button above the pillow made for terrible sleeping conditions, even though the views were spectacular.

Click ahead for a pic of the garage!

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Rose Parade – Mostly Non-Float Pics

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Since I seem to be into parades, I got challenged by my friend Chimatli to check out the Rose Parade this year. At first I thought no way, not that old fashioned institution of American myth making, I don’t even look forward to watching it on cruda morning New Year’s Day, even though it’s usually on anyways. But actually being there? Isn’t that what tourists do? Could I even get up that early? Well, a challenge isn’t easy so I said, por que no, gotta try everything at least once! Tie your shoes cuz I’m going in!

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Happy New Year 2009!

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We here at LA Eastside wish you a very happy new year! We look forward to another year of being a fly in the ointment, the rebels with and without causes, the malcriados on the block and the not so young kids next door that the blog neighbors secretly wish would get evicted for being a public nuisance!

Our perspective acknowledges the existence of the Eastside (that alternate reality of what it means to be Other in this town) even when the rest of the city ignores us or tries to take our name. This next year we hope to bring you even more posts about either side of the river, plus North and South tambien, but with our way of seeing the city. We are planning on a proper redesign, hoping to add a few more authors to join in the fray, talking about a few other interesting things to come, and all of this still with NO ADS! You can’t put a price on the value of our posts! Thank you all for reading. Have a good one and see ya around!

Highland Park Holiday Parade 2008: Some Pictures

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Q-vo Paisanos! Que transas? You thought I had forgotten about the Highland Park parade coverage, eh? Nah, I’ve just been a little busy with some stupid thing or two. I did actually make it out the the HLP parade on the Northeast side of town, I even stayed for the whole thing! And I took a few pictures! Well, actually, I took too many pictures and I’ve posted a gang of them, so you’re just gonna have to suffer through it tambien. It is the season of sacrifice, after all. So click ahead when you have the time, when your boss leaves the building, or when you’re just so bored with that spreadsheet that you no longer even care if you get caught! Al Desfile!

(Edit: as you can tell, I wrote this part some time ago! But if you are a bored office worker stuck behind a computer on New Year’s Eve I have a special message for you: Quit! La Crisis be damned!)

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The Problem with Hacienda Heights

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I’ve talked alot of shit about some of our suburbs to the east in my past, and though I wish I could stop my bashing to save friendships and to not create any more hostilities with some friends and family members that live in these and nearby ‘burbs, it’s impossible for my sense of decency to keep quiet. The suburbs create odd behavior patterns, maybe perfectly reasonable within the context of their own reality but utterly absurd when exposed to the light of reason. Take for example this xmas tree spotted on a cul-de-suck in Hacienda Heights earlier today: even before 5:30pm somebody has managed to get rid of the holiday tree, leaving it out for the trash truck, even though this was still Christmas Day! Is the trash pick-up coming early in the morning? Are they scared of the fire dangers of a pine tree in the home? I have no idea, but whatever the “logic” that led to such an early curbside disposal, it just points to some warped thinking happening inside these homes. Fucking wasteful thinking. I almost considered bringing it home for that sweet piney smell, but neh pollos, I can barely tolerate the trappings of Christmas, so why push it with the decorations?

If people can build opinions about Lincoln Heights from some cholo getting shot and killed, isn’t it appropriate that I be able to form an opinion from some random sighting on my way out of a fun X-mas party in HH? I think the notion of justice demands I create a similar prejudice, just to be fair.