Landscape Architecture 101

It sometimes is good to have friends.  A couple of years back I was doing some paperwork in my ranfla down by one of my favorite places to access the LA river (EC has to know this one) when something caught my eye:

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Little neatly carved steps cut out of the clay earth that would easily be skipped by most.  Actually I skipped it for years, as I had been coming down here for decades and never noticed one of the places that makes LA so great.  So I got out of my carucha to investigate, because as many an Eastsider will tell ya: the river makes for good stories, even the most boring river moments are never dull.  As I walked over to the stairs I noticed a peculiar sign:

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This is the edited sign that is more public-friendly.  The original one I first saw read “don’t piss, shit in bamboo fucken crackhead assholes, no rocks here,” or something to that effect.  By this time I was enamored, the socio-barrio-urbanophile meter in me was registering off the charts, which has never let me down.

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Bad Neighbors

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The message comes through loud and clear

On the Eastside we’re often told our neighborhoods are never good enough. We need revitalization and improvement. And who is to provide us with this fancy new lifestyle? Certain businesses are mentioned in this renewal mantra: bookstores, art galleries, lofts and commercial development. It all sounds nice in theory but check the photos below to see how this plays out in reality.
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