Category Archives: botanitas

The Virgo Celebrations

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Ah, so I missed commemorating Los Angeles’ birthday this past Saturday, September 4th. Ooops! Well, happy belated birthday great City of Los Angeles! I am your daughter by four generations, my body is filled with traces of your asphalt, the smog of your skies and the dust of your palm fronds. I am truly of this city.

Anyways, I’m here to remind you of another celebration, and this one I only remembered because a co-worker asked me “Chimatli, vas a ir a el desfile en East LA este domingo?” “Huh, cual desfile?” I told you in my last Botanitas post that I’ve been hopelessly removed from the social scene. “El desfile de 16 de Septiembre” she shakes her head and smiles slightly, the same disappointing gesture she makes when my tongue turns Spanish all mushy. Well, in case you don’t know either, this year Mexico turns 200 years old. There are grand celebrations being planned all over the Mexico but you don’t need to travel very far to take part in the commemorations because the Eastside is having it’s very own Mexican Independence Day Parade!

Don’t miss the Bicentennial Mexican Independence Day Parade and Festival showcasing celebrity grand marshal operatic tenor Plácido Domingo on Sunday, September 12 in East LA. Watch top Latin stars’ performances, play games, ride attractions and enjoy delicious food. The parade begins 11am at Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and Indiana Street and travels to Mednik Avenue, ending adjacent to at Belvedere Park with a festival.

-from the Metro LA site

Placido Domingo is the grand marshall which is pretty impressive for East LA. Though nothing can compare to the spectacle I witnessed when Juan Gabriel was in the parade. Hordes of fans mobbing his float, filling the sidewalks and streets so that even us spectators were crushed in the crowds. That was pure insanity and madness the likes of which I will probably never see again.

Read more about Mexico’s bicentennial celebrations here.

Botanitas: August 20, 2010

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Chinatown grocers offer the most inexpensive and tastiest produce in the area, like this sidewalk stand on North Broadway and Ord. Buy your oranges in Chinatown! (click for larger photo)

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!

Thank goodness for Random’s Rundown because if you counted on my Botanitas posts to keep your social calendar full, you’d probably end up spending most of your nights at home (like me) due to their infrequency (damn you full-time job with no internet access!)

Time to click ahead for weekend events and Eastside news…

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Botanitas: July 2, 2010

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Mexican Americans on Fourth of July, 1923. Photo courtesy of LAPL

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!

So where will you be this weekend with all your illegal fireworks? Hopefully that wasn’t your uncle’s house that got busted with all those cuetes in El Monte, what a waste…tsk, tsk..won’t someone think of the children?

As my Chicana mother always told me, California wasn’t part of the U.S. when the U.S. got independence from England so we don’t really gotta put our heart and soul into celebrating Fourth of July. But what Mexican is gonna give up a good reason for drinking and bar-b-queing? Dang, we invented bar-b-que, the word comes from the Spanish barbacoa, so however you feel about this “independence day” of ours, make it a good time!

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GO FLY A KITE!

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GO FLY A KITE!

It’s March, the windiest month of the year, when I was a youngster places like “Flat Top” in Lincoln Heights, Elysian Park, Belvedere Park, the LA River bottom, City Terrace, Elephant Hill in El Sereno, they were all full of kids flying kites. Those kites were cheap and fun, you could have kite fights, do loop de loops, scare the hawks, see who could fly their kite the highest until the kite string almost came of the stick, you can do all kinds of tricky shit with a kite. Do kids still fly kites?  Kite flying is one of the best ways to spend your time or time with your kids, “Man In The Moon” kites, homemade kites (it’s easy!), a box kite, or one of those fancy tetragon kites. It gets you out in the fresh air at this time of the year when the grass is green and the wind blows the smog away and the views are spectacular.

Hey listen up! Go Fly a Kite!

don quixote and son flying a kite on  Flat Top, Lincoln Hts 1975

 

Botanitas: March 9, 2010

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pattmorrisondog
Yes, at home I can feel like a tourist, which is what inspired me to try a vegan hot dog at the famous tourist spot, Pink’s in Hollywood. Of course, the vegan hot dog would be named after one of LA Eastside’s favorite media personalities, Patt Morrison (vegan hot dog topped with guacamole and tomatoes.) I was pleasantly surprised by it’s tastiness.

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!

Click through for maestros con ganas, income gaps, history razing,  phantom raising and Mexican clovers.

***3/10/10: NEW EVENTS!***
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Botanitas: February 10, 2010

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chinatown_bag
Spotted at a Chinatown novelty shop. A leftover from Madame Wongs or The Hong Kong Cafe, perhaps?

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!

Click through for bulldogs, pobrecitos, jerks, tall coffees, shovels for sale, missing paramedics, anti-authoritarian tigers and the blues for the unemployed.
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TURN IT UP LOUD!

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Saturday night and I was thinking about my late Abuelita and how she was so proud of my Uncle Pete and the talent he had on the piano. De falla’s “Ritual Fire Dance” was what she loved to hear Uncle Pete play, and play he could.

Uncle Pete (Alcaraz) was also the piano player for Lalo Guererro for many years

Although I also liked to hear Uncle Pete play, my favorite pianist was Alicia de Larrocha who passed away just last September.

They are all gone now so this is dedicated to them all “The Ritual Fire Dance.”

José Lozano: Creating art of the buffoon—the darker side of humor

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Artist José Lozano was born in Los Angeles, but early in his life lived in Ciudad Juárez, México the birthplace of his mother.   In Juárez he was exposed to the cultural icons that are now part of his artwork—bad Mexican cinema, fotonovelas, phantasm folk lore, lucha, comic books, boleros y rancheras and the flavors of the Juárez landscape. His family core returned to East LA when he was 8, where he attended public school and began to draw.   Later, through formal art training, he captured the essence that is his personal finger print as an artist. Continue reading →

Botanitas: September 11, 2009

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fourthstreethouse
One of my favorite houses on the Eastside, it’s on Fourth Street overlooking the bridge. I hope it never has to face the stucco monster!

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!

Click through for Greeks and geeks, Love and Rockets, Son Jarocho and protest remembrances.
*New events just added!*

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