Category Archives: boyle heights

Libros Schmibros at the Hammer Museum

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Photo credit: Anne Cusack/LA Times

Literature pimp David Kipen and his libros volunteer crew are making their way west, as the newest artist in recedency at the Hammer Museum in Westwood. From now till October 9, the lending library will be posted up at the lobby gallery pretty much doing the same thing it does at the eastside store front, sharing the gift of literature with folks across town. According to the museum, “Westwood has also seen the closure of several bookstores recently, as well as a reduction in some hours at nearby libraries. Libros Schmibros at the Hammer will increase Westwood’s access to books, while serving as a public square where visitors can check out, acquire, or donate books, and interact with Kipen, his team of volunteers, and other visitors.”

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Ride-In to the Movies on August 20

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This Saturday night, August 20, you are invited to take a bike, a skateboard, roller skates, a wheelchair, a grocery cart or scooter ride to the movies for a fun interactive double feature Eastside style.

Two cult classic R rated screenings of Hollywood’s interpretation of gang life–Eastside to Westside are the evenings offerings. (Note: Kids should be accompanied by their adult.)


The Warriors (1979, directed by Walter Hill) – A gang called The Warriors are framed for killing a gang leader who was trying to unite all the gangs in New York City. With other gangs gunning for them they must get back to the home turf of Coney Island-alive!  (Luther) “There he is! That’s him! That’s… the Warrior! He shot Cyrus!” (Cleon) “Man, you crazy! I din’t do nuthin’!”   Starring Michael Beck, James Remar and Dorsey Wright.



Boulevard Nights (1979, directed by Michael Pressman) – One night Raymond takes Chuco with him to pick up Raymond’s girlfriend, Denise “Shady” Landeros and cruise the “boulevard”: a main drag in East L.A. which becomes an impromptu car show every weekend where young Hispanics show off their lowriders . Shady lives in a housing project in East L.A. with her family and works as a secretary for a business office in downtown Los Angeles. Shady has dreams of upward mobility and, because of this, tries to disassociate herself from barrio life. She wants Raymond to do the same but Raymond loves lowriding and is proud of his barrio roots. Starring:  Richard Yniguez, Danny De La Paz, Carmen Zapata and Marta DuBois

Bring a blanket, pillow and/or lawn chair for these outdoor screenings.  Snacks and drinks will be available for purchase. Starts at 8 pm and ends at 12 am. Price: donation

Self Help Graphics & Art
1300 East First Street
Boyle Heights, CA 90033

Aerosol

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You probably won’t find me hanging from the side of a bridge spraying my name –I have Acrophobia—but (yay) above you can see a photo of my first graff. Well, my design with the help and instruction of fellow student Kit McConnell. I think he got ‘stuck’ with me. My first class assignment yesterday was to find my tag name—I chose “VD, because its nothing to laugh about”– the teen boys in the group laughed when I said that. After a short history on the art of Graffiti, we spend the first hour making thumb nail sketches and catching up. It seems that some of the group is on a drop-in basis—there is a core of 10 faithful students, while others are coming and going as their time permits.

I was lucky to join the class upon instructor VyalOne’s (sometimes “Vyal1”) return from Israel. There were lots of interesting stories from the trip. Customs and food challenges are usually an American travel preoccupation, followed by an exclamation of “We are so spoiled!” This group of graffiti artists from the US, were selected to create murals in a very poor area of Israel (the west bank and Gaza) where donkey-hauling and child labor was evident. Seemed like an artistic dream to resonate the downtrodden in a visual homage—but no, that idea got whitewashed for a more uplifting message. The group (Maia Mural Brigade) completed 8 murals in a week. See pictures of the work and journey.

During studio time I also got inducted into the Graffiti class fundraiser coming up. I suggested raffling a graffiti’d bicycle—but we need to get one donated first. Sighhh—technicalities! Vyal also invited us to battle later this month—winner gets to battle him in San Francisco later this year. Uhm—I’m not ready for that. I am still trying to think how I can stretch out my tag—its looking very early 90s. For now, VD morphed into Vdee, and upon spraying, one of the e’s grew teeth–back to the drawing board.

Vyal said I showed much promise. I bet he says that to everyone. BUT—it was fun and the 4 hours ($2.50 an hour) went by so fast. Did I mention that a guy showed up 40 minutes after the class started, threw open his car trunk, sold us tips, aerosol paints, gave us a mess of stickers and stayed on to paint with us? I love falling into a whole sub-culture.

 

“Precious Knowledge” Screening at Self Help Graphics Tonight

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Tonight at the new Self Help
Graphics location in Boyle Heights, come suport the fight to save ethnic studies
in Arizona with a screening of the documentry, “Precious Knowledge.”
The screening is free, but donations of any kind are always
welcomed, because as many of you know, the fight to preserve and
continue to teach ethnic studies is a fight not just for
Chicanos/as, but all tribes and peoples in this world. All the hate
and pushing comes from those who don’t understand what it means to
have more than one identity, to be learn and be part of traditions
hundreds and thousands of years old. If you can’t make it to the
screening, you can still support the fight online with donations
and spreading the word. The screening will be at 8 pm and students and maestros from AZ will be at the screening to talk about their experiences making the documentry and how things have progressed since it wa first made.

SELF HELP GRAPHICS & ART 1300 East
First Street, Boyle Heights,CA 90033 www.selfhelpgraphics.com
323.881.6444 Take the Metro Goldine and exit at the Pico/Aliso
stop. Free Street Parking alongside Anderson and Utah
Streets.

Notes from the Boyle Heights Wastelands

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This week the spin doctors were working overtime to make Michelle Obama look like a hypocrite for eating a burger and fries, because it registered at 1700 calories!! One of her personal campaigns is to have healthier food in public school cafeterias and food programs. Who’s not for that? Back to the calories though– for some women a whole day’s intake of calories could be 2000 or around that (yes, that’s 3 meals) and the amount needed just to maintain the same weight, not to loose or gain. Gender, age, activity and some doctors think ethnicity, determine how many calories an individual should eat.

Being a vegetarian for decades now, I have had run-ins with long lost friends at the super market whose eyes sadden upon spotting meat in my cart. I don’t need to explain that my cat is on an organic food diet and eats ground turkey or that I make beef tamales and chicken mole for my brother on his birthday —but I do. I practically live like a monk, because I have lived in a certain way and people expect that from me— I expect that from me. I really don’t ram my personal rules down anyone’s throat and those of you who think I do —“you really wouldn’t want to know what goes on in my head”. Still, there are some hardships to being a role model, even if it’s by accident, like me. I would not trade places with someone in the microscopic public eye, like poor Michelle.

We all know that Boyle Heights and some other communities on the eastside are considered to be food deserts, because there are not enough super markets to supply us with nutritious and healthy foods. If you’ve ever tried to get into El Super at 6 p.m. on any day—you know what I mean. Forget about getting a healthy vegetarian choice at any of the local restaurants either. It’s all about the queso. There are many people that have poor diets in the food dessert (due to lack of availability), they are considered to be malnutrition. But, even if we live in a food desert, we can make choices that are healthy instead of giving into the “high profits and low product” American food cartels. People who use grocery coupons to make ends meet can easily fall into the pit of foods that have absolutely no nutritional value. Think about it—why would a manufacturer give you something free? Usually, it is for a new product and it reminds me of the drug dealers (in those 80s movies) that get you hooked on cheba by giving you freebies at first. Beware of those coupons.
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CicLAvia Boyle Heights Explorer Ride This Sunday

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In case anyone hasn’t heard yet, the July Ciclavia has been canceled. As posted on their site, the need to expand is taking up all the time and resources so as to improve on the routes, safety for everyone, making it more pedestrian friendly etc. Read the blog post to find out what are some the things they’re working on for the Oct. ride, which includes an expansion into Boyle Heights and South Central. The two proposed routes are available for folks to check’em out and they look awesome.

As part of the expansion process, the Boyle Heights exploratory ride will take place this Sunday at 11 a.m. at Libros Schmibros !! Community residents, including myself, have been attending the expansion meetings and chiming in with our two cents as to what makes BH great and destinations and routes outsiders will enjoy when crossing over the river. The route expands starting at Boyle street taking all of 1st. street down to Lorena. On Euclid will then connect folks to Whittier Blvd. and end at Salazar Park, which turns into LA County. If you know BH, then you all the restaurants, historical and cultural landmarks that found all along this route. See ya Sunday and rsvp on the facebook event page for any last minute changes on meeting location or time.

 

Libros Schmibros

Dancing Bicycle Rider of Boyle Heights Video

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Last time I blogged about the Dancing Bicycle Rider of Boyle Heights, I was only able to snap some crappy photos, well now I have crappy video. I was riding with my friend to the Red Bull Soap Box Race, when I heard his yells off in the distance. I was across the street on First and Mission and was able to catch his acrobatics from across the way.

I was then able to catch up with him after meeting up with my friend on the corner of First and Alameda as he was waiting for a signal change. You can see him being unsafe by riding on the cross-walk, doing spins and almost running into people crossing the street. I almost hit him as well. He called me a “pendeja” for being on my phone. I still don’t really know who the man is or why he does what he does. But it’s still cool to watch as he does it. Kinda like performance art.

Spokes & Words: Lazy Sunday Ride

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Since most people have better things to do on Memorial day, like sleeping in and spending quality time with family, we are switching up the ride to Sunday evening. We’ll still be meeting at mariachi Plaza at 7 p.m. and riding at 7:30ish to a secrete location that will not only make the ride fun, but a mystery.

I (Random) will have both bike and personal first aid on hand in case anything happens. Aside from that, please be sure your bike is in proper working condition, your front and back lights are working and maybe a sweater for when it get’s cold later on. And don’t forget to keep up with Spokes & Words through Facebook.

Sidewalk Stamps 2

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A collection of sidewalk stamps I’ve photographed on pedestrian dérives around Boyle Heights. There are a few from Hollywood (Greenfield), Alhambra (A.E. Cook, C.B. Stratton) and Echo Park too. Exact locations have not been documented.

For more on sidewalk history, see previous posts here and here.

Long live The Walking Class!

Eastside Artist Sand Oner: Bow Ties Friday, April 29, 2011

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Our favorite eastside artist Sand Oner will be exhibiting this Friday, April 29, 2011.  This will be her first Solo exhibition, and what better way to represent her roots than to have the exhibition at Casa De Cultura Galleria” Mariachi Plaza in  Boyle Heights.

Press release

Sand One presents: “Bow Ties” Sand Chikz A week-long art exhibit showcasing the new works on mixed media surfaces by LA’s youngest female street artist: Sand One. Los Angeles— From corn carts and taco stands in Los Angeles to the Art Basel walls in Miami, this pint-sized artist continues to leave a larger than life mark in every town she visits. In only two years Sand’s signature mob of buxom female cartoon characters, known as “Sand Chikz,” have taken the art community by storm.  Sand’s first solo exhibition in Los Angeles, “Bow Ties”, will feature her signature ultra-feminine and hood “Sand Chikz” in a different light. Each Sand Chik will be dressed in a tuxedo, symbolizing class, authority and power; three characteristics people often associate with masculinity and wealth. In “Bow Ties” Sand One’s underlying theme seeks to liberate gender-biased characteristics often imposed on women while also questioning the relationship between street art, fine art and the arts institution.

Opening Reception:
Friday, April 29, 2011
6 p.m. -11 p.m.
Closing Reception
Saturday, May 7, 2011
6 p.m. -11 p.m.
1711 Mariachi Plaza De Los Angeles 90033
Corner of Boyle and 1st

2 Random Minutes on Whittier and Indiana

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You think I’m done with these stupid random videos? Ha! Today we check out the hot action on Indiana, the street that divides Boyle Heights from East LA, and Whittier that other major Avenue that goes on forever. Yup, this is the Eastside.

Lately there’s been a few more pretenders doing the fake Eastside thing (they always send us press releases and fawning notes) and I’m about to get my chelas ready to go on another not-the-Eastside rant. Get ready for it okay?