Category Archives: culture

Teocintli is closing down

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This is one post I thought I would never have to write and as much as I hate to write it, it’s the way things are as Teocintli is closing its doors. After four years of being a community space for local artist to have a place to get their start and offering great merchandise. I know that the kids from Roosevelt will miss the place just as much as everyone else. However this is just another bump in the road. Talking to Nico about the future of the place, he said that even though they’re closing down their doors, the heart and spirit of Teocintli is still going to be around. He me ruined that now they won’t be confined to a store front and be able to conti ue to grow by taking that very spirit that helped them unite the community to other spots that needs it. They’re still going to be having workshops and selling their unique brand of goods all over the Eastside so don’t count them out. With that being said they’re in there last week and are having an everything must go sale. Stop by for the first time or the last time and check it the spot. It’s going to be sorely missed, but they’ll still be around.

Westside 10A: Storage

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I thought I would have taken a much more active interest in some of the Westside neighborhoods since I spend an unreasonable amount of time in that vicinity, but oddly that hasn’t happened. Still, I need to occasionally share some of the things I learn over on that side of town with our gentle readers, thus shedding just a bit of light into that dark and insular world that is the Westside. The posts may be infrequent, but I hope they are packed with understanding.

In this installment I present you with a quick glimpse into the Westsiders fascination with paying people to hold stuff for them. I’m not sure why this is but they seem to love spending cash on things that most folks would just assume they can do themselves. For example: The Wino Hotel. Err, I mean wine. How much wine do you have to be drinking in order to arrive at the thought that “hmm, maybe I should put some of these T-Birds in storage”? I mean really, if you can’t fit them into your pad or into the trunk of the car, then maybe you should cut back, drink up, or just share with friends. Plus, you do realize that everyone hates a stingy wino?

Continue reading →

Taco Hunt Lives!

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asttacos
(Animal friendly tacos!)

Do you all remember when The Great Taco Hunt went dark back in August of 2007? Well I do. Even as a vegetarian I loved following his excursions into the taco culture. But I guess Bandini waited until Summer since just the other day he came back to life announcing that he’s gonna be doing his taco thing over at Daily Taco.org but I think it’s kind of a group blog now? He even has a proper respect for the Eastside! You can register an account and post your own taco adventures, I think. I’m about to try that out.

Welcome back Bandini!

In other Taco News, LA Taco reports that Eastside taqueros are being robbed. Scanless.

My 10 Favorite Songs About Drinking

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beer-bottle-outline

I’m not much of drinker but that doesn’t mean I can’t apreciate the entertaining aspects of drinking culture. Musical odes to drinking are some of my favorite kinds of tunes and I’ve included a few of my favorites songs about drinking right here. Cheers!

  1. I Ain’t Drunk, I’m Just Drinkin’- by Jimmy Liggins

  2. Beer For Breakfast- by The Replacements [audio:https://laeastside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/beer-for-breakfast.mp3]
  3. En El Cielo No Hay Cerveza- by Flaco Jimenez [audio:https://laeastside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/15-en-el-cielo-no-hay-cerveza-in-heaven-there-is-no-beer.mp3]
  4. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer..- by Johnny Lee Hooker [audio:https://laeastside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/johnny-lee-hooker-one-bourbon-one-scotch-one-beer.mp3]
  5. There’s A Tear In My Beer- by Hank Williams Jr. and Sr.[audio:https://laeastside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/theres-a-tear-in-my-beer.mp3]
  6. Whiskey, Gin and Wine- by Joe Liggins [audio:https://laeastside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/14-whiskey-gin-wine.mp3]
  7. Have A Beer With Fear- by Fear [audio:https://laeastside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/06-have-a-beer-with-fear.mp3]
  8. Too Drunk To Fuck- by Dead Kennedys [audio:https://laeastside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/02-too-drunk-to-fuck.mp3]
  9. I’m Home Getting Hammered While She’s Out Getting Nailed- by Banjo & Sullivan [audio:https://laeastside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/14-im-at-home-getting-hammered-while-shes-out-getting-nailed.mp3]
  10. What Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me)- by Jerry Lee Lewis [audio:https://laeastside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/01-what-made-milwaukee-famous.mp3]

Thanks Bwana, but what do we now call the parts of Boyle Hts and Lincoln Hts that vanished?

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Thank Goodness we on the LA Eastside have the LA Weekly and Drew Tewksbury to determine where the actual LA Eastside is. Up until I read his article below I always thought the western boundary of the LA Eastside was either downtown at first and Broadway or the more accepted “east of the LA River”.  Now I realize how naïve I have been all these years and can pay homage to Drew Tewksbury for setting us all straight in the LA Weekly. The Eastside is east of the Golden State Frwy (I-5), and the parts of Boyle Hts, Lincoln Hts, that are now part of something else be damned! Hey at least we picked up Frogtown in the deal!

 

“ It’s not quite east of the 5 (just short by 0.2 miles), but there’s no dispute that Boyle Heights’ Eastside Luv embodies the Eastside vibe. “

 

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East of the 5: Spreading the Eastside Luv in Boyle Heights

By Drew Tewksbury in Live in L.A., Nightlife and Events

Friday, Jul. 24 2009 @ 11:45AM

 

Believe it or not, Echo Park and Silver Lake are not the Eastside. Gentrification has erroneously recalibrated the orientation of Los Angeles. The real Eastside lies past the 5 freeway and the L.A. River, where underground and established music venues thrive under the radar. This week, West Coast Sound goes eastward to investigate what lies on other side of the 5.

El Banquetazo

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el-banquetazo

Most of us know that East L.A. has a unique and colorful character all of it’s own. I thought I’d seen everything in Do-It-Yourself entrepreneurship in my old Barrio, until today. “La Crisis” has spawned so many forms of creativity to make financial ends meet that nothing really surprised me anymore. That is until I heard the latest “Chisme” while visiting my Mom in the Eastside. “Have you heard about those people down the street who are running a full on restaurant on their front lawn?” she asked. “Holy Crap!“, I gasped. “This I gotta see“….. Continue reading →

Thee Eastside Theme Song Poll

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lowriderart
When you think of the Eastside, what song(s) do you think of? Is there one definitive tune that can be called the Eastside Anthem? I’ve been trying to find the answer to those questions and I’ve come to the conclusion that there are too many factors to consider before attempting to define a song that embodies the broad richness and historical flavor of our Querido Eastside. For one thing, we must consider the era that holds the strongest meaning to us. Would you favor the “Classic” Eastside era of the 60’s and 70’s or beyond? And of course we must also filter our choices by the unique tastes of the various subcultures and cliques found in our community. The Cholo types might  have certain musical preferences as would the Low Riders, Old Skoolers, Cruisers, Disco era types, Rockers, Punks, Hip Hoppers, Regionals and so on. Do we consider if it’s a cruising song? or perhaps a dance number or a song just for kicking it Eastside style? Continue reading →

I Feng Shui’ed by Desk!

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I love oriental ancient wisdom and philosophy—it amazes me that parallel to western ways, there’s a non-abrasive system to work on the whole physical body, including its surroundings, and (the best part) most of it cost nothing. I know for some who have been deeply ingrained with Christianity, there is nothing more a poor unconnected person can do, but suffer and die. I made up my mind early in life that suffering was not my identity. I began to dabble in many non-traditional ways of creating good around me and using whatever methods I could for manifesting positivity.

About a month ago, after having a sore throat for months and huge piles of projects that I hadn’t gotten to, on my desk—it struck me that I had forgotten to use my non-traditional knowledge for assistance. I could create the peace I wanted in my life by creating a serene work environment using Feng Shui. Feng Shui (pronounced “Fung-Shway”) is an ancient Chinese system of aesthetics believed to use the laws of both Heaven/astronomy and Earth/geography to help improve one’s life by bringing in positive energy called qi (pronounced “chee”). Continue reading →

What’s in a song

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California Love

I woke up this morning and put my tunes on shuffle. “Sweet Home Alabama” comes up and I ponder to myself, what is the equivalent of that song but for L.A. Cheech and Chong have “Born in East L.A.” a great jam. I was always partial to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers “Under the Bridge” and La Cindy says that Randy Newmans “I Love L.A.” is also a good choice. Hmm… I’m curious. I want to know what are some of the best songs that when you hear them, you think L.A. Any suggestions ?

The last few years

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chickcage

First they came for our taco trucks. Then they deported some family members, a few friends, and some other paisas that lived down the street. On the weekend they went to TJ and had some fun, it wasn’t so bad. Yeah, One Love. Then they paid us to mow the grass and wheel out their fucking trash cans. Sometime way before any of this they threw out some po-mo ramblings and tossed the Eastside moniker up in the air, up for grabby grabs, but I just remembered so this timeline might be off by a month or two. Afterwards they demanded we bring them the food already, cuz they’ve been sitting here for 10 minutes. Right around this time some asshole ran for mayor under the English Only/ Down with the Wetters platform. But the chittichangas were good with guacamole and they decided to forget that foray into the Old Ways. Then they decided that taco trucks were actually a good idea, maybe even kinda cool, and the proper people also liked them, so yeah, lets not enforce that arbitrary law. Then they wanted to do that whole 187 thing against children of immigrants again, you know, for old times sake. It’s part of that grab bag of ideas they put into rotation when things go bad; they’re just not that creative.

And now, dipping back into said bag, they want to ban roosters, again. This shit has got to stop. No pasaran. Stand for California. The buck is in the sand, the line stops near here, or something of the sort.

Let the chickens be.

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Attn Punks!

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moco

Tired of all those soap, egg, and gelatin concoctions you keep trying to perfect those liberty spikes? Well say hello to moco de gorila, imported from Mexico this is “el producto para todo tipo de peinados exagerados.” I got myself a bottle of “estilo punk” but haven’t tried it yet, I’m waiting for the weekend to turn into a punk. Cuz everyone loves weekend punks.

I’m sorta amazed that someone rubbed some gorilla snot in their hair to find out it made for a strong gel. But what I really want to know is how they collect the stuff!  Now available at your local Big Saver for $2.50, in the dripping moco shaped bottle.