Mark & The Escorts (1964), Left to right: Ricky Almaraz, Trini Basulto, Richard Rosas, Mark Guerrero (seated), Ernie Hernandez, &Â Robert Warren.
Legends Of The Eastside Sound- An Interview With Mark Guerrero, Part 2
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Category Archives: culture
And from East of the River…
East L.A – Lakers Celebration 2009 by Eriksarni.com
In case you missed it in the comments section, LA Eastside compadre Erik Sarni captured the joyous and peaceful Lakers victory celebration on Whittier Blvd in East LA last night. Looked like fun, that is until the cops kicked everyone off the street.
I have a suggestion for the City of Los Angeles, instead of spending a million dollars to put on a Lakers victory parade just ask the good folks in East LA to help out. They managed to have an impromptu parade and did it for free, DIY style. They’re good at catching serial killers too!
Roots that grow in the LA Eastside
Interesting article in the El Paso Times about the 1949 Texas State Baseball Champions from the famous Bowie High School in El Paso. They endured and became champions in spite of the oppressive discrimination and prejudice in Texas. Many of our Eastside families have roots in El Paso/Juarez and for many years several bus loads of LA Eastside residents would head back to El Paso for the Bowie High School Reunions. The area of El Paso where Bowie High School is located is called by many “Little East LA.” And every time I’m in El Paso I visit friends in this area and I’m amazed at how similar it is to the LA Eastside, although on a much smaller scale. Great food to be found there too.
Bowie ’49 title team rooting for Socorro – By Bill Knight / El Paso Times
EL PASO — They got off the bus, one by one. A small crowd waited for them at the bus station. View Full Story
EXTRA! BREAKING NEWS ON EASTSIDE-WESTSIDE CONTROVERSY!
Al Desmadre here, reporting from Silver Lake, CA. This evening, (Wed. June 10, 2009 at approximately 7:00pm PST) at a public meeting of the SILVER LAKE IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION held here in Silver Lake, 4th District City Councilmember Tom LaBonge made a stunning and revealing statement that I believe calls for an L.A. Eastside Extra! AY! Witness News Report!
But first, a little background on Councilmember LaBonge.….
Thomas J. LaBonge born in Silver Lake, Ca., he is a member of the L.A. City Council and represents the 4th district. His district stretches from North Hollywood to Hollywood and Griffith Park and Wilshire Blvd. He is Chairman of the Arts, Parks, Health and Aging committee, Vice Chairman of the Public Works Committee, and member of the Audits and Governmental Efficiency Committee and the Ad Hoc River Committee for our city. Before he was councilman, Tom LaBonge was Director of Community Relations at the Department of Water and Power, Special Assistant to Mayor Riordan, and Chief Deputy to Council President John Ferraro. Tom LaBonge calls himself the Cheerleader of Los Angeles. His reputation for adding history lessons in City Council meetings is well known. A graduate of John Marshall High School, Tom LaBonge received his Bachelor degree in sociology from Cal State L.A. Some call him “Mr. Los Angeles“. Believe me, this man knows and loves this city like no other.
So, tonight, as Councilmember LaBonge spoke to those of us in attendance describing how a number of Westsiders have been moving into his and Councilmember Garcetti’s 13th District, he was heard to announce;
“By the way, THIS IS NOT THE EASTSIDE!, Silver Lake, Los Feliz,…That is not THE EASTSIDE.”
WOW! HA! HA! Well, you could have knocked me over with one of the empty paper cups from INTELLIGENTRIA Coffee Shop that I find strewn on my lawn every day!!!… So- I couldn’t wait to spill this news here! Requests have been made to Mr. LaBonge to follow up on his statement, and I will add any additional info from him as it becomes available. In the meantime, all of you hipster wannabees in SL/EP/LF calling yourselves eastsiders, can continue to BITE ME! 🙂
What happened to Broadway?
I am kind of sick of all this gentrification speculation about the Eastside being white-washed. It will take a lot more Clorox and wood-fire baked pizza to change East Los than yuppies have yet to offer in the American Southwest, so I don’t sit at home biting my nails that Nana will be evicted (well actually, she won’t, the house was paid for by Tata’s VA loan for pre-storming Normandy in WWII). Even so, chuppies (chicano yuppies, a.k.a. chicanos with degrees) have already gentrified these areas, but they are ingrained in the cultura and still buy elotes, so it isn’t as much a hard fit (in fact, I would say the same about Whites who are genuinely down with these areas). Not that the genuine concerns of locals doesn’t matter or isn’t valid, but I think we need to focus on the tangible changes gentrification has already brought to the Latinoscapes of Los Angeles, specifically the Eastside’s center of gravity: Downtown.
I am actually ALL for the demographic diversification of Los Angeles; even my beloved Eastlos with all its sheltered ethnic enclave delights. The truth is the quality of life in East Los has degraded since its multicultural times of yore, and although ignorant pundits of conservative mantras have tried to pin it on Mexicans since the decline coincided with the rise in Latino immigration; it is much more obvious that the downward slide had much more to do with the middle class drain on the community that began with White Flight and continued with the ban on segregated housing covenants in 1955 (thats when my grandparents moved to the newer Maravilla housing tract on the Monterey Park/East Los border, as did many East Los middle class residents). Along with the decline in more economically stable residents, came the decline and eventual outright withdrawal of Corporate America, and the amenities that come with them, from this area. This decline in economic revenue as well as citizens with the resources to devote their extra time and energy to improving the community had a devastating toll on the community.
The Los Angeles Derby Dolls
Ever since I first got word that there was a roller derby league in Los Angeles a few years back, I embarked on a quest to experience the awe inspiring, fast paced action that is the Los Angeles Derby Dolls. The derby dolls are some of the toughest women I have ever seen because this is a FULL CONTACT sport. They put themselves on the line every game and they give it everything they have with every jam.
The Legendary Belmont Tunnel
Special Art show coming up this weekend.
A tribute to the now gone Belmont Tunnel graffiti yard. This show features art by some of the first generation of Los Angeles graffiti writers.Â
The Belmont tunnel was the Toluca substation for the Pacific Electric Railway that ran in and around downtown LA starting in the 1920’s. It was left abandoned around the 1950’s when freeways and more cars started popping up. ( I guess they did not think we would need such train now huh!) Anyhow it was left alone and abandoned for over 30 year’s until the mid 1980’s when the graffiti/bombing era was coming up. It got noticed by writers as a potential place to do art. The rest is train and graffiti history it still holds a special place to many of these talented artists, and others who hung out and grew up around the area. The land was bought out and torn a few years back to make way to some boring apartment buildings lol.
Opening reception Saturday June 6, 2009
6 p.m. to 9 p.m
110 Winston St
Los Angeles, Ca 90013
Closing Reception
Saturday June 27, 2009
6 p.m to 9 p.m.
Video of a typical afternoon at the Belmont Tunnel graffiti yard, the gente used to enjoy it too playing Aztec ball games, singing making carne asada, and drinking some brews.
Also Check out old school graffiti writer “Make” on his personal Belmont memories.
The murals of Diego Rivera come to life
~ Pan American Unity 1940 ~ City College of San Fransisco Click pic to enlarge.
This semester I have been taking a Chicano Studies class on modern Mexican art and muralism at ELAC. It is only after taking in soo much information about the art that preceded the work Diego, Orozco and Siquieros accomplished, that I am able to see how things were back then and the tremendous influence they’ve had on artist today Chicano or not. Knowing that the foundation for their work was layed out by artist such as Jose Maria Velasco and Jose Maria Obregon using the European style to show a sort of reimagining of how things might have been during precolonial times. This type of indigenismo continued on to the 19th century and peaked during the Mexican revolution when shit was going down. It wasn’t until the dust settled from the war that Diego returned to Mexico from Europe to do his thing.
With that being said, I cannot wait to see what his murals will look like when they’re projected to life size proportions Saturday at the Ford Amphitheatre. At the same time former Director of the Museum of Latin American Art, Gregorio Luke will be giving a lecture about Diegos life and his works. I looked it up and he’s being doing these lectures the last few years. There’s no way I’m letting this opportunity pass me up again, especially now that I have a better understanding of the art and Diego. I have a love for murals, which is pretty evident in some of my post, yet i still have soo much more to learn and take in as the history influences the future. The serious is going to start off with Diego then with Rufino Tamayo in July and finish it off with Miguel Covarrubias in August. An interesting fact that I learned in class was that Rosa Covarrubias, Miguels wife, inspired and mentored Frida. Rosa wore the tejuana dress and influenced Frida and her fashion choices. None the less, this is going to be an amazing experience to see the murals outside of a book or a computer screen.
Click on the link to see a you tube video.
Community college and cut backs protest @ 2:30 today @ Trade Tech
~ Jose Guadalupe Posada ~
I just got this info literally handed to me five minutes ago. P3000 asked what it took for people to get angry, well students from ELAC and other community colleges are coming together to fight the class cancellations, Cal Grants and EOPS cut backs, health care for the lower income, health insurance and everything else that is going to make life unbearable for a lot of people. Here’s the message I got handed, “Due to the economic crisis all of Los Angeles Community Colleges are cancelling summer school and winter session! Come and support our students !!! Monday June 1, 2009 at 2:30 in Downtown Los Angeles. We will be protesting for our education. We need those classes to transfer to a four year university.” If you’re wondering if I’ll be there supporting my fellow students in fighting these injustices, no I will not. I’ll be at ELAC studying for my finals and taking care of business. We all do what we can with what resources we have at our disposal. There also getting students and supporters to sign a petition. This protest has nothing to do with the one going on at City Hall. FYI.
don quixotes midnight ride, through the LA Eastside
Ai mi espanto!!
A couple of weeks ago I took a round trip on the train, LA to Albuquerque and back to LA, the trip was great, I bought a bottle of red wine, a couple of Italian sandwiches at Lanza Bros Mkt on North Main, got on the train, no search by Homeland Security, no taking off my shoes, belt, jacket, no emptying my pockets, no hard stares or grumpy questions, just got on the train, got my seat by the window and enjoyed the scenery.
In Burque I was met by familia and we drove up to the little mountain pueblito that my ancestors have inhabited for hundreds of years. Funny how little things change in some places, the language spoken is still mainly Spanish, the customs and traditions are still old school, a mix of Catholicism and witchcraft.
After a week I headed back down the mountains to Burque for the trip back home to LA on the train.
I had another botella of vino rojo and a couple of big fat homemade chile verde burritos for the trip. I had my cellphone charged so I could check on the Lakers game against Houston.
As I entered the station I noticed a couple of Immigration SUV’s parked at the entrance, hmmm very odd I thought.
Quinceañeras, Jesus Malverde and Adan Sanchez Ohh my
When I first got word about “Always & Forever” I was hesitant about it. At best, I’m a casual fan of corridos and I don’t identify with it on any level other than it’s a life style for some and it has millions of fans. When Adan Sanchez died it was just another regular day for me, but to thousands here in L.A. it was the loss of a talented musician and a young man. I didn’t even know that the play first premiered in 2007 at the Ford Amphitheatre and it was originally conceived around 2004 at Casa 0101 by writer Michael Spillers in a writing workshop. Now coming full circle in 2009, the loss of Adan is still felt and his music is still being played by his fans. The play, inretro spect almost seems like on huge homage to Adan, his fans and everything else that is tied to Corridos and Bandas. “Always & Forever” revolves around a quinceañera as family traditions clash with a young girls passion and love for Banda music and Adan. The play follows the family dealing with their everyday drama and the quinceañera, ultimately culminating up to the day Adan died. Anyone who is a fan of Adan of Bandas will love “Always & Forever” and even people who don’t know anything about it can still relate to some of the antics the family gets into.
Fiesta Shalom pics, part dos
Chavo was so pressed for time that I didn’t even run into him after I got to the fiesta. I ran into everyone else and their mom, but not C. He’s sneaky like that. But yes I was able to get into the shul and get the quick 15 minute tour everyone was waiting for in the baking sun. I quickly sign a waiver and headed inside wanting to see the inside of the building I have live around and seen, from the outside all my life here in East Los.