East LA school playground
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!
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Hector Becerra – BH native and Roughrider alum, a legit Eastsider folks! – wrote an article about a day in the life of Amado Campos, a elote-raspado-cheetos/takis pushcart moving salesman.
Who’s/where’s your favorite street vendor?
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-street-vendor17-2009jun17,0,307170,full.story
Mark & The Escorts (1964), Left to right: Ricky Almaraz, Trini Basulto, Richard Rosas, Mark Guerrero (seated), Ernie Hernandez, &Â Robert Warren.
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!
First things first, I gotta give a shout-out to my girl LG for telling me about this place on Facebook. I knew having one would pay off one day. She posted up pics and said the place was awesome. Is it awesome ? Lets find out. Join me and we’ll find out together.
As some of you might have read in the L.A. Times, the taco truck wars continue to rage on, but on this fine day the Asociacion de Loncheros La Familia Unida de California had two reasons to celebrate. Not only did they get that BS over turned with the help of some UCLA grad students, but on June 11, 2008 the union embarked on a long journey that has resulted in an official union in the state of California. How freaking awesome is that ?!?!?!?! One year later and not only are they making progress, but they are making strides in bringing respect and dignity back to the lunch trucks, its workers and its owners.
Some Lakers fans went a little bonkers last night in the Eastside as they celebrated a victory over the Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals. This video shows them at the intersection of Atlantic Ave. & Whittier Blvd. where they proceeded to physically rock vehicles stopped at the intersection in their frenzy. No major damage was reported, but they did manage to scare the shit out of some poor viejitas who were cruising by. I interviewed a distraught “La Tia Concha” at the scene who had her churro wagon overturned; “These Vatos were crazy, homes!“, she added, “They were rocking all of these vehicles back and forth! I thought it was LA Migra trying to shake any illegals out of the cars!” Some local news reports announced: “These Lakers fans can’t count! the team has only won 3 games!” But I believe that this is just another case of typical L.A. sports fans who want to get their rioting done early and beat the traffic.
In regards to this whole Eastside vs. Westside discussion, I want to restate something that keeps getting ignored and lost in the scuffle. I have said this many times in the past, but I thought perhaps, this merits it’s own post. SOME people seem to need to have things plainly spelled out for them (and even then, ‘stan pendejos sometimes!). I shall repeat this for the LAST TIME. Speaking for myself, my point of view and belief is that…..
THIS IS NOT AN EASTSIDE CHICANOS vs. WHITE PEOPLE THING!
THIS IS NOT AN EASTSIDERS vs. WESTSIDERS THING!
THIS IS NOT AN EASTSIDERS vs. NEWBIES THING!
THIS IS AN EASTSIDERS vs. A FEW IGNORANT AND/OR INSENSITIVE SCHMUCKS THING!
…THE LAST TIME I CHECKED, I FOUND THAT ABOUT 90% OF WHITES AND WESTSIDERS (and even most NEWBIES) HERE IN L.A. ARE TOTALLY COOL HUMAN BEINGS WHO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH ALL OF THIS!
I hope this provokes some of you to rethink your oversimplistic conclusions. As for the majority of you readers who do get it, Thanks! 🙂
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.
Huevos Rancheros. I took a page from Chavo as I was feeling all bleh because I had to go to work. So I decided to get up an hour earlier and I made my way to Jim’s Burgers. I didn’t feel like pancakes that morning so I thought to myself, What would Chavo Do ? “Buenos dias muchacho, que le doy ? ” Buenos dias, deme uuuuunnnnnnnoooooossssssss huevos rancheros con un cafe grande por favor. Damn did they ever hit the spot. They may look like a nuclear accident, but don’t judge a book by its cover. These huevos were good. The tomato sauce and healthy helping of cheese made it a messy meal, but damn worth it. The rice and beans were fine and the tortillas as well. Nothing fancy there. But if you’re looking to get rid of that June gloom and eat something so wrong that it feels right, call me up and we’ll meet at Jim’s.
This is a reminder that Plaza Community Services FREE clothing event is on schedule and will occur RAIN OR SHINE! A big tent will be in place to make sure everyone is comfortable. The event will take place at 4018 City Terrace Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90063 from 9am to noon. We recommend individuals be in line before 9am. Call Cecilia Mercado at (323) 267-9749 or e-mail her at cmercado@plazacs.org for questions.
Good news! A donor was kind enough to provide FREE donuts; coffee and milk to every person in line. 5,000 clothing items have been collected and we’re excited about giving it all away! We want to make sure everyone that needs clothing knows of the event.