Memories of a Lost Boulevard Series, A Tribute to Whittier Boulevard
Whittier Boulevard Movie Theaters, Part 2.
THE GARMAR THEATER
2325 Whittier Blvd., Montebello, CA
As I was speaking to someone the other day about this lost Montebello movie house, A long time resident who was standing within earshot came up and sighed; “The Garmar! I loved that Show! If you couldn’t afford the Golden Gate, you couldn’t afford the Garmar! Continue reading
It’s always kinda fun and just a bit scary to drive by one of those overloaded trucks you are bound to eventually see on the freeways, but this awesome sighting of bouncing and swaying colchones on the 10 is dedicated to Doña Junta, who happens to think the word itself is funny enough just to say. Colchones, colchones, colchones! One more pic after the jump.
Being used to bike rides usually starting further west of my home, I found this ad in The Voice which is a local news periodical pretty interesting. I rarely, if ever, am a part of Midnight Ridazz or Critical Mass since I like rides in small groups. But this might be different so I sent them an email yesterday, but have yet to get response. Maybe they’ve been inundated with a huge response because folks are hopping on two wheels because $4.58/g is causing some hurting.
Is it a day-ride, a night-ride, a tour of the Eastside ride? I’m down for this. I personally enjoy riding through Lincoln Heights with it’s relatively slow traffic and wide residential streets. But I do hate going down Eastern Ave. in El Sereno because it’s a narrow street where SUVs try their best to scare the sh*t out of me with their horns. Now Boyle Heights, that’s a part of town I’d like to try to ride through.
If you get a response, let us know what these “The Voice” people are up to!
The Superior market in Boyle Heights has good recycled music playing on their PA system. Recently, it’s been 60s oldies, and in the past, it’s been 80s KROQ music (or what we think of as KROQ music, but stuff they didn’t play much of back then). This music reminds me that life can be cyclical and linear at the same time. I’ve had my shopping experiences “imprinted” by their sly use of music, and my eroding sense of “hip” upended by having these songs played while I’m buying food. With these blatant efforts by this corporation to appeal to aesthetic snobs, can (d|r)e/gentrification by an intellectual record collector vanguard be far behind? Shopping/music highlights:
Produce section, “Buzz Buzz Buzz“, The Hollywood Flames.
Produce section, “Love Will Tear Us Apart“, Joy Division.
Meat section, “She’s Not There“, The Zombies.
One song I hoped to hear, but didn’t, was 96 Tears by ? and the Mysterians. That would have been so ethnic. 😐
(I was hoping to publish something more substantial for my first post, but this will have to do. Image swiped from Curbed LA.)
Working as a Teacher’s Aide at Lincoln High School I’ve been hearing a lot of talk of budget cutbacks as well as very probable layoffs for teachers. When I hear how many teachers may be layed off I wonder how the LAUSD supposes Lincoln High School will manage to function with less teachers in a student body of 3000+ kids! In response the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) organized a one hour walk-out for teachers, dubbed: One Hour’s Pay for Our Kids. Even though I am not in the UTLA I also participated out there on the sidewalk of Broadway. I am pretty sure that almost every teacher was out there, plus the support of some students!
After the jump, some photos:
Memories of Lost L.A. Eateries, Â Part 2
Still more nostalgia for those long gone L.A. favorites……………..
It may come as a surprise to some but the first zoo and one of the first movie studios in Los Angeles were located in Lincoln Heights, near Lincoln Park (previously known as Eastlake Park).
The entrance of the zoo was quite grand, giant stone arches decorated with animal motifs and full size sculptures of elephants, lions and other zoo creatures.
Unfortunately when the zoo closed down in 1930’s, the giant stone animals that flanked the entrance went missing and forgotten.
This excellent video by Dig Where You Stand documents the rediscovery of this small bit of Los Angeles history. It even includes an interview with everyone’s favorite Los Angeles historian, Mike Davis. He talks a bit about the animal statues in his book, City of Quartz.
For more information and photos, check out this wonderful site dedicated to the history of Lincoln Heights:
www.lincolnheightsla.com
Since i smoked away all of my creativity between the ages of 11 and 25, i get a lot of my good ideas from other folks’ initial ideas. A while back Browne noted how the SGV (san gabriel valley, sur gangster valle, shotgun vallee) is more multicultural than San francisco, this comment and me and my esposa’s fascination with cross ethnic intermingling in socially polarized LA gave me the idea to note places around the SGV where this occurs. I consider the SGV to be THE forefront of racial mixing, it just seems natural given it was next to the inner city barrios that all us mud people were restricted to before the Califas supreme court banned it in 1955 and minority war vets began chipping away at racial covenants. Its aesthetically nicer in a “1950s way” compared to Boyle Heights or the Central Ave. corridor, yet close enough to still be connected to one’s original ethnic enclave and community; plus “if those pinche gabachos can do it why the heck can’t I?”.
I am posting this topic in the LA eastside blog to also point out that , in my opinion, the eastside is more of a state of mind than an actual geographic location (which it is also). As a firm enforcer of “you dont live in fucken eastlos” for much of my life, as a bonafied resident; I also must note that to true eastsiders transcend political borders and hillside boundaries. Vatos from pomona, southside montebello, pico rivera, bell gardens, la puente, baldwin parque, sereno, south sangra or any other “outside of ELA proper” barrio all share the common culture of swapmeet goods, police harassment, ghetto birds, teen angel and elaborate windshield sticker art, plus those three dots tatted on half of LA’s wrist or inside finger. So it’s all good, I say this to help mend the divide cholos from outside of eastlos feel and get all self conscious about, plus we all blend together when we hit the pinta, so we need to lighten up on trying to attain the martyrdom-specialness of it all. Anyways…
So I am focusing around the areas of the SGV I am most familiar with, the western portion of it. I remember after a brief stint at Eastlake that my mom used my abuela’s address on the eastern edge of East LA proper to enroll me in one of the better schools whose district skirts the eastside, Schurr high in montebello. Coming from Roosevelt, I was worried and annoyed by my cousins and friends chiding me about going to the “chino” school, years later I would find out the school was over 70% Latino, but in my narrow minded relativist world the school was alien territory (or actually it wasnt, I had plenty of asian friends, but I was a stupid teen). Anyways, as time wore on and Latinos and Asians learned to accept each others’ presence, and oftentimes enjoy or profit from it, the cross cultural osmosis and humorous anecdotes ensued. My wife is half vietnamese (but raised totally poor FOB asian) and grew up in Pico Union and then El Monte, and we both enjoy the funny social nuances and whatnot that have formed organically in chinolandia. I will try to update the list and appreciate any additions, so here goes:
Pepe’s and Sam Woo BBQ on Valley Blvd in Alhambra. I dont know if some rogue cook or daring hungry chinese mainlander first trecked the 70 foot divide across the street between the two spots, but you can find asians eating taquitos and mexicans eating chinese broccoli any day, and it is great!
NBC Cafe (worlds best dim sum) on Atlantic near Garvey in Monterey Park. I think the whole damn city is one big asian-mexican orgy, with the rich up in the hills and the rest of us along the Garvey or the southwest “mexican area” near ELAC. It is great to see paisano families ordering har gow at this ginormous eatery with a million rooms as the restaraunt enveloped the bulk of the mini mall (where i saw karate kid 2 with my father before he went to prison). Beyond Latino-Asian mixing, the place gets a good mix of non Asians of all ethnicities, adding to the ambience of mispronounced words.
Pho 79 in Alhambra. This vietnamese noodle house is a favorite of both Latinos (again, some rogue back kitchen cook started the trend from my guestimation) and other non Asians. At the old spot that used to be on New Avenue, there were several Latino workers who spoke Vietnamese well. The especially pleasing part of these multilingual folks was that they were of the very indio looking mexican spectrum, adding to the confusion as they looked pretty Asian (on a similar note, my almost full blood apache abuela gets mistaken for being part of my wife’s Asian family at birthday parties, very funny). The Pho 79 is on Garfield near Main, and has some damn good Pho (pronounce “fuh”), second only to menudo for hangovers.
Petrillos/ Angelos/ Di Pillas, all along Valley in Alhambra and Rosemead This triumverate of Italian eateries is always filled with Latinos and Asians. Chicanos love nothing more than eating semi white food tpo feel accepted by Americana(sic), and americanized Asians (and their parents) do as well, it lets everyone know “hey I’m sorta American”. When whites were fleeing the area, Latinos filled the gap at Italian eateries, and they brought their asian friends along, and they begged their parents to take them for pizza once in a while.
Ranch 99 on Valley/ Hong Kong Supermarket/ etc.. Both Asians and Latinos share a love of markets with questionable cleanliness, super fresh produce sitting next to rotting bok choi, and being able to buy live animals by the pound. Nuff said
Noodle Planet on Valley/ 7th in Alhambra. This used to be the Bob’s Big Boy, and the gracious newcomers mounted the big boy statue on the wall of the restaraunt which is a nice touch and appeases racist Alhambrans who bitched about everything being a “threat”. It is also the next block over from the Pepe’s/ Sam Woo duet, this area is ground zero for good food and multicultural bad driving.
The ELAC (East LA College) swapmeet The asians come from the apartment jungle just north of ELAC and the Mexicans come from the maravilla projectos, actually they dont, it was a joke. You can find mechanics of all walks of life getting tools here, my son also begs for $1 yu-gi-oh cards until papi gives in. As a whole ELAC is pretty asian-mexican, which is great for the boba industry.
King Taco in El Monte and Cal State LA. Sometimes it will be 30% asian in the spot, no shite. I love hearing the pronunciation of “con todo” and “salsa verde”. El Monte as a whole is being gentrified (it is not always a bad word) by poorer Southeast and mainland Chinese Asians since Alhambra, Monterey Park, San Gabriel and now even once sorta crappy Rosemead get ever so expensive. This Asian influx was the key to Monterey Park and Alhambra keeping crime and gang problems low in the areas of town with a lot of apartment complexes as Mexicans got pushed out for the most part during the 80s/90s, and yeah I just totally stereotyped and overgeneralized like a mofo, but fuck you I’m an insider so I can be a bit rough.
Gonzalez NorthGate Market in El Monte. Every once in a while my little Viet suegra would make me go get her salsa in there, then I took her and did the Spanish ordering, now she has the fridge stocked all the time. And from the looks of things when I go into the store it has become a trend amongst Asians who are too tired/lazy to drive far to a Ranch 99 or enjoy Latino cuisine enough to overcome the embarassment and shit treatment from the trashy segment of the Latino population.
Atlantic Square in Monterey Park. A long time back the redevelopment of this commerical center created a big rift among Latinos and Asians as whites courted the browns to do their racist dirty work. It failed miserably (except for a few ignorant unhappy hold outs) and this spot is now a zone of convergence for the two cultures, starbucks is ground zero.
Norm’s in San Gabriel. It used to be that the place was filled with blue haired white biddies and their disgruntled husbands as well as obese Latinos, and the Asian folks stayed at the Hawaii Market on the other side of Valley. Now Mexicans order fishball soup at hole in the wall asian eateries and Chinese families make going to Norm’s their sunday traditions. That my friend is puro SGV beauty right there in the high blood pressured flesh!
I can go on but I’m tired and have work tommorow. Maybe one day Ill add some pics or drop my list of secret Asian spots that are the shiznit, like Van’s bakery beef jerky, but for now I’d invite you Latinos and other non-Asians to explore the cornicopia of smells and stickiness that is Asian Cuisine and stores. When you get grossed out by the eel head soup you accidentally ordered, just think that this is our cultural version of a white guy getting flustered by a jalapeno and smile. Another big jump for Latinos is to view the bean in a sweet context and not as a savory diet staple, which took me several years and a lot of coersion from my wife (but boy was it worth it!). Finally, get used to being pushed by Asians in markets and restaraunts, its a cultural nuance created by 20 billion people living in an area the size of baja California. Hope you enjoy!
Some time ago I started a series of posts at blogging.la that were meant to be a sorta crash course into Eastside life for those permanently entrenched west of the river, and mostly to combat this spreading notion amongst LA newbies that “eastside” was some new and fluid term to define neighborhoods east of the beach communities. For awhile it seemed as if Silver Lake and Echo Park were really going to become the definition of the Eastside, but thankfully, due to various voices speaking up and against this callous rewriting of history, the tide has turned. There are still a few stalwarts out there trying to justify (or ignore) their dismissal of the Eastside, but their days are numbered. Since these “fluid eastside” proponents tend to follow the flock, they will eventually join the pack and find their way to that place that no longer denies our existence, though they will never acknowledge us, cuz that just ain’t cool. Nobody likes to admit they are wrong. Instead of the army of Eastsiders I once proposed, I think we’ll be able to manage with a much more nimble force of tactical culture war snipers, since the invading hordes have yet to muster even the simplest of defense tactics to our counter offensive. Can I order a Mission Accomplished sign for my battleship?
Since major combat operation have now ended, I think it’s time to pull this series into the LAEastside fold, since that seems to be the most obvious place for posts about the Eastside. Que no? Plus, I assume that if any of the Eastside 101 readers at b.la are really interested in the Eastside they won’t be too scared to cross over the virtual river, where shootings and stabbings are at the lowest levels ever. 😉
For this next installment, I take you to a place near and dear to my heart, the neighborhood of Brooklyn and Soto! Click ahead para ver que pasa! (Warning: lots of pics ahead)
(click flyer above for more images)
There’s been lots of buzz about the upcoming show, Vexing: Female Voices from East L.A. Punk at The Claremont Museum of Art. Much like the misconceptions of the skateboarding scene, there’s many who don’t realize the involvement and contributions of Eastside folks to the history of Los Angeles punk. From the early days of The Bags and The Brat to current groups like Union 13 and Resistant Culture, punk is alive and well in the streets East of the River.
On May 4, 2008 the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) hosted an art talk with Sandra de la Loza and Harry Gamboa, Jr. as part of the Chican@ art exhibit called Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement.
There is work in Phantom Sighting that is amazingly brilliant, other pieces are poorly crafted and their meanings fall into the shadows. Written text to explain each piece and concept is posted in English and Spanish throughout the exhibit. The artwork is simply displayed with few supporting overall design concepts to enhance it. Some pieces are mated to echo each other, some relations seem distant and strained, giving their space a sense of emptiness, as if something is missing. Moveable walls separate the serene vistas by over-bearing rasquachismo pieces. Perfectly placed and thought-provoking, pleasurable art is also found there.
When asked why the curators chose the exhibited artists, Sandra de la Loza said that this is just one realm of Chican@ art—and there are many realms. Harry Gamboa, Jr. noted that some artists that were asked to be a part of this exhibit declined, not wanting the stigmatism of being part of a ‘race-focused’ exhibit. Only time will tell if this was a smart decision, especially on the eve of the state of Arizona wanting to obliterate the word “Chicano” and all its related programming from their educational institutions. Naturally, Homeland Security supports the eradication of the term “Chicano” as a possible nation-wide mandate. This governmental decision and invasion of freedom could sound the alarm to refortify the age-old struggle that Chican@s have had, to remain radically self-identified.
Part presenter, part teacher, Harry was quite charming during the talk, with his wit and politics sharpened to a point. He quipped about his work, his life, his tequila tasting in DF, about learning the entire dictionary in elementary school so that he could verbalize his outrage towards school injustices, and why people are drawn to the early documentations of ASCO (ELA art collective: Harry Gamboa, Jr., Patssi Valdez, Gronk & Wille Heron). The talk had a comfy close feeling, like sharing a cup of coffee with a family member.
Sandra in her usual straightforwardness, handled all the questions with deep thought and diplomacy. Her installation in the exhibit, part of her Pocho Research Society work, focused on the phantom aspects of history, especially the history of Los Angeles. It informed us that real and fictitious history can weigh equally in our world—because no one questions the validity of true history and manufactured history. Her idea was that humans have the ability to transcend social restraints by creating their own history—and her custom-made-to-fit installation supports that concept.
Vintage films of ASCO enchantingly recanted their street performances from the 1970’s. These art actions and documentations were the flame that set the tone for the entire exhibit concept. Phantom Sightings is a direct quote from Harry Gamboa, Jr. regarding the invisibility/visibility of Chican@s in American culture.
Phantom Sightings will be touring to New York, Texas, and other areas of the United States. It will be very provocative to those who are accustomed to seeing Chican@ art in a certain light. A veteran and renown Los Angeles Chicano muralist felt that the Phantom Sightings exhibit was purposefully white-washed to interject Chican@ art into the international world of high art. Many other Chican@ artists and their collectors are baffled by being excluded. Still other Chican@ artists feel that they have to take a pause, and wait for the main stream to catch up with what is going on in our art scene.
Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement runs through September 1, 2008 at LACMA. I highly recommend that you see it for yourself.
Spotted this in El Sereno today. Don’t believe they have one of these on La Brea.
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