This sign in Boyle Heights must need calibration. It was hot today, but it couldn’t have been that hot. I think this is the week eloteros officially become raspaderos. There ought to be a ceremony.
Yowza!
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Category Archives: Eastside
My Favorite East L.A. Weekend
Inspired by the “My Favorite Weekend†column in the LAT Calendar, I give you my version of:
 MY FAVORITE E.L.A WEEKEND
BY AL DESMADRE
EASTSIDE PENDÉJO
Hiking in the Hollywood Hills with my Labs? Brunch in Malibu? A movie at the Grove? Shopping in trendy Los Feliz boutiques or Pottery Barn? Wine bars & Sushi? NO MÃMES!!!
This is my favorite East L.A. Weekend:
SABADO GIGANTE
Saturday morning I’ll usually call my Compadre FermÃn to come over and give me a jump start. We’ll work on the car till noon or until we get hungry then we’ll call over the Shopping Cart Guy with The best Elótes and Chicharrónes in the neighborhood. My compadre will usually run down to Safety Liquors for some cold brews and we’ll kick it old school with some 8-tracks of Oldies but Goodies Vols. 1-10 and some Johnny ChÃngas while we wash, detail and primer his bomb. Lately, I’ve been having problems with my car’s muffler, so we might head over to “EL PEDORRERO†on Whittier Blvd. for an inspection.
Eastside filming locations
Over at Metblogs L.A., Cutter is making a short film about bicycles and he needs your help:
[P]art of the production involves shooting a bicycle chase in and around the eastern neighborhoods of Downtown Los Angeles.
. . .
We’re also shooting in Chinatown and in Boyle Heights. One of the potential locations included the beautiful Mariachi Square, but after scouting in that neighborhood I discovered that the Square is under construction and every street in a 1-block radius has been closed to through traffic.
Foiled!
So the question I put to you, faithful readers is this: What are some of the lesser known but no less interesting and distinctive East La/Boyle Heights/Downtown landmarks that might lend themselves to being photographed?
What locations do you suggest, Eastsiders? I think the Sears at Soto & Olympic is perfect, especially at night, when the sign at the top of the tower is lit and shines EARS (on one side, I think) to Boyle Heights. Leave suggestions here or over at Metblogs!
A ver licenciado, que le doy?*
Nuevo Plato Vegetariano
I’m lucky that my favorite Mexican restaurant happens to be right here in Lincoln Heights, the phenomenal El Huarachito. I’ve been going to the restaurant since it was a tiny shoe box and diners would have to cram themselves Tetris-style into the 3 small tables that served as a dining room. In the past few years, the restaurant has expanded taking over the shoe repair business next door (who repairs shoes nowadays?) and even with the added room, the place still gets packed!
Vegetarians, rejoice!
The owner and cook, a proud Jalisciense, puts much time, consideration and care into her dishes. She frequently asks her diners what they think of the food and is quick to recommend menu items and unadvertised specials of the day. Thanks to her ever growing vegetarian clientèle, she has challenged herself to create new entrees to please our non-carnivorous palates. Today I had the good fortune to try her very new vegetarian dish (doesn’t have a name yet) “Nuevo Plato Vegetariano.”
East Side Story
East Side Story, Vol 9
The last few years have been frustrating for those of us on the Eastside. I’ve been on many a Los Angeles blog explaining, defending and educating folks on why certain parts of the city shouldn’t be called the Eastside. Despite testimonials, historical references and other persuasive truths, there are many who choose to keep using the term Eastside inappropriately. Putting aside the geographical debate, it’s important for many to realize the cultural connection many Mexicans and Chicanos have to the term Eastside.
For those of us who have grown up in these neighborhoods, “Eastside” is a more than just a place, it’s been a cultural signifier. It represents the communities and the cultures of folks who have lived in Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, City Terrace and the great Easterly Beyond. The term Eastside has been used to describe many sorts of cultural innovations emanating from the people east of the river. One of my favorites is a series of albums from the 70s called East Side Story.
Hills of the Eastside
Having lived most of my life in North East L.A. I have come to find refuge in the hills around here. As a kid I would go up Eastlake Ave in Lincoln Heights and up into the hills to flatop to seekout lizards, snakes, centipedes, and all the other wildlife you see around these parts. Many people say that Los Angeles scarecly has seasons, but I think it is because they do not understand how the seasons present themselves here. Elsewhere you have heavy rains (which we occasionally do have), snow, or extreme cold to show that things are changing.
I’ll give you a tour for 30 cents. The Bridges of LA.
Me and my friend BusTard were going to Alcanzando La Historia (a tour of the 4th, 6th, and 1st Street Bridges) put on by the LA Conservancy, but then we found out it was thirty dollars.
And in order to get the tickets I had to go down to smug SCI-Arc where everyone uses hyphens and parentheses for no reason and then I just was like, well how about I just do my own tour.
And killjoy, I mean BusTard was like, I’m not even doing this.
Don’t get me wrong I like SCI-Arc they are perfectly arty and shit. I love them and their little “I think interior design should be pragmatic. I made this kitchen slash bathroom while on a sabbatical in Amsterdam. My parents are quite wealthy you know, though I look as though I don’t shower. That is all for dramatic effect. So in my kitchen slash bathroom you take a shit and then the shit is put through this cleanser made from formerly used naturally clean apple scented ‘i care more the earth than you, so i drive a prius’ dishwashing liquid (20 dollars at Trader Joes) and slowly excreted into a mini kitchen garden as fertilizer, which vegetables and fruit you clean using your own urine, sanitized of course in a completely eco manner. I call it Re (U)-S-E/Re (P)-O-O.â€
95 Out
When you live on the Eastside, the beach is never a hop, skip, and a jump away (at best, it’s a long bus ride down Lakewood Blvd. away). So, you find another way to get cool.
For my family, this involves a short walk to Salt Lake Park. Today, after picking up some tostadas de camarón at Ceviche Loco, my mom lounged under palm trees while it was 95 degrees in L.A. I watched the Second Annual Salt Lake Park Skate Contest. And throughout, the soccer players played.
Continue reading
ALARMA!
So I jump off the bus and navigate the busy Eastside sidewalk, deftly dodging the various Vátos, Viéjas, and random Nácos. Suddenly, I struggle to hold back a violent impulse to gag. At a corner news stand I am suddenly eye-level with a magazine cover showing a decapitated human head with it’s skin brutally scraped off. I recognize the screaming yellow logo on the publication as the one that has haunted me ever since I was a little Pee-Pee Pants Cabrón. Immediately, I shift my gaze to the other magazines, spying various layouts of “Chicas con Grandes Nalgas†in an attempt to wash away that ghastly image of yet another victim of Mexican Narco-Satanicos! Continue reading
Cutting Across The Eastside
A few evenings a week, I struggle with how to criss cross the Eastside without getting caught in a ton of traffic. I’m generally talking about the north-south part of any trip that requires me to get from Rosemead to Bell or Highland Park to Bell. If it’s around 5 p.m., there’s a 100% chance I’m going to be stuck on roads sometimes less taken (yes, I’m talking to you Soto St. all the way down to the backside of the Farmer John plant and down Boyle St. and Garfield Ave. down to Slauson Blvd. to Florence Ave. and Eastern Blvd. past the cemetery to Telegraph Rd. to the five-point intersection from hell at Atlantic Blvd). Freeway, street, off-road trail–it doesn’t matter.  If I’m on it, it’s going to be slow.Â
All this leads me to a question perhaps appropriate for a blog dedicated to the Eastside–is there an easy way to cut across the Eastside or is just designed to be a long, slow ride designed to be enjoyed when you think you have better things to do?
And for our more practically-inclined readers, suggestions for the best way to get across the Eastside are also greatly appreciated.
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Reasons I love the Eastside- #1 The Montebello 40 Bus Line
Across the street from my art studio in Boyle Height there’s the nicest bus stop ever. It’s not a MTA bus stop, because nothing nice is connected to the MTA (at least in the neighborhoods that are not gentrified yet, since I’m around family here I’ll just say the neighborhoods that are black and brown, ever notice how PC in the negative way only means, “why can’t I make fun of the ethnic people, with the ‘funny’ names and ‘funny’ way of doing things,†but if you’re not PC in regards to rich middle-aged white guys you’re accused of being overly sensitive or a reverse racist…so weird, must be nice to be a middle aged rich white guy.)
The Montebello 40 is rad, not just because it has a clean bus and bus stop (I know the City of LA takes care of bus stops, but if Metro had a bit of pride, they would make a bit of an effort in making sure that property with their name looked decent.) Not just because it actually follows a schedule. Not just because I can get on the Montebello 40, buy a transfer (total $1.15) and end up paying less than I would for a one way fare on the MTA ($1.25,) but because the people on the bus are rad. And they talk to you, not the “I don’t have a place to live,†mumbling crazy talk, but normal talk.
The bus drivers remember you and not only that, they spot you. I remember once I couldn’t find an ATM and the bus driver said, “You got a pretty funky hat there, so you can get on.â€
That would never happen on the MTA, keep in mind where I pick up the 40 is across the street from I guess from what I’ve heard from some was one of the most violent and largest projects in America, the Pico Gardens projects, but times have changed. I can’t even tell that it used to be a project. Now it’s a mixed income development and no one comes out of there but nice family with little kids that wave at you, but what I’m saying this isn’t a wealthy neighborhood. This is a working and middle class neighborhood so it’s not that people won’t keep things nice if they are not filthy rich it’s just most government agencies don’t make an effort to keep things up if people aren’t filthy rich and writing 5000 letters a week and that’s a damn shame.
The people in Boyle Heights have a lot of pride in their neighborhood, but they don’t do that hipster bullshit. In Boyle Heights if you’re not an asshole, they are completely cool with you. I haven’t had one, “I was here since 1990 and you don’t know blah, blah, blah…†stories, not one. I heard those kind of dumbass stories all of the time in Silver Lake, from people who moved there from Van Nuys (but lied and said they were from Encino, like that was better) five seconds ago.
I’ve had nothing but love from the people of Boyle Heights.
And it’s not just the drivers or the bus stop, it’s the other passengers when I’m on my way somewhere and I’ll see Marie, Veronica, or Shirley from the 40, they’re always happy to see me. They tell how great of a future I’m going to have. It’s like running into old friends, not old friends from high school, because my friends in high school were total bitches.
The Montebello bus line is one of the reasons I love the Eastside.
by
Browne Molyneux
