Category Archives: Geography

Rambling On My Mind: Final Daze in Medellin: Like A Walk In The Park

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Part I
Part II
Part III


2 homies still asleep in hostel. whole place is quiet. i leave and at 945 i’m on the metro, not packed. get to vegetus in downtown, across from this parking lot. small spot, kinda cramped. they tell me it’s all vegan. hells yeah! get lasagna and it’s alright. yes, lasagna at 1030! even got some ice cream made of avena. i take some pics of menu and a woman kindly asks me why and i tell her, just for memories. she goes over to the counter and brings me a menu and says, “you can keep this one.” here it is

i split and it’s noon and hit up a net place and write some shit. walk around and at a corner, in front of shopping center, is a long-haired metal head selling the latest in death and black metal. i walk over and we talk. i dabble in the metal arts, i say. i favor the traditional heavy style a la trouble. push play, sucka, and let the dark riffs remind you why ozzy and tony are seers. and no that is not ozzy. as if.
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Rambling On My Mind: South American Edition: Guatepé, Antioquia, Colombia: Meet Me At The Bottom:

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Part 1 here
Part 2 here


up at 8, showered night before. got out by 845, got to parque lleyras and like calle 10, it is empty. take metro to poblado to metro caribe then to north bus station to get bus to Guatepé. 11000 pesos it ran me. bout 5 bills
i’m right on time, sit in the back, wait 5 minutes.

last minute folks getting on, hustling for chairs. windows somewhat tinted and chairs not too comfy. i never thought of myself as tall, but every bus so far on this trip has chairs that dislike my knees. i have the bruised knee caps to prove it. and off we go (“so saddle up MC’s, and off we go. it’s not a rodeo, but i carry a lasso”). some tourists start to talk and i am grateful i have my ipod, i throw it on and vader accompanies me. Continue reading →

Rambling On My Mind: South American Edition: Medellín, Colombia 2: Feints and Jabs aka The Feeling Out Process Continues

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part 1 here

brazilian guys in hostel were loud sleepers. snoring bastards woke me up once or twice. i had packed my suitcase real tight, so no one would mess with it. just to be safe and not sorry. i had a long day but the brazilians left to party. it was about midnight. i scribbled some more and then went downstairs and spoke with a different guy from brazil, curitiba to be exact. i asked him about the famous fighters from his city. he was surprised that i knew about his city’s reputation, since i had never been there.
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Self Help Graphics & Art is Moving!

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Photo courtesy of Rosanna Ahrens

Today, Evonne Gallardo, Executive Director and the Board of Directors of Self Help Graphics & Art announced that the 40 year old institution of culture and art in East Los Angeles is moving to a new home.

Relocation from the icon building decorated in tile by artist Eduardo Oropeza, has been a buzz on the eastside for a while now—but negotiations as to where to move and being forward-facing, have been long, arduous and thorough.
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San Pedro Community Garden

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I thought I would share this post I wrote on the Slanguage website over here on LA east side because I felt that this community garden was pretty special.

Slanguage got a great opportunity to go visit and explore the San Pedro community garden. This 3 ½ acre land is owned by the city of Los Angeles and has been around over 40 years. For a yearly fee anybody can start a garden. The garden is fitted with hoses for easy access to water, mulch is also available.  However, not just anybody can maintain their roots here; some gardeners have managed to sustain their plots for up to thirty years.

More after the jump

L.A. to O.C. Dream Ride

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Join us in a 50 mile bike ride to continue raising awareness for Federal Dream Act, California Dream Act (institutional financial aid) and getting drivers licences for all California residents, as well as bringing attention to the rights of all bicyclist in the city of L.A and Orange County. Spokes & Words, The Orange County Dream Team and Dream Team Los Angeles are working together with City of Lights and the Bici Digna program in organizing and funding this event to bring together all these great orgs that fight for social justice for for all.

When: Sunday Feb. 20 (presidents day weekend)

Where: Starting at Corazon del Pueblo 2003 E. 1st. street Boyle Heights 90033 and ending at Centro Cultural de Mexico 310 W. 5th street Santa Ana 92701

Registration: Registration form and $15 fee (link at bottom of page) will be due on Jan. 28. This will include lunch, dinner, bike maintenance during event and over night stay in Orange County. Form can be downloaded via link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13WcyFiBe45oBXLUIAOkvINgfZAzimUHsIxHlPCWnNOM/edit?hl=en

Route: Approx 50 miles via streets of L.A., San Gabriel River Bike Path and streets of Santa Ana.

Housing: Sleeping over at Centro Cultural de Mexico. Individuals are responsible for bringing their own sleeping bag, pillows, blankets, toiletries, change of clothes etc. and transportation back to L.A. A truck will carry participant’s belongings, sleeping bags etc. to Santa Ana and back to CDP after ride is over.

Food: Lunch, dinner and snacks will be provided for all participants accounted for, for the event.

Bike Safety Work Shops: All participants of event will be required to attend at least one workshop on safety, rules of the road and ridding in a group. No exceptions.

First workshop will be at CDP on Jan 23rd from 1 to 4 p.m. Second will be at Centro Cultural in Santa Ana on Jan 30th from 1 to 4 p.m. and the final workshop will be at CDP on Feb. 5th from 1 to 4 p.m. Riders needing help with their bikes will be encouraged to bring them to the workshop for maintenance and bike tune up. Workshops will be coordinated by City of Lights.

Sponsorship opportunities are available for anyone that wants to donate food, supplies or sponsor riders for the event as well.

Anyone with questions about the event can contact dream.act.riders@gmail.com for more information or concerns

Event Sponsors:
Spokes & Words
City of Lights
Orange County Dream Team
Dream Team Los Angeles
Corazon del Pueblo
El Centro Cultural de Mexico

Link to pay pal account here:
http://justarandomhero.blogspot.com/2011/01/la-to-oc-dream-ride.html

Sidewalk Stamps

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A collection of sidewalk stamps I’ve photographed on pedestrian dérives around Lincoln Heights, Highland Park and Downtown L.A. Exact locations have been forgotten.

For more on sidewalk history, see this previous post.

Stream Dream: Johnston’s Lake

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Johnston’s Lake, 1888. Photo courtesy of the USC Digital Archives.

Awhile back, I was re-reading Charles J. Fisher’s book on Highland Park which is brimming with old photos of the Northeast LA area. One photo that caught my attention was of a flock of sheep gathered around a small “natural” lake in the San Rafael neighborhood just north of Highland Park. I figured it was lake that had been filled in and forgotten because if it still existed, we’d know about it, right?

By coincidence, a few days later, I read an article in the Los Angeles Times about a garden in the San Rafael neighborhood which was said to be across the street from a lake. Could this be the lake in the photo? The article provided some geographical clues and with the aid of Google maps I was able to locate the general area of the mystery body of water. Time for a visit to the San Rafael Hills!

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A Business Sense Walking Tour

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If it’s one thing about tours, it’s that you always learn something new about something old. For example, I took a tour of Union Station last year and I found out that there’s asbestos in the curtains and that if some bird or terrorist agitated them, well needless to say it would be problematic for everyone. So, imagine what you’ll learn on this tour. Lead by Adrian Rivas of Gallery 727, walking around the men’s fashion district and neighboring areas in Downtown L.A. that go unnoticed to most of us, but a treasure cove for others.

A Business Sense Walking Tour

Tour Starts at g727 (gallery 727)
11 am – 1pm

727 South Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90014
213 627 9563
g727.org

Tour led by: Adrian Rivas co-founder of g727 and downtown merchant

Please join g727 for a special tour of local merchants from downtown’s historic Fashion District presented in conjunction with the gallery’s current exhibitions Carmen Argote: Household Mutations and Santiago Borja: Fort Da/Sampler each of which incorporate questions of materials and site.
Examined in relationship to the five senses, the featured businesses represent our physical responses to the urban environment.

A round table discussion and refreshments will follow at G727

Participating businesses:

GLOBAL LINEN / sense of touch
MARCEL’S TIES / kinesthetic sense
NEW WAREHOUSE / sense of time
MIKE’S TAILOR SHOP / sense of sound
THE STORE / sense of balance and direction
UNIVERSAL PERFUMES / sense of smell
BEVERLY HILLS HOSIERY/ sense of sight

Mystery Building

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Last year Edith did a fun series of posts where you were asked to guess where a photo was taken. I’m going to revive the idea and have you guess where the location of one of my favorite buildings – almost on the Eastside – might be. (You just got a big hint!)

In case you can’t figure it out, this photo is another clue. I love how the old road is peeking through this nearby street.

There’s no prize except the satisfaction of being so intimate with the city you can identify buildings randomly. Oh, and maybe one day an LA Eastside t-shirt.

Good luck!

Eastside Hawks

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Chances are you’ve seen them flying in the sky, ever so high, so high that it hurts your eyes to stare into the sky that high. It’s hard to miss them when they’re circling in the air, holding down their turf like sky like vatos locos. Picking off pigeons whenever they get hungry and no one can stop them. Up there, they have no equals. Except maybe the ghetto bird or planes that fly over the Eastside, but that’s about it. Continue reading →