 In the graffiti world we all heard of ” Chaka LOD” the infamous tagger who killed LA and beyond. His tags and throw-ups where seen all over in the late 80’s early 90’s. Even everyday people have come across hearing his name. He made news back in the days with being sought after for fucking shit up. Almost twenty years later he is having his first gallery art show displaying his work.
April 25,2009
Mid-City Arts
5113 West Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
7 p.m -9 p.m
Other Stuff after jump
East Los Angeles
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!
Lots of events this weekend! Click thru to view.
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“The greatest thing you have is your self image, a positive opinion of yourself.
You must never let anyone take it from you.”
-Jaime Escalante, Educator
Decorative inscription at Eastside Metro Gold Line Station, 3rd Street & Mednick.
When I first saw Made in L.A. last year after it won an Emmy, it hit a soft spot in me to say the least. When my father first came to this country way back in the ’90s to pave the way for the rest of the family to make it over, he worked in one of those garment factories. I remember those days because of where we lived, how we lived and my father telling us later on, in his drunken ramblings, how much he hated that work when he was doing it. Yet, he did it and put up with it because that was what he needed to do in order to get the job done, so to speak.
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La Crisis. Hitting hard but inspiring creativity, and some interesting career mixing. For example:
Majestic Vic at myspace. Magic shows – Face Painting – Balloon Animals – Puppets – Games
& Paralegal Services.
Best of luck to you Majestic Vic.
So I run into Victoria K. at the library during my super, duper, amazing spring break and we decide to kick it old school at a coffee house in Highland Park. We make pit stops at our pads and make our way over there. I see the farmers market and I tell V to go with me and check it out. These are the pictures that came about from that frolic. I ended up running into artist Sonia Romero and her cohort Tina Rodas, who decided to post up at the market that day to promote this weekends show at Avenue 50. Needless to say it was a great time all around and it was really close to with the metro stop being right in front of it. The market is held every Tuesday from 3 to 8 p.m.
~ This post was made possible by the El Random Hero scholarship fund ~
Does that look like the LAPD to you? Cast of Southland
Northeast LA on TV! First scene of NBC’s new cop drama* Southland has a gang shoot-out in Glassell Park. This is the kinda promotion that makes homeowners groups and neighborhood councils squirm. It means in some Hollywood writer’s eye, Glassell Park is associated with gun toting cholos and shoot-outs. It’s hard to shake a reputation like that.
Don’t expect a show review here, I don’t think I can stand too much more of Southland. I hated the movie Crash and don’t have enough time to waste on watching a watered down reprise on TV. Besides, I just got in a few new episodes of The Riches from Netflix.
Glassell Park shouldn’t feel too sad though, at least they don’t have a whole show named after their neighborhood that has nothing to do with the place they live. For more on the Lincoln Heights TV show debacle, see here.
*If it’s a drama, why I am I laughing? Like cholos are really gonna do a drive-by in tricked out ranfla!
I can’t believe it’s been a year since this blog started !!! Damn time flies by so fast, I don’t even know where it went. I remember when Chavo and the rest of the crew started this blog and I was like “whoa !? this blog amazing !! It’s all that and a bag of chips (90s slang).” I then remember reading that Chavo was looking for writers for the blog and I emailed him about writing and a few weeks later it was on. Now one year later, here I am. Stronger, smarter and humbled to be with so many talented artist, writers and all around great people that I’ve ever met. I’ve personally grown and developed in soo many ways that I can’t believe it myself sometimes. It truly is a pleasure to be in cahoots with everyone on this blog and interacting with the people responsible for making this possible, our readers. If it wasn’t for everyone who reads and comments, passionately at times, on this blog, none of it would be possible. Gracias to all of you as well. I can’t wait to see what the next year will bring in terms of future post, discussions and keeping people in check who claim the Eastside is in other parts of town. Trucha cabrones !!!!
From RAQUEFELLA:
I’m pushing about ten years here in Los Angeles doing the community based queer Latina/o arts organizing thing that continues to move, baffle, inspire, exhaust me. Me da vida. I believe in making space for queer Latino/as living in Los Angeles to share creative work at an emerging level that often goes unseen and unheard. Oftentimes that’s the least of our troubles in the cacophony of violence that surrounds our realities as either gender-non-conforming outlaws trying to make a home in the communities we are from. We remember Gwen Araujo. Lawrence King, presente. Sakina Gunn, RIP. These youth did not have the chance to spit their truth and so we, as poets and artists, render their struggles poetically to remember.
I hope L.A. Eastside readers can pause and think about the LGBT gente in their lives–have you ever thought about the struggles that they face as they remain true to themselves while occupying spaces with family, friends, and institutions like church and school. Have you ever stopped some bullshit language flying around the schoolyards or did you let the slap in the face go unpunished? Did you ever not talk to somebody because the gender line was crossed in such a way that…ni porque decirlo?
Many of America’s cities are in the crapper thanks to years of policy that’s favored suburbanites and their wasteful consumption habits. And LA has suffered the glut of gentrifying jerks looking for a lifestyle instead of a place to live. Buildings turned into condos, markets turned into fancy t-shirt shops, restaurants with one word names. It’s like some invasion by rich asshole foreigners, quickly turning Los Angeles into a First World City, instead of an American city. But this trend is reversible and the opportunity to clean up this city, and get rid of all the cleaned-up-ness, is achievable.
What’s the difference between a First World City and an American City? Let me show you the signs.
There was a time when it seemed that some Westside Angelenos perceived life east of the river to be something like this…..
Apparently, there’s been some change of heart by our neighbors to the West. I received today the following email care of L.A. Eastside and I thought it would be worthy of sharing with our readers:
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Over on this side of the river, a boot on a car for failure to pay the “I don’t own a garage” tax otherwise known as a parking ticket, is quite the common sight. Occasionally, you even see people contemplating if they can take it off themselves, looking at the lock, checking out where it’s clamped. When the money is low the last thing you want to do is throw it away. Which is the reason you never paid your tickets, which lead to the clamp that’s gonna cost you an extra $150, which if you don’t pay in time is gonna mean your ride will get towed and then you are truly jodido. The non-poor rarely realize how expensive it is to be poor. And no, being broke is not poor. When you can no longer call the parents or your other unspecified “resources” to bail you out, then you’ll start finding out what it means to be poor. And by the looks of this fancy BMW/Benz/whatever the fuck it is with a boot, seems people will start getting acquainted with the concept of without fairly soon!
(Update 3/28: Another picture to admire added to end of post!)