Category Archives: Greater Los Angeles

In Quotes: “What’s Good for Boyle Heights”

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Working Class Historian Gifford Hartman (a white guy that grew up in East Los by the way) sent me this link to a fascinating piece about the Jewish influence on radical politics and multiculturalism in Boyle Heights during the 1950’s. For those interested in the history of the Eastside, it’s a must read. There’s lots of good quotes I could pull but this has to be my favorite:

Frumkin already saw the distinction between his community of Boyle Heights and the growing Jewish community on the Westside in 1945. There was “an unspoken solidarity among all the neighbors” on the Eastside, including the 60 percent of his neighbors who were Mexican. “We never had a lock on our door, never had a key. You just didn’t do it. I don’t know if it was unspoken, but as poor as we were, nobody stole from anybody else.” In this working-class solidarity, a certain level of contempt was reserved for the more middle-class surroundings on the Westside.

“When we would smoke, for instance, we would keep the cigarettes in the car. We would never dump them out in East L.A. When we used to go to West L.A. to the Jewish Community Center to dances, we’d dump all our ashtrays out, because we knew the streets were going to be cleaned there. But we never did it here.”

Wow, even in the 50’s people were complaining about the disparity of service in our communities. Some things never change. Is ashtray micro-resistance an action we can learn from our Eastside ancestors? It couldn’t hurt!

The full title of the article is “What’s Good for Boyle Heights Is Good for the Jews”: Creating Multiculturalism on the Eastside during the 1950s by George J. Sanchez

Download the pdf from Muse here

or from us at LA Eastside here

Memorial in Highland Park

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The family of Alejandro Garcia has been keeping vigil at this memorial everyday, hydrating the flowers and answering the questions of passerbys. This past Monday would have been the sixteenth birthday of Carlos Hernandez.

Last Friday, two young boys, Alejandro Garcia, 16 and Carlos Hernandez, 15 were gunned down on their walk home from Franklin High School on the busy North Figueroa corridor. Police and eyewitness reports say the incident started initially as a brawl before it turned deadly.

I’m a bit late in mentioning this story because I was out of town when it happened but I’ve been wondering, what excuse does the Los Angeles Times have? All they’ve got on this tragic story is a small blurb on one of their blogs. That’s pathetic. People have left comments on the LA Now blog expressing similar sentiments. There have been more shootings in the area and still no coverage. Well, at least the Times wasn’t posing outrageous questions to their readers, like whether or not they felt safer with the deceased gone.
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Purim in Los Angeles

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Hey, it’s St. Patrick’s Day so I thought I’d share a few pics of that other drunken ethnic holiday: Purim! For those not in the know, which includes me, it’s apparently a Jewish day of celebration and required drunkeness. So where’s my invitation?

At one point, this holiday must have been common in Boyle Heights. Now it’s probably only big on the Westside. Click ahead for a few pics.

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Pedestrian safety in Boyle Heights

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img_34281With pedestrian traffic accidents increasing in Boyle Heights, the Union de Vecinos wants to make sure that the streets are safe for everyone. Community members staged a protest on Cesar Chavez Ave. and Forest holding up signs and chanting in rhythm for safer streets for pedestrians in Boyle Heights around 6 p.m. today. Elizabeth Blaney is one of those community members who want the cities Department of transportation to place traffic signals in two high traffic areas, Wabash and Fickett and on the corner where they were protesting. Some of the residents, who wanted to remain anonymous, said that they’re tired of having to worry if they’re kids will get home safely from school because drivers don’t adhere to the residential speed limit, which is 35 mph.

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The Perfect Couple. The Perfect Job.

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When I was 25 I got divorced. The reasons for the divorce included lots of factors, but one of the factors that really helped the down fall of the marriage was my ex-husband’s misfortune of being involved in the dotbomb.

One by one his friends lost their very highly paid jobs and over priced houses. When it was his turn, he did not take it very well.

The computer industry while prior to the dotbomb was well paid, it was extremely grueling. Eighteen hour work days, seven days a week wasn’t unusual. It was standard. To lose your job when you worked so hard and had taken so many tests, was a harsh slap and a realization that this new industry was not one about community, but about money. Continue reading →

Best Chocolate de Leche in Los Angeles

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It was so good, I forgot to take a picture of the full cup!

The best chocolate in Los Angeles can be found across the river at one of my favorite Oaxacan restaurants in the city, Antequera de Oaxaca.

On days like this, when there is a slight crispness in the air and your body craves a earthy, sweet beverage to make it happy, there’s nothing like this chocolate de leche to warm you up inside. Forget overpriced coffee from dull places like Intelligentsia, a cup of Oaxacan hot chocolate with it’s aroma of cinnamon and nuez is the perfect elixir for the rare chilly Southern California day.

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mmm, little bits of chocolate

Antequera de Oaxaca
5200 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 466-1101
Mid-Wilshire neighborhood (Central Los Angeles)

Westside 10A: Mulched Hydrants

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I spend a lot of time on that other side of town nowadays, way west of the river. It’s a living.

As a result of working over there, I increasingly tend to explore nearby neighborhoods, seek out places to eat, check out some sights. And I’m learning quite a bit about life there, for better or worse. I figured I’d post some of those observations every once in awhile here at LA Eastside, since our current but temporary motto is still “life beyond the river”, which means we go pa’ los dos lados. And if I take my cue from most recent transplants to Los Angeles, that means I’m also fully qualified to know-understand-explain everything about how things are. Still, I haven’t decided what to name that part of town, it’s all so “fluid” and I’m waiting to see which way opinions (and my mood) flow. I’m sure that soon I’ll get that special feeling that tells me what is what, irregardlessly of that whole yawn inducing controversy of “sense of place”, history, and all those boring debates with people that think they have a say just because they’ve lived here for most of their lives, that’s all so Feb 2009. The future is now! I mean now! Wait, Now!

Now?

Irregardlessly, I present you with this first installment and the pic above, which is sure to shock many an Eastsider: over there, they mulch their fire hydrants.  Crazy. Is there a reason for this? Irregardlessly, it doesn’t matter. Que Locuras.

It’s an interesting place, but I sure wouldn’t want to live there.

Proyecto Jardin

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Located in the center of an urban wilderness, Proyecto Jardin is a community garden that has been helping residents in Boyle Heights get in touch with Mother Nature. Located behind White Memorial Hospital, Proyecto Jardin is operated by community residents who donate their time and unique skills to the garden.
Dr. Robert Krochmal, a doctor at White Memorial, came up with the idea to use the plot of land behind the hospital that was a community eye sore full of decrepit houses. After the hospital reviewed and approved the plans the land was cleared out and prepared so that construction for the garden could take place.
Volunteers and community members helped build the garden, preparing the land for a future of bustling community activity that promotes healthy eating, exercise and self-sustainability.

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Validation required

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I once made a list of the pros and cons of living on the Westside. Parking was definitely one of the negatives along with several other complaints. I had one or two items on the pros column. Since then, I’ve added a few more:

  • I have a short commute to school/work on the Big Blue Bus. It would be shorter if the area was less congested. Oops. I was trying to stay positive.
  • It’s cooler in the summer. I don’t need a fan or air conditioner to get through July, August and September.
  • I can find restaurants and shops in my area reviewed in magazines, newspapers and mainstream blogs.
  • I don’t have to challenge perceptions about my neighborhood being unsafe or dirty.
  • The city won’t dare run an at-grade light rail line through this side of town, unlike in poorer, blacker, browner areas
  • Transplants with no respect for history are not trying to rename other areas as the new Westside.

It’s not so bad. Just don’t forget to validate your parking. Or better, spend a few minutes looking for a spot on the street.

La Crisis: Jardineros okay for now

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El Jardinero by Los Originales de San Juan

The Wall Street Journal had an article on how paisa gardeners in Los Angeles don’t seem to be suffering as much their compatriots in construction and other blue-collar jobs. Despite La Crisis some of them seem to be doing remarkably well.

Many Immigrants Still Till the Land of Opportunity
As Some Foreign Laborers Head Home, Veteran Gardeners Find Their Dream of Middle-Class Prosperity Uneroded

“Gardening isn’t like working at a factory, where you depend on one employer,” says Manuel Quezada, a 54-year-old veteran gardener, as he and his team put down sod in the front yard of a house here. “If I lose one house, it doesn’t hurt that much.”

For immigrants, gardening has long been a stepping stone to prosperity. Japanese immigrants with a background in agriculture pioneered residential gardening in California in the early 20th century. The physical labor didn’t require education or fluent English but it lifted them into the middle class. In the mid-1960s, Mexican peasants began flocking to the U.S. Southwest in large numbers. By the 1980s, they had come to dominate the residential gardening niche, Mr. Ramirez says, and some have thrived financially.

I can see how this industry would continue to do well. Some neighborhoods are required to have a certain amount of landscape maintenance and most of these folks that live in these areas are not going to do it themselves. However, if water rationing is implemented (California is currently in emergency drought conditions), I wonder how long it will be before gardeners start feeling the pinch.

On a related note, I’ve been hearing anecdotal tales about immigrants moving back home or at least away from Los Angeles. Anyone have friends or family affected by La Crisis that have decided to move on?

La Crisis: The County Line

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Coolio’s County Line, the anthem for GR (General Relief) recipients in the early 90s.

According to the Los Angeles Times, one in five Los Angeles residents is receiving public assistance.

One in five Los Angeles County residents — nearly 2.2 million people — are receiving public assistance payments or benefits, a level county officials say will rise significantly over the coming months as the fallout from the recession continues.

County officials warn that tens of thousands of additional frustrated job seekers — unemployment in the county currently stands at 9.5% — are expected to seek aid to weather the persistent recession once their other benefits run out.

Based on the amount of folks I know personally who have recently lost their jobs,  I imagine the numbers will go up even higher. While some may think applying for public assistance is a fairly straight forward process, Coolio’s video isn’t all that much of an exaggeration. According to the article not much has changed down at the DPSS office. Yes, the process for applying can be extremely daunting and maybe for some, humiliating but look at it this way, obscene amounts of your tax dollars are going for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, might as well use some of the crumbs for yourself. During these times of La Crisis, you gotta do what you gotta do.

First, check the DPSS website to see if you qualify. While I’m not condoning it, sometimes applicants slightly adjust the true value of their assets on the application i.e. your car. Ask people who are waiting in line for tips, most will offer friendly advice. Also, if you’re worried about what people might think when you go to pay for your food at the supermarket, now you don’t even have to suffer the indignity of paying with food stamps, you’re given a debit card to use. These debit cards are also widely accepted at local farmer’s markets so you can really stretch that $176. Obama’s new stimulus plan calls for an increase in food stamps benefits, so perhaps in the future you can even go organic. (Never mind, see here) So what are you waiting for? Put down that cold cup of ramen noodles and get yourself down to the county line. You might even qualify for General Relief.