A few vistas I spotted while walking up Hill St from Chinatown to the Civic Center.
Really?
Now that’s better!
Hill Street Blues
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Category Archives: Greater Los Angeles
Bravo Gustavo!
My sombrero is off to UCLA for “¡Asking A Mexican!” to be their keynote commencement speaker this year. Congratulations to our esteemed friend, Gustavo Arrellano!
“Gustavo Arellano is a keen observer of life in America — in particular the culture and diversity of Southern California,” Judith L. Smith, dean and vice provost for undergraduate education at the UCLA College, said in a statement. The columnist was recommended by a committee of faculty, students and administrators.
Friday Night Live: April 9, 2010
Looking for something to do tonight? Here ya go!
Los Angeles Heritage Day
Sunday, April 11, 2010 from 11-4pm.
It will be held at Heritage Square Museum 3800 Homer Street, L.A. 90031
“In an area sometimes perceived as having no ‘real’ history, L.A. Heritage Day is an opportunity for people of all ages to learn about and enjoy the fascinating people, places and events that have shaped Southern California,†said Cindy Olnick, spokesperson for the Los Angeles Conservancy. “It is also a chance to learn about the incredible variety of local preservation groups, museums, libraries and historical societies serving today throughout Los Angeles County.â€
More info here.
If you download the flyer, admission is free.
Guelaguetza Oaxacan Resturant
The Guelaguetza (from the zapotec word “guendalizaaâ€) between the villages in Oaxaca means “mutual help†or “Shared Offeringâ€
I first went to this spot last year, my homie knew that I really liked mole, so he recommended Guelaguetza because he said the mole there was really good. I am used to more pipian style mole because it is spicier, so I wasn’t sure how I would like a sweeter Oaxacan style mole. To my surprise the mole, and everything else was delicious.
More juice after the jump!
Cafecito Organico
Silver Lake’s Sunset Junction may hold world titles in hipster density and most trafficked trendy businesses but who wants to gamble with parking enforcement and wait in twenty-minute lines for a freakin’ cup of coffee just to sport Intelligentsia’s logo?
Gamble not and wait not for Cafecito Organico has arrived next door, literally. Well, at least for those who do live next door and in walking distance from the cafe in the mostly residential area of Silver Lake. Nestled on the corner of Hoover and Bellvue, Cafecito Organico is the newest cafe in the area and only a two-minute drive from the hip Sunset Junction block. Reminiscent of a typical Italian coffee bar, the cafe struts a standing counter inside for those customers in for a quick espresso stop. The backdoor patio lets the loungers sip on lattes and check their email.
A relaxed and welcoming atmosphere, Cafecito offers quite the opposite experience from neighboring often-overcrowded gourmet coffee shops. Customers will usually be greeted by the owners, Mitch Hale and Angel Orozco – both awesome baristas and the nicest, most humble people on the planet – and their friendly staff. Mitch, Angel and their staff can also be found at the Silver Lake and Hollywood Farmers Markets on Saturdays and Sundays, where their business started two years ago and has become so successful that they had to open a shop to supply the demand of their loyal customers.
Cafecito’s menu is traditionally simple with a couple of house originals – the Cafecito (hot drink) and Global Warming (cold drink), both made with Cafecito’s orignial espresso blend, choice of milk and raw sugar cane juice. Their coffee, all hand-roasted by Angel and staff near downtown, is ground and brewed one cup at a time.
Cafecito Organico has raised the bar in quality coffee, excellent service and a most genuine welcoming environment. It is soon to be a stop Angelenos will not be able to live without.
Cafecito Organico
534 N. Hoover Street (corner of Bellevue)
Los Angeles, 90004
The Big Move
The Big Move: a new path and a new identity? -graphic courtesy of LA Creek Freak
It was inevitable, some folks just can’t stand to be wrong or admit their mistakes but luckily in our modern and hi-tech world, these things can be fixed. I’m talking about the latest in the Eastside name grab debacle. You remember all those poor confounded souls, new arrivals, Echo Park hipsters and journalists who somehow believed neighborhoods west of the Los Angeles River were part of the Eastside. The Eastside issue is a moot point now, discussion and debate are needless. Thanks to articles in the Los Angeles Times and the numerous posts on this here site, EVERYONE knows where the Eastside begins: East of the Los Angeles River.
However, some folks are not so easily deterred, oh no! Some people will stick by their story, even when they are so very wrong. They’ve told us: “History and geography in Los Angeles are fluid” “Eastside east of the river? Essentialists!” and other cute put-downs created to entertain the post-modern sense of wit so popular with residents of hip neighborhoods. The problem is they know they were wrong but have grown tired of deflecting the truth. So they put their resources together, gathered their connections and called in favors to make things right. That’s how it’s been done in the past – contracts, paperwork, legalese and the proper connections have always made things “right” for the privileged in this country, so why let a little thing like geography stop them? The solution was simple: make the west, east!
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Mayor Proposes Bridge Crossing Tax
In yet another sign of the times, the Mayor is proposing a new fee for crossing our city bridges as a way to make up for some of the loss of revenue that bad planning and poor management has meant for our city. And let’s not even get into the welfare for the rich scenarios that have given us nothing but ugly spaces at a high price. It’s pretty messed up how they’ve managed this city into a financial hole, just to keep developers and campaign funders happy. But what else is new, que no?
Well this IS new: they want to charge people for crossing any bridge in the city. Even the ones that span the river and connect the Eastside with the rest of the city. And they want to charge you in both directions. As if times weren’t tough enough.
Jaime Escalante school proposal
Ron Unz announced that he was planning on opening an elementary school in the MacArthur park area to be named after his good friend and fellow Republican Jaime Escalante.
An Unz spokesman Will Garglio, stated that this will be called Jaime Escalante Westside Elementary School (JEWES). Unz plans to open a similar school on the Eastside.
JEWES curriculum will be total English immersion with a focus on media manipulation. Plans include having a student run television station just like professional Latino TV stations. They plan to staff the station with the lightest and blondest of the community, even if they have to import them all the way from Miami to do so. Will Garglio said, “We want these youth to feel like they are in the real world and that world doesn’t look or speak like them, so they need to get used to it now.”
Textbook orders have already been filed and include texts that exclude Sal Castro, Che Guevarra, Rudy Acu~a and other Chicano/Latino heroes that might instill pride in the students, something that must be avoided, according to textbook publisher: Bendover for Texas Press.
Purple Misfit
Spotted last month on some freeway, a purple glittered Misfits leather jacket.
And a matching bike to go with the purple embroidered boots.
A Day At The L.A. Marathon
In Sunset Junction, aka the Westside,..,.some friends and I created our own comfort station for the marathoners. As the runners came by, we handed out cold cervezas and sprinkle donuts……
Butoh of East LA
Pictured is a Butoh dance entitled Cihuatl 15 performed by endy, at a Prayer for Juarez on Saturday, March 20. Her endurance piece on Saturday offered time and opportunities for inquiry, contemplation and processing in response to the femicides in Juarez. In preparation for this dance movement, she laid still on the sidewalk in front of Casa 0101, as sand was poured over her body, representing the women who had died in Ciudad Juarez and buried in shallow graves.
Butoh’s source is the Japanese avant-garde of the 1960s, a period when Japan struggled with the lingering effects of the atomic bomb detonations at Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II. Originally called “ankoku butoh,” or “dance of darkness,” the medium created a space for the intensely grotesque and perverse on the stage. In Japan endy studied “Sankai Juku†which means “studio by the mountain and the sea,” and implies the serenity and calm which is characteristic of the work. She also studied and has performed with Guillermo Gomez-Peña.