Category Archives: Personal

A L.A. Fan in Boston, part I

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Before coming to Boston last September, I was not much of a sports fan, in the sense that I did not follow sports constantly or attended games. I’d check in on the Dodgers’ and Lakers’ standings once a month, but unlike my friends, I didn’t have favorite players or went to games often. I’ve gone to three MLB games in my life (two Dodgers games, 1998/9 and 2007; one Angels game, 2005, which had the bitter farewell in the form of a “protest” by SOSers) and they’ve been all free. Soy codo, ¿y qué?

I can’t work myself up to be gung-ho over a sports team’s performance, trades and drama. The only sport that approximate that level of support is fútbol, and even then it has to be FMF (¡CHIVAS!). I’m just not a sports kind of fellow. Since I’ve been here in Boston, however, I’ve slowly been moving more and more towards becoming a fan. Maybe it’s how devoted New Englanders are to the Red Sox, Pats, Celtics and Bruins that changed my perspective towards fanaticism. I started following the Dodgers last September as they were close to getting the wild card spot, but then they lost ten games and were eliminated. Depressing, I know, but so it goes.

Being in Boston, however, always brought up the question of basketball: “Are you a Lakers fan?” (Most people figured I was from L.A. because I wore my Dodgers cap almost religiously, sometimes alternating with a Red Sox cap). The rivalry has been dormant for a while (maybe a decade or two), but it continues in the minds of Celtics and Lakers fans. It was on my mind in November, when I checked the Lakers’ schedule and saw they had a game the day after Thanksgiving at Boston. I wasn’t going home for that weekend, but a bit of home was coming my way! Continue reading →

Moving on east

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A few months ago, I read a post by El Chavo on the folks who leave the Eastside for suburbs to the east in an effort to “move on up.” In the replies to the post, some people pointed out that their families have been living in places like the Inland Empire for a couple of generations or that when their parents decided to buy a home, the only thing they could afford was out in the Inland Empire.

The post and ensuing discussion made me curious and I went to my parents with more questions. Why did you buy a home in Hacienda Heights? Why not stay in East LA? Why move to an area where you didn’t know anybody? Are we Chuppies?

Well, my mom explained, she and my dad started looking at homes in the area during one of their shopping trips to the Puente Hills Mall. She compared it to my sister going out to Victoria Gardens in Ontario (I think). I think she mentioned something about schools too, but that wasn’t what stuck.

In 1978, there was no Applebees or Chili’s or Starbucks to draw her and my father out to the area. Besides, they don’t care much for chain restaurants or over-priced coffee. But my mom has always loved to shop.

The funny thing is, growing up, my mom shopped most often at the swap meet. I visited the Vineland Swap Meet in La Puente much more often than the Puente Hills Mall though the latter was closer. We’d get everything at the swap meet from fruits and vegetables to fabric to make dresses and curtains and bedspreads.

There were no Kenneth Cole shoes at the swap meet. We didn’t mind.

Eastside 101: Brooklyn and Soto

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Some time ago I started a series of posts at blogging.la that were meant to be a sorta crash course into Eastside life for those permanently entrenched west of the river, and mostly to combat this spreading notion amongst LA newbies that “eastside” was some new and fluid term to define neighborhoods east of the beach communities. For awhile it seemed as if Silver Lake and Echo Park were really going to become the definition of the Eastside, but thankfully, due to various voices speaking up and against this callous rewriting of history, the tide has turned. There are still a few stalwarts out there trying to justify (or ignore) their dismissal of the Eastside, but their days are numbered. Since these “fluid eastside” proponents tend to follow the flock, they will eventually join the pack and find their way to that place that no longer denies our existence, though they will never acknowledge us, cuz that just ain’t cool. Nobody likes to admit they are wrong. Instead of the army of Eastsiders I once proposed, I think we’ll be able to manage with a much more nimble force of tactical culture war snipers, since the invading hordes have yet to muster even the simplest of defense tactics to our counter offensive. Can I order a Mission Accomplished sign for my battleship?

Since major combat operation have now ended, I think it’s time to pull this series into the LAEastside fold, since that seems to be the most obvious place for posts about the Eastside. Que no? Plus, I assume that if any of the Eastside 101 readers at b.la are really interested in the Eastside they won’t be too scared to cross over the virtual river, where shootings and stabbings are at the lowest levels ever. 😉

For this next installment, I take you to a place near and dear to my heart, the neighborhood of Brooklyn and Soto! Click ahead para ver que pasa! (Warning: lots of pics ahead)

Continue reading →

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

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On this Mother’s Day, I want to honor and thank my “Ma” for raising me as she did.

Yes, my Dad also had a hand in our upbringing, but Mom was the strongest overall influence on my life. Whether the job she did was good or bad is irrelevant as far as I’m concerned. What matters most is that I am who I am today, because of her, and I’m OK with it.

Even though my brothers and I may now possibly carry untold amounts of dysfunctional baggage from growing up in our House of Horrors, I am nevertheless grateful that it was never so bad that we couldn’t survive it and still make somewhat decent lives for ourselves. We all managed, for the most part, to stay clear of jails, skid row, asylums and deportations, so as they say, that can’t be all bad.

So Mom, as your oldest son, these are my thanks to you, for all the special things you do. Happy Mother’s Day.

Your Son,

Al Desmadre

Continue reading →

My Favorite East L.A. Weekend

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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 MÁMES!!!

This is my favorite East L.A. Weekend:

SABADO GIGANTE

Saturday morning I’ll usually call my Compadre Fermín 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 Chíngas 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.

 El Pedorrero Continue reading →

Family Ties

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josé ureño I don’t live on the Eastside, neither the actual Eastside nor the area confused transplants mis-label as the Eastside.

I’m squarely on the Westside. I’ve lived here for the last 10 years while going to school and working at UCLA. I’ve never even lived on the Eastside. I grew up east of East LA in an unincorporated town of the San Gabriel Valley, Hacienda Heights.

Like a lot of LA-area Latinos, I have close ties to Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights despite never having lived in the area.

When my maternal grandfather, José, first came to work to LA in the 1940s, he lived in Lincoln Heights. José took the street cars to work to orchards in the valley and would watch movies at the theaters on Broadway. Several years later, he’d bring the rest of the family north. First, they’d leave Zacatecas for Tijuana. Then when everyone got their papers in order they migrated from Tijuana to LA. The first home they lived in was in Lincoln Heights. José worked as a gardener, my grandma Antonia helped.

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You’re from where? South what?

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Hi everyone! Before getting to the actual entry, I feel I should introduce/explain myself a bit. I’m Diego and I blog over at Soledad en masa. I was born and raised in South Gate, technically west of the L.A. River, but part of the Eastside. I now live far, far east of the River, east of the Colorado, Mississippi, and Hudson, and north of the Charles, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where I attend Harvard University as a freshman. I’m almost done with this first year and if I am in L.A. for the summer, I’ll post here more regularly. For now, while I am in the East Coast, I’ll be a contributor and post every so often.

* * *

Welcome to South Gate

When I first arrived at Harvard in September, as I introduced myself to roommates and other people I met, I was always asked where I was from in California. Since my Dodgers cap was not enough to give them an idea where I was from, I always said “Los Angeles” because that’s what they recognized, not South Gate. I don’t have much of a problem saying “L.A.” when I typically mean the county, not the city proper. I’m the only freshmen from the Eastside at Harvard.

It’s a different story, however, when I run into people from the Southland (Ventura, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Orange Counties). I always ask them what specific cities they are from, and sometimes I’ll be asked where I am from, to which I proudly respond “South Gate.” Often, I look at blank faces to which South Gate doesn’t register. My response is almost always followed by “Where is that?” By this point, I’m annoyed, so to shut them up, I say “East of South Central/Watts” and they stop talking to me, most likely thinking, “How did he get in?” Within a few days, South Gate has been reduced to “South what?”

When I meet people from Los Angeles County and they don’t know where South Gate is, I’m amazed. I’ve been asked by people where it is and I put it in the context of freeways, but often, the 710 is that one freeway that they don’t seem to know. The very few who I have met from Los Angeles County who know about South Gate are from Long Beach or the Norwalk area. I’ve met someone from Downey who doesn’t know where South Gate is. How the fuck do you not know one of your bordering cities?

Plain, good ol’ ignorance and lack of knowledge on their part. All my life in L.A. I hear about Santa Monica, Burbank, Venice and other “nice” parts of the county, but I never hear much of South Gate or any other city in the Eastside in the news, in the media PERIOD. Nothing. Como si no existimos.

When I run into someone who does know where South Gate is and, even better, has been there or is familiar with it, they immediately become my friend, but that’s for another post. Until then, I hope more people pick up Thomas Guides and start learning the layout of the county’s neighborhoods and cities.