Category Archives: Personal

Rambling On My Mind: South American Edition: Medellín, Colombia: Rivals And Departures

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busy day, always hectic when taking off. trader joe´s, bank, good-byes. mom always freaks out when i venture out. sis and nephew drop me off at union station to get the flyaway, 7$ to lax. great service, to airport in 30 minutes! too bad they spoiled me by having it at $3.50 when i first used it.
at lax, check-in line was short and fast, but then colombia starts getting crazy on me. i had purchased a one-way to medellín and now spirit air is saying i have to buy a return ticket because they won’t let me in the country without it. shit, i planned to land there and do a slow tour and then decide when i’d return. now i have to throw down 400 $mack$ for a make-believe return. the agent promised i could cancel it before return date and get completely refunded by phone. still…
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The Inside Story of The Night Stalker’s Last Run by Lt. Gil Carrillo

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During my research for the 25th Anniversary Night Stalker Walking Tour,I contacted Retired Sheriff’s Homicide Detective, Lt. Gil Carrillo for an interview. He cordially agreed and I arrived at the East L.A. Sheriff’s Station one morning for my highly anticipated meeting. Listening to the man speak about one of the most infamous criminal cases in Los Angeles history was both mesmerized and enlightening. Teamed with Det. Frank Salerno, Carrillo was the lead L.A. County Sheriff’s homicide detective assigned to the Night Stalker case in 1984. During our interview, I saw the human side of a man assigned to track down and capture one evil son of a bitch. This was his job, but it was one assignment that got under his skin like no other. By learning about the evil that men do, I also learned about the sacrifices that men make. I learned what it is to give pieces of yourself away in order for the greater society to not have to. I learned what it means to make a difference in humanity’s never ending struggle against the ebb and flow of good vs. evil.  This was a story of horror and heroism with a happy ending. Another dark player eliminated from society’s sick game. A game that never ends ands picks it’s players randomly every day. I also wondered about some higher powers at work here, and how we, as mere individuals must often find ourselves taking on battles that may seem beyond us and may require us to set aside every natural fear that makes us human. For me,…that is heroic. And it’s those singular acts that define and shape our collective fate in a world that can only hope to contain it’s fear and lust for violence. Hurray for the heroes.

Another Day in LA

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Each day we witness matters that mesh in our subconsciousness, swim around, merge and become ideas.  Anyway, maybe that’s the way I think.  Yesterday was difficult.

When I went to collect the mail at work yesterday morning, I noticed that the small bakery & cafe across the street was empty.  I was not a frequent customer, but had a 13 year neighborhood relationship with the owner.  Although a 4 lane street separates us on the 6000 block of Pico, we know each other and wave hello through the traffic and noise.  We are a Jewish temple, a nightclub, a cafe, a new age store, a Yeshiva School, a home decor shop, an Indian grocery store, a Muslim cultural center, a beauty shop, a Gypsy psychic, a glass store, a hamburger stand and a cleaners.  A typical block of mom & pop businesses in LA, with our neighborhood gossip, occasional fights, shared joys, emergency network,  and 9-5 friendships.
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Hunger Strike for the DREAM Act

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“The height of manhood/womenhood, Cesar Chavez believes, is to give of one’s self.”

Watching nine of my peers start an indefinite hunger strike to get Senator Diane Feinstein to champion the DREAM Act as a stand alone bill brought me back down to earth. Knowing that they’re going to be depraving themselves of all food except water for the next few weeks is nothing short of amazing. The hunger strike is in solidarity with the 21 students that participated in civil disobedience in Washington D.C. yesterday, two of them here from L.A. All across the United States, undocumented youth and allies are working on making the DREAM Act happen this year because immigration reform is an idealistic, farfetched dream right now. The current IR bill would mandate more enforcement and laws than new path ways for people to adjust their legal status. Immigration Reform is dead and people need to realize that by passing the DREAM Act first, we are creating a path for just and fair Immigration Reform that will help people, not just imprison and deport them.

Come and show your support as they hold down the corner of Sepulveda Blvd. and Santa Monica Blvd. in Westwood. It’s funny, the things you see sitting and watching the world drive by. Angry honks of road rage. Angry yells of idiots who talk out of their ignorant asses. But also to personally speak with people out on the streets, explaining to them what they are doing, what the DREAM Act is and why they are doing. Wishing us luck on the campaign and saying they support the cause. If you would like to help the cause, give her a call or two and tell her you support the DREAM Act as a stand alone bill and that she should get cracking on it (310) 914 – 7300. Feinstein already supports the DREAM Act, but that’s not enough. She has the power to put it up in the Senate so it can be voted and passed. Sim ply saying you support something to get people off your back isn’t enough.

“Come on Brown, come on!… I’m trying to tell you … I’m telling you, that picketing thing is over … All you’re doing is getting your own people in trouble. Now look …he leans over toward me and lowers his voice, “the blacks picketed for years … for years. They marched and they did they very things you people are doing right now … but you know something, and this is the honest-to-god truth … they didn’t get a thing until they had Watts! That is a fact. And I’m telling you, until your people riot, they’re probably not going to get a thing either! That’s my opinion.” Revolt of the Cockroach People ~ Zeta pg. 74

Rambling On My Mind: I Like My Purples Deep and My Markets Black

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Every time I return to México, Mexico City has to get involved. I just want to walk about in a small city like Querétaro or Silao, revisit old pals, discover new streets and do the everyday. I’m simple like that. Mexico City is not simple. It is titanic and perilous and invigorating. One time, a cabbie told me, “Podrías vivir aqui dos años y aun no ver todo, aunque esa fuera tu misión.” After some days in Querétaro and Cuernavaca, I decided to add some days to my trip and check out el DF. Why? Because I could. Anyways, this is about the last time I visited one famous part of that crazy city. Let’s hit the road. First, let’s say good-bye to Cuernavaca. Continue reading →

Fox News and Chris Blatchford = Culeros!

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Its one thing for people to use some of the pictures I put online for their own purposes. A link back is the nice thing to do, though they often forget these basic manners.  But its quite another when some lousy and supposed legitimate “news” racket borrows my stuff and they don’t acknowledge the source. And it’s even worse when its used for a purpose completely different then the original intent.

Take for example the pricks at Fox 11.
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Anime Expo 2010

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The Anime Expo. Next to the San Diego Comic-Con, it’s one of the biggest cons here in the west coast. Kids, their parents and Otakus like myself, come from far and wide to get their anime on. Like any other convention, the Anime Expo brings together fans of all levels into one single city for one weekend to share in their love and passion for all things Japanese, but mostly the anime. BHHappa talked about this fandom a while back and even though it hasn’t been accepted or welcomed in the past, Eastern and anime  influences can be seen all over the place these days. It’s cool to like anime now thanks to Hollywood and Disney. But there’s still a deeper, darker level of fandom seldomly seem by others.

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FORGET IT JAKE, IT’S CHINATOWN!

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Photo courtesy of A Vanishing World

Yee Mee Loo Bar and Restaurant in Chinatown, Wow! What a loss to Los Angeles when they tore that great dive bar down. The little bar was always jumping, the drinks served by the legendary Richard Mau were nonpareil, the crowd and the booze, the cigarette smoke, and music from the old fashioned jukebox  was reminiscent of a scene from a Raymond Chandler book, Humphrey Bogart, Claude Raines, Mary Astor, or Charlie Chan would be right at home there.
The place was a bookie joint and the regulars could always be depended on for a tip on a longshot at Santa Anita or Hollywood Park. And before drinking my first Mai Tai or Long Island Ice Tea I always laid a buck down on the counter so Richard would light a stick of incense and place it on the Buddha on the spectacular carved wooden altar on the wall, bowing and saying a prayer in Chinese.
The conversations overheard always seemed a bit shady and full of conspiracy, as dark as the joint, where somehow you were in a different time and the atmosphere was 1935 or 1945, Los Angeles.

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Eastside Lakers Street Party Part 1

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After the Lakers won the championship last year, I watched the news coverage of the street celebrations that took place on the Eastside.  I decided that day, that if the Lakers won the NBA crown once again, this time I would witness the street celebrations firsthand from the “Belly of the Beast.” Continue reading →

Love on the Goldline

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This past Saturday May 29, LaEastside’s Pachuco 3000, many Eastside artists, art administrators, and familia from LA, Juarez & Texas attended the wedding of our dear friends & curators Pilar Tompkins and Adrian Rivas.  I don’t think Harry Gamboa, Jr. will mind that I’m sharing his photo showing the procession accompanied by mariachis and guests leaving the ceremony at Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles [Placita Olvera] to the Mariachi Plaza on the Metro Goldline.  Strolling from the church through Olvera Street, the joyous couple’s first dance was to “Volver, Volver, Volver” played by one of the Placita’s scheduled bands.  Tourists and locals joined in the glee of the whistle blowing guests en route to the Union Station.  The perfect day included a unique 1930’s reception at the beautiful Plaza Salon, formerly a speakeasy that is within walking distance from Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights.  Pilar & Adrian’s love of Los Angeles history, art and architecture [which was featured on Saturday] was a blessing to all that attended.  Que vivan los novios!

The DREAM is coming

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“This past Monday, on the anniversary of landmark civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education, Lizbeth Mateo of Los Angeles, Mohammad Abdollahi of Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Yahaira Carrillo of Kansas City, Missouri; were detained Tucson, Arizona, after staging a sit-in at Senator John McCain’s office. With this challenge to local and federal law, these youth hope to highlight the urgency of legislative action in Congress, and catalyze mass grassroots mobilization to pass the DREAM Act before June 15th.”

Lizbeth, Mohammad and Yahaira are undocumented students. They are DREAM Act family. Like all the other undocumented students throughout the country, they can no longer sit idly by as life keeps passing us by. Whenever an undoc student speaks out in public, whenever we travel and whenever we organize rallies and protest, we are putting ourselves at risk for detainment and deportation. These three leaders have put themselves on the front lines because the time for the DREAM Act to be brought to Congress as a stand alone bill and be passed. Since it was first introduced 8 years ago, the DREAM Act is the only way college educated undoc students have to fix their immigration status.

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