Category Archives: Photos

Eeewwww!

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I was working outside today when I picked up an old board and discovered this ghastly creature crawling underneath. A dreaded Niño De La Tierra! Uy!

I have not seen one of these brutes in a long time and I can’t say I’ve missed the sight of one. As I was dropping the board back down I noticed something else crawling underneath it,

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A widow spider! but not the typical black one- this one was the powerfully venomous: Brown Widow Sorry for the small image, but this was as close as I wanted to get! Chále!

All Power to the Knuckleheads!

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It didn’t take long for the remarks of an old timey cop to bring back an old timey word. Spotted the other day on my usual dumpster diving route, a remarkably timely sticker pasted onto my favorite bin in which to find tuxedos in need of some creative care: all it says is KNUCKLEHEADS.  I’ve been involved with crowds that end up on the wrong side of media opinion enough times to know that media opinions are worth squat. I wasn’t at the recent festive Lakers celebration that got so many people bent out of shape, that got them all a twitterin’ and a facebookin’ as if they’ve only just discovered Los Angeles has a vast populace that could care less about certain things. In the interest of letting people believe a certain fantasy about this city, I’m gonna leave it at that for now.

But yeah, FYI, the Knuckleheads are out there. Or maybe they’re just ordering stickers online?

4th of July 2009

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If you’ve ever been fortunate to spend 4th of July on the Eastside (or in the vicinity thereof) you’ll know that shit gets crazy as soon as the sun sets. Of course people bring in the always popular  “safe and sane” fireworks that are available in some of the neighboring cities (like Alhambra) but there seems to be a preference for those very illegal fireworks, the type that fly and explode into a rainbow of colors. You know, the fun ones.

Some people complain about illegal fireworks and get all worked up about it, but it doesn’t matter: I’ve yet to see a 4th without these illegal fireworks. The video above is quite terrible in capturing this holiday and you can’t really hear the non-stop rumble of endless explosions, but it’s a sorta glimpse, via the bad-but-works video feature on my camera.

Click ahead for some after the fact pics from Lincoln Heights.

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The mural wars continue

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I see this mural and I feel nothing. No connection to the history it has, the images depicted on it and what it means to the community and t artist responsible for creating such a beautiful work of art. It’s been there longer than I have been alive and seen Boyle Heights change and grow over the years. Everything I feel and see in that mural nowadays I learned to appreciate it. I walk by it almost everyday and I understand the history behind the streetscapers and the legacy muralist are continuing since the  ’20s. My thirst for knowledge has shown me the rich legacy murals have in all of East Los and around the world for that matter, but that’s the trick. I wanted to know more about it. Then there are other residents that could careless about what they are, but appreciate it for what it is, art. At least that’s what I realized after Willie Herron III explained it to me from his point of view. He told me that even though I may not feel a connection to the images in the mural or understand it, we can all appreciate it. Murals like the “Corrido of Boyle Heights” may be the closest some residents will ever get to art. That alone merits appreciation in the murals, but mocosos still fail to grasp that. It’s the same arguments over and over again: If kids had a proper outlet they wouldn’t be doing shit like this or if the city had more arts programs for youth, taught them more history and appreciate their heritage etc. So does this post have a point? Maybe and maybe not. Maybe I just wanted to post up a picture of HOW STUPID PEOPLE ARE or ramble about a conversation I had today with Herron. Whatever the reason, the mural will survive. As Brandy Healy succinctly put it, “Well, at least its graffiti coated thanks to the restoration skills of Paul Botello & crew with support from CD 1 Councilman Ed Reyes. I hope the clean up folks come soon. Not only is this particular defacement completely void of any meaning or aesthetic, it’s just insultingly stupid.” And so the mural wars continue.

Piñata Technology Takes a Leap Forward

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It’s about time. Piñatas finally achieve a structural advancement that is worthy of note for all Party People and Pachangeros alike. Maybe this has been around for some time but I didn’t get the memo, I found out about it by accident and by paying attention to all the significant things that happen in the world around me. Err, maybe it wasn’t an “accident”, let’s just call it approved-but-focused-violence. Above we see some weak kids crying about the fact they are going to have to bash and destroy their piñata friend, cuz that’s how they learn to grow up to be strong individuals that can take on the world. Rites of passage, they just need to be done.

Oh yeah, click ahead for the break-through (har har!) innovation that will turn parties upside down!

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Fin De Semana: Sat June 20, 2009

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fin

Please join us as LoveGalo & Jun-Keez proudly present:

FIN DE SEMANA
Art exhibit & photographic journal of an FDS Collaborative Piece Production

Featured artists
Envy, Krys, Kween, Opia,
Perl, Secret, Suny, Swoe, Yikes

Photography
Eriberto Oriol

Music/Live Performance
DJ 215 aka Charles X
The Leeches (7PM)

When
Saturday – June 20th, 2009
5PM – 9PM

Where
Jun-Keez
3908 Tweedy Boulevard
South Gate, CA 90280

Info
(323) 569-4020

Landscape Architecture 101

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It sometimes is good to have friends.  A couple of years back I was doing some paperwork in my ranfla down by one of my favorite places to access the LA river (EC has to know this one) when something caught my eye:

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Little neatly carved steps cut out of the clay earth that would easily be skipped by most.  Actually I skipped it for years, as I had been coming down here for decades and never noticed one of the places that makes LA so great.  So I got out of my carucha to investigate, because as many an Eastsider will tell ya: the river makes for good stories, even the most boring river moments are never dull.  As I walked over to the stairs I noticed a peculiar sign:

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This is the edited sign that is more public-friendly.  The original one I first saw read “don’t piss, shit in bamboo fucken crackhead assholes, no rocks here,” or something to that effect.  By this time I was enamored, the socio-barrio-urbanophile meter in me was registering off the charts, which has never let me down.

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What happened to Broadway?

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I am kind of sick of all this gentrification speculation about the Eastside being white-washed. It will take a lot more Clorox and wood-fire baked pizza to change East Los than yuppies have yet to offer in the American Southwest, so I don’t sit at home biting my nails that Nana will be evicted (well actually, she won’t, the house was paid for by Tata’s VA loan for pre-storming Normandy in WWII).  Even so, chuppies (chicano yuppies, a.k.a.  chicanos with degrees) have already gentrified these areas, but they are ingrained in the cultura and still buy elotes, so it isn’t as much a hard fit (in fact, I would say the same about Whites who are genuinely down with these areas).  Not that the genuine concerns of locals doesn’t matter or isn’t valid, but I think we need to focus on the tangible changes gentrification has already brought to the Latinoscapes of Los Angeles, specifically the Eastside’s center of gravity: Downtown.

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I am actually ALL for the demographic diversification of Los Angeles; even my beloved Eastlos with all its sheltered ethnic enclave delights.  The truth is the quality of life in East Los has degraded since its multicultural times of yore, and although ignorant pundits of conservative mantras have tried to pin it on Mexicans since the decline coincided with the rise in Latino immigration; it is much more obvious that the downward slide had much more to do with the middle class drain on the community that began with White Flight and continued with the ban on segregated housing covenants in 1955 (thats when my grandparents moved to the newer Maravilla housing tract on the Monterey Park/East Los border, as did many East Los middle class residents).  Along with the decline in more economically stable residents, came the decline and eventual outright withdrawal of Corporate America, and the amenities that come with them, from this area.  This decline in economic revenue as well as citizens with the resources to devote their extra time and energy to improving the community had a devastating toll on the community.

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