Oh look, that newspaper subscription I keep meaning to cancel has put out a new magazine. Hmm, maybe this time it’ll be a little more reflective of the larger Los Angeles and stop being so Westside Provincial? Haha. As the cover says: Dream On!
Category Archives: Rant
MOVIN’ ON UP (To The Eastside…)
Those of us close to E.L.A. and who know it first-hand are likely to view with pride the more positive aspects of our communities and recognize the successes rather than dwell on the failures. Nevertheless, we seem to perpetually suffer from dismal public perceptions that tend to focus on the negative. Continue reading
Religious advocates
Now I know that I’m stretching this post a wee considering this event took place in Downtown so please bear with me. No matter where you live, there is no shortage of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and other religious advocates preaching the word of their savior. I have no objections with their views or criticize their religion in any negative way. We all have the right to worship who ever we want without being burned at the stake. I just don’t appreciate it when they choose to take that love out of their homes and feel like sharing it with others, whether we like it or not. Continue reading
Which Guey, L.A.
While walking in Echo Park today, I discovered this little free fold-out map & shopping guide…. Continue reading
Life outside the eastside
There is a trend among immigrants that shows that more and more of them are moving to more mid-western areas of the U.S. rather than living in major cities like Los Angeles. My family is proof of that. This weekend I’m visiting my parents here in the greatness that is Utah after leaving the nest egg to find my own way through life a year ago. There’s nothing like a 14 hour road trip to calm the mind and spirits. It’s also a good time to reflect and rethink things in life like school, work, relationships and all that good stuff. The change of scenery and clean air certainly are a welcomed changed as well. Life in L.A. is hard and fast. It’ll drain you of your youth and spirit and leave you a husk of a person bitter and brittle. That’s why they decided to move.
Invisible Heights
It’s pretty common for me to have to explain the placement of Lincoln Heights in Los Angeles. Â Most are oblivious to its very existence. Â After the jump is a sample conversation:
Is your hood currently suffering from a hipster infestation?
My friend “Bagel†sent me a link today to an article that breaks it down about hipsters or as “Bagel†calls them hamsters. ADBUSTERS’ main article and cover title are “HIPSTER: THE DEAD END OF CIVILIZATIONâ€
You can read the entire article HERE.
Side Note: My man aka “Mi Osito” mentions, “When hipsters move in, property values go up but so does rent unfortunately. Hipsters are much better protected by police which could make it safer for everyone in the hood. Culture, however, is under constant threat.”
Serving the people, my ass
Shit is going down in Cudahy in the name of keeping the political status quo.
Since 1999, Cudahy did not have contested elections until 2007, when two newcomers, Daniel Cota and Luis Garcia, ran for positions in the City Council and lost by a few dozen votes. A third newcomer, Tony Mendoza, was forced out of the race after receiving death threats against him and his family.
A year after that election, Cota and Garcia decided to run for office again and set up their 2009 election website a few weeks ago. Last week, Garcia’s house was firebombed (video taken by a security camera), burning the outside of his home and one of his trucks. Below is a picture of Garcia and the damage done to his truck, from the L.A. Now blog.
What’s incredible is that this is the SIXTH time since the past election that he has been vandalized at home. His truck has been showered with gallons of paint four times and two weeks ago, a brick sailed through his window. Continue reading
The voice that announces stops on the bus
A few weeks ago I noticed something odd about the voice that announces the stops on the bus, it was happy. For those of you who haven’t been on the public limo, there is a voice that announces upcoming stops to passengers in a cold and robotic tone of voice, kinda like a Mr. Spell and Speak. I was in Hollywood with a friend and during our ride I noticed that voice was ecstatic when announcing the Hollywood stops. It’s something that stands out right away to any regular bus rider because the voice goes from its boring,deep, low tone to a energetic,happy high tone right away. I pointed it out to my friend and she noticed the difference as well. Well once I got home later that day I sent Metro an email on July 2 asking a few questions about the voice recording and how it works. On July 21 I received the following reply, (Note: I removed my real named and replaced it with my blog name)
Dear El Random Hero,
The stop announcements are manually recorded, but they are triggered automatically when the vehicle comes to a stop. When a stop is established, the stop is geo-coded (lat/long location) that defines the stop. The lat/long location is used to create a trigger box (typically 100-250′ from the lat/long point). Whenever the bus enters the trigger box, the vehicle will make the announcement (assuming the operator is running a schedule that uses that particular stop). Some trigger boxes are longer than others to account for a stop which may be a very heavy transit stop and shared by many lines (transit centers, airports, USG, etc.). We appreciate your inquiry and this opportunity to respond.
Metro Customer Relations
In my questions I neglected to ask about the voice recordings accent and tone of voice because I didn’t think it would be an appropriate question to ask. If I did I would basically have to ask “Why does the voice sound sad and depressed when announcing ethnic streets in more urban areas and sound high class in fancier areas ?” My hypothesis is that it’s because it’s the Hollywood line. I imagine the city wants to keep some sort of quality control to keep tourist coming back and to not scare them away. But honestly, you would think that someone involved in the recording process must have corrected the person recording on how to properly pronounce a simple street name, that’s what dictionaries are for right ? Either way I still get a kick out of that voice botching up names like Cesar E. Chavez, Rampart and of course Hollywood !!!  Â
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Barbie vs. Bratz
Mattel prevails in Bratz copyright trial
Jury rules toy maker owns original drawings for doll’s design
LOS ANGELES – Barbie and Bratz dolls are sisters, a jury has decided in a major victory to Mattel Inc., the world’s largest toymaker, in its copyright infringement lawsuit against rival MGA Entertainment Inc.
The federal jury decided Thursday that the designer of MGA’s Bratz characters conceived the idea for the dolls while working for Mattel — a ruling that could mean millions of dollars for the Barbie maker when the jury considers possible damages during a separate proceeding.
Mattel filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Riverside against MGA, which began marketing the hugely popular Bratz line of sassy urban dolls in 2001. Mattel has claimed it owned the rights to the Bratz line because its creator, Carter Bryant, came up with the concept while working for El Segundo-based Mattel.(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25727928/) Continue reading
“La Crisis”
After I deposited some long over due client checks at the ATM outside of Lucy’s Laundry Mart, I went over to the fruit cart to get my custom bag of fruit with lime, salt and chile. I hadn’t been in a minute. I was excited.
As a solopreneur, I have for sure felt the blow of this f-ed up economy. I figured its summer timers and the fruit cart biz must be a booming, right? WRONG!
I started up convo with the fruit cart man and asked him what time he’s usually done for the day. He said that sometimes he’s there until 6pm. I was like really?! I told him I thought with it being Summer timers he’d be done by mid-afternoon. He said that most summers its like that but not now with “la crisisâ€, making people pinch every penny.
Damn.
Churros
Walking down Cesar Chavez yesterday to go see my friend at work I was thinking, “Man I could sure go for a churro right about now. That sweet,greasy stick always hits the spot anytime, anywhere.” Just as I think my hunger for churros will go unfulfilled, I see a man and his cart standing in front of the Big Buy full of churros. Four for a dollar he yelled and like Batman to the bat-signal, I grab a dollar from my pocket and with a smile on my face I asked him to help me fulfill my sugary craving. The vendor was an older looking man, late ’40s early ’50s, he had a light beer smell to him, possibly budweiser and looked as if he just crawled from under a pickup truck. Despite his rugged appearance I didn’t hesitate as I took a bite of my churro, still warm and soft as it was recently made. The man told me that his suegra had rushed him out the door to go and sell after she finished making them. He asked her if he could have one more beer before he left the house, but no dice. Across the street from him other people were selling other various foods and random items. On Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday it gets packed on that side walk with people buying food and just enjoying themselves. However I digress from my point, which is that no matter what your craving there will be someone in a cart or stand selling what ever your craving for a reasonable price and extremely delicious. I <3 Boyle Heights. Â