Sadly, I heard no tamborazo echo through the neighborhood last night. Perhaps due to La Crisis, I hear less mariachis, tamborazos or other live music at the parties that dot the Eastside during these holiday times. Well, thankfully for Youtube, I can listen to tamborazo this morning. For me, it’s not Christmas without tamborazo and I’m not even from Zacatecas! Seriously, I should have been up drinking ponche and dancing to that crazy bass drum all night! Que lastima…
By the way, this group is from right here in Lincoln Heights. They have a cool little van they travel around in with their name stylishly painted on the side in Mexican blackletter.
TAMBORAZO MILPILLAS DE LA SIERRA
Los Angeles, California
Para Contrataciones:
Tel:(323)222-3662 or (323)479-7966
The Tamalada is on! Over at my local Big Saver the after work/pre-tamalada crowds were doing the rounds: picking through the tomatillos, looking for the biggest bag of hojas with nicely shaped husks, contemplating investing in one of those large steamers with the false bottom (at $15 they are worth every penny), making the tough decision of going with the cheaper and milder California chiles or going for broke with the Guajillos. And if you make the queso con rajas tamales then you also have to think about the price range of your cheese, be it the classy and expensive Tillamook or the cheapo but affordable no name blocks. (Is it Henry’s? Dave’s?)Â Right by the entrance turnstile was a huge display of masa preparada, but I’ll pass on that and the lard within. I’m sticking to maseca. One of these years I’m going to find a place that sells masa preparada without the lard, because we really need to know. And I bet the place that starts this novel concept is going to get lots of business. I was hoping to do a post on that topic this year but I guess it will have to wait. If you missed it, or if you’re just a pocho that refuses to make your own, check out my post from last year where I covered a few of the tamales available on the Eastside. Maybe by next year I will once again be unemployed and finally have the time to finish some of these post ideas. One can dream.
Above you see some of my basics, and yes, I do use tofu in my red sauce tamales. Plus I add papas. And green olives. It’s better than it sounds. I also make a standard tamal of pasilla rajas/queso/tomatillo salsa that is basic but satisfying. But this year I’m going to invent something new, something for the Chicano kitchen. The kraft cheeze tamal? Yup, that’s going to be created by me. Hay les digo que tal.
So how do you make yours? May your pot gather steam and your masa set properly. Those are my sincerest wishes to you.
This photo is of my Great Uncle Hector who along with my grandmother (there is a photo of her in the same spot) lived in Lincoln Heights for one summer sometime in the late 1930s. The photo was taken on the side of one of the hills that surround Lincoln Heights. I think my uncle said the cat was named Johnny.
And from his Gap sweater came tumbling a cascade of poly-blend silk roses, which left an iconic piece imprinted on his cotton finery. Spotted near the Tepeyac of City Terrace, aka Hazard Ave.
At the center of this city of ours, El Centro de Los Angeles, the flowers bloom for reals.
I’ve been on many tours in the Los Angeles area most of them have been usually run by the Los Angeles Conservancy. I usually expect people my age to think it is lame or cheesy to go on a tour, but I figure I get to learn new facts and history regarding my own city. The majority of the things I’ve learned on these tours most people who grew up in Los Angeles don’t even know or bother to know. I take it as an educational experience in our own backyard.
What annoys gentrifying hipsters the most? When other, slightly different gentrifiers show up and ruin their exclusive party. Check out this post from that fairly new music store in Echo Park called Origami, they need your support to take back some bar:
OK, I have lived in Echo Park for about 9 years. I use to frequent the Shortstop about every other day back when they allowed dancing…The place was fucking amazing then. Lot’s of cool art kids, punks, and dub heads…Once the dancefloor got shut down, we started to frequent the bar less and less. We found ourselves hitting the Gold Room for free tacos and a shot with all the old Latinos, which was kinda sketchy at times- I’m pretty sure few white kids dared venture in back then…Once the Shorty got it’s dancefloor reopened we started to go back. But it just wasn’t the same. It had this bridge and tunnel feel to it… it just seemed to take on this USC college crowd thing.
Now how funny is that? And they even managed to throw in a “bridge and tunnel” reference, which I hear is a New York thing (nah, really?) but I wouldn’t doubt if they start using it with some more local connotations, what with all our bridges and new tunnel. I wonder if they’ll also get called out for bringing up race issues, just as Chimatli was for her story of how Echo Park had changed since before the gentrification started? Besides this brief mention, I suspect not. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t particularly care about any of those bars and if they manage to Take it BACK, well good for them. Vanquish the B&Ts! But I think I’m just going to sit on the sidelines while they “make it cool” again, crack open a beer, and watch this comedic battle unfold. Ja. Ja.
If this wasn’t so hilarious, it’d be pretty fucking sad. Or is it the other way around?
“She’s the epi… epitome of conservativeness…if the republican party doesn’t back her, it doesn’t matter because she’s gone get the presidency!”
“We do need to have profiling. I mean, the politically correctness has got to get out now. I mean, we are americans. She sticks up for the american people not for other people. We’re first, other people last.”
Did you get that? The “Other people.” Dumbfounded. This video is comedy gold. Well, maybe not. I thought of John Taylor Gatto’s book Dumbing Us Down. I thought of the hundreds of seniors at Roosevelt High who read at fifth grade level. I thought how in Mexico or Cuba, I am almost shocked at the level of discourse, because I don’t experience that level often with the strangers I meet here. When was the last time you were asked about Twain and Emerson and Langston Hughes? “So what, those are poor countries. USA #1!” What’s my point? Don’t have one, but I have a question:
Who are these people? Is this “middle america”? The “heartland of america.” Are those racist terms still used? Where are we? We, of the barrio? In the buttland? Where is this wonderful place, so often called “america?” Never been there.
Was it the editing? Why can’t they form complete sentences? I mean, uhm, well, uhm… Here are some of the greatest unintended one-liners in the history of media, in all their mostly monosyllabic glory. The Steelers dude is timeless.
Don’t get me right, that shit’s also right here in east los, en masse! Am I castigating mi gente? Everybody is mi gente, numskull! I’m fucking tired of people talking without saying anything. I said I’m tired! What chew gone do, blame lausd? Please. You with your ipod and latest fashion bullshit, but can’t give directions to save your life. “Uhm…Duh…I dunno…like, two blocks, no no three, then uhm…” Shit! And I’m not even talking about high school students!
I want to thank Mrs. Pa(l)in for helping cast a bright light on the dim bulbs. These suckers support her ignorance. “Hey, look, someone as stupid as meself can be president, she don’t know shit like me, she gots my vote. Go Sarah Go.” I know there are videos of the current president’s supporters, but he knows how to formulate common sentences. How elitist of me? Me and my City Terrace uppity ways, barrio couture, and plastic spoon upbringing. Is a complete sentence a bad thing? What about a thought? Fuck!
Am I being too harsh? I’ve been called that before, in fact, on this blog. Like all my other posts, I could give a… uhm… huh…anda…uhm…
As some of you might know, The City of Los Angeles is the invited guest at this year’s La Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara appropriately taking place in Guadalajara, Mexico this weekend. There will be quite a few Eastside and other Los Angeles writers and artists heading down to participate in the various musical offerings, panel discussions and lectures. In particular, the Vexing exhibition will be making an appearance and artists Sandra de la Loza and Shizu Saldamando will be presenting Eighteen With a Bullet.
I recently returned from a trip to Guadalajara and have a warning for those heading down for the events. The GDL airport does not have x-ray equipment to search your checked-in luggage on your way back. Passenger luggage is picked through and examined by young, tough women with immaculate eye make-up who dig and pull your items from the suitcase in full view of everyone in the airport lobby. Be prepared and don’t end up like the poor ranchero who made a whole line of people gasp when a large homegrown camote was discovered and pulled out from the recesses of his bursting suitcase.
In case you are wondering what Guadalajara and Los Angeles have in common (that is, besides the hundreds of thousands of people that consider both of these cities home) you can buy Suavitel in both places. The guy who tried to bring his camote to Los Angeles obviously didn’t know this because the luggage examiner also pulled out a large bottle of the laundry detergent from his suitcase only to have the line of Tapatio-Angeleno passengers tsk tsk his ignorance. Hey, these things are good to know, right?
Just came across this blog following some of the LA folks in Guadalajara: Blogalajara, Vexico.
Hola Amigos,
Been reading your site since I moved to the east side last year, it’s just so different and cool here, you know? Pops doesn’t visit, but he’s just too into his cookie cutter suburban life. I love seeing the abuelitas pushing their laundry as I’m having my morning coffee. It’s just so real and authentic.
Checking out the opening of the mta east side extension this weekend with my bros, but I can’t figure out where the the Silver Lake or Echo Park stations are located. Is there like a shuttle or something? Maybe we can add Little Joy to the pub crawl, they have an awesome new mural that’s super sweet. Hook us up with the details, we want to check out the fiesta! Viva la east side!
Photo via
