(Click on pic for larger flyer)
On Saturday September 27th, the We the People Festival 2008 is scheduled to take place over in that stretch of park between Chinatown and Lincoln Heights. And guess what? We have a few tickets to give away! Click ahead for the exciting details!
UPDATE: The Winners Are In!
Whether I’m on my way to school or work, there are somedays were cafe hits the spot. At school, I always have it with pan from my local “El Pavo” bakery and when I’m my way to work, I grab a cup at Jim’s Burgers on First street. I order myself a sunrise burrito with chorizo and have my breakfast waiting or on the bus. I tell ya, on a cold breeze morning, that cup of joe makes my day. It’s no wonder these old timers do the same thing. As I was waiting for my burrito, I over heard them talking to each other about some random topic that I’m sure got them all riled up.
They all had a cup of coffee in front of them, black and a carton of smokes in the middle. They have to be some tuff old men to still be drinking black coffee and smoking at their age. Hell, I hope to be able to still walk and form coherent thoughts by the time I get that age too. I shared a brief moment with those old timers. For a second there I was just like them, sitting down, drinking my coffee and reminiscing about the past. A second later I grab my burrito from the order window and rush to get on the bus. All the while taking sips from my morning cafe.
Saltado de Vegetales
I admit this restaurant is faraway from our beloved Eastside but I have been known to venture out of my neighborhood. I’ve been wanting to try Peruvian food for sometime now and this is one of my Whittier-dwelling brother’s favorite place to chow down. There are a few Peruvian restaurants in Hollywood but when I’ve scanned their menus, almost everything seemed to include meat. (I’ve also had this problem in Cuban restaurants). I was happy then to find El Rocoto in Cerritos has a vegetarian section on their menu, excellent!
You know who he is. He’s all over the local media. He’s written a book about himself, Orange County: A Personal History, and it’s reputed to be serious. He’s going to be signing it at Borders in Pico Rivera, at the corner of Washington and Rosemead, relatively convenient to Eastsiders. Starts at 7:00 PM. La Bloga has details. (He’s in OC on the 18th at Libreria Martinez, his home turf.)
El Grito
The annual El Grito celebration will take place tonight at City Hall. For those not in the know, here’s a description from a city website:
El Grito, which translates to “The Cry,” celebrates the cry for Mexican Independence from Spain. The annual tradition includes food, fun, and Mexico’s President ringing the bell that was originally used by the Mexicans who shouted the cry for independence that started the revolution in the early 1800s. El Grito has also become a Los Angeles tradition, with our city’s mayor sounding the chimes of freedom by ringing a bell at a local ceremony.
Of course, the real El Grito happens at the Zocalo in Mexico D.F, where pride of La Patria is taken seriously. Forget the words of the excruciatingly long national anthem and in Mexico you can be fined. Jenni Rivera, who infamously flubbed the lines at the Los Angeles Grito celebrations a few years ago was lucky to have an audience of fans who didn’t care.
Monday, September 15, 2008
El Grito festivities tonight at 7:00 p.m.
Los Angeles City Hall (200 N. Spring Street in Downtown Los Angeles)
Where are the flags?
Usually every year around El 16 de Septiembre, Mexican flags small and large can be seen waving from car windows, houses, poles and various other places around Los Angeles, except this year they aren’t. In fact, every year I notice less and less flags. Even after 9/11 in 2001 when everyone had the small American flags on their cars, I saw folks with Mexican and American flags. It seems though all the propaganda by anti-immigration groups and right-wingers has made Mexicans have second thoughts about displaying La Bandera Mexicana. Last year in Lincoln Heights around this time, I counted two flags on cars, this year not even one. In years previous, I couldn’t count the amount of Mexican flags I saw around town. How about the rest of you? Notice any difference this year?
One of my fondest memories growing up was going to the movies with my parents. Even in San Diego, we had our version of the Million Dollar Theatre, but ours was in Logan Heights.“El Coronet†was where Mexican cinema was a weekly Mecca for the culturally starved and homesick. It didn’t matter if I had a small Spanish vocabulary, at 8 years old I began to understand the tension between women and men giving into love, keeping their principles and resolving their differences to come together. All this visual-audio negotiation took place in a spectacular romantic Ranchera Musical, with fabulous costumes, handsome leading men and strong principled women. It was there that the emotionally charged scaled notes began to send chills up my spine, at the same time made my heart well up with cultural pride. My friend, John Santos an Afro-Cuban drummer told me he feels the same deep emotion when he hears bagpipes, because he is part Irish. Makes me wonder if sounds are also part of our genetic make-up. Denise Chavez’novel Loving Pedro Infante reaffirms that we Chicanitas learn about our ideal hombre through these icons of Mexican cinema.
(Horse riders on the San Gabriel River. Photo by permission of myself.) If you want a soundtrack, click play on the video below.
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There’s nothing like a tragedy to remind us that we are all on borrowed time, and hopefully we’ll try to make the most of the remaining stretch. Here’s a few blogs and posts I’ve been reading that put things into context.
Moon over at French Benefits writes about missing the 111 Metrolink train yesterday, that same one that hit a freight train and is now a fatal wreck. She worries if some of the fellow passengers she’s come to recognize are okay.
Miguel of The Los Angeles Eastside Scene sent out an email announcing that “life has gotten in the way of my blogging” thus he will no longer be hosting the monthly Latino blogger meetups. I know his site recently slowed down but I hope he doesn’t stop posting for good.
Alice Bag is putting her autobiography in process online over at her Violence Girl blog, and she’s up to her Stevenson Jr. High days. Retracing your steps to see where you have been in this life must be a good way to estimate what it’s all about.
On a similar note, Evil Chavo (no relation to yours truly!) recounts his experiences about life in City Terrace, casting himself as a “Survivor from the streets of ELA“. It’s sad that surviving your childhood neighborhood is such a common thread when Eastsiders write about their life stories, but that’s just the way it is. Still, I’d like to see more Eastsiders jotting down some notes about life on the Eastside, it definitely helps to fill in the wide gaps in the missing history of our part of town.
For those of you into good underground punk music check out San Pedro Based band “KIller Dreamer” this Sunday September 14, 2008 for their “1000 Years of Servitude” record release party.
Also check out the new copy of Razorcake, a non-profit magazine dedicated to supporting independent music culture.
This release is not rocking out in LA (which it should of been ) ha! but if you around the area peep it out.
Vinyl Solution Records and Tapes
18822 Beach Blvd Ste Blvd
Huntington Beach, Ca 92648
(714) 963-1919
6:30pm
FREE
Higher Education is something that shouldn’t be limited only to those who can afford it, it should be available to those who seek it and want to improve their lives. As of Sunday August 31, The Governor has Senate Bill 1301, Institutional Financial Aid on his desk waiting to be signed or vetoed, again. Various organizations and groups have been working to get the medias and publics attention on the bill and its importance to undocumented college students. Now there is an online petition in support of the bill and getting the governor to sign it. There are students right now attending community colleges and universities paying in-state tuition fees. All this bill will do is help make life easier and help those students pay for their education. It doesn’t take away from the state budget or other college students either.
Cemitas y Tacos, Cinco Puntos-East Los Angeles
Botanitas is an ongoing feature bringing you stories and news from various sources, upcoming events and other bits of ephemera that might be of interest to LA Eastside readers. Suggestions welcome!
Click ahead for more—>>>
This morning while reading the Times, I saw this story about the Landscaping Goats that were brought into Downtown L.A. to clear the weeds on an empty Hill Street lot. Wow, this I gotta see! So I grabbed some bus tokens and my camera and headed for Downtown… Continue reading
So its been a while since I’ve ventured into bloglandia. A ton of stuff has happened.
First and foremost, like I mentioned before, I went on vacation to Puerto Rico.
It was beautiful but I know for sure I am not a tropics guy. Hot and humid is not for me.
I did try to catch as much Olympic volleyball as I possibly could on vacation and when I got home, LOVE ME SOME VOLLEY BALL!
If I were to go back it would be to kick it in Cuelbra a small island next to PR. (for extended vacation pics and story go to pachucoville)
As soon as I got back the new semester started at CSUN. They enrolled a record 4,000 something Freshmen. Usual numbers were 2,500, but since there is an average 60-65% drop out rate by Junior year, and because of the recession, gas prices and the overall sad state of things I think the university thought they should bring in more Frosh to make up for even higher drop out rates in the future.
I got all freshmen course this semester and they are too cool. They are open to putting down the iPod and learning about the historical era they are living in. I hope I can keep their interest and not scare them too much.