Name three works of fiction about Los Angeles by three different authors.
or
How many spots do you see?
Everyday in LA No. 3
16
Everyday in LA No.2
Question: What Korean dish is this?
(Answer correctly and your name will be entered into a drawing for a slightly used black, rolling office chair delivered to your home or office. Contest runs January 3 – 9. Winner will be chosen and announced on Sunday, January 10.)
8th Annual Nacimiento Tour
Bad ass urban planner James Rojas, co founder of the Latino Urban Forum, guided angelinos on a tour of nacimiento altars located throughout East L.A. Apparently, from what Victoria D. told me, this is the 8th year he’s doing this and with the gold line up and running, he opted to guide us to adjacent nacimiento altars at various stops. She said that in previous years, the tour was given on bikes. I for one was excited to go on the tour out of curiosity of what the tour would involve, what we would see and expanding my mind to new ideas and concepts and guess what ? Since VD took some pics, you get to come along too. I’ll be your online tour guide of a tour I was part of. Isn’t that kick ass ? You bet your ass it is. I seem to be using the word ass a lot. Sorry 🙂 Continue reading
Everyday in LA
Everyday in LA is a daily photography post. Â A snapshot of the city with a weekly drawing. Photos will be posted with questions and readers will be asked to leave their answers in the comments sections.
Here’s the first photo:
Question: What are the three landmarks pictured here?
(Answer correctly and your name will be entered into a drawing for a slightly used black, rolling office chair delivered to your home or office. Â Contest runs January 3 – 9. Â Winner will be chosen and announced on Sunday, January 10.)
LA Eastside in Review 2009
I hereby declare 2009 year of the Eastside!
It was in this past year that there was finally some awareness on both sides of the river that the name the Eastside had been misappropriated by a confused bunch of folks. Thanks to the Los Angeles Times article on the Eastside, the “This is Not the Eastside” stickers pasted by unknown propagandists all over Silver Lake, and to the efforts of Eastside artists, writers, bloggers and the countless others who have publicly reclaimed and reaffirmed Eastside culture and geography, I finally felt like we have turned a corner. Many battles were won and those who ignorantly used the Eastside to refer to those neighborhoods west of the river were put in check.
As promised, here’s a look back at some of the more popular posts of 2009. I used the number of comments as a way to gage popular posts only because this blog doesn’t have the software to definitively check for hits and links. There were so many great posts written this past year that didn’t get a huge amount of comments but were excellent and thought provoking nonetheless. I encourage readers to go back through the archives and check some of the posts you might have missed.
Lincoln Heights Xmas Parade 2009
The Lincoln Heights Xmas Parade was as exciting as ever, probably way better than the HLP one since I’ve heard no reports back from that event. If somehow, for some strange reason, you managed to miss it, follow the link below to check it out. Yes, a bit late but whatever. You know you wanna.
Too much of a good thing
Normally, I don’t over do it when it comes to food. Moderation is key to enjoying good food or anything else in life, but that goes out the window on special occasions like the holiDAZE. I spent them with my fam this year and I forgot how much great food is cooked, for example baby lamb. They wanted to bring in the new year with some barbacoa, which is hard to find again since the guys on Breed St. had to relocate. With soo much great food around it’s easy to over do it and over do it I did. In fact, I had nightmares of being in a drive by and getting a beat down from women I’ve pissed off in the past. Freaky stuff to say the least. Even Victoria D. said she had the same experience from eating so much rich food. Anyone else had freaky dreams from all the good times they had these last few days ?
Happy 2010!
I’m in the midst of writing an end of the year wrap up post but it’s time to go have some fun, ring in the new year and say goodbye to the miserable decade behind us.
So for now, I want to wish all the readers and contributors of LA Eastside a happy and safe new year!
I’d also like to mention, this week we reached a milestone of 10,000 comments – and it seems there is so much more that needs to be said! We’ll be here in 2010 to fulfill all your commenting needs.
Pour One for Joe Reyes Nevarez
Joe Reyes Nevarez, 98, died Monday, December 28, 2009.
Beloved father and groundbreaker, Joe Nevarez was an important figure in the Latino media community of Los Angeles. He was the first Chicano reporter for the Los Angeles Times newspaper. Joe’s career began at eastside’s Lincoln High School, where he was the Sports Editor of the school’s daily paper. His career at the L.A. Times began as a copy boy, when a student friend/co-writer and head copy boy at the Times, offered him a job. Joe’s official job was to paste up New York Stock Exchange quotations, but his love of the news process and hard working ethics, often found him volunteering in the financial section of the paper during his free time. He was paid $12 for a six-day week, yet felt so blessed to be working during the darkest part of the Depression.
Throughout his career Nevarez always urged the LA Times to hire Latino reporters, but his editors always told him there wasn’t anyone who was trained.
Nevarez came to the United States as a three-month-old when his mother crossed the Mexican border into El Paso in 1912. When he was older, he attended a Spanish Catholic school in Texas. Joe didn’t speak English until he moved to Los Angeles and was enrolled into an English grammar school. He became a U.S. citizen in 1925. In 1942 Joe served as a typist and clerk for 3 years in the Army Air Corp, and naturally one of his duties was representing his squadron by reporting for the army base newsletter.
He and his wife, Theresa Juarez Nevarez, had three children: Margaret, Daniel and Cecilia. Though Joe Nevarez never attended college, he made sure all three of his children went. Upon graduation his daughters entered the education field (one as a high-school counselor and the other as a teacher), his son worked at the Internal Revenue Service.
Joe Nevarez worked for The Los Angeles Times for a total of 52 years, during which time he also was a founding member of the California Chicano News Media Association. He said he was   happiest in the newsroom. “There’s nothing better than being a reporter,” Nevarez said. “There’s something new everyday.”
On January 6, 2010, a Memorial Service will be held at the St. Stephen Catholic Church for Joe Reyes Nevarez. http://www.archdiocese.la/directories/parishes/info.php?parish_id=277, followed by a burial at Resurrection Cemetery.
Don’t go see Avatar
All I keep reading on facebook is “have you seen Avatar ? It’s soo good. ” “OMG you gotta go see Avatar, it’s even better in 3-D, truly a great film with a great message to reflect on.” Enough already puez, geez, I get it, it’s a good movie that is exploiting what other movies have done in the past and sensationalized issues about race, nature, militarism and all that good stuff. I haven’t seen the film, so I won’t go into detail about how the movie goes into ” ‘white’ people guilt or how ‘white’ people see racial identity’ ” and all that mumbo jumbo like other people are jumping on. Which I find interesting to read and they do make a point every now and then. No, I am boycotting this movie, at least until it comes out on DVD or cable tv because I have seen other movies do WAY better with less, making the same statements about nature, human relations and some of the other topics people loved in Avatar.
I bring to your attention the works of Hayao Miyazaki. It’s hard to express the passion and love I have for all of his works, mostly because I grew up on some of them and they were my first forays into anime, which it still going strong today. I can go on and on about how all of his movies say more with their endearing characters, beautiful hand drawn scenes that to me will always surpass what ever computer technology can create. These are movies that are from the heart, made with passion and created to astonish and amaze the audience. These movies really do tug at the heart strings and can make almost anyone shed a little tear. Not only that, but these movies are perfect for kids as well. Even his current release, “Ponyo,” which didn’t do great at the box office was nothing short of amazing and captivating. I loved that movie !!! So if you haven’t seen the movie yet, save your money and go rent some of his movies and if you have seen it, then go rent some of his movies anyway. You’ll thank me for it later.
Resistance Is Fertile: Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Clause. Except…
Previously on Resistance Is Fertile:
Kraft Cheez Tamal
For those that were breathlessly waiting for a follow-up, here it is. Birth of a new tradition? Another hint at the end times? Pre-post-post-Chicano food? Whatever this means, yours truly, despite the yucks and boos from the gathered crowd, went ahead with the making of a Kraft Cheez tamal. You know, that food-like orangey product in individual slices. The verdict: hey, that’s not so bad! I did add some rajas and papas to the mix, so that made it worthwhile. But it kinda failed cuz I thought it would be all melty but instead it just globbed up, maybe singles aren’t meant for a 2 hour steam bath. Hmm, on second thought, maybe I should have added 2 slices.
No te hagas, you know you want some.