Film screening of Laberinto de Fauno/Pan’s Labyrinth this Thursday, July 9 at 7:30. Short presentation on the Spanish Civil War before film. If these things don’t entice you to attend, there will be popcorn!
KIWA (Korean Immigrant Workers Alliance)
3456 w 8th St
Los Angeles, CA 90005
For more information on the Southern California Anarchist Conference, please see this website.
~ Mi Gatito~ Ofelia Esparza
So I’m walking home and I’m crossing the street and I see this couple crossing and the girl waving good bye behind her. I’m thinking she’s waiving to a friend but as I make my way across the sidewalk I don’t see anyone. I get to the corner only to see a BABY KITTY meowing under a sign for rotisserie chicken. Without even thinking twice about it I pick him up and the BABY KITTY starts purring and caressing me as if I was his mom. I’m an animal lover and when I saw that BABY KITTY standing there meowing, I knew I had to pick him up. I was going to go home and drop some stuff so I could take him to the animal shelter, but something interesting happened on my way home. Continue reading
He: Babe, I don’t have anything to wear to the Death Cab for Cutie show tonight at the Hollywood Bowl.
She: You should wear my pants. I don’t need them.
He: Thanks!
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.
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.
Piolin, the excitedly animated morning radio host, loved by many and hated by just as many, picked up the tab at the pump on Monday at Pronto Gas station in Boyle Heights.
The line of cars waiting for their free prize was like the line of people waiting to get their free $1 dollar bill from that priest in Downtown on Christmas – endless and not worth the wait, but entertaining to deliberate what people would do for free things and why.
Pronto Gas Station - Soto y Wabash
East LA school playground
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 below for Eastside punk podcasts, online river representation, sea monster slides, mixtapes and fun music events!
First impressions are everything and let me tell you, Tierra Mia Coffee left me wanting more. It just sucks that it’s in South Gate, not that there’s anything wrong with South Gate lol, it’s a little too far off my regular route here Boyle Heights. So how did I end up in South Gate in the first place ? Well I was on my way to malandrinas show a few weeks back, which was totally awesome and I ended up going to go check out the coffee house with my date. And because my friend works there and he would hook it up. You know how I do. While I only took a quick pic of my chocolate chip muffin and Horchata Frappe, the place was awesome. I was joking with the bartistas that I was glad to be in a coffee house where grande meant large. The place just had a great vibe to it. I didn’t outta feel outta place or like I was getting the stinky eye, like when I roll with friends to a crapbucks or shitty bean. It reminded of my P3000’s post about not having certain foods in the barrio. I WOULD LOVE for Tierra to come to Boyle Heights and East Los. Then I wouldn’t have to go to Highland Park to Antigua for free wifi. There is a need for a great coffee house here on the East side and after visiting Mi Tierra, I WANT MY COFFEE and WIFI. Hold the gentrification.
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!
Three people including a ten-year-old girl were shot in their Southern Arizona home by vigilante Minuteman racists. The little girl and her father died. If this happened to a black family in Alabama or a Jewish family anywhere in the USA what would be the consequences?
With the US economy in shambles and unemployment at record levels will the Mexican American population be the whipping boy for the countries ills? Will the FBI and Justice Dept now take a second look at these right wing militias and racist goons who seem to be turning more violent as their frustration with an African American President and a more multi-cultural society turns to rage and terrorism.
From the New York Times today:
New Border Fear: Militia Violence By JESSE McKINLEY and MALIA WOLLAN
“I had to take an oath, and part of the oath was that I couldn’t eat Mexican food,†he said. “That’s when red flags went up all over for me. That seemed like prejudice.â€Minutemen American Defense, a Washington State-based offshoot of the Minutemen movement, in which citizens roam the border looking for people crossing into the country illegally. Former members describe the group’s leader, Shawna Forde, 41, as having anti-immigrant sentiments that are extreme, at times frightening, even to people accustomed to hard-line views on border policing.â€