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!
Lots of events this weekend! Click thru to view.
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Wyverwood Village, Los Angeles, 1939
Architects David J. Witmore and Loyal Watson landscaping by Hammond Sadler
From the book L.A. in the Thirties 1931-1941 by David Gebhard and Harriette Von Breton, 1975.
I don’t know what I did or what I said but whatever it is, someone out there loves me and is watching out for me. Today was an unusual day that could have taken a turn for the worse, but thanks to the Metro Freeway Service Patrol, it ended nicely. My friend calls me up asking me to help her take one of the dogs to the vet because the cabeson broke his leg last week. We get there, drop him off and make our way to a gas station because my friend didn’t put oil in her car and it was smoking harder than a hipster at an art show. ZING!!
“The greatest thing you have is your self image, a positive opinion of yourself.
You must never let anyone take it from you.”
-Jaime Escalante, Educator
Decorative inscription at Eastside Metro Gold Line Station, 3rd Street & Mednick.
When I first saw Made in L.A. last year after it won an Emmy, it hit a soft spot in me to say the least. When my father first came to this country way back in the ’90s to pave the way for the rest of the family to make it over, he worked in one of those garment factories. I remember those days because of where we lived, how we lived and my father telling us later on, in his drunken ramblings, how much he hated that work when he was doing it. Yet, he did it and put up with it because that was what he needed to do in order to get the job done, so to speak.
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We know our trends… at least when it comes to footwear.
I realized that Chimatli’s April Fool’s Day joke came true when I got an email from a shoe store about the hot new sandals: huaraches!
Huaraches, both flats and those hideous heels, range in cost from $99.95 (or the actual retail price of $169) to $24.95 (actual retail $36).
I’m sure you can get a much better deal at el Mercadito, right?
On the way into the venerable Rosemead swapmeet, we get soothed by the melancholy sounds of a man and his accordion, singing for us to “let him cry, because he’s wounded”. Actually, he’s just singing an old favorite “Dejenme Llorar” by Los Freddy’s, a popular hit in the 70’s but which resonates just a bit more since this musico appears to be blind.
Entrance line, accordion, crying, wounds, tips, 75¢ entrance fees, tickets, ticket takers: it all happens so fast that you can only get a snippet. Probably the musico doesn’t care, it’s the way he makes his money. But still, I could have waited a bit to catch some more. Oh well, la vida sigue pasando, en chinga y de aprisa.
If your car windows get busted or you need a new yanta Mission Road got all that plus more. The gritty street starts near the 10 fwy around the vicinity of 7th street, and runs north turning into Huntington Dr. There are homes on some parts of Mission Road, but it is mostly industrial buildings and one giant man. Oh I can’t forget the El Pato Hot Sauce Factory on Mission, thanks El Pato the food I made today with you was yummy.
Google photo
I was driving down Mission just off Cesar Chavez and stopped to take some pictures. I just wanted to explore the cuts and crevasses around and see what I would run into.
The proper term for this iced coffee is ca phe sua. I know everyone has their favorite spot for Vietnamese ca phe sua. What makes Mr. Baguette’s iced coffee so amazing is it is made with espresso and not just regular brewed coffee. Brewed coffee often gets watered down in the process of getting iced and loses a lot of body and flavor, not Mr. Baguette’s version. This iced coffee is thick, intense and not too sweet. I can only manage a few sips, otherwise I’m bouncing off the wall and my mouth never shuts up. You have been warned!
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Just yesterday, around 4pm I attended an event at Lincoln High School commemerating the 40th Anniversary of MEChA. A close friend told me that they’re be some bands playing for free so I decided to show (even with my problems with Identity-Politiks groups).
Bring a t-shirt and we’ll silkscreen it for free at the Brewery Art Walk (yes, the world has turned on it’s head!) from 11-2pm.
Sticks and Stones
at The Brewery
2100 N Main
A-15 (In the Atrium.)
Breathing real life into new media. The People’s Public Transit Bureau and LA Eastside will be having an open discussion on aspects of race, culture and new media. Opening the weekend of the annual Brewery Spring Art Walk. April 18th and 19th. 11:00am-6:00pm.
Play in the sandbox with People’s Public Transit Bureau and the LA Eastside.
If you’re planning to throw a real party sometime soon, might I suggest you invest a buck or two for a few balloons? (If you insist -yet again- on just breaking out your Trader Joe’s stash for that predictable spread of cheese n shit n crackers n wine, then you can skip the balloons.) Them gassy rubber orbs always scream festive-ness, they can brighten up anything! For example, this box that reads “No drugs or money kept in box, blood and urine specimens only” is 4 times as cheerful as it would be under normal conditions. Yay! Party!
A few more “specimen” after the jump.