As
I stepped out of the restaurant and began my walk down East Cesar Chavez Street
I immediately noticed how much commotion was going on around me. After walking
two blocks I had watched two police cars speed by me and heard multiple
ambulances going off. Even the sidewalk was bustling with people; hanging
outside of their stores with their families offering items to sell. It seemed
that the local economy of the area was one based off of family run clothing
stores, cell phones shops, and restaurants. As I continued my walk I turned
left up two blocks and started getting into residential areas, which consisted
of 2 or 3 bedroom townhouses often 4 or 5 of them on a block. The houses did
not have any landscaping and some of them could have used a little restoration.
There seem to be no spaced wasted in this area. After reading a PBS article
online called East L.A.: Past and Present
by Tomas Benitez I gained insight into powerful history of this community.
During the 1960’s it was the center for the Chicano Rights movement and then
unfortunately by the 1980’s the community was riddled with crime and gang
violence. Despite the ups and downs of the area it is often noted for it’s
strong family relations. Most families that demonstrated upward social mobility
moved out of the area and into Orange County during this harsh time and as of
recent the area is experiencing gentrification. In the reading One Emergence of Postsuburbia: An
Introduction they support this fact when they state “Unlike the traditional
suburb, Orange County of the 1970’s mixed large poor neighborhoods, including
several Mexican Barrios, with middle- and upper-class neighborhoods. This new post
suburban spatial form, which we characterize later in this chapter, was
pioneered in Los Angeles…”
Something I found to be very interesting
was that for these Angelino’s this strip of East Cesar Chavez street was the
center of town for them despite the fact that Downtown Los Angeles was just a
little ways west of them. After accumulating this knowledge I was able to
solidify my understanding of the effects of the Fourth Urban Revolution. Los Angeles is a perfect example of a
metro-polar city, considering it’s fractured social geography. Despite the fact
Downtown Los Angeles, which is often confused for the ‘center’ of L.A, was
almost as close to these people as East Cesar Street, this road was substantially
more of a town center for them. Also, after wandering through this neighborhood
I eventually found myself stumbling upon Little
Tokyo, which was far different than the part of East L.A I was just in.
This really displayed the checkerboard urban planning of this city. There was
truly no similarity between the two area’s despite the fact they were only
separated by a couple of blocks.
As
I visit and read more about different parts of L.A I really see how this city
is revolutionary in the eyes of a cultural geographer. It strays away from the
Chicago School model that was once so central in the study of cities.
Hey Patrick,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting blog post. I myself have never made it to East Los Angeles either, but I would like to at some point during this project. Yet, your use of imagery and pictures certainly helped make me feel like I was there. It gives me something to look forward to.
After hearing about East LA, I can't help but think about this week's reading on the riots and their aftermath regarding insurance. The areas you describe make me envision angry mobs harassing others and looting businesses. Scary stuff. I'm sure the police cars are a familiar site in that part of the city, especially because of the gang warfare.
I feel that gangs are the real effects of social difference in the city. Humans are animals, ones that are powered by the need to protect and provide for their families. Our overtly social nature has us group together, and sometimes on the opposing side. This leads to violence and death. Yet, through education and rehabilitation, it would seem that these could be both avoided and fixed. Humans are intelligent, but why can't we listen?
One of the answers could be that these groups that distribute drugs and fight over turf are forgotten by society. They are the underclass. Like what was described in lecture this week, communities have created barriers that discourage or prevent exit from these areas. It's sad, really. The American Dream tells people that they can be anybody and rise up and do anything. It would appear that everything has limits.
And everything has its breaking point, which is what lead to the riots described in The New York Times piece. These people had been ignored for years. The only way they could be heard was through violence. The ironic part is that the property they were damaging was that of their own. Business that served this underclass and homes that housed them were destroyed. Just as a child acts out, a group of angry people can be irrational as well.
The only thing I would have liked in your post would have been more about Little Tokyo. I know that you were concentrating on East LA, but it would have been cool to see the contrast between the two areas that are so close together. But overall, you wrote a fine piece.
-Paul Kaufman
This week I will comment on a fellow classmates' visit to East Los Angeles East LA was a great choice for this week as is accompanied week 4’s reading about social difference and class. Now that we are finally beginning to discuss social difference in our class we can tie certain areas of LA to the differences we discuss each week. This week’s readings discussed the disadvantages of the poor or those in poverty as well as the liberal and conservative views on social difference and how capitalism plays a role in urban areas.
ReplyDeleteBeing an LA native, and going to East Los Angeles several times to visit family or grab a bite to eat I understand my classmates’ description of the area with the small family run shops, the great amount of activity, and the very dense blocks of older homes. You do also occasionally see police squad cars and ambulances, but it is not really a place full of constant gang warfare like the person who commented believes it to be. Police cars and sirens are not a “familiar site” as referred to by the commentator, these could have been attributed to a car accident, a fire, nearby hospitals, or even a non-gang related dispute. I hear sirens and helicopters by UCLA all the time because of the hospital, not necessarily because it is full of gang warfare.
East Los Angeles has a bad reputation for crime and violence due to the gangs and poverty in nearby areas so people sometimes go into the area with a negative mind-set which is unfortunate because it is a place which is full of culture and decent hard-working people like you and I, the only difference is that they are going through different struggles which places them in these situations thus creating the social differences we are learning about.
I wish that my classmate would have incorporated this weeks readings into his analysis and comparison because I feel like they had a lot of points he could have used to illustrate the social differences and how they came to be in this area. For instance, “...that heterogeneous grouping of families and individuals who are outside the mainstream of the American occupational system. Included in this group are individuals who lack training and skills and either experience long-term unemployment or are not members of the labor force, individuals who are engaged in street crime and other aberrant behavior...” (Wilson, 187) The people in East Los Angeles and areas like it are outside of the mainstream occupational system either because they lack education, money to require resources (loans) or the ability to work legally due to their immigration status. This is one of several reasons why they might be living and working here, because they are spatially separated into their own community where they can make a living despite their situations. “These increasing rates of social dislocation signified changes in the social organization of inner city areas.” (Wilson, 186) These people thrive in their community.
Hi Patrick,
ReplyDeleteI want to respond on your week 4 post about East Los Angeles and its social economy. You mentioned that there were families offer items to sell outside of their house, and there was no space wasted in the area, which led me to think about how the residents in East Los Angeles seem to organize their life around their home. Their home has become the center for economic resources, entertainment and living quarter. However, at the same time, you mention that the East Cesar Chavez Street was the center of the town. If I tied this phenomenon to their culture practice, Latino families seem to display a strong sense of community in both private and public space. The family is the first center where all household members put in their labor to contribute to the family as a whole. The strong sense of “working together” further move to a public space as well, where there is still a bigger bond outside of the family. This social phenomenon I find is very distinctive than the typical American individualism.
I would like to ask your opinion. Do you think that strong sense of family relations have helped these families move up to the social ladders? In this case, move out to Orange County from East Los Angeles. Or do you think the strong social tie hinder personal development. Supposedly, a strong family tie is an excellent support system for all the members of the family; Yet, when I try to recall a friend’s experience, it wasn’t always the case. My friend, who was a classmate from East Los Angeles College, had missed her mid-term because she had to take her younger brother. Sometimes a strong family relation can also mean responsibility too.
-(Emily) Oi Lam
Hi Patrick,
ReplyDeleteI am Kei, taking the same class of "Cities and Differences".
I enjoyed to read your blog, and in the reading I found certain interesting points to discuss. There are two points that I can strongly agree while there is a point that I disagree with what you are trying to say. I would like to share the points that can be considered as important in many means.
Firstly, you mentioned "One Emergence of Postsuburbia: An Introduction" to support the argument about the movement of people in LA. I strongly agree to this since indeed the geography of LA strongly reflects the ideas of multicentered metropolitan region, information capitalism, consumerism, and cosmopolitanism. I also went to Downtown for the field work, I strongly felt these aspects directly from the area.
Secondly, you mentioned that the geography of LA strays away from the Chicago School model that was once so central in the study of cities. I strongly agree to this since the Chicago School Model does not concern about the mobility. Because there are many immigrants including Hispanic, Latino, and Asian in LA, it is significant to clarify a common mistake that people make when they regard LA as the area that applies Chicago School Model.
Thirdly, you said that LA is one of the areas that people can feel the effect of "The Fourth Urban Revolution". When this "Fourth Urban Revolution" is considered in more specific, one may says that "Globalization" goes on in LA regions. However, it is significant for us to notice that "globalization" does not only include the feature of micro means of globalization (ex. inside of area) but also the macro means of globalization (ex. outside of area). When we think about the globalization outside of area, is LA considered as core or periphery? If you consider LA as core, then it should be defined that LA specializes in high value labor. It is question whether LA really specializes in high value labor since certain poverty exists in the town. When you use the word "Fourth Urban Revolution", it can be said that this should be used in more broad sense.
Thank you.
Hey Patrick! First off I just wanted to say that I enjoyed reading your blog post this week. I have never been to East Los Angeles, but I definitely would like to visit sometime soon. I am also happy that you enjoyed authentic Mexican food, because I feel like in some places now you get "Americanized" Mexican food, not authentic. This authenticity of food makes me believe that East LA is a very culturally oriented place. With so much culture going on, this also makes me assume that family is very important in this city as well. Based on your description of the area I would classify the city as a Zone 4, or residential area. I also agree that LA is like a checkerboard area. It is unbelievable that you are in one area that is completely one way, and can walk a few blocks over and it is different, like you said. This diversity makes LA unique in its own way, and I look forward to exploring more parts of Los Angeles soon.
ReplyDeleteHello Patrick !
ReplyDeleteI have really enjoyed reading your post about your visit to east LA. Considering the fact I spent the day in Beverly Hills nothing sounds more vastly different than what your describing in your post. Describing the city as a board game of checkers is definitely the way to go as auto-mobility and the fourth urban revolution sure make it look as such. I'm wondering about the economy of the region you describe. Do you think it is focused on the small restaurants and local businesses you describe ? or do people commute as they do in most areas of LA. I would assume that as an integral part of the city, people residing in east LA may have employment in any area of the city. As we have discussed in class, it seems that distribution of income is also based on racial factors considering the area is mainly Latino and that could explain why income there is relatively low(based on the map we've seen in class)It will be interesting to see how the families you described leaving are doing as far as income right now and if things improved for them(improvement of social mobility)either way, you have created more appetite in me to explore more of LA !
Hi Patrick,
ReplyDeleteThis post made me think of the area in Los Angeles where my parent's business was. It wasn't exactly like East Cesar Chavez Street, but the Vermont corridor has many similarities in respect to demographic and crime. The people that lived around our business, my parent's friends didn't see it as a gangland riddled with danger and violence, but as a community and their home. I'm sure the people that reside in the area your describing feel something similar and have learned to live with the occasional crime and graffiti. You said that the people in this area make very good use of their space and don't waste an inch, keeping both business, family and home in close proximity. This probably has to do with the fact that this is no longer a bedroom community and has evolved into a place where people work and live together out of the convenience of the community that now exists. The market for their tastes, skills, products and labor are available locally so there is no reason to travel (in Los Angeles of all places) to make a living. I'm sure many do not work locally, but the businesses sound like they represent the surrounding demographic and they have created an area that attracts outsiders for a the local cuisine and products. You really helped me think back to my experiences and notions from my old neighborhood and it reminds me of what you said, how this is the center of the city for these people and Vermont was the center of the city for my family. Automobility does play a role in a city that is so spread out with so many opportunities for markets and labor, but people aren't completely disconnected, they create a base for themselves where they can be comfortable and know what to expect. The sense of insecurity and hesitation that UCLA students feel when they travel less fortunate sides of Los Angeles are created by inexperience and unfamiliarity with the area and residents, but the people that live there are not perpetually in fear, they know the people and what is to be expected and ways to stay safe. Maybe it has something to do with the legal status of some residents? They don't feel singled out and targeted if they stay in this area and their limits on mobility through licensing restrictions reinforce this situation and perpetuate the creation of very localized communities.
Hey there Patrick, I was making revisions for the final and I made a response to this post for my week 7 post in case you want to check it out, for some reason I could not post my entire comment before.
ReplyDeletehttp://stephanybailon.blogspot.com/