Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 10 A Cultural Enclave?

Hello all, and welcome to my last post for this blog, my week 10 exploration of Los Angeles.

Since this is the last exploration that I needed to do, I decided to explore a region not too far away from where I live—the Pico-Robertson Area, also known as Beverly Hills adjacent.

You might expect this intersection of two major LA streets to be just like Beverly Hills, because of its proximity to Beverly Hills, however, Pico-Robertson has a flavor all its own.  I live a few blocks away from this region, which you may or may not know as the region where many Jewish people reside. Just about every other building on the street is a Jewish synagogue and I often see Jewish families strolling along to go to “shul” on weekends. Although I am not Jewish myself, living so close to this area has imparted on me a sense of what it means to be Jewish— mostly quiet evenings, decorations and celebrations on the big Jewish holidays every year, and indications of Jewish culture along the streets. As I walked on either side of Robertson Blvd., on Pico, I noticed a Walgreens next to a Persian grocery store, a RadioShack next to Komodo, a modern California-Asian Fusion café, next to Brenco Judaica, a store selling traditional Jewish artifacts such as dredels, menorahs, and other religious items. There was such a prominent mixture of the mainstream with the traditional that it was almost hard to spot the traditional, unless you really looked for it. On the other hand, I wonder if this could be a cultural enclave because of all the cultural and religious motifs present here.

A Persian Grocery Store

Brenco Judaica next to Komodo

If this isn't an indication of the mixing of cultures, I don't know what is. This is a Mexican food place which serves Kosher Food-- Mexikosher

An old deli that has been around these parts for a while

An advertisement for  a museum exhibit about Iranian Jews at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Notice the menorah atop the building in the distance. 

Another menorah in a shop window

Throughout this project I have been undecided on which places to visit and explore and include in my blog. Being that Los Angeles is composed of many vastly different and incredibly fascinating places in the area of exploring social difference, these were hard choices to make indeed. In the course of this post I have not only explored different patches of the city of Los Angeles, but I have taken bus trips, car trips, walking trips, a visit to a location that was more than thirty miles away from UCLA (Little India), a visit to a location I have never been to before (Little Tokyo), a post which employs the web-based GIS program called Simply Map (Little India), and a post that follows a social difference news story in the LA Times (Little Tokyo). Although I would have liked to do more explorations of the city, I was able to glean a lot about social difference in Los Angeles from the explorations I did do. I also learned a lot from reading the posts of other students and I also know that my explorations won’t stop here; I continue to notice social difference wherever I go now, especially noting street art and signs not simply for viewing pleasure, but as indicators of social difference.

I haven’t forgotten about Robert Park’s original statement: “The city is a mosaic of worlds that touch but do not interpenetrate.”

What difference does difference really make in Los Angeles? Oddly enough, what sets us all apart also serves as a mechanism of connection—between those of similar origins and backgrounds as well as those of differing backgrounds who want to peer into a world different from their own so that they can better understand themselves. Our differences are what make us special and unique, and although they can be divisive, segregative, and judgmental, it is only when we open up our eyes and take in what these differences have to offer us that we can begin to understand why difference exists. The negative aspects of social difference were what held the most power in the past, and it still does in some places, but in a city like Los Angeles which has a bounty of difference, such things are changing. Beverly Hills may still not be welcoming to all classes, and secluded and segregated regions of LA may still experience a huge amount of discrimination, but the prospect of the Japanese and Koreans coexisting in one enclave, the curiosity of newcomers to Little India, and the intermingling of classic Jewish culture with the mainstream already show change that was certainly not evident at the time of Robert Park’s statement in the 1950s. A mosaic that did not interpenetrate may have been the case at that time, but today, in an increasingly global world, all sorts of influences constantly flow around us, making such an idea obsolete. It may not be obvious to see how Los Angeles as a mosaic of regions influences each other, but I think it is safe to say that Los Angeles is not randomly placed. It’s more like a Jackson Pollock marble painting with multiple crossovers than a mosaic. Ultimately, though, we are all under the same forever changing sky, signaling that which is below it to do the same. Los Angeles will be more and more interpenetrated by the cities next to them and by the world as a whole.

Thank you for reading my blog, I hope that I was able to impart upon you a sense of what Los Angeles means in the frame of social difference but also what it means to me.

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 9

Hey there Angelenos!

This week I have been exploring again—other blog posts that is:]

Although I am not particularly fond of Beverly Hills, I felt that that Brandon Milostan’s post on social difference in this region was worth reading and mentioning. In his exploration, he describes the region of Beverly Hills, using a Los Angeles Times article about the opening of a new store in Beverly Hills as a guiding post to develop his understanding of the region of Beverly Hills. He also refers to a class reading on the city structure of Orange County but he applies it to Beverly Hills, saying that it has the same structure and culture: decentralized spatial layout, the emergence of information capitalism, the shift to consumerism and the adoption of a cosmopolitan lifestyle. Here is my post on his blog, which you can read here:

“Hi Brandon!! I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your blog post on your trip to Beverly Hills. I think it was a great idea to use a newspaper article related to social difference or class topics on which to base your point about the city. Having an argument set made for a really strong blog post, and I think that your comparison of Beverly Hills to Orange County was a valid one. I am also glad that you included the link to the Marimekko website since you did not describe the store very much in your post, and the comparison of this store to a “brightly colored antidepressant” made me laugh. This can be said of any store during the holiday season. How very representative of Beverly Hills and of our materialist and capitalist culture in general. With the holiday season and the supposed necessity to buy gifts that drags along behind it, this is a very fitting article, and I almost felt it was too short.

I don’t think it would have hurt if you had made your post longer but ultimately I felt that what I was really missing was more pictures of Beverly Hills, of the Marimekko Store, and perhaps of Orange County to serve as a comparison. However, the pictures that were included really helped prove your point—especially the pictures of the stores and the exotic car. I felt that the picture of the Gate was a little bit misplaced or could have at least used some analysis or explanation. My take on it is that Beverly Hills is not open to everyone and, although you touch on this, I don’t think that this was really your point and so I don’t know if it was really necessary to include. As you can see, I am being a bit nit-picky  so I don’t have too many complaints about your article. Thanks for your post!”

And thank YOU for reading!

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 8 A Mosaic of Colors

Get ready for some pictures y'all!!

      So this week I visited a So Cal locale that is close to my heart; a place that has been a necessary part of my life since I was very young: Pioneer Boulevard in Artesia, California—also known as Little India. After visiting Little Tokyo a couple of weeks ago, I decided to visit another ethnic enclave in L.A. Unlike Little Tokyo, however, Pioneer Blvd. is not located in the urban scene of Downtown, but it is located in the OC—an ethnic foothold way out in the suburbs, close to 35 miles away from UCLA.

      As a child, my parents drove me out here at least once every three months to load up on Indian groceries, gape at the clothing displayed in the shop windows, and have lunch or dinner with some family and friends, buuut it is entirely different to turn a critical eye to that which you know so well.

      In my defense, there are many who visit Artesia much more than I do, namely those members of the South Asian community in and around Orange County. At the time of this visit, I had not visited Pioneer for more than 4 months, and though that may not necessarily be a significant amount of time, it was enough time for changes to have occurred to this location.

      Before I begin my account of my exploration, I would like to mention that I visited the weekend after the major Hindu holiday of Diwali (The Hindu equivalent of Christmas), which meant that buildings were more lavishly decorated than usual. Here is an example:

Pioneer Boulevard

At night with a different angle (but the same building)

The garlands strewn accross Pioneer Cash & Carry (a supermarket) are not on display year-round.

Also in this picture, in addition to the pretty clean sidewalks(I’m glad to say that trash cans are being used), is one of the first things you notice as you arrive in Pioneer and begin to look for parking, which was never an easy task. It is now one made even more difficult with the addition of these concrete side-walk add-ons filled with shrubs and a few flowers (bottom right). These new hindrances are 10-15 feet long and serve no real purpose than to take up already hard-to-find street parking. Shoppers and visitors in their Hondas and Camrys (it is a widely popular truth that Indians prefer foreign cars, so this is mostly what you will see as you walk along the sidewalk, with a few BMWs, Lexuses and others scattered here and there) are a little confused, a little perturbed by this, but a common Indian attitude to take everything at its face value and to accept it whether it is welcome or not settles on this little region in Southern California as well.

        On this particular Sunday that I decided to stroll up and down these streets, I was here for the purposes of shopping with my family and meeting family friends and gaping into the store windows, but this time I also walked into Artesia with a more academic mindset rather than a relaxed, familiar one, which set a different tone to my visit.

Though it has been many, many years since my first and last visit to India (I was four years old), Little India really seems like a tidbit of the Indian subcontinent, carried in a multitude of suitcases by Indian immigrants to the Los Angeles region. There are pieces of Indian culture all over Los Angeles; religious temples and restaurants have found their ways onto Venice, Fairfax and Westwood, for example. However, Pioneer Blvd. is the go-to for whatever you are looking for with the keyword “Indian”—in Southern California that is.

        Obviously, it wasn’t always this way; Artesia was once an agricultural region flowing with Dutch immigrants. However, a little more than half a century ago, Indian immigrants began to take over this region—in terms of businesses. There are not too many Indian immigrants that actually live in Artesia, but they reside in other parts of Orange County, such as Torrance or Fullerton. I attempted to use SimplyMaps (web-based GIS program) to find out exactly what the Indian population is like in and around Artesia, however, SimplyMaps only has the broad category of “Asian,” in the population list so I instead used the category “Indian ancestry” in hopes that this refers to Indians from the South Asian subcontinent.

          The first map shows the percentage of people with Indian ancestry in 2012 using National Quantiles. Well, as you can see, it doesn’t really tell me much other than the fact that more than 1.46% of Indians live in this region, which may be substantial since surrounding regions have even less, but I tried using Equal Intervals instead. This was even less useful; apparently 1%-20% is too broad of a quantile to be able to infer anything at this level.

National Quantiles

Equal Intervals

 I then tried a few variations of a “User Defined” quantile, and although this wasn't extremely helpful either, it helped me to see that there are more Indians living within the actual city limits of Artesia, but still not an extreme number—less than one-fourth of the population. Instead, there is a much larger percentage of Hispanics residing within this region—in some areas, over one-fourth of the population. 

User Defined

Hispanic Population

I would have assumed that more Indians would be living closer to the largest collective of Indian businesses in Southern California, but apparently this is not so—something I find to be rather unique about an ethnic enclave. Can this even really be called an ethnic enclave then? If the ethnic population is actually spread across a region encompassing many miles, than perhaps not. This tells me that South Asians are not segregated in the same way as other ethnic populations in this country, even though much of the populations remains in the middle class.

          The fact that there are more Hispanics is not extremely surprising to me given that we are in Southern California, but also because in many of the Indian supermarkets that lined the street, the workers wearing aprons in charge of pricing goods and stocking shelves were predominantly of Hispanic descent. They all worked behind the scenes, as all of the cashiers that conversed in native tongues with many of the customers were of Indian descent.

            I noticed a wide variety of people strolling along the street, more races and ethnicities than I would have noticed a few years ago. Though the largest category consisted of South Asian families, I also saw other ethnic groups—Hispanics, whites, Asians—grocery shopping, pondering the style of dress in the shop window, asking questions about the song playing in a store, etc. I certainly felt that there was a sense of curiosity and openness to Little India that I didn’t feel ten years ago—a harbinger of our changing times as a more connected global entity.

            Adding to the American twist to traditional India was the prevalence of American flags on buildings. They hovered above passer-by, muted by the lavish decorations, but still very visible. This was paired along with the lack of Indian flags on the street, though honestly I am not surprised. From the outside, “Little India” harks back to that country that brought us Bollywood and “curry”, however, it is home away from home to all of South Asia and the variety of countries that make up this moniker. Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, etc. do not all hail to the Indian flag, obviously, but as immigrants to the country of opportunities they certainly must feel an allegiance to the American flag and the opportunities that it brought them. The palm trees that line this street are another indication of the pop of California in South Asia. Though I do not have a picture, a few blocks ahead of the major part of Little India, there is a street divider with palm trees inserted inside decorated Christmas lights.

Check out the traffic jam!!

            I am still paying attention to street art as visual indicators of social difference, however, there wasn’t much to be seen in Little India; no murals, not many street signs, just clean buildings with advertisements. They were mostly in English but again were directed at diverse populations within South Asia. And then there was the Diwali decorations, but this, of course is a seasonal thing. It is art of a different kind—less permanent art celebrating the Hindu holiday. Even though Little India caters to a variety of countries, it celebrates the majority (to be fair, I don’t really remember what Little India looks like during Eid or Christmas, but I’m pretty certain that it was much less lavishly decorated.

The groups that make up South Asia: posters for Bollywood movies, ads for a Sikh film festival, Money transfers to Pakistan, Phone cards to several countries, and yes, that's me

Notice the decorations as well as the advertisements plastered on the windows

A decoration hanging above a grocery store entrance

A shop that sells bangles (Indian bracelets pictured above), CDs, DVDs, and an Indian mouth freshener called Paan

Well look at that, mainstream capitalism spreading to non-mainstream holidays!

This was on the grocery store windows; these are popular Indian  brands

          Like this impermanent art (called Rangoli, made from colored powder) Little India is a constantly shifting identity, changing every year and a little piece of home for many countries—a mosaic of colorful powders creating a proud community. It is always changing—a floating signifier just like race.  

This one already has been swept away by footsteps and only the original outline really remains.

This one has structural barriers that prevent people from destroying this work of art before its time.

Blogging Social Difference in L.A. Week 7

Hello esteemed Angelenos,

Once again, I have been reading the blog posts of my fellow classmates and I am amazed at the variety of locations in Los Angeles that I have not explored and some that I have not even heard of. I know there is no substitute to going somewhere yourself, but obviously I can’t go everywhere and I realized that I can learn an incredible amount of information simply by reading as well.

There was one post that simply amazed me, and I just had to make a comment about her blog. You can read the actual blog [here]. 

To Olivia Jenkins: Wow! What an amazing post you have written!! It is almost more like an expose or editorial piece, uncovering the dirty environmental secrets that exist right here, in our very own Los Angeles, visible only to those who seek it out or who are actually a part of this community. I certainly learned a lot from your post about this community that exists hidden from media coverage and popular culture—a world hidden behind a refinery.

I think that visiting this place was a great idea and being able to tie in the article by David Harvey so closely with your argument is noteworthy.

Although your post was long and complex, I appreciate that you gave such a thorough report of your exploration and your findings. I think that the maps you used also really enhance your post; the map of People of Color and Toxic Release Facilities in Los Angeles County was very telling of the idea of “not in my backyard”; the idea that these facilities are most prevalent in those communities that have less control over the issue. I think intentional discrimination against minorities can be inferred when looking at this map. The fact that minority neighborhoods lack the items you mentioned seems to me to make the entire issue race-based because ultimately isn’t the very reason that these things are lacking from these neighborhoods because they are where minorities and the impoverished reside?  It might be because I am reminded of the Massey and Denton article on segregation between African Americans and whites as I read this, but I see this as an act of segregating the immigrant enclave. In other words, I think that this is clearly an issue of race and that class is secondary to the situation. If this is not entirely what you meant in your argument, feel free to let me know. I don’t want to twist your words to mean something that they do not.

This post would also have been incomplete without these pictures showing the gloom that escapes from the refinery and looms over the city like an impending storm. It is a storm, essentially, one that pervades the lives of those under it in a slow but lethal way.

Your post was also thought provoking and asked questions that I think certainly are valid and notable. Do you think that it is possible to lessen the gap on the disparity of quality of life among individuals, especially those in a huge, somewhat fragmented city, as Los Angeles? I would like to hear your opinion. I think that it is certainly possible; in the case of refineries, the first step would be to look to alternative sources of fuel, such as solar, which do not pollute or hurt minority communities in the way that oil refineries do. Especially in a city that has bright sunny days throughout the year, this just seems like a win-win situation to me. Add this to bright blue as opposed to bleak grey skies for the residents of Wilmington and the ideal of healthy bodies actually being realized, and the gap seems to lesson by a light year (though obviously, it doesn’t mean that the issue is completely resolved).

I was also fascinated by the fact that in this case, you were able to prove that L.A. is like a mosaic of little worlds, impenetrable (in the words of Robert Park). I think that this is rather uncommon and that part of the reason for this might be that no one really pays attention to this region; it might be a place one drives by en route to their destination, for example, or it might not be viewed as a problem since the refinery offers jobs in a community where well-paying jobs aren’t available to those with paltry schooling

Also, the answer to your question of why the school and the community really exist goes along with your previous observation that it seemed more like the school was in the refinery’s backyard than the other way around.

One last thing I would like to add: You also mention your hope that these workers are heard but looking at the situation today after more than twenty-five years of speaking out and defending their livelihood, it is obvious that they aren’t heard clearly, and my question then is, what could we potentially do about this? Many, I’m sure, who do not live directly in this area do not know about this issue, and I think that writing such eye-opening pieces can bring about an awareness of the issue, but how does one really go about solving an issue that is so complex? 

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 6 The Lively Loop

Hello again. I’m back this week after having explored another region of Los Angeles, however I will warn that I have a much shorter post this week. Instead of utilizing public transportation as I have been doing, I decided, this time, to drive to my destination. Since one of Professor Justin’s requests for our blog was to visit a region that we have never been to before, I decided to go to Little Tokyo in Downtown. 

 I lived with my family in Downtown for the first 4 years of my life, and I still go to Downtown every now and then to buy cloth in the Fashion District, visit historical Olvera Street, or explore Chinatown with visiting family, but I realized that I had never gone to Little Tokyo and I thought I would stop by. Since I was in the car and didn't have as much of a chance to walk around as I usually do, I don’t have as many pictures this time. I was interested to learn that Little Tokyo Los Angeles is one of only three Japan towns in the country. It seemed proud of its little stake hold in the vital region of Downtown. Here it is on the map:

            The patches of cultural enclaves separated by pastels almost make this map look like a mosaic, wouldn't you say so? And look, there’s little Tokyo in the middle of it all.
            I can also sort of see the original Chicago School city pattern here, with "the loop" or Central Business District (CBD) in the center and the immigrant enclaves sort of clustered around it. We learned in class a few weeks ago that Los Angeles does not have a center (to my surprise) despite the fact that people believe that Downtown is the center. What we have in Los Angeles is something much more unique-- a variety of centers; patches sparsely sprinkled throughout southern California, each with its own "loop." Even though I began questioning how much i really knew and understood about Los Angeles after learning this fact, I can't argue against it. A quick glance at any L.A. map would confirm it. However, in driving around the Downtown region, encountering plenty of traffic and angry drivers as well as pedestrians, and glimpsing the bustle that beamed out from the metropolitan regions it was not difficult to see that even though Downtown L.A. doesn't serve as much of a function to the entire city, it is very much alive; pulsating with a diverse group of people and constant change. 
            An article in the Los Angeles Times from 2009 (I know, I know, its a little dated) discusses the changes occurring in Little Tokyo. The article, titled "Japanese and Koreans Learn to Live Together in L.A.'s Little Tokyo" explains the major change of an increasing Korean presence in Little Tokyo which was initially unnerving and angered both cultures because they could not understand each other; "Over the last two years, the residents of Little Tokyo Towers have made their home a case-study in containing cultural conflict and maintaining cohesion-- a challenge faced by other Los Angeles ethnic neighborhoods where new populations are joining long-settled ones." The major difficulty is not only that the two cultures are different, but that they have a rocky relationship with each other historically. However, both Japanese and Korean residents are actively working towards a greater understanding with each other. This kind of constant change, whether fast or slow, keeps Downtown alive and thriving, despite its demise as the real center of L.A. Read the article here. 
            I was reminded of another article by Douglas S. Massey and Nancy A. Denton titled "The Continuing Causes of Segregation" in which race relations and housing segregation between African Americans and whites are examined; "As proportions of blacks in an urban area rises, therefore, progressively higher levels of racial segregation must be imposed in order to keep the probability of white-black contact within levels that are tolerable to whites..." Although the Japanese and Korean inhabitants of Little Tokyo are finding ways to coexist in one region, such an idea would be much less likely, perhaps completely unlikely, to occur between African Americans and whites. However, the same could have been said for the Japanese and the Koreans given their unfriendly relationship with each other during Japan's imperialistic regime, and perhaps racial segregation between African Americans and whites can also soon be something of the past.

Back to my personal exploration: I did park my car and walk around for a bit, but for a very short amount of time since I was short on change, and the area was short on parking. The specific region that I stopped at is known as the Little Tokyo/ Arts District, since this is the name of the Metro Gold Line bus stop that runs through it. When I parked near the train stop, my initial thought was This is it? Is this Little Tokyo? What’s so special about it? It looked just like the rest of Downtown, and there was nothing, to me, which signified that this was an ethnic enclave.

            After walking around for a few minutes I decided to get back in my car and drive around. I was on Alameda, and I rounded the bend onto 1^st Street, and lo and behold! Little Tokyo in all its glory stared back at me, apparently amused by my stupidity. In my defense, I had never been here before.

But quite truthfully, Little Tokyo would be hard to miss for anyone driving through the area. It is situated near the Music Center and other such buildings, but as soon as you venture into Little Tokyo territory, the architecture changes to something more reminiscent of traditional Japan, with an urban/ industrial twist to it. It was really quite beautiful. Since I did not walk around the city blocks this time as I have done in my previous posts, I was not able to focus on street art as much as I would have wanted to, but I felt that the architectural changes themselves were principal in defining the city and how it is perceived.  Neither Downtown Culver City nor Main Street Santa Monica have this kind of architectural change. It was not only the architecture (because not all the buildings had this feature, only the main ones did) but also the use of Japanese signage on buildings, as seen below (sorry about the speckled dashboard). The prominence of these aspects of Little Tokyo said one thing to me: You have entered Japan Town, there’s no mistaking it. Even though there was a sign which said “Japanese Village Plaza,” it was hardly necessary.

            There is plenty of art to behold here, although I was not able to get close enough to explore it. Next time, I will definitely spend more time walking around!

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 5

Hi all,

                I can’t believe a week has already gone by since my last post last week. I have been reading the posts of my other classmates and I am completely fascinated by the different places in LA and how distinct they all are. LA is truly a cluster of small urban centers combined into one large conglomeration. After living here all of my life thus far, it is amazing how little I truly know and understand about Los Angeles.

                One blog post that really caught my attention is a post from a couple of weeks ago about an ethnic region of Los Angeles. The post is on a blog by Ellen Bastrmadjian (read it here) and it details her visit to an ethnic enclave in Hollywood. I found her post fascinating for a couple of reasons. One is that it zeroes in on a region in Los Angeles which has an ethnic concentration; something which I have not yet done for my blog but which I plan to eventually do. Another reason is that Ellen puts an emphasis on street art and signs, which appeals to me because one of my goals is to notice these features as well. Here is my comment to Ellen about her post:

                Hi Ellen! Let me first just say that I really enjoyed reading your Week 2 post about Little Armenia and Thai Town because of how you approached the subject—as two cultural enclaves that cross over, adding different cultures into the mix, an idea that Robert Park would not have anticipated. I also love your post because  of how you pay attention to art in the city, and examine how this art perpetuates social difference in an evolving region. Little Armenia and Thai Town have some amazing murals as well as unique street signs (I have never seen a trash can with 8 different languages that still doesn't encourage people to use it) and the inclusion of these elements into your post really help me understand how a multitude of cultures coexist in virtually the same enclave. The fact that the Thai and Armenian language “look quite similar to the undiscerning eye” really strengthens your point.

                In addition, I found it fascinating that the subway station building is a famous work of art smoothed over a building. I have passed by this building several times, noting its architecture as suggestive of the works covered in my art history class, but never even realized that there was a subway station located here. With this building and the prevalent murals as examples, I can see how you view this as a region that is continually becoming more diverse. I don’t have anything negative to say about your post, neither do I have an “I wish you had included this” list, because as someone who rarely if ever visit this side of Los Angeles, I know that I can understand the social difference of this region better now after reading this post than I did before. Thanks for sharing your insightful encounter with a diverse cultural enclave.

See y’all next week!!

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 4 Remember Who You Are

A ride on the Rapid 7 towards Main Street Santa Monica

                I hopped on this lovely little bus, the Rapid 7, on Pico and Robertson and I hopped off on Pico and Main—a street about 40 minutes away in Santa Monica. After two years of ridign on the 7 every day, Santa Monica has become as much about the place itself as about the bus ride there.

Perhaps this isn’t merely coincidence, considering the accessibility of Big Blue Bus stops throughout the city, one almost every block in some areas; bus stops which have their own character and which relay historical episodes in Santa Monica’s lifetime or fun and interesting facts about the city. These facts are on the ground next to the bench (if there is one), and they are laid out on a cement block surrounded by grey bricks which gives it a pretty fancy appearance. They are only located in Santa Monica, and the one for the bus heading east on Pico said “1542 Juan Cabrillo Rodriguez sails into Santa Monica Bay.”

Here is the view of Main Street from Pico—notice how lights have been strung up on the buildings to give the city an ethereal, elegant look. This was in sharp contrast to the other side of the street:

I visited Main Street this summer and I was fascinated by it, though I couldn’t quite grasp what I felt was so unique about it. It had a young, hip vibe to it, and it also has a strong undercurrent of eco-friendliness and environmentalism as most obviously seen by the strong bike culture and vegan restaurants. This was accompanied, however, by expensive and fancy restaurants and clothing boutiques such as “Euphoria Loves Rawvolution”—a raw food eatery, and the ever popular “Patagonia.” During the summer, I walked the length of the main part of Main Street, all the way from Pico Blvd. to Pier Avenue. This, however, was during the day, and when I set out on my journey, it was already 6PM, so the Main Street I experienced and that which is pictured here was very different from that of the day time.

Here is a map of Main Street from the Main Street website which lays out the street and the businesses on it: http://www.mainstreetsm.com/transportation-maps/

It even has its own slogan: “A world away from the ordinary, a block away from the beach.”

As I was walking along here I noticed several contradictions, and this is the first one in which one side of Main Street had fancy buildings with lights strung up on them, and the other side had parking lots, brick buildings, and liquor stores. I’m not quite sure why this is the case, btu I certainly thought it was interesting. Another contradiction is that despite the abundance of parking lots on this street (I passed by at least 3 which were mostly empty), there were a number of valet parking umbrellas. The above picture shows that this parking lot is almost completely empty.

In addition, the bike culture here is certainly notable but not surprising, as Main Street is only a few blocks east of the beach. However, there was hardly anyone walking on the street at this hour. Most of the shops were closed by 6:30PM, although the restaurants and liquor stores and a few shops here and there remained open. There were a few people, mostly homeless folks, men of color, or Caucasian friends and fanily or dog walkers.

                On this same block there was a mural that I had noticed before which I didn’t quite understand and which I found a little bit odd. It was a painting of a girl which said “Remember who you are.”  I decided to find out what this actually was and I found that it was one of a series of works by an artist named Chase who does murals for free around the world as a gift to the neighborhood in which it was painted. The tagline is explained on the artist’s website. He wishes to “ inspire people to think back and reconnect with a state of being that we all enjoyed when we were children, a state of being that was filled with joy, truth, love and wonder for the world around us.  Furthermore, the Remember Who You Are Campaign also reminds us that we should always remember who we are, where we came from and not to lose sight of where we are going.” Here is the website http://theartofchase.com/category/bio-interviews/.

                I found this work to be a little bit off-putting, but after learning about the meaning behind the painting what bothered me even more was that it was painted on the wall of a liquor store; another contradiction on this bizarre little street.

  

Here is another street mural by an artist named Becca. This one was on the wall of a Raw Food restaurant:

Yet another mural (note the empty parking lot):

   

There was certainly a welcoming to street art here, one that is very different from the one I saw in Culver City which was more prideful of the city’s history. This art was more avant-garde, more open to creative thought. I got a sense that this was telling of the people who frequented this area as well.

            Across the street from a little coffee eatery called “Urth Café” is a community garden which was of course, deserted at this hour, but it seemed very welcoming:

   

I wanted to keep walking and exploring but despite the fact  that it was only 7pm, it felt very late and most of the shops were closed. Which is why about 5 blocks, I decided to turn around and head back. Ultimately, what I was able to learn about Main Street is that it caters to the artsy and upper-class residents of the area, which is not unusual or surprising since Main Street is located by the sea. It is also not too far away from the enclave of Venice, which is known for its uniqueness and novelty. Main Street is certainly not “the ordinary.”       

Last week we read an article by David Sibley titled “Mapping the Pure and the Defiled” in which he discusses how “the grotesque,” or those not socially acceptable, were positioned in regions away from the main areas of the city. I felt that this article applied for my exploration of Main Street for just the opposite reason: because here was a location once deemed central to the city of Santa Monica (hence the name), and yet it was very open to social difference. It prospered because of it. Here is a place dedicated to people who think differently, and who are creative, which clashes with the expensive shops as well as the liquor stores, but that is why Main Street is a special spot. It is unique in its social difference and it remembers who it is.