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.