City of Angels 2019-20

All across the country students have been walking out of school in protest of issues such as gun violence or climate change and in support of legislation such as DACA, which gives immigrant youth who came to the United States as children a work permit and protection from deportation. Just last November 12th the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles urged youth to join in a walkout in support of DACA. Reports say hundreds of Angeleno youth from high schools such as John Marshall and Garfield walked out. I find the energy and spirit of our generation inspirational. I know for me, walking out on April 20, 2018, for the National School Walkout, which protested gun violence and advocated for stricter gun laws, was so powerful. Seeing hundreds of other Angeleno youth fill the streets of Downtown Los Angeles gave me hope. With all of the recent walkouts occurring, I have been thinking a lot about the Chicano walkouts or blowouts that occurred in East Los Angeles and ...

Habitat Based identity: A Los Angeles Phenomenon  In the past week, we have spent homework and class time investigating the Central LA addresses assigned to us. Through our research, we are beginning to develop stories of the past experiences of these addresses with the goal of creating mini history books. We have also been wrapping up our reading of Karen Tei Yamashitas Tropic of Orange, coming to conclusions on our perspectives of the identities of her characters. As I pondered the two learning experiences separately, I realized that they were much more related to each other than I originally believed. In other words, in Los Angeles, a significant portion of your identity is characterized by where you live, work, or otherwise spend much of your time. In my opinion, 451 Prospect Circle, my home, is as much a part of my identity as is 1030 East California (school) or 360 North Arroyo (work). In that regard, I have a connection not only with these physical places as ...

Parks to Shelters: A Los Angeles Discussion Last week, we took a trip to the Los Angeles State Historic Park to perform an urban lab. The park is a 32-acre space meant to provide “an extraordinary opportunity for recreation and education in the heart of Los Angeles.” We learned that the site of the park is where the Zanja Madre used to be located and where the Southern Pacific Transportation Station once was. Sean Woods and the people of the neighborhood fought to keep the land un-industrialized, and in 2001, the land was declared a State Park. When the recession in 2007 was affecting America, Los Angeles began to sell land for profit, and the 32-acre plot of land close to Downtown Los Angeles presented an opportunity for the city of LA to make a lot of money. Woods began to use the land for art shows like the cornfields and events like the FYF music festival to make sure the city did not sell the land. Eventually, after 16 years of delays, in 2017, the Los Angeles State Histori...

LA's History: Lost, Found, or Lost & Found? In Tropic of Orange , author Karen Tei Yamashita challenges the conventional fabric of time through her deliberate infusion of Los Angeles’s past into the present version of LA that her novel establishes. Tropic of Orange is a story made up of many stories, with each individual narrative offering the reader one perspective from a group of seven strikingly unique Angelenos. Out of these seven main characters, two in particular serve as present-day windows to the past: Manzanar Murakami and Arcangel. Manzanar’s connection to LA’s history (and the West Coast’s as a whole for the matter) is more explicit, wherein the name Yamashita gives him, Manzanar, is also the name of a California internment camp that Japanese-Americans were forcibly relocated to during World War II. Yamashita does not treat Japanese-American internment as a relic of the past though; she sets forth that internment was not only unforgivable and impactful...

Recently, we’ve been talking about the commodification and the consumeristic nature of Los Angeles: LA is both a perfectly unachievable product─an end goal that few can afford─and a breeding ground for tangible markers of status and seemingly purchased appearances. In both of these cases, we’ve focused on those who strive for, but can never quite reach the standard that LA has in their minds. But what about those who can’t afford to strive in the first place? Those who have been let down by LA before even being able to try? Socioeconomic status is not something people at Poly like to talk about. Or, if they do, it’s rarely about the negatives. People, in general, are quick to show whatever new item they’ve purchased or what new car they’re driving. This ties back to the idea of purchasing markers of status to outwardly appear better to others. However, people rarely talk about financial difficulties or downfalls, partially, I think, because it is so “not LA” to outwardly project str...

In the past week, a recurring topic of discussion has been palm trees and their connection to Los Angeles. Despite being a foreign plant, palm trees have quickly emerged as a major staple for the city of Los Angeles, but only one (the Washingtonia filifera (California fan palm)) is native to Los Angeles. The stereotypical palm tree of Los Angeles is actually the Mexican fan palm. Palm trees began their LA story when the Franciscans missionaries used them purely for ornamental purposes, most likely a reference to the tree’s biblical connections. Later, at the turn-of-the-century, palm trees became part of the popular garden trend. However, palm trees provide little shade and no fruit, leaving them to once again be used for ornamental purposes. Although they are a pretty sight to see driving down Sunset Boulevard, palm trees have no other purpose than to look simply pretty. Buzzworm, however, thinks differently when he discusses palm trees in-depth and expresses his disappointment in pe...

For the past week, we have spent a large portion of our in-class discussions talking about the displacement of communities and how these ethnic/racial groups have been forced into minuscule parts of major cities. You all know the rabbit analogy. The readings about the Plaza show that minority communities are pushed into small sectors of cities by groups in power. In these small communities, their culture flourishes in both positive and negative ways. Although people are able to practice their way of life in these places, they don’t necessarily get treated as equals by the rest of the city. Many times, these communities are treated like zoo animals or spectacles, only amplifying the issue of alienation, cultural appropriation, and racism. For example, Olvera Street is wonderful in that it allows for people of Latinamerican decent to enjoy the “staples” of their culture of origin. Are the things showcased on Olvera Street really the “staples” of Latinamerican culture, though? Also, isn’...