Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs, Buena Park, Fullerton,
nearby Downey and Whittier
Racial inequality-
Mostly whites in financial district
The city is half Latino, shouldn’t there be more Latinos there?
Same with Hollywood
Vine Street
Santa Monica Boulevard
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Overall culture and feel
LA has a similar vibe to NYC that I can't explain in words. Maybe it is because they are the top two important cities in the country. They feel just as trendy and elegant too. But that alone can't explain the similarities because Paris is also trendy and elegant in some parts yet Paris didn't feel like NYC to me.
Many of the women here were beautiful, fit, and well-dressed not surprising since this is a major city. Both genders look cosmpolitan.
I feel that since Los Angeles is a major financial, commercial, fashion, and media center (home to Hollywood), I feel that women are very pressured to look very good here.
Gym women are beautiful and presentable like in NYC and DC
Because they are American cities?
Cali is known for art scene street murals
Why do Californians love art? Being into art is seen as sophiscated and cosmopolitan and having an open mind and creative mentally progressive
Gym culture? Is that big in la?
Assignment
Do a rent map
Major ethnic groups Mexicans, Jews, Persians, Armenians, Italians, Anglo Saxons, African Americans, Ethiopians, Salvadorans, Koreans, Filipinos, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, and more.
Los Angeles
intro
major financial, advertising?, commercial, industrial, and media center not just on a national but also a global scale. What is the GaWC rank?
angeles national forest
griffith park
beaches
layout
many prominent areas like hollywood and vine and western downtown on south figeroa with the convention center grammy museum
palm trees mountains hills
Should I include nightlife?
Hollywood has nightlife. How so?
Random West LA
West la does not feel like old Mexico much of downtown diesnt either I don’t think east side feels like old Mexico
I did not know West LA was so important and had so much wealth
Mexican feeling
However I remember a Peruvian guy in la saying how Los Angeles feels so much like Mexico also n terms of layout I thinkI think he was implying they feel like they’re in Mexico not his words
Transportation
Please get an uber
Starline does a great job.
Downtown LA
I stopped off at Union Station and walked a bit through El Pueblo de Los Angeles.
I then went on a tour bus which took me through some parts of Downtown Los Angeles. I saw nice, modern skyscrapers, restaurants needs better intro
taco trucks. I regret not taking a taco from here because I hear they are good but oh well maybe another time.
The buildings look different than in the Northeast. They look nice but not as historic. Even the older buildings look new compared to ours. I then went to Broadway, which reminded me a lot of Newark, New Jersey because of its ten or fifteen story white older brick buildings. It still seems like it hasn’t fully lived to its potential and I see so many discount stores. The jewelry district is also on Broadway. Some Latino businesses are on Broadway and east of it. East of downtown are Boyle Heights and East LA, neighborhoods with traditionally large Mexican American populations. Fashion District is nearby as well.
Do a paragraph on CIvic Center
I think City Hall I think it is a skyscraper?
Financial District
Pershing Sqaure is like the entrance to the Financial District heading west.
Figat7th in financial district
East Downtown
Broadway
I also saw so many places that were once theaters. It seems like it could be an artsy district.
Fashion District
Low density
colorful like Latin America
not Soho
nothing elaborate but colorful like Latin AMerica looks like a colorful street in Latin America
Downtown Points of interest
Nice architecture it’s a world city Los Angeles’s world city status is exemplified through its the nice architecture of its landmarks like the Walt Disney concert hall,
Convention Center/Staples Center
LA Live Grammy Museum
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Nice architecture
Centrl Library
Shopping
Grand Central Market very Mexican example how Mexican LA is gentrification helped was sleepy
The Santee Alley a flea market
Gentrification
I also went through the Staples Center and FigAt7th and I thought they were really nice. I wish I could have stopped here but at least I got to see it from the tour bus and took photos of it. I understand that Downtown Los Angeles hasn’t been as thriving as other downtowns in major cities but the city is taking steps to make it better. I also read that this area should gentrify as more professionals seek to live here.
Downtown going on an upswing
new buildings being built
Downtown LA may not be Midtown Manhattan but Los Angeles does have that same “elegant” feeling that NYC does at least it does to me.
Ethnic Enclaves in Downtown
Heading back downtown I saw Koreatown and I think Thai Town, sprawled out but still densely populated Asian communities. I also saw MacArthur Park. I remember watching Fresh Prince of Bel Air once where they mentioned it as a dangerous park. It looked nice however with even a fountain. Maybe it was dangerous in the early 1990s though I don’t know.
I then stopped at Chinatown for dinner. Chinatown Shopping Malls? Chinatown Central Plaza? The Asian food is great in LA, my mother really liked the Japanese food in Little Tokyo and I liked the Chinese food in Chinatown. Granted this was a restaurant where the soap was in Gatorade bottle but it is good food. The Chinatown was more densely populated than Koreatown. I guess this is because Chinatown is closer to the city center. I really liked Chinatown a lot. I then went to the park near Olvera Street. I saw a lot of homeless people with tents and this wasn’t even skid row. I heard there were a lot of homeless people in LA but this is the only place I saw homeless people, well this and the one homeless guy I saw near a freeway.
I went to the Plaza which I read after I went there that it was the first city center in Los Angeles and is now a historic district. This plaza is a symbol of the city’s Spanish and Mexican roots. I also did not know this was the oldest part of Los Angeles. I then went to Olvera Street which is in the district. Olvera Street reminds me of Manhattan’s Little Italy. It is not an authentic Mexican neighborhood but a touristy one, just like how Little Italy in Manhattan is not an authentic but touristy Italian neighborhood. No Mexicans actually live in Olvera Street just like very few Italians live in Manhattan’s Little Italy.
I stopped for lunch at Little Tokyo. I liked the outdoor mini mall they have with stores, a supermarket, a bakery, and other businesses. It surprised me that Little Tokyo had its own parking lot. In Chinatown in Manhattan and I think even the one in Queens, they do not have their own parking lots. It was a rather small neighborhood I don’t know if Little Tokyo was at one time bigger than it is now. But I guess the Japanese have moved up since I saw no Japanese working in these restaurants or in the supermarket or bakery. They were all Latinas.
The bus driver took me to West LA, which even he admitted was nicer than Downtown Los Angeles. I was able to ride through a LA Freeway and I am so glad I did. Some parts were congested and others weren’t but I could only imagine how it gets during rush hour traffic
Layout
I thought West LA and LA in general would be so suburban but not really it is like Lima it is sprawled but you have many walkable commercial streets as well.
Much of LA was sprawled but I was still surprised about how densely populated it is. The layout seems so different than in the Northeast you drive around and you see residential commercial areas, then modern skyscrapers, then multifamily homes, then a modern shopping mall, and then single family homes with more greenery on the main street. I guess the zoning here is different. And of course as in all major cities I saw plenty of ads.
Single family homes even in West LA, which is an area of such prime real estate. You would never see this in Manhattan or Hong Kong or Tokyo. I did see it in Lima, Peru though. LA is not as expensive as NYC though. Plus I think zoning laws impacted the layout as well
hollywood feels like times square but not too far away feels like suburbia
i read they wanted to be low density planning i dont know why though
A lot of gas stations and take outs obviously strip malls all over west la and la in general but its so surprising so common even here in west la such prime real estate area
Shopping
so much wealth and you could witness that by all the shopping
Layout of Hollywood
Vine Street. not as trendy north of melrose avenue but north of lamiranda looks trendy
THe Film industry
hollywood forever cemetary
hollywood's dead paris pantheon london parliament i think?
education
hollywood high school
hollywood film academy
more opportunities in big cities to advance if i were in nebraska or iowa i would have to move to la or nyc or dc
you could see actors people in LA are used to seeing famous people
musicians.
are musicians able to live in west la?
History of being the Film Capital
First New Jersey then California home of America's film industry
Film studios have spread out however.
Holllywood I think the area near Hollywood and Vine deteriorated as with many urban areas in the 70s and 80s but looks like it gentrified. Question mark.
Hollywood and Vine very famous intersection you see this on cartoons, shows, and movies, etc.
Area between Sunset and Hollywood very elegant obviously because it is a very important location
Hollywood Boulevard and Vine between Sunset and Hollywood have the famous stars of fame
La Brea Avenue
condos
gym
I stopped at Hollywood and I felt like I was in a Los Angeles version of Times Square. I loved it. There were so many people there and I assume most of them were tourists. I saw the stars and of course took pictures of the stars. I bought a CD from an African American should I say African amerucan? rapper who is from Compton. I then went to the Hollywood and Highland Mall. (it is weird because in New Jersey our malls are indoors while in SoCal the malls are outdoors beverly center though is indoors .)
I took a picture of the Chinese movie theatre. I went to a café to charge my cell phone. The people there were chill.
My planning professor told me that LA is not like NJ. In NJ you have one downtown, in LA you have eight downtowns which is why you need a drive a car there. It is true because in the bus I saw a skyline I don’t know which city it was but I guess it was another CBD.
Shopping
It looks like there is a enormous market in LA, because you have so many shopping malls.
In la you have indoor and outdoors malls
How many malls in la
Difference between ne and la
Outdoor
Hollywood and highland
Figuroea wnq
Indoor
Beverly center
Rodeo Drive for me ill put the area nearby it
You should do both
The Grove Mall
The Hollywood and Highland Mall
Main Streets
so many major commercial strips one here one there
Even the less popular commercial strips in West LA like Beverly Boulevard are still trendy.
Fairfax Avenue nice hip trendy
Melrose Avenue artsy murals hip tattoo parlors artisan food punk rock b
according to wiki birthplace of new wave nnd punk rock for southern california
is gentification kicking them out
Jay Leno jaywalking entourage and LA Ink
first Johnny Rockets opened here
"new Rodeo Drive"
Is the result of rapid decentralization
Instead of stores in downtown you had Beverly hills (check history) now you have Melrose avenue unsustainable growth is a big problem in LA. That is why it is inferior to NYC or even Boston
Melrose Avnue
Artsy creative colorful creative interior and exterior Simpson’s
Clothing apparel stores appealing to hipsters
Tattoo parlors
Street murals
Sunset Boulveard
Laugh Factory
Comedy Store
nice hills in background looking west beautiful LA hills.
Santa Monica Boulevard nice but why park on side of street?
Sam Ash not very common anywhere you go at least not in NJ or even NYC but in west la is saw too
Big Guitar Center
Hollywood Hills
Hollywood sign
Universal City
Universal Studios
What about Paramount?
Commerce
creative with their ads
more ambitious
explain miracle mile? Wilshire?
has museum row on wilshire boulevard
was like fifth avenue but with more sprawl comes more malls and century city too made it decline so now it is not as important but important bc of museums and commercial high rises
century city a planned high density commercial area
westwood ucla ethnicity?
The beach
santa monica
third avenue promenade musicians artists high end shopping nice promenade
very close to santa monica pier
venice beach
venice beach boardwalk
basketball park
nearby is LAX
West LA
Ethnicity
LOTS of Jews
Little Armenia and Glendale
Little Persia also Beverly Hills has a lot of Persians, many of whom are Persian Jews.
A few Iranis in Century City as well
so i guess Persians I know Persians are affluent plus a lot of them are Jews in LA and I guess Armenians are affluent since their ethnic enclaves are in West LA?
I don't think its ultra orthodox or hasidic jews i know there is one community of them
Many of the women here were beautiful, fit, and well-dressed not surprising since this is a major city. The men don’t seem that different than anywhere else, I mean I know a lot of men in LA are liberals, but they don’t seem that different from the outside but then again a lot of them could be tourists. Should I put this?
I feel that since Los Angeles is a major financial, commercial, fashion, and media center (home to Hollywood), I feel that women are very pressured to look very good here.
Understanding the Latino population in Los Angeles is important because Latinos are everywhere. Compton, Watts, Little Armenia, Hollywood, and Koreatown, places not thought of as Latino areas, all have significant populations of Latinos there. Los Angeles is not like New York City or Chicago where the proportion of racial ethnic groups are more balanced. Almost half the city is Latino, with most of that population being of Mexican heritage and about a third is white. About 10% is Asian and about another 10% is black.
It is such a shame that I did not go to the Eastside, once a diverse area of Japanese, Jews, and Mexicans. This is historically where poor immigrants who were discriminated against lived. Today the Eastside is now known for its Chicano and Mexican culture as it is predominately Mexican.
"The hood”
History
African americans came I think as wealthy I think during the Gold Rush but thenin the 1940s and 50s came from south to work in factory jobs then those jobs left and the their children did worse than their parents crime drugs etc. exacerbated
Despite the problems that LA has, I think LA is pretty good when it comes to marganilized communities. For example, Compton has a lot of big chain stores. Huntington Park looks like it has a thriving shopping area and it even has a JC Penney and a movie theatre featuring 3D films. Other than Whittier Boulevard, East Los Angeles doesn't have much else when it comes to commercial areas. However nextdoor there in Commerce there is a strip mall with a movie theatre. Inglewood has a Target, Home Depot, Chilli's, Red Lobster, and a supermarket. In my hometown, people go to another county to go to a movie theatre, which is sad because this is a very urbanized area I live in. We do not have a Best Buy, Home Depot, or Target in my hometown either. Inner city schools are known to be bad. However I looked up statistics on Garfield and Lincoln High School and they seemed to be doing okay on the school report cards. I even checked greatschools, and the reviews were high for these schools. These schools might not be perfect but they seem to be doing better than low income schools in my state, New Jersey. Los Angeles even has enclaves of middle or upper class minorities. Downey and Whittier are middle class areas that have plenty of Latinos. View Hills and Ladera Heights are upper income areas with large black populations. San Marino is a wealthy Asian area.
compton many big chain stores beats stereotyepes of lower income having a lack of investment in communities
eastside and south la the ghettoes
but even the ghettoes in la aren't so bad.
a lot of commerce
Garfield and Lincoln 6 out of 10 Garfield mentioned in Stand and deliver one of them was where Sal Castro worked community activism made it that good.
Mexicans are very hardworking people you especially see this in service oriented industry. Mexicans and Asians are very entrepreneurial as well. Fallas Paredes and El Cholo Chain Mexican establishments in LA.
I feel like East LA is more authentic more real than west la or the shore like a vibe that is so genuine you can't fully describe in words
high schools garfield and lincoln 6 out o 10 new jersey lower income dont get that high unless charter or private
Despite the stereotypes of the Eastside as being dangerous run down area. It is not so dangerous. In fact Boyle Heights is seeing more gentrification, despite receiving setbacks from some community activists. There are also a lot of nice singe family homes in the Eastside as well as South Los Angeles.
Chicano activism such as the walkouts of Mexican high schools in the 1960s, where famous educators like Sal Castro and Pablo Escalante, as well as modern day Chicano activism like what is happening in Boyle Heights against gentrification and gang injunctions. I do not agree with this type of activism, well the one against gentrification, because I feel it is anti-white and not just based on economics since I don’t think they would protest if Latino professionals moved in to the neighborhood, plus neighborhoods change over time. Still I understand where they are coming from.
even in the more famous Latino neighborhoods of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles many people own their homes.
What I found unsettling was the ethnic divide between whites and Latinos. You could see how in downtown Los Angeles most of the white collar workers are white or maybe Asian. However most of the those working in the menial jobs are Mexicans. I wonder why this is so. I learned that in the past, Mexican students were seen as stupid. While white schools were teaching students chemistry and geometry, Mexican schools were just training students to do menial jobs. Sal Castro even saw students building a coffin in a Mexican school. Students in Mexican schools couldn’t even go to bathrooms during lunch breaks and were punished for speaking Spanish. Even though things have changed and schools have improved their mindset on Latinos and are more encouraging of Latinos, I guess this legacy still exists which is probably why you see many but certainly not all Mexican Americans still working in menial jobs and not going onto college. It is a shock because coming from New Jersey, you have a mix of races working in the menial jobs, whites, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics. But when I was in Southern California I saw those jobs worked almost exclusively by Latinos. It is a shame because I saw that the Mexicans there were hardworking and not stupid. Still something I find promising is that Garfield and Lincoln High Schools, both traditionally Mexican schools both boast a 6 out of 10 rating on GreatSchools.Net, which I find impressive. I guess this is a result of all the activism and social capital found in these schools.
Even though I did not go to the Eastside, I did pass through Commerce on the Amtrak. Although Southern California is known for being scenic and a lot of times it is, some areas are not including the ghettoes. This area had industry, oil refineries, even the residential areas did not look pretty and there was a lot of graffiti. I was reading there is an issue with environmental racism in Los Angeles with Latinos more likely to live in heavily polluted areas.
My Latino studies professor told me that Americanized and middle class Mexicans are not the norm in LA and the community is very working class. And it is not like say “you are a fourth generation Mexican.” In LA you are just a Mexican.
However I saw this youtube video where a Mexican American guy was saying how third and fourth generation Mexicans in a high school in Southern California were white washed and got good grades.
In the fourth grade, I remember reading a book about Los Angeles in school describing East Los Angeles as a sketchy place. In the seventh grade, I remember reading a book on the United States and they talked about how this country has some rough places they included East Los Angeles as an example. And who could forget the movie “Stand and Deliver” which was set in East Los Angeles. East Los Angeles is not just any barrio. It is a very well-known barrio, which is kind of why I wanted to visit this place.
How big is the Aztlan movement? I don’t agree with this movement because honestly to me this is like “brown nationalism” and I am not for this. But I am just wondering if it is big among LA Mexicans and Latinos.
I feel that the Mexican experience is unique in Southern California. There may be many other minorities here including the Chinese, Japanese, Thai, African Americans, Armenians, Persians, Salvadorans, etc. but they cannot really say that this was their land like the Mexicans can.
South Los Angeles
changed from South Central Los Angeles because of bad reputation i guess.
Compton, Watts,
the black rich areas.
Politics
Sanctuary city
What has city govt done for environment?
Toilet covers?
No bags in stores
The "hood"
Keep it educational
racism
redlining
blockbusting?
loss of industry
blacks in 90s had it worse than their parents bc of loss of jobs that attracted them to south LA
drug wars
tied to nicargua reagan administration
Spirituality
Scientology on Hollywood Boulevard big
I would recommend Starline because it is very comprehensive.
Interesting notes
Fallas Paredes Mexican chain
El Cholo Mexican chain
so many mexicans you will have many mexican stores some successful
mexican lawyer in downtown LA
Photos
Note 4154 photo sunset
4072 freeway
4131 guitar center and sam ash in another photo
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