Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 7

The following is a comment response to Amanda's blog post from week 5, when she visited Redlands, her hometown. The blog post can be found here.

Like several cities, Redlands seems to relate to Olin, Kling, and Poster's "The Emergence of Postsuburbia" in that suburbs now house various classes, races, and family types. In addition to the types of people that inhabit these areas, the suburbs are "characterized by a land-use pattern that is dominantly residential and a transportation pattern that is dominantly one in which people commute to work outside of the area", which you say relate perfectly to Redlands. This type of area, as described above, also relates to an idea brought up in this week's online reading: David Harvey's "The Environment of Justice" with reference to the "standard view" in which "concerns for environmental justice (if they exist at all) are kept strictly subservient to concerns for economic efficiency, continuous growth, and capital accumulation" (Harvey 7). In your post, you go on to mention that Redlands offers "a very popular (and quite large) outdoor shopping area called Citrus Plaza." According to Harvey, this shopping center simply serves to maintain economic efficiency without concern for the environment. To build this shopping center, much of the original environment of Redlands surely had to be at least slightly damaged, if not severely. And this is all to serve the purpose of economic growth.

Furthermore, relating back to Olin, Kling, and Poster's "transportation pattern that is dominantly one in which people commute to work outside of the area." This idea continues to relate to the standard view with respect to the environement (or the lack thereof). It is widely known that automobiles do a disservice to the environment, and this, still, is all to keep the economic profits flowing. Your mention of the architecture and design of Citrus Plaza that is meant to attract people relates to an idea discussed in class having to do with keeping people at just the right level of satisfaction to believe that their lives (with respect to their jobs) are sufficient enough to continue working at an unsatisfactory wage. In short, this has to do with the belief that if people feel that their entertainment in life is at a high enough level, they feel that they are living a happy life. Just as you note, the area has a "going out" type of atmosphere, and this is precisely the intention.

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 6

The following is a comment on Kathy's blog entitled "Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 3", which can be found here.


Hi Kathy, I have never even heard of Boyle Heights, no less been there, so I enjoyed reading your blog post and learning a little bit about the area. I like how you chose one particular block in the area so that your analysis could be specific. Your depictions of the murals you observed seem accurate, and I think you are correct in your presumption that the "tagging on the walls and floor can be related more to lower economic communities" since it has often been associated with those groups of people. However, I'm not sure whether you are referring to the picture you posted when speaking of the tagging, but it seems that those words don't resemble to tagging that is usually done on walls/buildings; instead, those words seem more positive and hopeful than most of the graffiti/tagging I have seen.

It's great that you had the opportunity to interview a friend from the area (and even more advantageous for the purpose of understanding more about Boyle Heights) that he has lived for over two decades. I find it interesting that 90% of the community is of Hispanic decent, and this brings up the topics from class having to do with class and race. From this week's reading, "The Continuing Causes of Segregation", Massey and Denton consider the idea of segregation having to do with racism. While I do not know the history of Boyle Heights or its class, it seems as though those who live there would fall under a lower social class category according to the small information I have collected from your post, regarding the education system. That being said, I do not mean to imply that racism exists in Boyle Heights; rather, I am trying to get the point across that is brought up in this reading: that is, segregation from the past relates to living patterns spatially in a city. In this sense, the vast majority of Hispanics in Boyle Heights seems to demonstrate this idea.

Furthermore, according to the Marxist view, the fact that your friend's school was "too populated" implies that the community is trying to use the city as a tool for reproducing labor (and it's working; in fact, it's over-working, if you will). In Marxist's view, virtually everything within a city can be related back to the production of goods, and therefore, labor to produce the goods. In class, schools were described as "factories for producing labor" and when your friend says that "some [students] had to be transported to an occupational center in order to get an education", this is in correlation to the 'schools as factories' idea, in that education must remain organized in order to effectively continue the production of labor.

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 5

Miracle Mile and Hancock Park

This week I visited the Miracle Mile in Los Angeles, which is "an area in the mid-Wilshire region of a 1.5 mile stretch of Wilshire Boulevard between Fairfax and Highland Avenues. It may also refer to the surrounding neighborhoods (including Park La Brea)" (Wikipedia). Prior to my trip to the Miracle Mile, I did some minor research on my destination since I had never been there before. According to Wikipedia, "in the early 1920s, Wilshire Boulevard west of Western Avenue was an unpaved farm road, extending through dairy farms and bean fields... Developer A. W. Ross saw potential for the area and developed Wilshire as a commercial district to rival downtown Los Angeles...[he] saw that the form and scale of his Wilshire strip should attract and serve automobile traffic rather than pedestrian shoppers." According to our lectures, these instances throughout history mark some significant changes in the urban revolution: this area went from agricultural and fairly underdeveloped, to a more industrial metropolis. Similar to the ideas in "The Emergence of Postsuburbia" the Miracle Mile's development constructed by Ross had to do with enabling the automobile transportation rather than pedestrians. In Orange County, Rob Kling, Spencer Olin, and Mark Poster claim that "specialized residential, commercial, and industrial zones were difficult for pedestrians to navigate, designed to accommodate the automobile driver" just as Ross had planned to do to the Miracle Mile. While Orange County (which is different from almost any other area of its time, with regard to rapid development) demonstrates all three main types of cities, or areas, the Miracle Mile accounts for a commercial zone. When I went to the Miracle Mile (on a Saturday afternoon) I was surprised to see that there were hardly any people walking about the streets (as there are in most areas on the LA area). Evidently, "Ross had invented the car-oriented urban form...the moves also contributed to Los Angeles's reputation as a city dominated by the car" (Wikipedia). So I guess we have A. W. Ross to thank for the wonderful LA traffic that many of us have to deal with on a daily basis.

A picture I quickly snapped while driving into the beginning of what marks the 'Miracle Mile'

After visiting the Miracle Mile and walking up and down a few blocks, I found that Ross's vision still stands: He had "ordered that all building facades along Wilshire be engineered so as to be seen through a windshield. This meant larger, bolder, simply signage; longer buildings in a larger scale, oriented toward the boulevard; and architectural ornament and massing perceptible at 30 MPH (50 km/h) instead of walking speed" (Wiki). I observed mostly large buildings that were not particularly appealing to the eye while walking. I did notice that there were various small (mostly chain) restaurants, but I didn't come across many stores that invited pedestrians to walk up and down the boulevard casually, to stop into and shop. I didn't get any pictures that exhibit the themes that Ross had originally intended for (and succeeded in doing so), however I did take pictures of the few restaurants I came across, which, to me, almost seemed out of place.

It seems as though this area is slightly abstracting away from Ross's initial plan for this area by implementing a means of commercialization that is more inviting to people in order for them to gain attraction to the area. In addition to these chain restaurants displayed above, a noticed an art theme. After realizing, quite frankly, that this so-called 'Miracle' mile didn't seem so miraculous, I happened across a park that I decided to explore.

"Hancock Park, La Brea Pits"

The park had slightly more people than did the streets, but the crowd was still sparse. People were casually strolling around the peaceful park, looking at the Tar Pit exhibits, statues, and museums (one of which was the LACMA, which I wanted to explore but couldn't due to a private event). It was interesting to me that there were so few people at the park on a Saturday afternoon, and I can't think of any reason for this, other than the private event (since LACMA is likely the main attraction of Hancock Park). There were also two performers that I saw: one man sang and played jazz-like music, while another man had set up several chilled glasses with different amounts of water to play music with. Both of these musical men took song requests from passersby. These performers differed from those I had seen previously at 3rd Street Promenade last week, in that their performances were more personalized to their audience since there were few people, and requests for songs could easily be made.  

One of the tar pits, with elephants 

Some statues outside of the Page museum

Some statues outside of the Page museum

A panoramic view of the park.

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 4

Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade 

Today, I went to 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica to observe social difference. This is definitely a good place to go for people watching, as there is no lack of entertainment, which ranges from singing and dancing to plate balancing to comedy. One of the main wonders I had today was the difference in reasoning for why these performers go to 3rd street promenade (or any area like it for that matter) to show their talents. The reasons I came up with included wanting to be "discovered" to get famous, seeking attention, boredom, and of course, earning money. I have been to the promenade several times before, and I have seen some real talent there, which provides great entertainment for the public. Here were some of the people I saw today (I apologize for the lack of quality):

A dancer setting up her "stage"

Another dancer balancing some sort of basket on her head

In addition to the performers and entertainers of 3rd street promenade are several other interesting people. Having to do with social difference, I saw a gay couple walk by happily and proudly holding hands. They were both broad-shouldered and fit men, one black and one white. I thought that this was interesting because the stereotypical gay couple includes one "masculine" partner and one "feminine" partner, while these men both came off more masculine. Another important thing to note is the racial difference: for some, it is seen as strange or even wrong for a couple to be together that doesn't share the same race. So I liked to see these people proving these stereotypes and narrow-minded thoughts wrong. Another man I saw who sparked my interest was in a wheel chair, and was missing his right leg, and he had a little Beagle that was also missing one leg. I wondered what had happened to each of them and I thought they were an adorable pair. I tried to get a picture, but there were a few people blocking my view because they were paying them attention as well:

Throughout the time I was there, I observed all types of people, which proves that social difference is evident: there are wealthy people who mainly go to the promenade to shop (as there are several great stores there) and on the other end of the spectrum are homeless people. And apparently, some "normal" looking people are homeless, according to Carson (ScriptShadow). Carson warns, "Santa Monica is the homeless capital of the United States... Be careful, since LA's homeless crowd is the best dressed in the nation, they often look like normal people. I once thought I’d made a new best friend only to have him screaming at me five minutes later that I was working for the government." I read this after I had gotten home from Santa Monica, so now that I look back on my time there today, I can recall a number of people who may have been these so called homeless "normal" people. Here are three men that sat on the benches across from where I sat, who may fit Caron's description:

What was most striking to me during my observational experience today was seeing the extreme social difference between the wealthy and the poor. This is an idea that relates back to a topic from lecture, with regard to the common ways inequality (or difference) is thought of as being natural. Admittedly, I am one who has held the same ideology about homeless people: they're everywhere, sleeping on the streets, begging for money, and appear often to be drunk or high. Not until I took a step back today, and thought about this idea critically, did I realize that this idea directly relates to our lecture. In class, we talked about unequal pay for women as opposed to men, as well as racial and ethnic differences (and these are evident as well, but homelessness was my main focus today). With regard to homeless people, we often think of them passively, knowing "that's just the way it is" and we don't question it. Today made me realize that this inequality should be acknowledged. Many people often say that homeless people live on the streets because they screwed up their own lives, when in reality many of them may have been born into the homeless lifestyle, which I imagine is nearly impossible to get out of, while others may have lived “normal” lives before events altered that, and they ended up on the streets. Although it is true that several homeless people do get themselves into that position, it's unfair to assume that all circumstances are the same among homeless people we see. It's important not to jump to judgmental conclusions, and instead be compassionate knowing everyone is unique, as are their circumstances, and when it comes down to it, we're all human, and deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 3

Bus Ride to Downtown LA and back to Westwood

This past week, I took the Metro bus for the first time with Bekah, who is also enrolled in Geography 151. We took the 2 around 4:00 PM, which took us from right off of campus, down Sunset Boulevard, through Beverly Hills and Hollywood, and into downtown LA. The bus ride there was fairly uneventful with a sparse group of people on the bus at any one time. It seemed as though this time of day was an “off-time” which accounted for the absence of a large crowd. I gathered that the reason for this was that people were at work during this time, and because (at the beginning of the bus ride through Beverly Hills) wealthy people don’t often tend to take the bus.  As the bus ride went on, I observed a diverse group of passengers most riding the bus alone, all different races, ages, and classes, getting on and off the bus at various stops, just going on with their days. I saw few interactions from person to person: one girl in front of me made faces at a baby boy looking back at her, and the baby was very amused; I also noticed two guys who seemed to recognize each other from across the bus, and had some small talk. But for the most part, all of the passengers kept to themselves and were just trying to get on with their day. Because there were so few people on the bus to observe, I instead looked at my surroundings outside of the bus. I realized that almost the whole bus ride there were no residential areas; it was all commercialized, which I will go into later.

This is a picture I took on the bus ride downtown, of a mural I admired.

The Metro 2 bus dropped us off in front of Grand Central Market and we walked around for a short period of time, and at 6 o’clock PM, we boarded the Metro 20 bus, as directed by our previous bus driver. This bus route was all down Wilshire, and because it was later in the day, when (I assume) people were getting off work, this bus ride was crowded and a bit more eventful than the first bus ride. The first incident I witnessed featured a woman who got on the bus while screaming into her phone. I believe it was something along the lines of “B****, f*** you, whatever, whatever!” and she continued to repeat herself several times. Through inevitable eavesdropping, the whole busload of people learned that the person on the other end of the phone was her now ex-boyfriend who had evidently cheated on her. This woman proceeded to call a few of her friends to vent to them and ask if she could stay with them since there was “no way she is going back to living with him.” The second piece of drama I witnessed included two older African American men. One of them had just boarded the bus, and I heard him say to the other man, a Vietnam vet (according to his hat), “We both n****s, I don’t like you just like you don’t like me” and since I couldn’t hear the vet, all I heard continued as follows: “I’ll take you out right here! . . .You ain’t gonna fight me! . . . You in a wheelchair! . . . I’ll get off right here and beat your a**!” The yelling man seemed very eager to fight the other, and he stormed off the bus at the following stop, while the man in the wheelchair shook his head. The third little episode was probably the most calm, but still worth mentioning: a man having a conversation over the phone began yelling at the person on the other end, saying “don’t ask me those questions!” and went on very angrily, at which point I put in my earphones to tune him out and listen to music. I was getting tired of the commotion and was ready to get home. I would have tried to record what I saw on the bus, but my phone was dead at this point. To give an idea, I found the following YouTube video that starts out with a couple incidents on buses that reminded me of what I saw/heard:

If nothing else, these two bus rides (primarily the second bus ride) demonstrated the obvious fact of social difference in the LA area. As discussed in class, individuals are distributed according to "residence and occupation" into "natural economic and cultural groups." I presume that most of the individuals I rode the bus with had similar occupations in terms of wages and lived in the same general area since they were all on the same bus route. According to the previously stated idea, then, these individuals would be placed in their economic and cultural groups, likely with some overlapping of groups. Once again, what I'm taking away from this experience is all relatively loose speculation, but it seems to relate closely to the ideas we've discussed in class.

Although the entire LA area doesn’t directly translate to the “series of concentric circles” idea presented in “The Growth of the City” by Ernest W. Burgess, some of the ideas resonate. According to the “growth of the city” idea, the center is the downtown area, which provides jobs for several people, and the part of Sunset Boulevard, as well as Wilshire and downtown LA, what I observed seemed to do just that—these areas are filled with restaurants, clothing stores, hotels, strip clubs, night clubs, museums, movie theaters, etc. Outside of this inner circle is another circle inhabited by workers who desire to live within easy access of their work. Although this area I mention may not be a perfect circle, I believe the idea still translates to these areas, as the passengers of the bus, I presume, live near where they work. It seems likely that the majority of the people I saw on the bus were those who lived in the general areas near the bus stops where they got off. 

Overall, my bus rides were a completely different experience from what I am used to, and I am glad to have had my eyes opened to the social difference in separate parts of LA, since it can be so very easy to get stuck in this little Westwood bubble for so many UCLA students (especially those without cars, like me). 

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 2

The following is a comment I posted on Boo's blog post entitled "The City of Angels" which can be found here

Hi Boo, I really enjoyed reading your post, as I can relate to the various distractions in Los Angeles that so often let one forget about all the beauty in and around this large metropolitan area. I think that you conveyed your ideas well, and with my having visited the Grove many times, I fully understand your description of it and the surrounding areas. I distinctly remember driving to the Grove with my mom over the summer, and since she was driving, I was actually able to observe the many surroundings on the way there from South Pasadena (since it is hard for one to concentrate on anything other than driving when trying get to a certain destination in this area). I found it amazing that in just a few miles, we drove through Hollywood, a very popular tourist attraction with some outer "'bad lands' with their submerged regions of poverty, degradation, and disease, and their underworlds of crime and vice" (The Growth of the City, Burgess, 342). Also within these few miles, I observed the extremely wealthy neighborhoods around the Grove. 

I like how you also mentioned the micro-communities surrounding the Grove, and how they "take on the challenge of maintaining a culture that would otherwise be lost to mainstream influence." This is a very interesting idea, and I think it's important that these cultures maintain their original traditions and lifestyles in this very influential city because it can be easy to get wrapped up in the "LA lifestyle" and forget one's cultural roots. It is also important for diversity reasons, because I feel that one of the greatest things about LA is its extreme diversity ranging from prostitutes and drug dealers to entrepreneurs and CEOs. Whether these different types of people are seen as good or bad, their differences are what make LA what it is. 

You mentioned the idea of the set of rings that make up the growth of the city, and how this idea doesn't pertain to LA, but I think that in a way, it is relevant. Even though this 'set of rings' may not perfectly translate to the LA area as a whole, I think there are various places all around LA that demonstrate this idea. For example, the Grove could be defined as the "Loop", which is the (very small) downtown area. Outside of that is loosely the "zone in transition", invaded by business and light manufacture (Fairfax District, Little Ethiopia, Museum Row, and Korea Town). The "zone of workingmen's homes" could be the surrounding neighborhoods of the Mid-Wilshire area, "inhabited by the workers...who desire to live within easy access of their work" (Burgess) and the residential area outside of this ring would be Hollywood and Beverly Hills, of "high-class apartment buildings or exclusive 'restricted' districts of single family dwellings." And finally, the "commuter's zone" would include the suburban areas "within a thirty- to sixty-minute ride of the central business district." Clearly, this example is loosely based on the idea of the growth of the city demonstrated with separate rings, but it shows that the idea is relevant to most cities, including the LA area.

A final thought that you've inspired me to share in your description of The Grove and outlying areas, is the fact that it conjured up in my mind two highly regarded universities. UCLA and USC are situated in the heart of LA and surrounded by interesting environs. I have visited USC a few times, and it's easy to tell immediately that it is surrounded by rough neighborhoods in spite of the high socioeconomic and academic classes it houses on its campus. In contrast, UCLA is surrounded by extremely affluent neighborhoods. It is interesting that two campuses can be so close geographically, and yet so far with regard to places where people live in LA. Again, it is a reminder of the diversity and the 'opportunity' that this City of Angels provides today.

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 1

I come from a very small city in Northern California called Emerald Hills. Emerald Hills itself has little diversity, but its surrounding cities display plenty of diversity. I've always been fascinated by big cities, most likely because I didn't live in one (the grass is always greener on the other side). I used to visit San Francisco often, and I've been to several other big cities in the US. I find the constant hustle and bustle of cities like NYC, Chicago, and LA intriguing, and now that I live in LA, I am eager to explore the area to analyze and learn more about my new surroundings. I think one of the greatest things about LA is the extreme diverse group of people who go in, out, through and around the city. On any short outing, one will encounter and observe all kinds of different people, all living their own individual, complex lives. A recently learned vocabulary word of mine, sonder, explores this thought further:

Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Although we aren't always mindful of random passersby and their lives, we are in constant presence of these different people, and most of us don't take the time to think about them. We are often so caught up in our own complicated lives. I recently went to Trader Joe's to do some light grocery shopping. On my walk over there, a man stopped me to ask when my birthday is, what my sign is, etc. and after I uttered my sign and tried to walk away, he continued to ramble on about zodiac signs and horoscopes,  walking with me. As I walked faster, he kept up with my pace. At the time, all I thought was that he was just some random homeless man. He insisted that I take his phone number as I was waiting to cross the street, so I reluctantly took out my phone, holding it as tightly as I could, and pretended to enter the number he gave me. As I continued on my way, he yelled, "My name's Cat; my friends call me Cat; call me Cat!" Now that I recall this short incident, I can't help but wonder what Cat's life is all about. I was so quick to judge, and I think that we are all guilty of judgement when encountering new and/or random people. 

Robert E. Park, an American urban sociologist, stated that "The City is a mosaic of little worlds which touch but do not interpenetrate." I think this rings true in our society to a certain extent. However, I do believe that on occasion, these 'little worlds' do interpenetrate, just like my interaction with Cat. 

While I would like to visit numerous cities all over the world, this blog will revolve around the LA area with regard to social difference. In any society, we are bound to have differences with one another, and those differences may include a wide array of things including ethnicity, political and religious beliefs, class, gender, sexuality, and education. With difference, comes inequality, and with inequality, comes conflict. The important thing to remember is that we are all unique individuals. It's hard to determine how to deal with these social differences, and thus conflict. In the Dictionary of Sociology, it is stated that "The differences between society and living organisms are well rehearsed, but it is the ability to handle the problems of social conflict and the limits beyond which the plasticity of society cannot go." Social difference in societies will always be inevitable, and that's a good thing because without diversity, life would monotonous. The difficult element about this is how to deal with the conflict that social difference brings about, which is a precisely what I am eager to explore in the LA metropolitan region.