Iconic L.A. at Hidden L.A.

LYNN Garrett meant to mention that she had been running a contest over at Hidden L.A. -- the Facebook Page -- that focused on Iconic Los Angeles. You can can navigate over here for a look.

"Iconic" is a tricky word as it does mean many things to many people -- and run it through L.A.'s meat grinder and well, you get, a "creative" spin on the word. Lots of people did try to pick places (or people) who float in our consciousness as L.A. brick and mortar.

I'm one who tends to gravitate toward "sense of place" because,  even with L.A.'s crazy rate of "modernization" and gentrification, the iconic place has a better chance of outliving the "iconic" "celebutant"of the moment.

One place that made Garrett's finalist list was this: the pocket park slipped in a hidden nook in downtown Los Angeles, its close-up, if you recall, was  featured in the film 500 Days of Summer.

-- L.G.

The Way I See It...

I often tell my friends that I won't live in a house as nice as the one I do now until I'm 35. My backyard has a great view - stretching from sleepy Marina Del Rey on up the coast to Malibu, inland to Century City, traversing upward to reach the Hollywood sign, and eventually ending with downtown's iconic skyline. In my parents home, when I was growing up in Marin County, where views come standard, I became spoiled, and developed a condition not conducive to living in much of Los Angeles - the "i need a view" condition.

With graduation a handful of days away I am consumed in thought - where to live being the most prominent question. I am concerned - where can I live in LA, affordably, with a view? Will I have to submit to the drudgery of boxed-in apartment living downtown? ... (which I'm coming to understand is no cheap reality at nearly $1000/month). Will I ever shed this 'view complex'?

-- Ryan Cavalier

Photo Cred: Dr. Mills LMU

The Colorado Questions

“HAVE you seen any celebrities?” “How often do you eat here?” “Do you think it’s funny when you see tour buses touring your city?” As he sloppily eats his double double, occasionally taking a break to pick at his messy animal style fries, my little brother sits wide-eyed waiting for me to tell him an amazing story about living in L.A. Come August, he will too be yet another DiBiase to join the LMU community, and as you can tell, he could not be more excited to start his life here. I answer the questions, much to his dismay, anti-climatically.

In the four years that I have lived here, I have found that my life might not have turned out the way I envisioned it my senior year of high school. I remember being like my brother Tim, waiting to start my college career in an entertainment-based city, reading my People magazines at work to stay up on my celebrity gossip so when I saw them walking around, I wouldn’t be as star-struck. Lo and behold, after four years, I can’t say that I’ve had one celebrity spotting. And honestly, I’m not too disappointed by it. My mindset has changed in the time I’ve been here, I’ve become less intrigued by the lives of strangers and more so with my own.

Only visited when I have out of state visitors, In N Out has not become a staple for me. Because of its limited audience, many Coloradoans feel they must eat In N Out at least once when they are in California. I understand why; people think the food is fresh, the restaurants are classic, and it is a specialty to four Western states. But to me, I don’t eat fast food, I think their fries are too fresh (imagine that), and well, forgive me for saying this, but it’s just a burger and fries.

His last question is the one that I struggled with the most. While I do think it’s comical how when I drive down Lincoln, I pass by L.A. Tour buses, I can’t say that it’s my city, or my state. I drive a car with Colorado plates, my Colorado license gets double checked every time I go to a bar, and as I have recently just filed, I pay taxes in Colorado. It wasn’t that I struggled to answer the question, but internally, I found myself wondering why after four years, I never became a true California resident. I always blamed it on the fact that for so long I didn’t have a car, and when I did buy one, it was in Colorado. Since I had registered it there, it would have cost too much to buy all new plates, and well I was broke. Not only that, but I’ve heard California makes it hard for out-of-staters to become residents. Even after all of these excuses, I still question if those were the reasons. In my mind, and in my heart, I believe I didn’t become a California resident because I knew that it was not where I wanted to end up. I didn’t want to put myself through the process of changing everything to only then change it back.

It’s not that I will be going back to Colorado for good, but I know now that I won’t be staying in California either. A part of me wishes that at some point, I will long to be back in southern California, for the winter days that I could enjoy an outdoor run in my shorts, for the beach, for the culture. But I will only know this if I leave, if I give myself a chance to miss what I might lose. As we walked to my car, he looked at me and sincerely asked me, “You do enjoy living here though right?” The way he asked made me feel like he was begging for the right answer, the one that reassured him he was making a good choice to come to school here. “Yeah, I just can’t believe it’s almost over.”

-- Jackie DiBiase

(photo: Jackie DiBiase)

Dumbfoundead - Night Riders

DUMFOUNDEAD is a Korean American rapper from Koreatown and the person I chose for my booster story. He has been rapping since he was fourteen-years-old, which makes him no newbie to the art of rapping. Dumbfoundead is my definition of a true "booster" because he has made LA a part of him and his identity. Finding inspiration from his surroundings, environment, and the people he meets in Los Angeles, he takes Los Angeles and uses it as inspiration to create art and music. What I truly found fascinating was how he seeks inspiration from his surroundings. Instead of sitting around his house thinking of new ideas to rap about, he told me that he loves to get out of his house, walk around the streets he grew up from, bike around MacArthur Park, and even sit on a bus to go around Los Angeles. In his interview he said, "Sometimes, I grab a jacket, a pen, some paper, and my iPod and I just find a bus to sit on. People think I'm weird for this, but I ask the person sitting nearest to me to pick a number from one to ten. Let's say the person chooses five. I shuffle through my music and listen to five songs with my eyes closed. After the last song ends, I open my eyes and get off the bus. [Laughing] Even though I don't know where the heck I am, I find my way around Los Angeles, meeting all kinds of people...crazy, weird, and normals ones too. I observe new places I have never been and find my inspiration from my experiences and surroundings because I love Los Angeles". What an interesting guy, right?! I posted one of his music videos below called "Night Riders". Even though his budget for this shoot was low, he still managed to create something great. I love how he uses and sings about certain places in LA, while also taking you there as well. I hope you enjoy his music and talent. This music video does have some vulgar language so please listen at your own discretion!

What Used To Be...

DID you know that Santa Anita race track was where Seabiscuit, the famous horse that won many awards, raced? This race track was also a part of history during World War II. In correlation to our class discussions about the making of Los Angeles and its history, Santa Anita race track was similar to that of the Dodger's stadium. It once used to be a Japanese Internment Camp during World War II. Once the camp was shut down after the war ended, the race track was eventually reopened to the public. Santa Anita race track is located next to the mall in Arcadia. I always wondered if the Japanese Internment Camp had anything to do with why Arcadia is predominantly made up of the Asian population...
-- Stephanie Park

Caption: Santa Anita Race Track

Credit: Dave Cooper, flickr creative commons

Geography of Fear

I WAS born and raised in Los Angeles. It's a city known for opportunities and dreams; a place where diversity and culture thrives. While Los Angeles may be diverse, it doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is accepting of the diversity. For me, it seems like everyone sees diversity as a norm and that the only way to go around diversity is to stay within the same circle of familiar people. In other words, segregating between cities, people, and races is the only way to get around diversity. Segregated communities and hatred between races is no stranger to native Angelenos; it's a part of our reality.

In correlation to our past class discussions, we learned about the history of Los Angeles and how it was advertised to the rest of the world as the greatest place to live. People perceived Los Angeles as a place where all their dreams would come true; a place where endless opportunities lied ahead of them. Today, we are still able to brag about the opportunities and diversity of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is made up of many other cities and within these cities are sewn in streets that link to each other. Within these streets are territories where some people aren't allowed in or shouldn't be near. This is something that is hard to explain. In some areas or cities such as El Monte, San Gabriel Valley, Van Nuys, Koreatown, and so forth, racial tensions exist between Asians, African Americans, and Latinos. It's a territorial battle and it affects everyone. Migrant Angelenos may perceive Los Angeles as a tourist location; a place where each city shines on its own. To me, Los Angeles is a place or geography of fear...a place where racial tensions and territories affect the way we enjoy our wonderful city.

I would love to think about Los Angeles as a safe place, just as where I grew up. I would like to say that there is no such thing as racial tension and that Los Angeles is really the best place to grow up and live. However, I would be in denial if that were the case. Los Angeles is diverse in all aspects. It is diverse in culture, mentality, music, people, races, personalities, and so forth. All the negative and positive aspects make Los Angeles what it is today.

-- Stephanie Park

Caption: Shoes hanging on a gloomy day

Credit: Justus Hayes, flickr creative commons

Prospective Perspective Amid an Angeleno Collective

TWO years back I would have described LA as a place so focused on aesthetics that its moral character was severely underdeveloped – something which spawned within me a strong distaste for all things Angeleno. Over the course of my undergraduate career, I had time to break down, and eventually dissolve my negative conceptions. It took leaving the west LA area, getting to know downtown, battling the inevitable traffic, sampling the taco trucks, hiking the canyons, enjoying the concerts, meeting new types of people and quite simply making ‘a city for myself’ to realize the fault was my own – that I had constructed mental boundaries which perpetuated my bubble reality.

There are so many aspects that make LA unlike any other city around the world, something I have come to understand as a result of ‘getting cultured’ from a global perspective. A six-month work/study experience in London, UK helped me develop a series of coping skills which increasingly allow me to enjoy my time here – simultaneously allowing room for creative analysis. For example: LA can be a confining city if you have no means of transportation, so I found a way to get around. The air quality is horrible at times, another issue of mine, so getting away into the mountains for a hike really makes all the difference, and hits the reset button.

Although overall my perception is still changing, growing, evolving, I can say that living in this city has expanded my perception of place, space and the influence one's attitude toward them can have on the overall wellbeing and success of an individual

-- Ryan Cavalier

caption: A Lens Lit View of Reality

credit: Ryan Cavalier