Food & Art in East L.A.

2009 Crime Statistics in

East Los Angeles

105

202157

115

225178

156

Crime rates in this summary are based on a population of 10,000 rather than 100,000 as in the State of California and Federal Bureau of Investigation reports.2008

2009

Despite the weak economy Los Angeles crime rates plunge.

Crime in Los Angeles County dropped again in 2009 despite rising unemployment and the bad economy, continuing a slide that has pushed homicides to levels not seen since the 1960s.

Killings dropped about 17% in Los Angeles and by nearly a quarter in areas patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department. Together, the agencies investigated about 500 killings through Sunday -- a sharp drop in bloodshed compared with the more than 1,500 in 1992, the year of the Los Angeles riots.

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http://www.foodandartineastla.com

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Parilladas on Friday nights in Boyle Heights A common site on Friday nights along many

of the streets of east L.A.

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East Los Angeles is also known as East L.A. or the Eastside or East Los—The short form for the region, “East L.A.,” is an im-precise term which can mean different things depend-ing on usage and context. As a geographical term, it can refer to either the region described here or the unincorporated community of East Los Angeles. As a cultural term, “East L.A.” has developed to refer to the predominantly Hispanic communities lying east of the city of Los Angeles, centered around the unin-corporated area of East Los Angeles and City Terrace

and the Los Angeles district of Boyle Heights. To distin-guish this area from the broader eastern area of the City of Los Angeles, a collection of neighborhoods and com-munities lying within Los Angeles city boundaries, and to emphasize the differences in character between the two areas, locals have come to use the term “Eastside” (on the example of “the Westside”) for the area within the city boundaries.

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The areas surrounding the unincorporated area of East L.A. formed the political and cultural heart of Mexican-American life in Los Angeles County during a period when the overall population of the county was mostly white (non-Hispanic) and often quite hostile to Latinos. Much of the violence of the Zoot Suit Riots occurred in the region. Today East L.A. is populated mostly by immigrants of Mexican descent, and their American children.

Although East L.A. is populated mostly by immigrants of Mexican descent, diversity reigns allowing you to see cultures from all over the world.

EastL.A

.

Finding your way around East Los, can be as easy as remem-bering the important locations to visit and the ones to avoid. Stay south of the “pine” tree after 6pm and try to make your way west of into downtown at night. During the day time, make the drive around East L.A., Boyle Heights, and City Terrace on any of the four freeways that circle East L.A.

Some places of interest to visit:Garfield Highschool: This is the school where Jaime Escalante taught, Olvera Street: if you are looking for a

good place to eat with a nice atmosphere, this is it. Whittier Blvd.: Drive down the hostory Boulevard and if

you’re lucky you might find a good bargin.

A short conversation with Paul Botello

Paul Botello used Color and aerosol strokes as he searched for his artistic purpose. He continued to explore his talent undil he defined his own unique statement and style as a Chicano muralist.

I have lived in East Los Angeles for all my life, my elementary. I am a third generation Mexican American, eight child of nine who lives amongst neighbors whose kids are first generation and because of this I feel my heritage around me like a blanket giving me a sense of comfort and sense of community. Living in the Twenty-first century I am very aware of the multi-cultural world that I am a part of, and so from this context I feel my art should ref lect this diversity yet come from my unique perspective and schema. That is why my work is universal as well as personal and cultural.

I have gained experience and have been educated in the streets painting murals, in schools earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and from traveling to Europe and Mexico where my roots originated.

Los Tigres del

Can you tell us what “Tigres del Norte” mural is about

Can you tell a little about yourself?

What artists are you inspired by?

Los Tigres del Norte is about the struggles and strength of the everyday man and woman, I also wanted to share my philosophy of speaking out for those with no voice. The wall speaks, sings, and shouts in an energetic expression of movement and emotion in brilliant ranges of color.

This is how I see the people that I grew up with.

Sure, I was born and raised in East Los Angeles, I received my BFA and MFA from California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) in addition to a cer-tification in industrial drafting and computer-aided design. I teach painting and drawing at CSULA and am currently collaberating with Eva Cockroft on a mural in Berlin, Germany.

My work doesn’t stem from the inspiration I get from looking at any artist’s work. Of course, there is a lot of artwork out there that I like and there is even some that my work can be compared to, but there is none that really inspires me. If I had to choose something that inspired me it would be the way in which some particular artists get things done. I guess I’m more inspired by how prolific some artists are or the way they present their work to the public.

My works are symbolic narrative that examine both public (murals) and personal (canvas) themes”

“

“Tigres del Norte” and “No Greater Love”, I wanted to create

powerful statements about the veneration of life of those who

make up this city (East L.A.).

Yes, in fact I was recently involved with the Los Angeles County Probation Department. I worked with at-risk youth to produce a monumental mural for the exterior of the City Terrace Park gymnasium. The mural spans almost 30’ x 50‘. The mural references Latin American culture and history through a variety of complex symbols and diverse themes.

I am also involved with in collaboration projects with many of East Los Angeles’s more inf luen-tial Graffiti artists. I try to reach out to them as a way to create a dialogue between muralists and graffiti artsts, since our work is very similar—

But the bottom line is that no matter how hard we try, there are still going to be those who for what ever reason do not understand or appreci-ate any work of art. I take all of the precausins that I can to protect my work once it is complete. The cost of fixing a damaged mural is high and because it is on record with the City of L.A. damaged murals have to be cleaned up right away or risk having the mural removed by the city.

All I can do is work my best to establish a type of rapport with the kids, the rest is up to them.

Your murals are on the walls of inner cities, how much does graffiti affect your work and do you try to engage and reach out to the kids that are invvolved in graffiti who deface your work? How do you deal with the problem?

East Los Angeles Murals www.lamurals.org/

Murals by Paul Botellohttp://www.grconnect.com/murals/

Was just eight years old when he began helping his older brother, David, paint murals. He stud-ied art at California State University, Los Angeles, where he earned both a BA (Fine Arts 1985) and an MFA (1995). In 1994 he and Eva Cockcroft traveled to Berlin, Germany, where they collaborated on a mural, called Global Chessboard (72’ x 120’).

Botello spent spring 1997 as a visiting professor at Pitzer College in Claremont, teaching the art of mu-ral painting. He was recently awarded a multi-year contract to create murals for the Boyle Heights Metro Rail Station (However, the MetroRail to East L.A. was put on indefinite hold in late 1997).

East Los"Vendor Fest

Picture it: open-air carts under bare bulbs where men and women chop meat and fashion dough into breads. Savoury steam escapes from mostly-covered pots kept warm on flat-top griddles. Children run around playing games and there’s a quiet roar of banter and joking, punctuated by sounds of “mmm!” and “ah!”.

I am not talking about a market in China or Oaxaca?I am in East Los Angeles? Just five minutes from the skyscrapers in Down-

town, just off the corner of Breed Street and Cesar Chavez, one block west of Soto, is a nightly feast of Mexican -- REAL Mexican -- street food.

The street vendors set up around 7 PM in the park-ing lot behind the Bank of America, a dozen or more vendors hawking everything from white posole to cemitas to barbacoa de chivo.

I am a sucker for tacos, so I asked for two carne asada tacos ($1.50 each). After adding green or red salsa and onions and cilantro, they were very good, tender, moist meat, spicy salsa, a little crunch from the onion.

It took me less time than I expected to get the tacos and so I went back over to La Jarocha, which is the “front” stand. You’ll know this stand because on the flat-top is a small hotel pan of hard-boiled eggs and rice, which you can have in a taco if you like. She also had cecina (the Mexican answer to beef jerky) and birria de res.

Get there early! Directly behind La Jarocha is Nina’s, which you’ll know because it’s the biggest line and the only one where they call out numbers (in Spanish, though if you are obviously non-Spanish-speaking they’ll just keep an eye on you). This place also differs in that you place your order and pay first.

Depending on what you ordered, they’d lop off a chunk of masa, form it into whatever they needed, and either fry it or grill it on the flat top, then stuff it.

I wanted to see this so I ordered a sope de huit-lacoche. She (the cook) asked me if I knew exactly what that was. (I do, and its usual translation, corn smut, is absolutely disgusting. It’s basically black mushrooms that grow on certain ears of corn.) The cook grabbed a hunk of masa, formed it by hand into a big sope, fried it and then stuffed it with a HUGE spoonful of huitlacoche and a sprinkling of cheese.

Given how goopy the sope was, it was a PERFECT match, dark and earthy and not nearly as spicy as I was expecting. I’m going to have to become a regular!

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NagigatELA is a natural extension of the history

of this proud region of Los Angeles. All Roads in

Chicano history extend from East Los Angeles. The

region has a history of diversity that provides us

many wonderful American stories of success and

failure. We choose to tell these stories through art

and food.

http://www.navigatela.com/SayHi