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July 8, 2008

The Ravine

Golden tickets!

Since April, I’d been avoiding Chavez Ravine. I wasn’t dealing with guilt over the history of the area. I saw Culture Clash’s play five years ago and dealt with it all then. Plus, I grew up without the knowledge of the history. All I knew were the names of my favorite players and all those guys who won Rookie of the Year in the ’90s (Eric Karros, Mike Piazza, Raul Mondesi, Hideo Nomo and Todd Hollandsworth).

My avoidance wasn’t even about the hassle of getting to/in/and out of the place. The happiness I feel in the stadium cancels out the frustration of getting in.

No, I was staying away because I didn’t like owner Frank McCourt’s business model of increasing admission and parking prices as well as creating more luxury seating. Last year, I only went when someone else was trying to pass off some tickets. Yeah, I can be coda…

But my boycott was half-assed, like a lot of other things I do. If a friend offered to buy tickets or needed to pass off some tickets, I’d gladly take them.

I was offered tickets last week for fantastic seats for the first game of the Freeway Series against the Anaheim Angels (eff that LA Angels of Anaheim crap).

Photos after the jump.

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Filed under: Los Angeles, Deportes | POSTED BY cindylu AT 4:23 pm | 8 Comments

June 12, 2008

On the record

It was the last day of jury duty. We, the jurors, deliberated for a little over an hour and then called the bailiff to let her know we’d come to a decision. Half an hour later, all attorneys and defendants were ready for us to file out in to the jury box.

As we took our seats, the judge noted, “let the record show that all jurors and alternates are present… and one die hard Laker fan.”

The courtroom broke out into nervous laughter.

“Is that on the record?” juror #3, sitting directly to my right, asked.

“Yes,” the judge responded with a boyish smile.

That was it for the jokes and we got to business.

***

I sat next to juror #3, a tall, athletic Afro-Panamanian in his 60s, for our nine day stint on jury duty. I never learned his name, but did learn a lot about him. After seeing the Panamanian flag hanging from his rear-view mirror and learning he didn’t need to listen to the court-appointed interpreter to understand the testimony of a Spanish-speaking witness, I figured out he was from Panama. He passed out shiny purple and gold fliers and told the rest of the jury about his tax preparation business. The office doubled as a museum housing his Laker gear. Yes, he gave tours.

Oh yeah, he was diehard Laker fan. It’s on the record!

He distinguished himself from fair-weather fans (*raises hand*) by asserting that he was a Laker fan even during their slump in the 60s. But he didn’t have to say anything. His zealousness was clear.

Every single day he wore Laker gear from head to toe. Yes, even shoes. The cap came off only while in court. He always read the sports section for the latest news and analysis on the Lakers’ playoff run. If he forgot sports section, he’d ask to borrow mine. He had two flags — ubiquitous during the Lakers’ 3-peat in 2000, 2001, and 2002 — on his car. I suspect they never came off during the off-season or even the regular season.

***

I wonder if juror #3, felt sick after tonight’s game.

I know I did.

Filed under: Los Angeles | POSTED BY cindylu AT 10:37 pm | 7 Comments

June 9, 2008

Antigua to leave El Sereno in three weeks (not by choice)

Sigh.

First Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural and Bookstore was booted from it’s original location in San Fernando. The space is now reportedly a laundromat.

Now, Antigua Cultural Coffee House will close the doors of its El Sereno location. They’re “getting evicted or just simply not being granted a contract extension.” In three weeks they’ll be gone… but never fear, their Cypress Park location will open later this summer.

In his email (posted after the jump), Yancey, co-owner of Antigua, calls his coffee shop “the envy of the West side.” I can’t argue with that as evidenced by my reaction after my first visit. Since then, I’ve found a coffee shop where the owner notices when I haven’t visited in a while. It’s cool, but it’s no Antigua.

I visited Antigua a few weeks ago for a monthly meet up with fellow Latin@ bloggers. The meetings are a fun time to just catch up, support independent small businesses on the Eastside and talk about current issues. The next gathering will be at Antigua on Wednesday June 18th at 7 pm. For more info, check out Eastside Scene.

If you’ve never been to Antigua or met really cool bloggers (ahem!), you should stop by. Chances are Ed will be making me blush when he praises my blogging skills for the 31st time. Not that I mind, you know.

Email announcement from Yancey, co-owner of Antigua after the jump.
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Filed under: Los Angeles | POSTED BY cindylu AT 11:13 pm | 6 Comments

May 16, 2008

Juror #4

I celebrated my release from jury duty yesterday afternoon by eating a delicious brownie and finally talking about the trial. As you might expect, I hated being silenced about my experience and the trial.

The trial revolved around four 20/21 year old Latino defendants charged with gang loitering. One defendant was charged with a second count for violation of a gang injunction. Both crimes are misdemeanors.

According to the prosecution, the four defendants (plus two others) were members of a gang near LAX. On November 17, 2007, they were loitering at the corner of a park. The sheriff’s deputies who detained them and also testified witnessed them throwing gang signs, showing off their tattoos and calling out their gang’s name. They did this with the intent to establish their dominance in that neighborhood and publicize the gang. This caused non-gang members to be intimidated. The defense countered that some of the young men were (a) not active gang members (or were never jumped in), (b) all four of the young men were not at the park on that afternoon, (c) the young men were arrested at different locations in their neighborhood (not in a group), and (d) the district attorney’s office and sheriff’s department targeted these young men as part of a current push to enforce gang injunctions. After a couples hours of deliberation, we found all four defendants not guilty. I don’t think the guys were angels. If I saw them on the street in a group, I’m sure I’d feel intimidated and avoid them too. However, the prosecution’s case and the evidence didn’t get us past the standard of reasonable doubt so we returned a verdict of not guilty on all counts.
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Filed under: Los Angeles | POSTED BY cindylu AT 11:11 am | 3 Comments

May 2, 2008

Los vecinos

I’ve lived in the same place for 7.5 years. In that time, I’ve had the same neighbors in the units across and above me. There are 8 apartments in each of the two buildings, both managed by the same company. We share a driveway so we see each other come and go, wander around and smoke a cigarette, hang out on the balcony, pick up our email or barbecue behind the cars in the carport.

Of all the people who live in the two buildings, I only know two names. It’s the same with Isa, my roommate. We keep to ourselves. This feels odd considering I came from a neighborhood where we knew our neighbors quite well. I mean, one neighbor held a small 4th of July block party.

The only names I know are those for Carlos, the building manager. We need to talk to him to fix stuff, like our bathtub that won’t drain making it impossible to shower. And there’s Yuri, who lives with his family across the hall from us. When he was in middle school, he used to ask for help on his homework. He’s no longer a kid. I know when he gets home ’cause I can hear his hip hop music blasting from his car.

I don’t know the Latinos living upstairs nor the elderly woman across from them. She’s the one I wonder about these days. The woman in unit #3 drove a green sedan with a Culver City Senior Citizens decal on the window. I’d only see her mid-morning when she’d return from errands. If she had groceries, sometimes she’d ask for help getting them up the stairs. I’d help, of course. Of course, I never knew her name.

I haven’t seen her car in a while. I haven’t seen her in a while. Yesterday, I noticed men moving away furniture out of her apartment. When I returned from a May Day activities and a meeting on campus, I noticed furniture out on the curb waiting to be picked up by the trash collectors.

I came back in and asked Isa, “do you know what happened to the woman upstairs?”

We both agreed it was weird that the Latina woman upstairs was driving the green sedan. Neither of us had seen her green sedan or her in a while.

“Do you think she died?” I asked Isa.

“Possibly.”

“How sad… we don’t even know,” she said.

“Yeah.”

I had a weird vision of seeing her taken away in an ambulance, but then remembered that was a scene in Dagoberto Gilb’s The Flowers.

I’ll find out what happened. I’ll just talk to my neighbors.

Filed under: Los Angeles | POSTED BY cindylu AT 1:11 pm | 7 Comments

May 1, 2008

Happy May Day!

Lion dancing

I celebrated May Day with thousands of other marchers in MacArthur Park and Downtown LA. The organizers of the march called for an end to the deportation raids (or redadas), legalization and a path to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants and dignitity and peace for all workers.

The march was fun and festive like the last immigrants’ rights march I attended in 2006, A Day Without an Immigrant/Un Día Sin Inmigrante. I went alone, but knew I’d find someone I knew. I did. Almost as soon as I caught up to the march (I was a little late because it’s tough to find parking in MacArthur Park), I ran in to some friends from school. They were lion dancing and playing drums and cymbals.

Sadly, I had to leave around 3:30 to make it back to campus in time for a meeting. I missed the rest of the march and rally. Anyone want to fill me in?

For a slide show of march photos, click on the image above.

Filed under: Política, Los Angeles | POSTED BY cindylu AT 8:49 pm | No Comments

April 24, 2008

Mil palabras: Lunch in Lincoln Heights

Nancy is overwhelmed by her huarache con chorizo

My cousin, Nancy, celebrated her 23th birthday last week but I didn’t get to see her until this week for our periodic Wednesday lunches.

We’ve had dim sum, tortas and tacos on our lunch dates. All our lunches are on the Eastside (or Chinatown) because it’s close to Nancy’s school. For this belated birthday lunch, I chose El Huarachito in Lincoln Heights. I’d never been before, but it comes highly recommended by both Chimatli and El Chavo.

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Filed under: Los Angeles, Fotos | POSTED BY cindylu AT 12:59 pm | 5 Comments

April 22, 2008

A Chicana Outlook on Ruben Salazar

I discussed Ruben Salazar a few years ago while contributing to blogging.la. I was inspired by César/EMC’s post in which he summarized Salazar’s life.

The post and César’s blog no longer exist, but if I remember correctly César — an awesome writer himself — felt cheated as he watched a documentary on Salazar. César felt cheated, as I’m sure many of have, when we learn of people and events like Salazar and the Chicano Moratorium in 1970. We wonder, why are we just learning about this now, more than 12 years in to our education?

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Filed under: Cultura, Los Angeles | POSTED BY cindylu AT 3:38 pm | 7 Comments

Placeholder for Ed’s clever post title

In January, I got an invitation from the blogger behind Eastside Scene to have coffee, tea and just chat about blogging. He invited other local bloggers. The first meeting was small. Just me, Eastside Scene and P3000. The next meeting in February was much better attended. I skipped out on the March meeting because I was touring Texas.

I left work on time to make sure I wouldn’t arrive at El Gallo Café the site of our monthly meetings too late. Eastside Scene was the only one there for a while and we chatted about art and blogging over smoothies. Soon we were joined by Ed from View From A Loft.

Ed’s great. Not only does he have some cool photos of major LA events posted on his blog, but he also comes up with some witty headlines. Well, more like blog titles. He complimented my writing, and I mentioned that I’d like to have his ability to write succinct titles.

“You know, you should re-name some of my posts,” I suggested.

Ed pulled up my blog and looked for recent posts. Ed, Eastside Scene and I came up with some titles for my simply-titled Nopalitos post:

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Filed under: Los Angeles, Blog/tech | POSTED BY cindylu AT 12:59 am | 8 Comments

April 13, 2008

Mil palabaras: Las luces

Urban Light @ LACMA
Urban Light by Chris Burden at the LA County Museum of Art

Last week, on my way to dinner, I drove past this sculpture/light show for the first time. I’d seen photos of Urban Light on the LA blogs, but hadn’t made my way over to the Miracle Mile. Even driving by, one gets a much more spectacular view than in the photos. I returned to LACMA yesterday for the Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement show. I went through the show rather quick because I only had an hour before closing time (I went after 5 pm when admission is free). I’ll definitely go back to check out some of the pieces I rushed through.

For more on the concept behind the sculpture (and more photos) click the photo above.

Filed under: Los Angeles, Fotos | POSTED BY cindylu AT 6:41 pm | No Comments

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