Bambu: Beach Cruisin'

I loved listening to this track from rapper/activist Bambu's second solo album "...i scream bars for the children..." as I biked around SoDo.

"Liquor store--church, liquor store--chicken shack, liquor store--church, liquor store--check cash" is such an accurate description of what a South LA neighborhood is like, and the reason why organizations like Community Services Unlimited, Inc., which provides nutrition education in South LA, are so important to the community.

Since first seeing Native Guns (Bambu, Kiwi, & DJ Phatrick) perform at the Students of Color Conference at UC Berkeley in 2006, I've been hooked to Bambu's lyrics and emphatic delivery. I have great respect for his dedication to LA and to Kabataang maka-Bayan, or Pro-People Youth, a progressive youth organization in Historic Filipino town which was founded in 1999 to "to raise the social consciousness of the youth to organize and mobilize in response to issues affecting our local communities, the oppressed people of the Philippines and other pro-people issues around the world."

Lots of good people doing good work in this town.

What's In A Headline?

Within South L.A.'s killing zone, a haven from violence is about "a mile-wide area bounded by Hoover Street, Halldale Avenue, 73rd Street and 85th Street in Vermont Knolls [that] has had no homicides in the last three years."

The title of this recent article in the LA Times bothered me. A lot. It perpetuates the idea that South LA is a violent, terrible, scary place-- I'm not saying that the area is actually safe, but using this sort of language to talk about South LA does nothing to help dispel the lore of the neighborhood that made the City change the name from "South Central" to "South" LA.

The article itself delves into the ways that the people of that community have created a neighborhood where sometimes they "fall asleep with the doors unlocked because it's so comfortable" because there, "people keep an eye out." To know that an area like this can exist in South LA is definitely news that should be discussed.

The rest of the article, however, points out how dangerous the surrounding area is. It discusses the troubles that plague South LA: gangs, unemployment, lack of opportunity, violence. Then it ends with a story of a 17-year-old boy who was shot and killed, with the hypothesis that it happened because he refused to join a gang.


I don't deny that the facts are there. I can't take issue with facts. What I can take issue with is the way this article is arranged-- the way that it talks about South LA makes it sound like the "haven" in Vermont Knolls is a fluke, a stroke of good luck more than a result of people putting in time, energy, and effort into building a safer community.

Why did the headline have to say "killing zone"? Why wasn't it something like "South LA residents work together to create a safe zone in a troubled area"? Would something positive simply not garner enough interest in the readership?

Well, it got my attention, so the ploy worked. I'm still not okay with it.

I haven't lived in this supposed "killing zone," but calling it that isn't going to help the community get better. The article could have used Vermont Knolls as an example of possibility and hope for South LA, but it didn't. That's upsetting.

5 Random Good Things

In no particular order, with no particular them, from my particular perspective, from my particular experience:

5 Random Things That Make Life In LA Good (note: (some of my 25 random good things might be associated with each other in some way. I can't help that. Good things beget good things. I have no agenda other than to share what has made my life in LA good.)

1. Tuesday Night Project. So, I am a currently a co-producer. Conflict of interest? Not really. This was on my list of reasons-LA-is-awesome since 2008, when I went to a Tuesday Night Cafe for the very first time. There are some pretty amazing people involved with TNP and I feel lucky to have been a part of it for the last year.

2. The Park's Finest. It's the sauce. The rub, the meat, those are great, but the killer move is the sauce. It has kick and it has coconut milk in it (I think-- and/or unicorn blood). There's not really any going wrong there. The owner/operator is Johneric Concordia, Resident Host of Tuesday Night Cafe and a member of

3. The Fighting Cocks. I have a soft and tender spot for independent bands that play good music with political lyrics. They play around Long Beach a lot and, yes, the band is one of TNP's Resident Artists.

At this point, it sounds like TNP has eaten my life. Well, it has enriched it immensely. There will be some non-TNP-related stuff in this list, I promise.

4. Papa Cristo's! I can't say the name without an exclamation point. There on Normandie & Pico may be found the falafel that ruined me for all other falafel, at least in California. It's been over a year since I had a falafel sandwich from there and I probably think/talk about at least once a week. I also liked buying Greek/Turkish coffee from there. Strong stuff, goes well with lots of sugar.

5. Random places like St. Vincent Court. There's so much yet-to-be-discovered-(by me)-quirk in this city. There's so much old and new mixed together and sometimes it's hard to tell which is which. I loved wandering through this place one sunny afternoon (after biking past it but not entering it one dark night), but I've yet to try out its breakfast/lunch offerings because I no longer reside nearby.

Since I talk about leaving LA so much, it'll be good to document these good things to explain to myself later why 1) I never left or 2) why I left and came back.

Now if only I could find a nice low/no-rent situation back in SoDo. If any of you (two or three, if I'm lucky) readers happen to have any ideas, please feel free to drop me a line.