Week Ten • Tehrangeles: Westwood's Little Persia

Last week. Last post. Last location. It's amazing how fast time goes. Ten weeks have already came and went in what seems like a blink of an eye and now I'll be telling of my last adventure throughout the Los Angeles (well, maybe not my last, but the last you'll hear of, haha).

So for my last documented location, I decided to focus on somewhere that was a little more familiar to home. Being half Iranian and living so close to Los Angeles all my life, venturing into the small stretch in Westwood known as Little Persia isn't something new to me. However, this is the first time I'm looking at it in a geographical viewpoint to observe the social differences within this area and how it compared to the others I have traveled to during these past ten weeks.

Welcome to Little Persia or Persian Square or what many of Iranian residents call it: Tehrangeles (a mix of Tehran, the capital of Iran and Los Angeles).

I remember reading an article by Shoku Amirani of BBC News some months ago about how Iranians have made a part of LA uniquely their own. According to Amirani, estimates show that "300,000 to over half a million Iranians in Southern California, with many living in Tehrangeles". I've always wondered why many Iranians congregated in Los Angeles and why particularly in Westwood. I read more of the article and found that it actually helped answer this question I've had for some years now.

According to Amirani, the first Iranian immigrants that arrived in LA were students during the 1960s. 1979 showed the biggest wave of Iranian fleeing the revolution that overthrew the Shah and brought about the Islamic Republic. Many more, afterwards, followed to join their families and to escape the Iran-Iraq war in the early 1980s. In addition, there were a handful simply searching for better opportunities like many other immigrants of different ethnic origins who came to America. Apparently, Amirani also says that climate was also a factor.

Something I've always found interesting ever since I was able to understand the difference was how majority of Iranians living in LA call themselves Persian instead of Iranian. Personally, this always bugged me to an extent due to the fact that people can't be Persian today because the Persian Empire no longer exists. However, in his article, Amirani does a great job in interviewing several Iranian residents to find the reason why they call themselves Persians (something I figured out some years ago due to being around those who identify as Persian than Iranian).

In a nutshell, those in LA (and in any part of the country) calling themselves Persian are disassociating themselves from Iran and the Iranian government. They also identify as such to avoid prejudice from the ignorance of any Americans (which unfortunately is a lot) who related Iranians to terrorist actions. This part of Amirani's article, interviewing a second generation Iranian (who happens to share my name haha) who describes this reason for changing how Iranians identify themselves:

"It's like if you say you're Persian, you're more cultured or posh," says Sara. 

"But if you say, 'I'm Iranian,' people think you're enriching uranium in your garage!"

In addition, another young Iranian American Amirani interview says this about Americans:

"Americans are good people, they are just very uncomfortable with what they don't understand," says one young Iranian American who came to the US in the 1980s.

That says it all. I can't explain it any better than that.





When you walk around Little Persia or Tehrangeles, it reminds you a lot of China Town or Korea Town with how it's very business, shopping, and food oriented only...everything is in Farsi. What I found interesting was the amount of travel agencies and and other buildings offering passport services (I must have counted about 8 of these in just the relatively short stretch from Wilshire and Olympic).










In addition, this area is covered with Iranian/Persian restaurants, ice cream shops and other small food joints (all satisfying Iranian tastes). For example, Iranian kabob and ghorme sabzi galore as well as the well known Saffron and Rose ice cream so family to Iranian tastebuds.

While I personally love kabob and ghorme sabzi (I've been spoiled to love them most when they're homemade), I never could like the Saffron and Rose ice cream (and I've tried it many times haha).

While walking around, I also noticed quite a lot of galleries, bookstores and salons. Wow were there a lot of salons!! Seems Iranian women love to look their best (of course, no harm in wanting to look good, haha).

But what really caught me off guard was in regards to language. I was in no way surprised by many of the locals speaking Farsi. While I cannot understand the language (yet, I'm slowly learning haha), I can still easily recognize it because I'm almost always hearing it when my baba (dad) speaks Farsi with his friends and family. No, what caught my attention was when I came across a homeless man of African American origin asking for money in Farsi. While there is nothing wrong with this picture, it was definitely not something you see or hear everyday (for instance, someone of Chinese descent but speaking Portuguese like you would find in Brazil).

Overall, this small district of Tehrangeles felt like a very capitalistic Tehran which really is what it is. It's America meets Iran in a cultural mash-up (something that was discussed in Professor Wilford's other class, Cultural Geography of the Modern World). While the are is clearly predominated by the Iranian culture, tastes, and language, there lies the something very American about the landscape.

To wrap up this last post, social difference in this Tehrangeles, in my opinion, falls on the dual identity of Iranian and Perisan. Because it is easier for Americans to understand Persian as something gentle and friendly rather than take the effort to learn, Iranian immigrants readily choose the ethnic term in order to evade the prejudice tied with being Iranian (the last thing they want to be seen as is a terrorist or a supporter of the Islamic Republic when they are far from that).

However, I personally choose to continue to identify as Iranian (or well half Iranian) because I believe that the only way to make Americans and other people understand that being Iranian doesn't mean you're manifesting bombs in your garage is by educating them. You have to embrace who you really are and when people look at you differently, to face it and explain that while you're Iranian, you are not in support of the extremists and the Iranian government. After all, Iran isn't the only country with dangerous radicals and an unjust government.

Week Nine • Ellen's Trip to Watts

This week, I was particularly drawn to Ellen Bastrmadjian's post on her trip to Watts. She mentioned that she's never visited Watts before so this was a new experience for her. Ellen briefly explains her reason for choosing Watts as a part of her location topics was because of an article she read about the 20th Anniversary of the 1992 Los Angeles. While she was there, Ellen made many observations that showed that Watts is an economically, culturally, and academically poor district.

This is my comment to her post:

Hi there Ellen! First off, I wanted to say how awesome I think it is that we're both working towards the same major (though you're closer to finishing it since we're separated by a year haha). Secondly, I have to express how extremely impressed I am with this post. It is among one of the bests, in my personal opinion, that I have read over the past 8 weeks. You really go into depth and do so without superfluous information. You give the right about of analysis, reflection, an insight to each of your observations in such a professional and organized manner that everything was clear and easy to understand.

The first aspect of your post that I want to comment on is the video you provided. When I first clicked the play button, I wasn't sure what to expect (actually, I was expecting some sort of brief documentary sort of footage). What it turned out to be was something breathtaking and deep in message. While it was artistically stylized, it holds a lot of reality in a general since that in any poor community, violence is bred. Ultimately, I find that the inclusion of this video was a very great addition to your post, especially when you relate it back to the 1965 riots which, as you said, Watts was the center of because it expresses that real aspect that violence of some scale still, very well, exists.

While on that subject, it would have been nice for you to briefly explain the 1992 and 1965 riots in regards to what they were and why they occurred for those who may not be from Los Angeles or may not be old enough to know. Although I've always lived relatively close to the Los Angeles Metropolitan area, I was not aware of these riots until now mainly because the first happened far before I was born and the second when I was only a year old. I had to take a bit of time to research these riots to better understand their relation to the rest of your post. 

With your reference to these riots, it is clear that Watts seems to be founded on social difference, so much that these differences, that were on a racial level, unfortunately lead to these large scale uprisings. Because of this, without needing to visit Watts myself, I agree that Watts may face (if it isn't already) insurance redlining. And if this is the case, it would explain why Watts remains seemingly unchanged 20 years after the last riots and continues to be a poor community. They fall victim to discrimination, as so many other neighborhoods do, which causes a potentially endless cycle of poverty and violence. If a poor community is not provided insurance as it legally has the right to be, they continue to remain poor which leads to poor education systems in the area which then closes the circle of uneducated individuals unable to uplift their community from such a poor state. Unfortunately, poverty tends to lead to lack of proper education due to insufficient funds and as a result, lack of proper educations tends to lead to continued poverty.

Week Eight • Go Metro! Bus 720

What exactly do we classify as a place? It's rather a broad and almost ridiculous question to ask you may think, but if we were to actually sit down and reflect on this question we'd come to realize that a place isn't just a city, a store, a neighborhood or community; it can very well be a mode of transportation, specifically public transportation.

Within public transportation (bus, train, airplane, etc) lies a moving structure of what seems to be, in a way, the essence of changing social difference. By this I mean that there is a sort of fluctuation back and forth between these changes, primarily in racial demographics, which I will be describing throughout the rest of this post.

For example, if you were to follow one bus line for a long period of time (as I did today), and paid attention to both the outside city landscape and the people getting on and off the bus, you will see that there exists social difference. These social differences are the ones we're all already very familiar with: race and economic class.

The upcoming Metro Division 13 Bus Maintenance and Operations Facility
[photo courtesy of article written by Roger Vincent]

But before I get into talking about the bus itself, I remember coming across an article published by the L.A. Times earlier this month about the construction of a 442,265-square-foot maintenance facility for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority. This facility is said to cost $73.5 million and is being built at the northeast corner of Vignes Street and Cesar E. Chavez Avenue. It will be housing 200 buses that run on compressed natural gas and will include a three-story concrete parking structure, a two-story bus maintenance and office building, and a cash counting facility. This facility is set to be completed in the summer of 2014 (Vincent).

What caught by interest about this article was the fact that these buses will be running on natural gas rather than oil (by oil, I'm referring to the gasoline we put into our cars and not crude oil). Studies have shown that natural gas is actually cleaner for the atmosphere than gasoline and diesel; vehicles running on natural gas "emit 33 percent less carbon dioxide (CO2), 80 to 93 percent less hydrocarbons, 70 percent less carbon monoxide, 90 percent fewer toxic emissions, and almost no soot" (Berg). This sounds pretty awesome in regards to air quality; unfortunately, in reality, even though natural gas is cleaner than gasoline and diesel when burned, it is still dangerous to the environment and to communities.

The extraction of natural gas is just as detrimental to the environment and human health as drilling for crude oil. Fracking (short for hydrofraulic fracturing) is a drilling technique which involves "injecting toxic chemicals, sand, and millions of gallons of water under high pressure directly into the ground to release natural gas in shale deposits." As a result this mixture of toxins, sediment, and any natural gas relased can "leak to the surface and enter rivers and groundwater in the process" ("What is Fracking?").

So, unfortunately, while this new facility will be promoting better public transportation for the residents of the Los Angeles Metropolitian area, we're still going to be relying on an energy source that is just as risky, just as damaging to the environment and our health, and unsustainable (more so if the demand for natural gas increases).

720 - Eastbound

Going back to the bus itself, I started my travels by taking the Culver City Bus line 6 from UCLA to Wilshire and Westwood Blvd for roughly fifteen to twenty minutes to catch the Metro line 720 going eastbound towards Los Angeles-Commerce.

All aboard!

See those blue pants, purple converse, bag and bike helmet in the photo on the right? Yeah, just a little proof that I actually rode the bus. I'd have take a picture of myself, but I felt a little awkward as a few people were already starting at me (maybe because I was dressed relatively colorful and wore a UCLA Celebrate t-shirt expressing our football victory against USC this past Saturday (Go Bruins!).

My bus adventure begins!
(apologies for the dirty window, you can blame the rain haha)

To start off, the 720 (or at least the particular bus I was on, as well as the one on the way back home) was quite noisy not in regards to the people on the bus (because there weren't many and they were actually really quiet). Not only that, but it was a really bumping and jerky ride. I remember riding several lines of buses nearly every day in San Francisco during the three months I lived there that were just as equally long as the 720, but a lot more smoother (spare the moments were everyone swayed every time the bus stopped and started moving again). I can either assume that maybe it depends on the driver as well as the roads, but overall I was a bit intrigued by how I, along with the other passengers, were swaying and jerking around as the bus was in motion.

Something that we all know (at least those who are familiar with riding buses) is that this is also a perfect location for advertisement, but what I noticed on this 720 was that it mostly advertised the Tap card and the Metro public transportation.

Also, booo Trojans, haha.

But what I found most interesting and rather odd was not the racial demographics on the bus, but how they seem to naturally seat themselves. I took a rough count of the people on the bus during the start of my trip and there were about twenty-five people. Majority, if not all, of the passengers in the front were white (for lack of a better description) whereas everyone in the back half of it were of African American, Hispanic or Latino origin. But this wasn't forced, this was how everyone seated themselves. There were still many empty seats throughout the bus, each stop, new passengers would come on and I would observe how it seemed about 70% of the time, people of African American, Hispanic, and Latino heritage would enter the bus at the front, pass all the empty seats and go straight to the first available seat in the back.

It also occurred that while spots in the back would open up, most of those who were white immediately sat in the available seats in the front. I watched this for about twenty minutes and noticed this happen over and over again. It got me wondering why this was even happening. Nobody told anyone to sit in the back, there were no rules saying this is where certain people should sit on the bus, yet this was what I saw. As I'll later come to find out, on my way back to UCLA, this phenomena did not occur. Going westbound on the 720 towards UCLA, the bus was far more crowded and the majority were of African American origin.

Why it was like this going eastbound, I don't think I'll ever know. I thought hard about why this may have occurred, but really nothing came to mind. It couldn't possibly be because those who are of African American, Hispanic or Latino descent instinctively felt that they were the minority and the back of the bus was where they were meant to be. That makes no sense to me. So as to why this happened, I don't think I'll ever come to understand, but thought it was definitely worth sharing. If anyone has thoughts, ideas, theories, and any insight on this matter, please feel free to share them below.

For the most part, both east and westbound, most people kept to themselves with only a few who knew each other sustained a conversation. Everyone else read a book, listened to their music, talked on their phone, or quietly stared out the window. This was definitely a fine example of gesellschaft and gemeinschaft coinciding; these people were sharing this public transportation, something that in itself was its own little community of most people sticking to routine, but remained strangers to each other, hardly (if at all) showing any acknowledgment.

The bus stopped at and eventually passed by Rodeo Dr. and Beverly Dr. where it got a bit more crowded but people still had seats to take (so no one had to stand). It's pretty clear to see that the 720 also serves as transportation for shoppers in this area.

It's not hard to miss Rodeo Dr. and Beverly Dr. as the buildings in this area are very architecturally rich
and highlighted with gold trimming such at the one shown in this picture.

But as soon as the famous shopping district ended, the bus drove through a more business and office oriented zone. This area was spotted with palms and other trees for about two miles before the 720 pass La Jolla Ave and everything almost suddenly became rather dull. There was hardly, if any, trees at this point and whereas there were houses before La Jolla Ave, there were now nearly only apartment complexes.

There were also small shopping and service plazas scattered along this part of Wilshire Blvd.

The 720 eventually made a left on Valencia St and then a right on W 6th St. At first 6th St. looked pretty run down with buildings and apartments that didn't look very attractive.

The housing on this part of 6th St.

Hellooo many tall buildings

However, just after passing over the Harbor Freeway, the bus entered the epitome of a concrete jungle. But almost immediately hitting 6th and Main (where I got off) these tall building casting large shadows over the street disappeared and everything brighten up.

There were three things I quickly took note of:

1. There were stores and other services on the ground level of building, the levels stacked above being housing for residents.
2. That this area was predominantly made up of those of African American, Hispanic, and Latino origin and very few white and Asian.
and lastly,
3. The homeless was extremely prominent in this area.

I also came to find that it can very well be easy to get lost in the part of Los Angeles, especially if you've never been here. Unfortunately, it didn't feel like that great of a place to get lost in. During the two blocks I walked to catch the 720 going westbound, I got cat-called twice and then flirted with (while I proceeded to ignore the man who was much older than me) while waiting for the bus while there were countless people standing around me. He had no problem puckering his lips at me in passing with people watching who, turned out, didn't care.

I found this both awkward (despite this not being the first time since I got it in San Francisco as well), but also interesting seeing how I walked about the same amount of distance to board the 720 going eastbound and wasn't even acknowledged by anyone once.

Overall, this trip really showed me how just one line of public transportation can pass through many different communities and other areas can be vastly different than the ones neighboring it in terms of racial, economic, and social difference.

Miscellaneous Field Notes:

Route

Time: roughly 2 hours total (1 hour east, 1 hour west back to UCLA)
Distance: roughly 12.5 miles

Other References:

1. Berg, Linda R., Mary Catherine Hager, and David M. Hassenzahl. Visualizing: Environmental Science. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
2. Vincent, Roger. "$73.5-million Mero bus facility being built in downtown L.A." Los Angeles Times Business. Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.
3. "What is Fracking?" Don't Frack with NY! Riverkeeper: NY's Clean Water Advocate, 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.

Week Seven • Stephany's Visit to South Pasadena

While reading through quite a bit of recent posts from my classmates' blogs, I found that most discussed how regions were rather dominated by the use of automobiles (e.g. Downtown L.A.). For those that mainly focused on neighborhoods, usually the car was needed to reach a certain destination due to a considerably length of distance of which most people seem to be too lazy to walk (or bike if they own one).

However, Stephany Bailon's post on the city of South Pasadena stuck out to me due to her observation that neighborhood she visited appeared to be very community based. She briefly explained how a friend invited her to their church and proceeds to take note of how the church blended in with the neighborhood "since it could easily pass as a house."

This is what I wrote in response:

Hi there Stephany! I enjoyed reading your post about South Pasadena. What especially caught my interest was how you explored an area that didn't seem to be dominated by the use of cars. You discussed how this area seemed to be a very tight community in regards to location of stores, services and a church.

This brings me way back to one of our lectures when we learned about how cities evolved to be more centralized. These center points are usually political, economic, legal, civic/cultural, or religious. In this case, it seems the community is centralized around the church you visited with your friend. I find this interesting because your post conveyed how this neighborhood, this area, seemed community based. You, yourself, stated that "a lot of members appeared to be from this community and as a result did not need to drive, they simply walked to church."

This as well as your observation that Trader Joe's, parks, and other services were well within a comfortable and easy walking distance. So it seems for more of the basic needs, cars aren't required (only when the residents want or needs to travel outside their neighborhood). Which makes me think about how the neighborhood's residents interact. If most attend the same church and do so regularly, than that would mean that they know each other relatively well. In a way, this seems like a community that holds onto the concept of Gemeinschaft, however I'm not sure how much. For all we know, while they may interact and may know details of their neighbors'  life, they very well may not put the well-being of the community before their own. Unfortunately, you were not able to provide any information that could prove or disprove this. So we can assume that this neighborhood/community experiences the idea of Gemeinschaft within Gesellschaft.

On a final note, I would have liked to see you elaborate more on your ideas. A lot of it seemed very general and you only provide a sort of basic insight. I would have also liked to have seen you relate what you found, observed, and noticed to a concept, idea, or something we learned or read for class in order to further analyze the social difference within South Pasadena.

Week Six • The Original Home of The Lakers

For those of you who don't know, the city of Inglewood was once the home of the basketball team, The Lakers for 31 years. It was also the home of the Los Angeles Kings hockey team and the women's basketball Los Angeles Sparks. The Forum, the indoor arena in Inglewood, was one of Inglewood's biggest highlights and attractions while these teams played there up until they eventually moved to the Staples Center between 2000 and 2001.

But now that these teams moved on for bigger and better days, The Forum seems to have lost quite a lot of its prestige. While it's still used for concerts and other small sporting games, The Forum feels to be more of a historical monument than the bustling and excitement filled arena.

It may be hard to see in the image, but The Forum has definitely seen better paint jobs and this area
seems almost dull even if it's not currently in use for anything.

My dad was my driver again, having been down for some business, but finding time to drive me to Inglewood where I would walk around and observe. We first drove through the district known as Crenshaw-Imperial. This are is mostly a business and shopping district that's no where near like what you'd find on Rodeo Dr., but still far better than the Garment District. Just think of your average strip of basic services, stores, fast food chains and restaurants, and any other businesses that you'd find somewhere in your own city.

We mainly drove down Crenshaw St. which, as I mention already, was obviously an everyday business and shopping oriented area bordered by residential zones (mainly apartment complexes with a few homes).

As we drove, we reached the invisible line that separates the Crenshaw-Imperial district and the neighborhood known as Morningside Park. Morningside Park is mostly an area made up of residential patches and is also where The Forum and Hollywood Race Track is located. In addition, it's only about 6 miles from the Los Angeles International Airport.

One of the many patches of residential neighborhoods. Note how it looks rather dull and average in
comparison to the homes found on Rodeo Dr.

The first thing that stuck out to me about the apartments and houses in Morningside Park was how nearly every single one had gated doors and windows (some even had gates bordering the buildings).

  

A closer looks at the barred windows and gated doors.

This apartment complex was not only surrounded by a metal fence, but if you look closely, was
also topped off with thin barbed wire!

The only reasonable explanation for this is that this area experienced high burglary because I highly doubt those bars were put there for aesthetic appeal. To see if my speculations about this was correct, I checked it out by generating geographical maps on SimplyMap that expressed the burglary index in Inglewood (and specifically in Morningside Park).

As you can see above, there does seem to be a bit of a high rate of burglary in and around Morningside Park which would explain all the bars and gates (and even barbed wire). Continuing on this correlation, I decided to see what the crime index looked like in this area, which I have provided another geographical map regarding it below.

According to SimplyMap, clearly Inglewood, especially Morningside Park, has some pretty high crime rates which, again, explain the gated entryways.

Branching away from burglary and crime, one other thing I made sure to take note of was how Inglewood is predominantly inhabited by people of African American heritage (with some of Hispanic or Latino origin and very few white). It was at that moment, that the majority race living in Inglewood (again, specifically Morningside Park) and it's proximity to the Los Angeles International Airport reminded me of one of our early readings in class, The Environment of Justice by David Harvey.

In his writing, David Harvey brings up issues linking social class with the environmental justice movement in the US. He begins with discussing the "primary issue that has given rise to the movement, namely, the dumping of toxic wastes in poor communities or countries". In other words, we can look at this as an environmental as well as social injustice.

One particular section that stood out to me in Harvey's writing was this:

"And if we care to think about it at all, there is a symbolic dimension, a kind of ‘cultural imperialism’ embedded in the whole proposal: are we not presuming that only trashy people can stomach trash? The question of stigmatization of ‘the other’ through, in this instance, association of racially marked others with pollution, defilement, impurity, and degradation becomes a part of the political equation."

This takes me back to how Inglewood is so close to the airport, something that produces not only noise pollution, but air pollution as this city experiencing the result of many departures and arrivals. It also takes me back to how African Americans, those always known (unfortunately) to be among the minority, are the predominant people living here.

Air and noise pollution and a minority group? Looks to me that no wealthy white person would want to live near an airport (which is why you always find them in places like Beverly Hills and Malibu). And while it isn't as bad a toxic waste dumping in a poor community, this still sounds like an environmental (and social) injustice to me.

UPDATE:
Recently I was using the last bit of my free 4 week subscription to the LA Times and browsing the site for any articles pertaining to social difference. While I didn't seem to find much, I did find something that stood out to me like a sore thumb. It was a video about a thirteen year old student at Inglewood's Century Academy of Excellence who was "kicked out after her mother complained about an alleged racial slur by a teacher". According to the student, her teacher insulted her during class in front of her entire class where all the other students laughed in response. Upon hearing this, the girl's parents confronted the teacher who immediately apologized for her actions. However, when the parents took it up with the principal, she was not apologetic and stated that she was glad her teacher insulted the child.

While it is known that the student had been involved in a fight and was marked tardy on several occasions, the parents, of course, don't find this to be enough basis of stating that their child is a "mean little girl" as the principal told them up front. The principal also told the parents that "bad things had to happen to mean kids" and as a result, expelled the thirteen year old from the school on the grounds that (from a letter from the school to the student's mother) they kicked her out "due to the fact that you scolded the principal...and your daughter used inappropriate language referring to Dr. Edman [the principal]".

It should also be known that this family is of African American origin and it makes me wonder if the child would have been kicked out if she were white. While I don't know the full story and only know what information was given in the news report, it seems to me that regardless of if the parents "scolded" the principal, to racially insult a child is something unacceptable and should be addressed (bad kid or not, you don't discriminate against another person, especially a young child).

Week Five • Tommy's Adventure in the Westfield Mall

This week, I wanted to read other classmates’ blogs and read what their experience was out in the Los Angeles Metropolitan region. Almost immediately, I was drawn in by Tommy's exploration of the Westfield Mall. His introduction was catchy and his humorous description hooked me in, making me want to continue reading it to see what else he had to say. However, as I read on, I found that while that very humor was attention grabbing (here and there), it was also a drawback in which several of his jokes don't make much sense. He later, at the very end of his post, relates his observations of the Westfield Mall to David Harvey's article about "built environment" as well as references David Sibley's Mapping the Pure and the Defiled.

Here's my comment to his post:

Hi there Tommy! To start off, one of the reasons why I wanted to make a comment on your post was that I found myself strangely drawn to your descriptive introduction (the other was that I actually just visited the Westfield Mall with a friend this afternoon for fun, haha). At first, I wasn’t sure where you were going with your writing and this eerie ghost story like tale until you stated that your location of topic was the Westfield mall.

One major thing I would like to address is the humor in your post. In the beginning, I was laughing at the jokes you made, finding them clever and catchy and ultimately adding a unique and personal style to your writing. However, as I continued reading several of your jokes stopped making sense and the amount of it became distracting as some aspects of your post felt superfluous and/or irrelevant. It was also very unclear what your point was in different aspects and the first large portion of your post sounded something more like a comedy blog than of one expressing observations in an analytical way. In other words, I mean that it was, in my opinion, far too heavy in the hilarity and extremely lacking in analysis and other observational elements such as demographics (just to name one).

 It isn’t until the end of your post that you lay down relations and references to a couple of our readings (which I will be giving my own input about later). My suggestion is to lessen the amount of jokes you present and make more short analytical comments. For example, when you brought of the security guard and gave some brief insight on how no large malls, in seems, are without them as well as maybe why they are present. I would have liked to see more of this (maybe even in a bit more elaboration) and less with the comedy so that you don’t lose your readers’ attention (and it would also make the several jokes you do make, sparingly, funnier). In the briefest of words: blend your humor with professional and insightful analysis.

On another note, I loved what you said about malls being “consumer spaces designed to make you feel at home, as if the actions you perform there are natural and abide by codified laws of this new built environment”. I never really thought of it this was and now that I look back, every mall I’ve been to certainly does feel as if everything we do (shopping, loitering where permitted, wandering around with friends) is natural and expected. Those of us who have the money to spend are able to move about and spend money freely in contrast, as you mentioned, to the poor who are discouraged from the start from even entering the consumerist area. I’m glad to see that you took note of this and referred briefly back to Sibley’s Mapping the Pure and the Defiled because we see this harsh segregation between the mid to high income and low income individuals and groups practically all around us. The mall and any other location where capitalism is at is finest and maximizing profit is the goal, is a perfect example of this separation in which the idea of it in itself (a place to spend money) is the force that drives these two economic groups apart.

Week Four • From The Glamorous to the Dejected Skid Row

Covering roughly 4.31 square miles is an area located in downtown Los Angeles known as Central City East, more commonly known as Skid Row. My exploration of Skid Row was a mix between a driving and a walking trip. My first observations of this area wasn't of Skid Row itself, but of the surrounding streets that make up the Garment District (officially known as the Fashion District).

The first, and obvious, characteristic of the Garment District was the vibrancy of color in the form of fabric, clothing, and other products.

As you can see in the pictures above, all of these stores on this street and adjacent streets are "bargain" and low deal shops. They are far from the expensive designer labeled fashion and products found on Rodeo Dr. in Beverly Hills (which was where I focused last week's post). These stores are clearly targeted towards low income families/individuals and people who are just looking for a good deal. One thing my ears picked up while I walking down the streets of the Garment District is the voices of people haggling storekeepers for a lower price than what was listed. I thought this was very interesting in the fact that this definitely wouldn't pass in the shops found on Rodeo Dr.; you just don't hear people haggling for a lower price on designer label, they automatically pay the base cost because they can easily afford it.

Of the many consumers in the Garment District, I found that most were Hispanic or Latino. Coming in second in respect to number were people of color, then Asian, and lastly very few white. This racial demographic is the complete opposite from what I saw on Rodeo Dr. and the surrounding streets/residential zones in Beverly Hills.

The Garment District, however, was more of just a brief stop, my main focus being Skid Row. As my dad and I drove into the area known for its high number of homeless persons, the first thing to enter my head was how awfully dreary it is. Quite frankly it was dull, cast in a depressing shadow, and far from a happy vacation spot. But despite knowing this and expecting it, seeing it first hand was a whole different experience from just reading and seeing pictures about it.

Moving more into the middle of Skid Row.

Unlike Rodeo Dr. in Beverly Hills, this area barely had any trees and the few it did have seemed just as disheartened as the people "living" there. Quite vastly different from just a few streets over was that the majority of people lingering in Skid Row were colored, specifically of African American origin. The second thing I noticed was how there were police officers and public safety personals riding around on their bikes. I saw none of this on Rodeo Dr. which leads me to conclusion that this area filled with poverty, unfortunately, breeds crime.

Another observation I made in regards to the layout of people in Skid Row was how the areas around buildings providing some sort of public service (food, shower, bathroom, rescue center, etc.) were the most densely populated. There would be sections of streets that were bare, with maybe a few people here and there, but majority of them congregated near these service buildings and near each other.

As we slowly drove around the streets that make of Skid Row, it was hard not to compare what I saw there to what I saw on Rodeo Dr. The social differences were on completely different sides of the spectrum. This instantly reminded me of the object relations theory conveyed in David Sibley's "Mapping the Pure and Defiled".

According to the editor's introduction to Sibely's writings, the object relations theory expresses that "individuals as well as groups form positive identities of themselves through a process of excluding other individuals and groups thought to be deviant. Through establishing physical, psychological, and social boundaries, the polluting Other is kept at bay, and the Self is constructed as whole and pure."

While the racial and economic segregation between Rodeo Dr. (Beverly Hills) and Skid Row may not be, at present, purposely or lawfully enforced, it is clear that each group has been, in a way, forced into their 'respective' niche. Because of their low to no income, "residents" in Skid Row are not financially able to live comfortably in the glamour of places such as Beverly Hills while people in well-off to wealthy areas stray far away from locations that are heavily populated by homeless people in dirty, run down streets with hardly to no consumerist and quality lifestyle services.

Much like how Sibley describes Europeans' desire to be as far away from the "uncivilized blacks", these sections are distinctly separated from each other even when only about twelve miles apart. They in no way overlap or impede on the other and it feels exactly as if it's "Us" versus "Them".

On a final note, I wanted to end this on a short story of what occurred during my exploration of Skid Row. After taking the above photo, I had just hopped back into the car and closed the door when an African American woman approached me. She was clearly not happy, having assumed I was specifically taking a picture of her. She was quite enraged, calling me by derogatory names, demanding why I was taking a picture of her, and ending it all with a rather hard hit to my car window with her umbrella. Despite my calm and polite reassurance that I wasn't photographing her, she walked away still in anger, spitting "bitch" in my direction as I looked back at my dad in surprise.

It was an encounter I should probably have been expecting, but nonetheless did not. However, it made me think about something in regards to the mental health of the people living on the streets of Skid Row (and really any location overwhelmed with poverty). This woman was definitely psychologically ill in some way or possibly just pushed into paranoia and depression. But it made me realize that every person living in poverty was sure to be in the same position, that poverty changed them negatively and maybe even drastically; or just as so, perhaps it was their mental state itself that lead them into a poor lifestyle and on the streets. Whichever it may be, the fact still stands that areas like Skid Row are clear examples of the social, racial, and economic injustice that exists in our world.

Week Three • From Sunset to North Rodeo Drive

It's not uncommon for someone to wind up in some part of Beverly Hills and gawk in awe of the strips of extravagant homes. But the city of  Beverly Hills and its close surroundings isn't just known for its richness in residential areas and shopping streets, but also for its vibrancy in greenery and vegetation (and if this fact isn't already known, it should be!).

Driving in the passenger seat for roughly four miles on Sunset Boulevard towards North Rodeo Dr. was like a small nature wonderland densely squeezed in the spaces between homes and other buildings. I found myself more engulfed in the passing trees with variety of heights, trunk thickness, leave types, and shapes and directions of branches all lush with green with splotches of color here and there, than the street itself. My focus on the vegetation would be interrupted on occasion, however, by rather large homes, some of which were almost hidden behind these beautiful trees.

Here's the exact route I took from Hedrick Summit to the end of N. Rodeo Dr.

It was then I realized that there was a good reason why Sunset Boulevard and, what I would later come to find, the residential area on and around North Rodeo Dr. was so populated with these forest-like streets and yards. I was reminded of something discussed during another course I'm taking called 'People and Earth's Ecosystems', in which the prices of homes near or overlooking dense nature reserves tend to be much higher than those scarce in trees. Because who wants to look into someone else's backyard when they can pay more to look at natural beauty?

Taking this correlation, it's safe to assume that Beverly Hills is so "rich", in all sense of the word, because the houses are meshed in between amazing greenery, making them higher priced than a house somewhere else in Los Angeles (therefore economically restricting certain class groups from affording a home in the "luxurious part" of Beverly Hills).

After the four miles on Sunset, my dad (my helpful chauffeur) and I took a right turn onto North Rodeo Dr. Tearing my eyes away from the gorgeous trees, I focused my eyes on the sort of homes that were in the area. To my awe, there was not one house that was entirely the same. While several homes may have had similarity, each one had something unique about it. Below I have several pictures showing how one house could be vintage looking and detail oriented whereas another could look more modern and geometrically linear in structure.

As you can see here, there's a distinct blue colored artistic curve/design on the top part of the home
which isn't something you see on an average house.

This one has a detailed gate where the home as both tall, linear windows and arches as well.

As you can see already, nearly every home is shrouded and almost hidden within a sort of mini forest
of trees and shrubs (this home owner also owns a Lexus which further conveys their economic class).

This home particularly stuck out to me with its distinct and straight geometrically linear structure. It is
also not hidden behind tree but is still partially bordered with them. This takes on a more "modern"
house style that seems to mix urbanization and nature.

This was another home that stuck out to me. The home is simple in design, but the color scheme and the
extremely detailed oriented roof to make it appear like the bark of tree causes it to perfectly blend in
with the nature/environment it is surrounded by.

As we drove further down the street, we suddenly hit the distinct, clean cut division of residential from shopping/business.

This is where the residential zone of N. Rodeo Dr. ends and switches to a shopping/business zone.

The shops found on North Rodeo Dr. are of designer label and haute couture fashion. When most people hear the name Rodeo Dr., they think of the large number of boutiques and shops on this three-block long stretch.

Because these businesses are only high-end and expensive garments, accessories and other items, it attracts the financially well-off and rich. It's also alluring to tourists, one reason behind this due to the abundance of palm trees (which has become iconic of the "luxurious life" and "vacation spot" in California despite it not being native to this area).

Each palm tree has been meticulously placed and gives this street a very attractive and vibrant ambiance.

Brooks Brothers (an example of the high-end/fashion shops on N. Rodeo Dr.)

The streets were also incredibly smooth with no pot-holes, no discolored patches of new asphalt contrasting with old, and was clean and well paved. In fact, the entire area was very clean from street to the top of each shop which shows that despite this district's high attraction, it is kept in outstanding shape to ensure future business.

With the radio switched off and all windows rolled down, I also tuned my ears into listening to the conversations of the shoppers. Context was not my focus; language was, and I heard only English being spoken. English was also the only language written on the signs and shops (not counting the shop names of which many were Italian and French designer labels). I also noticed that, at least when I went, there were mostly people of whiter skin with only a few people of other ethnic groups, thereby conveying an economically segregated section of people who "have" versus "don't have".

Observing these both well dressed and well groomed people, I noticed that in this small, three block shopping district, there was a sense of Emile Durkheim's mechanical solidarity. There was a "sameness" among these people (the shoppers) in which they shared the same financial well-off to richer financial background, fashion tastes, skin color in a general respect (making the few people of color there a minority), and a shared language. 

Here you get a good idea that the people here were very
well-dressed but in a casual and a bit more formal way.

A part of the N. Rodeo Dr. shopping district.

On a final note, due to the high automobile and foot traffic, there was quiet a bit of impatient drivers who had no problem with honking at you if you didn't go fast enough for them. I guess the hustle and bustle of mass consumerism makes you pretty anxious, haha.

Until next week~!

Week Two • Aaron’s Exploration of The Grove

This week, rather than go out myself, I decided to stay at home to read and comment on a fellow classmate's  blog post. I've read several posts today and found myself drawn to Aaron’s (who goes by Boo) experience in The Grove. However, his exploration of The Grove, which has become, as he wrote, “synonymous with the World Famous Farmer's Market" was brief as he focused more on the cultural micro-communities surrounding the area: the Fairfax District, Little Ethiopia, Museum Row, and Korea Town.

You can find his post here to read it in full.

While there were several aspects of Aaron's post that I liked, there were a few details I felt were lacking in elaboration. The following is a copy of my comment on the blog post itself (for some reason, after many attempts, I couldn't comment directly to Aaron's post, so I ended up posting a link to this post on his blog):

Hi there Aaron (Boo), my name is Sara and it was a pleasure to read what you had to say about The Grove. There were many points to it that I found insightful and your relation back to our reading this week was a perfect example of you taking that step in observing an area with fresh eyes, especially one you're already extremely familiar with. As you said, in the hustle and bustle we tend to dismiss the details of our surroundings and even take it for granted by not fully appreciating the landscape and people of the communities that are part of our every day. We also tend to forget to take a break from our seemingly hectic lifestyles to just stop and look, really look, at what makes up our community, our neighborhood, our surroundings, and just the locations we frequent. We don't observe our every day places the way we do when we travel to somewhere new, but with this project, it gives us the chance to be both tourists where we haven't been and, especially, where we have.

As I continued to read your post, I loved how you took our weekly reading and related it your findings. This shows that you have an understanding of the concept we read about and was able to agree or disagree with it based on your observations of the Los Angeles metropolitan region as a whole. In this case, you disagreed with the book's notion that a city, as you put it, "consists of a set of rings, with the center ring being the industrial, or business class" and "immediately out from that ring...is an area of deterioration". At least, disagree in regards to only the Los Angeles area. You then proceed to very briefly explain your thoughts as to why the Los Angeles metro region doesn't fit this description by stating that these these "zones" within Los Angeles "overlap", therefore not allowing "for the typical formation of the different area of the city".

There's only one problem I have with this. It's vague, very vague, and I don't have a lot to go on in regards to evidence of overlapping "zones". What I mean by this is that I would have liked to see elaboration. How do these "zones" overlap? Exactly what to you mean by "zones"; are you referring to cities within the L.A metro region, neighborhoods, districts, communities, or all of them? And when you say that these "zones" overlap, I would have liked to read more about your thoughts or speculations on how this overlapping affects the area and Los Angeles as a whole.

There's also another small thing I would like to point out and that's your lack of specification of what "readings" you're talking about. From a student who is also taking the Cities and Social Difference course, I know, but for further clarifications it would be nice if you lead into it by stating where you read your information from and by whom. In this case, you would be telling your audience that you are referring to the book The Blackwell City Reader. 

One last thing I'd like to address is your lack of detail in describing what The Grove, specifically, is like. When I read the title of your post was going to be about The Grove, that's what I expected. Instead, I was reading more about the ethnic micro-communities surrounding it. Now I haven't  been to this part of Los Angeles so maybe these micro-communities are a part of The Grove, but from how you worded it in your post, it sounds as if they are separate. What you can think about for the next time you blog about a location, describe what the place is: is it a city, a neighborhood, a district, a street, etc.? This will help clarify what the area of topic is for people who are not local to L.A. or have not explored that part of this metropolitan area. Concluding, it would have been nice to read what you saw or what you thought relating to how these micro-communities and The Grove affected each other if they affect each other in any way.

Overall, I enjoyed reading your post and can't wait to read more about your ventures out to different areas in Los Angeles.   

Happy blogging~ 

Week One • The Good Ol' Classic Introduction

Map of Los Angeles Metropolitan Region [click image to view larger]

Being born and raised in Southern California, I've always lived relatively close to the Los Angeles area, so I was never more than two and a half hours away. Before moving to Ventura, I lived in Bakersfield, which wasn't the best city to live in. For those who may not be aware of what Bakersfield is like, imagine a boring area with dreadful heat in the summer that's boxed with mountains to the west, south, and east causing air pollutants to just sit there within the city. Due to the natural geographic layout of the area, emissions produced by residents get trapped in the Bakersfield area by an inversion layer of warm air. Little needs to be said to express that Bakersfield is among the worst air polluted areas in California.

The purpose behind my short description of Bakersfield is to help you understand why it was that my family and I traveled a lot. We really just wanted to get out of this city as much as we could. So we ended up visiting lots of places within the Los Angeles area (Hollywood, Long Beach, Santa Monica, and other big cities). So the Los Angeles metropolitan region has been woven into my life since a very young age.

But when I was younger, I looked at L.A. as nothing more but one large mass of different places and people and nothing more. However, pursuing an Environmental Studies/Geography major has lead me to enroll in different courses in the Geography field, for instance, 'Cities and Social Difference', which in turn teaches me to look at things in a different light. I already know that this class will challenge me to look at a region not as a whole, but an agglomeration of diverse cities, neighborhoods, and districts that, despite being a part of the L.A. metropolitan region, are unique in themselves and may or may not cohere with one another.

I'll be traveling to a couple areas I'm already familiar with, but this time observe and analyze it from a geographical angle. I'll also be visiting areas I haven't been to before so that I can push myself out of my comfort zone and analyze places I have no background with. As I carry out my field research, I'll be taking note of my experience there, the landscapes I pass through (type, size, and quality of buildings), trees and vegetation planting, the social groups on the streets, any languages I hear on the streets and even signs, as well as observe the 'personalities' of residents I come across in various locations and how they may different from another area. Along the way, I will further convey my findings through photographic and other multimedia documentation either from myself or online.

In addition, some weeks I will be reading and commenting on a number of my classmates blog posts on a location of their choice. I will be critically assessing what they write, giving constructive feedback while also providing my own thoughts and insights in relation to the topics/concepts they bring up.

This class provides an adventure into the exploration of social difference within a metropolitan region which is something new and exciting for me. I have always been fascinated that we live on a planet where places, people, cultures, languages, and cuisine is diverse. Being half Iranian and raised with the Iranian culture as a part of my every day, I have grown to be proud of my heritage and my difference which is what sparks my interest in the 'Cities and Social Difference' course and this project.

At current, I don't have a full understanding on what role social difference in any area, let alone a metropolitan region. All I know is that it exists and it's something unique and beautiful. With this project, I hope to learn more about social difference and how that difference affects the contemporary, Los Angeles metropolitan region.

So here's to the beginning of fun, learning filled adventure~!