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~!