Blogging Social Differences in LA- Week 4

 This week I decided to explore the Fashion District in Downtown Los Angeles. I headed down Maple street and just sort of walked around.

As it was expected there was a lot of stores that sell clothes in this place. I went on a random day during the week so the streets were not as congested as they typically are. That is to say a lot since the streets were still pretty busy.

I actually entered some of the stores and was surprised at how cheap the prices are. I could not take any pictures of the inside because the store owners prohibit it, since they are scared that the competition might steal their designs.

The store above was actually pretty nice. It was well organized and the service was good. However, this was not the case with all the stores in the fashion district.

Some of the smaller shops were extremely tiny and really difficult to walk around in. I did notice that though the majority of the population around was Latino the store owners for the most part were Korean. Most of the places had several Latina women working as sale ladies in the store, I cannot emphasize enough how dominant female labor is in this particular market.

It seemed that Latinos did dominate the food market in this location. There was Mexican food restaurants and stands everywhere along with Chinese fast food restaurants as a close second, followed by a minor but still present presence of other Latin American and Asian cuisine.

Downtown is know for its factories etc.. These were not separate from the fashion district but also not in your face either. The factories were located on top of the restaurants or stores. However, unless you really paid attention you could not really tell what those buildings were. Most would just assume they were abandoned, they looked terribly old and I wondered whether they were even safe to occupy.

It  made me think of how the structure of the city is built in order to hide "the ugly" per say. Thinking back to the history of downtown LA as a nest of sweat shops it made me realize how easy it was to hide it from the public so no one would ever have to really know the horrors that the workers were in. One is so busy looking out for the best deals and shopping that it becomes easy to simply avoid looking or questioning were or how these clothes are made. Downtown LA facilitates this process of consuming without caring where all this comes from because its so easy to ignore, while it still makes the most space out of those few blocks that are the Fashion District.

Street vendors are also a huge market in this district. They sell everything from food, to clothes, to accessories and toys. Being here actually sort of reminded me of New York were everything is so integrated and crowded. There was a lot of trash due to the high density of people concentrated in this area, I assume.

Additionally, though the majority of the population seemed to be Latino there were also a good white, black, and Asian population walking around as well. Social class also varied I saw everything from business suits to homeless people.

Overall it was definitely a different side of LA, definitely not one people think of when thinking of LA which usually involves glamour and beaches.

Blogging Social Differences in LA- Week 3

This is a response to http://thecityofangeles.blogspot.com/

   Aaron's blog is concerning The Grove area. He talks about the diverse groups that exists in this particular location of LA. However, the blogger states that he does not really see the "set of rings in the city" being in effect in the city of LA. I claim that this is not true, and that its really not a good idea to compare The Grove area with the larger LA area.
   One reason for this being the location of the Grove itself. Located in the West side of LA, the Grove is considered as a middle/ upper-middle class. Though, perhaps ethnically diverse, I would not say that its economically diverse.
   Saying this, the city of LA is build on a "set of rings", though perhaps to a lesser extent than most cities due to the large population and size of the city. We can find the more "industrialized" LA in downtown; where the factories and most of the manufacturing is located. Most of the ghettos and low-income communities are located in the surrounding areas of downtown as well. On the other hand, the farther away you get from downtown LA we begin to see more diversity in both ethnicity and class.
  Therefore, basing the LA structure on areas such as the Grove alone, does not give us accurate results of LA because of the social class concentrated in this part of LA. What the Grove is known for alone hints that this area is not a good source of study of LA, the Farmers Market. This Market is centered around organic food which often times is too expensive for low-income family to be able to afford.
   I do agree however, with his analysis that "the zones"in LA somewhat overlap. Again I think that this is due in large part to the high density and diversity that LA offers. I believe that the city was initially supposed to follow the model of the "set of rings" but eventually broke away from it in order to accommodate the different (religious, ethnic, and socioeconomic) groups that ended up settling in Los Angeles
      Conclusively, though it is true that the Grove is not build in "set of rings" this cannot be assumed for the larger LA area on the basis of the Grove alone.

Blogging Social Differences in LA- Week 2

This is a response to:

http://scgeog151.blogspot.com/2012/10/blogging-social-differences-in-la-week-2.html

Steve focused his blog on K-town and slowly made his way out of that particular neighborhood into a more Latino dominant neighborhood.

What made me want to post a response to his post was the fact that I too grew up near this neighborhood (k-town) and enjoy visiting it often. Despite this however, I never really thought about the exact location in which this transitions takes place.

I agree with the poster that we do get to see both Mechanical and Organic societies at play in these areas. K-town, in this case being the Mechanical Solidarity at play in the larger Organic society.

If you have ever been to K-town, then you will know that it's almost a city of its own. That is to say, that despite it being in Los Angeles it operates at its own. It has businesses such as restaurants and malls, but it also has clinics, schools (that are taught in both languages) and dentists that target the Korean population. Perhaps the biggest impact being the is the change in writing. The town becomes distinct because suddenly Korean writing becomes the standard for not only businesses but billboards and other sources of advertisements.

There are all types of business and homes created and dedicated to this particular cultural group. In itself it acts as a Organic society, because everyone takes on a role or specialization. However, it is small compare to the larger scale that is LA and at its core it is designed for Koreans by Koreans or as Emile Durkheim would would put it, this is Mechanical Solidarity at play.

Blogging Social Differences in LA- Week 1

I have lived in LA all of my life, and honestly I cannot imagine living anywhere else. There are not many cities in the world that offer what LA does. I'm not only talking about the landscapes ( beach, mountain, etc.) and entertainment (Disney, Hollywood, etc.) but the difference in ethnic groups and social classes that exist all within the city.

We have places such as East LA and South Central LA that have historically been areas full of conflict, violence and poverty. However, head west and you will arrive in cities such as Beverly Hills, Bel-Air and Westwood, where the economic and crime rate situation are quite the opposite. all in less than One is able to travel between all these areas in about 20 minutes (Not taking into account LA traffic!). This, among other things make LA truly fascinating.

Additionally, The ethnic diversity that exists within this city is another interesting part of LA. Many of these ethnic groups  create small towns for each other in order to form solidarity and comfort among themselves. Places such as China Town, Little Tokyo and Placita Olvera which are all within 5 minutes of each other in the downtown area, just to name a few. The ethnic diversity is truly remarkable, allowing us Angelinos to find world-wide ethnic food and cultures all within this one city.The size and variety make LA an excellent place to explore because no two places are the same; each neighborhood has been shaped and formed by the different people that live there.

Through this class I am hoping to further explore, in a more academic and analytical fashion, the dynamics that drive LA.  I want to be able to understand the role that these social, ethnic and cultural differences play in this urban society. Hopefully, through understanding the dynamics of the city in which I grew up in I can further understand myself and those that surround me as well as many social issues that exist today.