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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Victory Ashes

I ran into this burned down church in the same desert town of Brawley Ca it's a real trip how they never tare buildings down no matter how it looks or what happened to it.
This Victory Out Reach car wash(below) is interesting,we should have one of these in LA I am sure it would be more useful since there are so many unfortunate gang related deaths every year.


So both pictures are church related but one is burned down because of fire and the other uses water to clean dirty souls..

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Desierto

California is a huge state, we sometimes forget there is life outside of Los Angeles and the surrounding cities. I took a few shots of random things in a couple of small desert towns about 3 hrs 30 min from Los Angeles.


This is in the town of Brawley Ca it is a nice quiet little town approximately 210 miles southeast of Los Angeles, 126 miles east of San Diego, and 30 miles north of Mexicali, Mexico. According to the city web page Brawley was incorporated in 1908. As I was walking around it was pretty dead and it seemed like the good mom and pop places to eat where closed on Saturday the bad thing was I forgot my camera so I had to borrow one so I was not able to get to many shots but when I go back I will be sure to take more.


This building below was nice and historical looking it looked like at one point it was a theater or a dance hall. I tried to find some history online but it was not much. I did find a site that said the theater was damaged in a 1979 earthquake and from the looks of it it seems like that was the last time it was used read more

120 N Plaza
Brawley CA



Foster's Freeze below is thee classic ice cream spot to got to, I found it right behind the old theater, with locations around California I got to say the banana ice cream shake is the best thing ever! Real banana chunks milk and ice cream very yummy...
Fosters Freeze
130 N 5th St , Brawley, CA
Phone - (760) 344-7566

for locations closer to home view




Calipatria Ca is located about 15 min from Brawley you can drive through it and not even realize it as much as I wanted to take tons of pics I was very limited sorry folks I will post more soon.

This place below was a trip it was a donut shop slash Mexican restaurant slash pizza place all in one if you notice the sign above the restaurant also says avenue arcade could there be an arcade in there as well?? only If I hadn't been lazy and stayed in the car darn I could of found out!
Donut Avenue
138 E. Main St.
Calipatria, CA 92233
(760) 348-2700




Caldo De Res y Tamales a su orden yum! by the way this is the desert okay and it gets to be like 110 degrees or more in the summer,now we all know that our lovely Mexican parents love to make Caldo De Res on the hottest day!! this fits perfect yessss!



Now this structure was across the street from the Mexican Donut/Pizza/Arcade place I guess they could not keep up with the competition..

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Fotos para ti

Some photos from the many journeys in a city as I try to uncover the beautiful past of the many people who stepped on the same concrete sidewalk 40 years before me. A place once forgotten now a place with a trickle of water that might turn into a river.

What once was a thriving st business and warehouse work is an empty st with empty space and signs outside all the windows that say "Film location call # "
further down the st under the beautiful high beams of the 6th st bridge is a man headed home he was carrying two bags of cans to recycle, my friend offered him an empty water bottle but he shook his head and said thank you he said in Spanish he only collected aluminum
This seemed like a good deal but to bad nobody was around with any oranges?

Below behind a wall of the 6th st bridge was a metal door in the wall of the bridge, it looked really crazy and creepy because inside you could tell it could lead to some underground world but it was too dark, I was not about to find out what was inside but definitely the trip of the day.

I was really hot and seeing the ice cream trucks did not help but I loved the art on them, this was an ice cream truck lay up on 7th st.



How cute is he
The best thing I seen that day! tell me why the bug looks like and old cholo?

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Laws for Gentrification?

Could it be possible the city is actually taking notice on how gentrification is affecting certain areas and the people that live in the area? Well according to the latest LA Times article, the Los Angeles City Council approved new rules on factors concerning gentrification. They put limits on the size of "Mansionization" in what is so called low income areas.

This has certainly been happening all around us in LA it has even creeped up here in my town in the past 5 years or so. The recent effect of mansionization happened to a friend not so long ago. He lived in an area of San Pedro which was considered the "lows" most people did not see the area as the greatest place to live. His home which is located on top of a hill overlooking the port and beautiful Vincent Thomas Bridge. Just last year they started construction on a empty lot that had been Vacant for years, they built these huge homes totally obstructing the view of the port. Now the only thing him and his neighbors see is other peoples windows. Instead they could of replaced that lot with a park or much needed dog park.

Another incident that bit it's self in the ass was the construction of the new luxury lofts in downtown San Pedro called " The View" which obviously had a view of the port until another developer decided to built a different luxury condo right in front of it rising higher which made the point of The View well pointless. Apparently the yuppies that bought the more expensive condos with the Port View are angry? they been even screwing them selves over so someone of lower income who lives in an area being redeveloped, would they really care iif there view was taken away? I think not.
The new rules are good news to restore historic areas the right way, now lets see if one day they can make it affordable!

LA Times artical
'mansionization,' downtown hotel conversions
Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times
A new city ordinance restricts conversion of L.A.'s residential buildings, such as the Hotel Bristol , into luxury units that would displace low-income tenants. The Bristol , at 8th and Olive streets, was to be turned into a boutique hotel.
The City Council adopts rules curbing the size of remodeled homes on the flatlands and preserving low-income housing, mostly on skid row, that advocates fear are in danger of becoming lofts.
By Jessica Garrison and Cara Mia DiMassa, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers May 7, 2008
» Discuss Article (63 Comments) The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved new rules to address major byproducts of the gentrification that has swept the city: limiting the size of "mansionization" additions and making it harder for developers to convert low-income housing into luxury lofts.
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Immigration Control Going Overboard

This article from LA Times today says immigration check points are happening randomly and more often for immigrants going back to Mexico! this is totally ridicules its sad that the land that once was ours is totally not only off limits for our people, but we they are getting harassed and searched on the way back home!..read full story

SAN DIEGO -- U.S. border authorities no longer apprehend illegal immigrants only as they enter the country. Now they're catching them on the way out.At random times near the Tijuana-San Diego border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have been setting up checkpoints, boarding buses destined for Mexico and pulling off people who don't have proper documentation.

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