Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 10

For this week's post, I commented on Michelle Marshall's Blog, Perpetual Motion.

You can see my comment on her blog here, and I will also cut and paste the text below.  

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Hi Michelle,

Thanks for your post on West Los Angeles. The restaurant you went to looks really good, I'll have to try it some time!

I looked up the location of the restaurant on Simply Maps and found that the neighborhoods around the restaurant have between about 3% and 6% African American residents, which is typical of a modern city. However, just a few blocks north of this restaurant is the West Los Angeles Veteran's Affairs Hospital, which would explain the vast amounts of homeless people you saw on the streets. 

The lack of greenery for this area, the lack of a civil courthouse, and the location of the VA Hospital are all unfortunate circumstances for the residents of the 90025 zip code. I live near a VA Hospital in Long Beach and I know that this is the reason why my hometown is flooded with homeless people (along with being near a beach). 

On Simply Map, I also learned that the average household income of the neighborhood of La Botega Marino is between $60,000 and $74,000, which is not substantial.

As for environmental justice, I was at first confused by your post because you did not provide any specific examples of how this neighborhood is unfairly exposed to manufacturing, waste, or toxic facilities.  When I looked the variable "Remediation and Other Waste Managment Services", however, I found that there is a facility super close to the restaurant as you can see on the map below.  Therefore, proving your point from Harvey's article regarding the placement of toxic waste dumps in geographic concentrations of low income and color.  

Finally, I am glad you tied this experience at the restaurant with Robert Park's quote, because it did not seem that the worlds inside and outside of the restaurant were comparable.  They touch, but do not interpenetrate.  

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 9

Over Thanksgiving break, I went to Disneyland with my boyfriend and his family.  Disneyland is only a 20 minute drive from my house, and is always a fun place to visit, so I didn't hesitate to accept the invitation when I was invited.  I decided to buy my ticket online the night before to save time.  When I researched the ticket prices, I was astonished that in order to get a 1-Day Park Hopper ticket, it is $125.00 per person!  This amazed me as I am certain that the last time I went, the tickets were around $80.00.  I had not been to Disneyland in a few years and was excited to go, so I sucked it up and bought the ticket. I will not even go into my emotions when I arrived and had to pay $20 for parking.

I knew Disneyland would be crowded because it was Thanksgiving weekend, but the word "crowded" does not even do this story justice.  The parked was packed on this particular Saturday, and it was not even an enjoyable day for me because of the crazy lines for both food and rides.  What overwhelmed me most was thinking about the fact that every single person there had paid at least $100 at some point or another to visit this park for one day (except passholders, but still, passes are expensive!).  Paying over $100 to go to a crowded place and stand in a lot of lines seemed pretty absurd to me.  Most people that go to Disneyland just spend more money, whether it may be for meals, souvenirs, or parking.  The variety of people there also amazed me, as there were people from every race and age present.  I spotted old couples, young couples, families with young children, and groups of teenagers.  

While observing all of these people, I thought of Wilford's lecture on Axes of Difference, and how the city can be a tool for reproducing labor.  Workers are happy when they can use their wages for entertainment purposes, and Disneyland is a prime example of this.  If workers can go to places like Disneyland on the weekends, they will work hard during the week with that reward in mind. 

In an article on Yahoo! News, I learned that Disneyland has increased ticket prices by an amount between $2 and $7 each year for the past 10 years.  In spite of the recent economic downturn, Disneyland still seems to be doing well and people from both working and middle class still buy tickets.  It seems to me that people of the upper class aren't as enthused with Disneyland compared to those of the middle class, and I would like to research this more.  In my experience, families that don't have quite as much money spend their money on theme parks like Disneyland, and wealthier families tend to spend their money on more elaborate vacations and luxuries. I began to wonder if the middle class and lower class families I spotted at Disneyland owned a pass, or if this was the one-time-a-year visit that they made.  

In any case, with this visit, I found that both the struggling and the glamorous residents of Los Angeles are willing to spend a large amount of their income to visit Disneyland for one day (including me!).  In his article, "Neoliberalism as Creative Destruction", David Harvey explains that neoliberalism only makes the rich richer and the poor poorer.  He and other critics argue that it is unfair for the poor to have to pay for things like toll roads when the city used to be seen as a public infrastructure that is accessible to all.  What I learned at Disneyland is that no matter how much money people make, they find a way to afford a ticket to Disneyland.  I am not saying that the lowest class can afford a ticket to Disneyland, but it does seem to me that people with lower incomes attend the park.  Every family spends their money in different ways, and in this neoliberalist era, it doesn't seem like the middle class is suffering as much as critics like Harvey and Polanyi make it sound.  If they can afford a ticket to Disneyland, they can surely afford to ride on the toll road every once in a while.

Yahoo! News Article:

http://news.yahoo.com/disneyland-ticket-prices-increased-144100616.html

Me on Splash Mountain- Okay, I guess I had SOME fun! 

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 8

For this week's post, I decided to comment on Phillip Lee's blog, "Social Difference in the L.A. Metropolitan Region".  Although this is a comment on Phillip's post about the bus, I chose to document a trip I took on the bus this week in my comment rather than a separate post. 

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Hello Philip,

Thanks for your post on your experience on the Metro bus. Last night, I took a trip using public transportation to Santa Monica, and seemed to have a similar experience too.

I agree with your statement that it is fascinating to see how much people depend on the transportation system. To me, the LA public transportation system seems to be a disorganized, unreliable mess. I can't imagine what my life in LA would be like without having a car to travel with. Although the bus is a cheaper method of transportation, it does not seem to be convenient to me based on my past experience.

A picture of me on the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus (Line 2)!

My boyfriend and I decided to attempt at using Public Transport to get to Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.  What sounded like a quick easy trip turned into quite an adventure.  We first waited at the Ackerman Bus Terminal for about thirty minutes before giving up and going to another stop on Westholme and Westwood.  We then finally spotted a 2 bus and sprinted down Westwood to then figure out it was the 8 line, but got on anyways.  When we got on the 8, the bus driver fussed and fussed until we put in our 4 quarters fare.  After going merely 2 stops, the bus stopped at Hilgard Terminal and all passengers had to get off- we went the completely wrong direction and paid $1.00 for nothing!  Then, we hopped on the correct 2 line and got to Santa Monica around 7:15 pm.  

Most of the people on our bus seemed to be of the lower class or working middle class.  They were all not interested in talking to one another, and everyone seemed to know what they were doing and which line to take.  This is when it became evident to me that using public transport in LA takes experience. One passenger on our bus was rather overweight, and it took her about fifteen minutes to board the bus.  She was yelling at the bus driver the whole time, and the bus driver seemed to already know her name, which made me think she must take the 2 often.   I am not sure where she was going, but she got off only one stop later in an area that didn't look so nice.  

While observing the passengers on the bus, I came to a similar conclusion that you did.  People that use Los Angeles public transportation have the stereotype of being poverty stricken.  For me, using the bus was a hassle and wasn't a fun experience because I didn't know what I was doing. Every time I have taken public transportation, the busses haven't shown up on time, and I end up chasing random busses down the street.  It is not usually a pleasurable experience and causes me more stress than it's worth.  

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 7

This week, I decided to comment on John Hayes' blog, "Cities and Social Difference".  I wanted to use Simply Map to better articulate my thoughts, so I had to post the majority of my comment here so that I could insert the maps.


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Hi John, 

Thanks for your post on the Long Beach-Hawaiian Gardens barrier. I find this particularly interesting as I am a resident of Long Beach, but I have not seen or heard about this new divide. Like Monika, I also agree that this barrier's true purpose is most likely to segregate the two communities. There are a lot of cities around Long Beach, particularly on the West side, that are much more racially diverse and contain lower classes. These include cities like Wilmington, Carson, Compton, and Garden Grove. Since Hawaiian Gardens is Northeast of Long Beach, this barrier is a perfect solution to create a divide between the upper class regions of East Long Beach and Hawaiian Gardens. 
This freeway ramp construction is a perfect example of a geography of difference restricting access to Hawaiian Gardens residence. I would like to further your Long Beach-Hawaiian Gardens comparison using Simply Map software, but I am unable to post the maps on this comment, so please follow the link to my blog at:
http://whatdifferencedoesdifferencemake.blogspot.com/
Thanks John!

Here is a map of Hawaiian Gardens, using the variable Motor Vehicle Theft Index:

As you can see, the areas with higher theft reports are in the Northern and Southern outskirts of the city.  To the southeast of Hawaiian Gardens is El Dorado Regional Park, a park I grew up playing soccer on as a kid.  This area of Long Beach is perfectly safe, and these two cities are separated by the 605 Freeway as you can see on the map.  The onramp that was created only further created this difference, and residents of the El Dorado Park Estates are now further separated from the residents of Hawaiian Gardens.  Where I live, closer to CSULB in another neighborhood also called Park Estates, Hawaiian Gardens has a stigma of being an unsafe city. 

In the LA Times article that John presented, I found this quote: 

Cesar Galvesolo, who lives in the El Dorado Estates house closest to Hawaiian Gardens, said: "They say it's racist, but it's not. We're worried about burglaries and robberies. Sometimes drug dealers use it as a cut-through."

The fact that the El Dorado Estates resident stated that he was worried about burglaries and robberies further proves my point that this construction was created to limit access of lower class residents.  

I searched "El Dorado Park Estates" on Google and found a website called livein90808.com.  Here is a quote from their website: "El Dorado Park Estates - a great place to live, with a great school, a great location, close to everything and a family friendly neighborhood."   You can tell from this quote alone that this neighborhood prides itself on being safe.  

Burglary Index (yellow line borders 90808 or El Dorado Park Estates)

The burglary index for El Dorado Park Estates is not as low as I thought it would be, but the neighborhood still seems relatively safe.  Note that it is the same shade of pink as the section on the other side of the 605 Freeway.  

Forcible Robbery Index (shows both Hawaiian Gardens and El Dorado Park Estates)

The forcible robbery index for Hawaiian Gardens is one margin higher than El Dorado Park Estates, but considering the collective results from the three crime variables tested, the difference in crime between the two neighborhoods does not seem significant to me.  What is significant, that I will prove later, is the difference in race. 

In "Race, Class, and Hurricane Katrina", Elliot and Pais state that communities and regions are not homogenous, but rather mosaics of overlapping subsystems cross cut by economic inequalities.   Because of the social difference that has been strengthened with this new freeway offramp construction, Hawiian Gardens and Long Beach have been further cross cut.  

East Long Beach seems to have a stigma of safety and high class, but maybe it really isn't much different than Hawaiian Gardens.  This point can be connected to Wilford's lecture series on Axes of Difference.  As discussed in class, race and ethnicity can play an important role in urban segregation.  As you can see in the map below, there is a significantly higher population of Hispanics that live in Hawaiian Gardens compared to El Dorado Park Estates.  

Cesar Galvesolo's quote above is obviously false, because the difference in crime rate between these two districts is not significant.  But, differences in race can cause people to assume more differences, and unfortunately, racial differences are often associated with differences in safety.  

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 6

Last Saturday, my friend Hilary came to pick me up from school and I decided to plan a breakfast date for us.  I decided that we should go to the Griddle Cafe, and what an experience it was!

The Griddle Cafe is located on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood.  We drove from my house on Hilgard Avenue down Sunset Boulevard for about 5 miles, and I was once again reminded of the Geographies of Difference Professor Wilford talked about in the "Theorizing Socio-Cultural Difference" lecture.  All of the houses on this stretch of Sunset Boulevard were monstrous, with huge front yards and large bushes lining the sidewalks.  See the pictures below for some snapshots I took of the drive and the houses along the way.

As our drive continued, we entered into a business district, with businesses ranging from really famous restaurants like Pink Taco, the Beverly Hills Hotel, and The Counter.  But, there were also lower-priced restaurants like Subway, CVS, and Peet's Coffee and Tea.  

Along the way, I also spotted a sign that said "Silver Spoon", and it intrigued me because it had fancy cars in the window but didn't look like a car dealership.  I looked it up online, and I found out it is a "Luxury Lifestyle Group" that provides entertainment services to wealthy people.  To put it simply, it puts everything on a silver spoon for its clients.  The company provides luxury rental cars, restaurant reservations, VIP access to events and clubs, private security and bodyguards, and vacation packages.  This information alone tells us that this area of Los Angeles is definitely built for the upper class, and that the people that reside here and visit here have a lot of money.    

http://www.silverspoon.net/services.php

When we arrived at the Griddle, we spotted a huge line outside the restaurant.  My friend and I walked into the restaurant, and we spotted a list of names near the door.  Hilary picked up the pen and began to write our name and party number when a person that looked like the owner came up and swiped the pen from us and said, "I'll take care of that!"  He was a short bald man with pink nail polish, an apron, and a crooked smile.  He pushed us outside and had us get in line along with the 50 other people waiting to be seating, telling us it would be a 35-minute wait.  To us, this seemed feasible, but little did we know we would actually wait for a full hour.  The customers were separated into three lines, parties of 2, 3-4, and then 5 people and up.  It was a weird concept, standing in line waiting to be seated at a restaraunt.  As we were waiting, the peculiar man came out every ten mintues or so to call roll and to make sure we were in the right order.  It felt like we were waiting at the DMV or something!! I was particularly frustrated that the line was so long and that it took much longer than he said it would.  The people in line were definitely all very different- some regulars and some tourists.  Families lined up, along with young couples and college students. Looking at the way people were dressed, this restaurant seemed to be a tourist attraction, as no one seemed extremely high class or wealthy.  There was also a range of races represented by the patrons- Mexicans, Whites, and Asians were there.  I didn't spot any African Americans, which made me think of this week's reading by Massey and Denton.

According to Massey and Denton, the likelihood of black-white contact rarely exceeds 5% in US metropolitan areas like Los Angeles.  Massey and Gross have come up with a formula that computes the degree of segregation necessary to keep neighborhood racial mixtures at less than 5% black.  When the black percentage is already low, like it is in West Hollywood, little or no segregation is required to keep this contact tolerable for whites.  Later, the authors discuss the fact that race is the dominating organizing principle of housing and residential patterns.  By using a a variety of exclusionary tactics, realtors limit the likelihood of black entry into white neighborhoods.  White prejudice is so drastic that when a black family enters the neighborhood the neighborhood becomes unattractive for the whites and the whites start to depart.  

I looked up the demographics of the zip code 90046, which was where the Griddle Cafe was located.  On movoto.com, I found that this area is 86% white, 4% Asian, 3% Hispanic, and 3% Black.  The median listing price for a home in this area is around $600,000.  This data was compiled from the US Census Bureau and the FBI Crime Database.  In an area this dominated by whites, it is obvious that African Americans do not reside here.  Like I read in Massey and Denton, blacks remain the most spatially isolated population in US History. 

Driving down Sunset Boulevard and looking at those houses, I could tell that these were not neighborhoods where Blacks were welcomed.

Although the Griddle Cafe seemed to be frequented by a variety of races and classes, I still was well aware that I was in a different environment than normal at that restaurant.  The price of the pancake I ordered was $9.95, which wasn't bad for a good-sized breakfast.  However, the way the man treated the patrons, and the way that the patrons continued to wait in line no matter how long it got surprised me.  It felt like the restaurant was well aware of how popular they were, and just kept the desperate customers in order just to get through the morning rush.  I didn't feel like a valued customer, I felt like one of 500 visitors that would eat there that day.  Not to say that the pancakes weren't amazing and something to be boasted about!  

I truly enjoyed my trip down Sunset Boulevard this past weekend, and I had a great meal at the Griddle Cafe!  I loved being able to see topics that we discuss in lecture and read about, like social difference and racial segregation, with my own eyes.  Although these aren't necessarily positive aspects of society, they do exist and they are something to be discussed and further studied. 

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 5

This past weekend, I took a trip to Laguna Beach to visit my cousins.  Although Laguna is not technically a part of Los Angeles County, I consider Orange County to be a part of metropolitan Los Angeles, and I think that cities in Orange County show a large contrast to cities further north closer to Los Angeles.  I also decided to use this trip as the destination at least 15 miles away from UCLA.

My cousins live on Temple Hills Drive in Laguna Beach, California.  I live in Long Beach, so when I went home for the weekend last weekend, I drove from my house to theirs, about a 45-minute drive.  To get there from Long Beach, you take the 405 South, the 73 South, and then the 133 South.  You can also take Pacific Coast Highway all the way, which is a much more scenic drive.   Below is a picture of their home:

When I visited their home on this particular occasion, I decided to drive the freeway route.  I noticed that the city is really off course from other parts of Orange County, and that you have to take the 133 Freeway for a really long time.  Later, when I talked to my grandma who lives with them, she explained to me that my cousins have to take the 133 to get to any other cities in Orange County.  This can be really inconvenient considering they go to a school in San Juan Capistrano, go to a church in Newport Beach, and play for sports teams in cities like Irvine and Mission Viejo.  The google map route that I used is shown below.

The neighborhood in Laguna Beach that they live in is absolutely beautiful, and has great views of the sunset and the ocean.  The street you take to get to their home is called Thalia Street, and it is literally a giant hill in which you really have to push the gas pedal to drive up.  A majority of the homes in this neighborhood have large bushes in front of them for privacy purposes.  All of the houses are pretty far apart from each other, and most of the blocks are very hilly and have narrow, windy roads.  Once I witnessed this, I thought of the lecture series Wilford taught regarding geographies of difference.  Although this neighborhood is not gated, the streets are all uphill and the houses are blocked by bushes, making it almost impossible for people to walk there.  The city of Laguna Beach is a site of producing and maintaining difference and inequality.  This neighborhood is the epitomy of limiting physical access through remote/difficult access.  It also serves to limit social access- I know when I visit I sometimes feel like I don't belong when I park my green 1992 Jeep in front of their $3 million home.  The cars are all extremely nice in the neighborhood, and every home inside is in the millions.  Laguna Beach does not have a bad part in the entire city, but I think the purpose of this limited access is to create social difference from other cities.  Visitors to this city are well aware that they are visiting, and could never afford to own a home here.  Here is a picture of the view of their home from the street.  As you can see, their home has complete privacy from the street.

Another glamorous place to live, Laguna Beach reminded me a lot of the neighborhood behind UCLA, Bel Air.  Without taking this class, I would only assume that these neighborhoods have limited access because of the terrain that they were built on and not because of the way the city planners constructed them.  

My cousins are a great example of the types of people that live in these communities.  They all attend prestigious private schools, drive BMWs and Mercedes cars, and shop in malls like South Coast Plaza and Fashion Island.  They are a republican family with a dad that's an attorney, a stay-at-home mom, have four kids, and two dogs.  While reading the Post-Suburban California reading, though, I learned that Orange County is also the site of cultural and visual diversity.  It is considered a "white-bread suburban tract"-in the 2010 census, the demographics of the city were 93% white.  But, Laguna Beach is also the center of a large gay community and has had gay mayors and gay city council members.  One of the less diverse cities of Orange County, it is definitely a great example of a post-suburban community with demonstrated geographies of difference.  

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 4

Last weekend, my friend Michelle and I decided to try to get massages in Westwood.  I had ran the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in San Francisco the previous weekend, and I was looking for a massage therapy place nearby that had reasonable prices.  It turned out to be a very drawn-out, fun adventure for us, and the whole day only cost us about $35!

            In order to find the place, I searched “massages in Westwood” on Yelp.  The top results were all out of my price range, but one called “Footssage” on Santa Monica Boulevard stood out to me.  Once I clicked on the link, I learned that this place was only two miles away and had 60-minute full body massages for only $25.00, which I thought was an unbeatable price! All of the reviews on the website were extremely positive, which is rare for Yelp as usually there are more bad reviews than good.  I think this is usually because people are more likely to write a review if they are extremely upset about a place rather than overly enthused with it.  I decided to call and make an appointment. 

            Since the place was only 2 miles away, we decided to walk there for an added adventure.  Little did we realize, two miles turned out to be a very long walk!  We went down Manning Avenue the whole way, and went through a few nice neighborhoods.  The first couple neighborhood was filled with very upscale houses, and second was not quite as expensive and was a bit more middle class.   We first went to a French restaurant for brunch called Café Chez Marie, which had a price range between $10 and $15 entrees.  Then we walked to the massage place.  Both the massage place and the restaurant were very difficult to get to on foot- it turned out to be a very hilly walk and had a few little streets without sidewalks or pedestrian paths.  In the reading “Postsuburban California”, Kling, Olin, and Spencer wrote about postsuburban cities that are designed to be navigated by a car.  The reading states here- “Shopping areas are concentrated in regional centers or neighborhood centers that are too far to be a convenient walk for most residents. Although there is a substantial bus system, it is not widely used, and the private automobile is essential.”  The massage place was too far to be a convenient walk for those that lived in the neighborhoods, and it was definitely inconvenient for us to walk there from our home in Westwood.  Also, in lecture, we talked about how the postmetropolis was structured by automobility- it is evident that in this part of Los Angeles, the automobile is an integral part of daily life. 

            Once we got to the massage place, I immediately noticed a sticker on the door that said “Find us on Yelp”.   Then, below the sticker, there was a sign that stated that any customer who wrote a positive review on Yelp for the company would receive a $5 off coupon for their next massage.  This finding was interesting to me, and I started to wonder if the reason there were so many positive reviews for Footssage was because of this particular deal.  Nevertheless, we ended up really enjoying their services and found the reviews we read earlier were extremely accurate. 

            This occurrence caused me to start to think about social media websites like Yelp and how they have impacted cities and social difference.  By just searching a business name on a website, a person can find a rating, a price range, the location, service details, and a variety of consumer reviews.  Later, I found an article in the Los Angeles Times about Yelp entitled “Yelp cracks down on businesses that pay for good reviews”.  This article discusses how websites like Yelp have changed the way that consumers approach daily life activities like getting a carwash or choosing a doctor.  I do not think that Footssage is paying for their good reviews, but I did find it interesting that they are essentially bribing their customers in order to get more people to use their services.  This advertising scheme is very modern and would not be possible without social networking sites like Yelp, UrbanSpoon, or CitySearch. 

You can find the Yelp reviews for Footssage here and the LA Times article on Yelp here.

            I am really glad I ventured out into Westwood that Saturday and was able to experience a part of Westwood that I had never been to before.  I was happy with both the restaurant and the massage, and although the walk was tricky it was interesting to see the transition from residential districts to shopping districts.  The decentralization of Los Angeles was extremely evident.  Connecting this experience to a social media site like Yelp helped me to see how consumers interact with services offered in their cities, and how much people in urban areas rely on social media to make decisions on what services to use.  This is a concept that would not be prevalent ten, or maybe even five years ago, as social media has only begun to take over the world in the last decade.  The LA Times article also helped me to see how social media can impact people that live in cities, and caused me to wonder how people from different economic standings use this site in different ways.  I would love to do further research on what types of people use Yelp, and what economic and social backgrounds they are from.  

Picture of Footsage Storefront

Blogging Social Difference in LA: Week 3

For today's post, I took the chance to read another classmate's blog and then comment on it with respect to this week's reading, "Mapping the Pure and the Defiled" from Geographies of Difference: Society and Difference in the West (1995).  I commented on Paul Kaufman's blog, "Down the Block".
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I really enjoyed reading your blog post on Santa Monica, Paul. I like how you mentioned the homeless people and the street performers in the city and how they interact with the people that are shopping there. I wish you would have elaborated a little bit more, and explained what type of interactions occur, how often they occur, and why you think these interactions occur. 

You are right- the quote by Robert E. Park does hold true for the city of Santa Monica because the people in different classes do touch each other but aren't forced to interact with each other. In my blog, I previously stated that I disagreed with Park's quote because I believed that the different people did interpenetrate and interact, but your post made me think that I might be wrong. I think the important thing to also think about is- what really is Robert E. Park's definition of interpenetrate? Does walking by a homeless person and giving them money count as an interaction? Or does it have to be a conversation or the act of lending a helping hand? 

As I read this weeks reading, "Mapping the Pure and the Defiled", I found the section on modern media representations very interesting and relevant to your blog post. The entire article outlines the progression of "imaginary geographies" that create divides between "perfect" and "imperfect" people". This particular section on media discusses how urban society is depicted in television commercials through visions of a divide between purity and pollution. Reading this section and comparing it to your blog causes me to be upset over the reading, which describes the subtle ways modern advertising implies that the city is a dangerous, dirty place, and that we as "pure" people need to be protected from it. I found a Persil laundry commercial that demonstrates this idea, and I think it is the actual one that is mentioned in this week's reading.

1991 Persil Laundry Commercial: 

In his conclusion of the article, David Sibley makes the argument that the boundaries of society have shifted over time, embracing more of the population with less of a class divide. Los Angeles, although it has many separate class divides, is one particular city that doesn't have distinct boundaries and provides its people chances to interact and interpenetrate. Even though the media sometimes makes it seem that the inner city can be a "dirty" place, LA citizens that venture into cities like Santa Monica aren't afraid of these confrontations with lower class citizens. I look forward to further exploring Robert E. Park's concept of "interpenetration" and what that looks for interactions between the "glamorous" and the "struggling" in Los Angeles. 

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 2

This past weekend, I visited the Westfield Century City Mall for my first exploration of Los Angeles.  I have never been to the district of Century City before, and I was surprised to see how close this district was to UCLA.  My classmate Michelle and I ventured to the district by car.  As we drove towards the mall, a short 3-mile ride, I made sure to look out the window and take note of the changing neighborhoods and landscapes around me.  We first drove through the Westwood neighborhood behind sorority row, and it was on Manning Avenue that I admired the beautiful homes and oversized front yards.  Then, we turned onto Wilshire Boulevard and the scenery quickly changed from a residential plot to a business center.  The next streets we traveled on, including Beverly Glen Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, were extremely wide and featured green belts in the center.  In addition to the businesses and stores on these streets, they also featured sporadic apartment buildings.  This layout was representative of a traditional urban area like I read about in this week’s reading, where combinations of land use including residential, commercial, and public, are found. Unlike the post-suburban region Orange County, a private automobile would not be necessary in a district like Century City, where one could easily walk from their place of work to visit the mall or go out to eat (Kling, Spencer and Olin 7). 

In this picture I took, you can see the close proximity from the Century City skyscrapers to the Westfield mall.  This outdoor mall was so different from the mall I usually shop at, South Coast Plaza in Orange County, which is still elegant, but a lot less modern and original. 

            Once we arrived in Century City, we drove around the area for a bit to explore what the district was like.  The tall skyscrapers that covered the streets provided a stark contrast to the medium-sized homes and modest apartment buildings we noticed in certain parts of the district.  The landscape around the buildings included palm trees, grassy areas, and large parking lots.  Since our movie time was approaching, Michelle and I decided to drive back towards the Westfield Century City Mall.  We parked in the parking structure, and I noticed that a majority of the cars were luxury 4-door sedans.  There was a marked absence of larger SUVs, and there were a few substandard sedans mixed in.  From this observation, I assumed that visitors to this shopping center would include young adults, middle-aged couples, and not too many families or young children. 

            Our first stop in the mall was the AMC movie theater to buy our tickets for the 7:35 PM showing of “Trouble with the Curve”.  Considering it was 6:15 PM at the time, we figured there would be plenty of seats left in the theater.  To our surprise, there were only first and second row seats left.  The attendant quickly let us in on the secret that in order to see a movie at this theater, it is necessary to buy your tickets at least an hour or two in advance.  His personality struck me as a bit rude, as if my friend and I didn’t know what we were doing and didn’t belong in this first-class theater.  From that experience, I would guess that the visitors that frequent this theater have no problem showing up early for the showing and paying the $13.75 movie ticket price.  This is a big difference compared to where I am from, in the city of Long Beach, where you can pay around $10.00 for an AMC movie ticket and can arrive to the showing at the same time that the movie starts.  Referring back to my focal question, a difference in price and accessibility makes a lot of difference in my mind because of what I am used to in my hometown, which is still considered a part of Los Angeles County. 

            After purchasing our tickets, Michelle and I went to look for somewhere to eat.  We had heard great things about the eatery Pink Taco, so we walked over to that restaurant but quickly turned around when we saw that there was a 45-minute wait to be seated.  Instead, we entered what was called the “Dining Commons”, which I guess is a classier title for their version of a mall food court.  The Dining Commons featured restaurants like Bibigo, Which Wich, Baja Fresh, and California Crisp.  It definitely wasn’t your typical food court with a Chick-fil-A and McDonald’s.  The way the restaurants were laid out was very modern and sleek, and each restaurant featured steel surfaces, wood panels, and unique lighting.  There was both an indoor eating area and an outdoor space.  I ordered my meal at Bibigo, and paid $9.50 for a rice and chicken bowl, which I thought was a bit steep.  The attendant handed me a small beeper, which I was told would vibrate when my food was ready.   I thought this addition was pretty neat, seeing that I usually only see these beepers at nicer, sit-down restaurants.  This piece of technology is an example of how consumerism is connected with information capitalism, as discussed in the reading.  In “Post-Suburban California”, we read that fast-food restaurants use information technologies to define the experience of frequenting their establishments in a positive light (Kling, Spencer and Olin 18).  By using this beeper, Bibigo exemplified the shift to a post-rational, consumer-oriented culture. 

I patiently waited for my food, but then after about twenty minutes, was a bit frustrated by the long waiting time.  The person next to me also seemed a bit aggravated that their order wasn’t ready either.  I went to ask the attendants working and they seemed very confused that my order hadn’t been up yet and tried to help sort the situation out.  The person next to me handled the situation very differently, and started blatantly yelling at the waiter that his food wasn’t ready yet and told her that all of his friends were already eating and had ordered after him.  I was personally a bit annoyed by this person’s obnoxious complaints, especially when I noticed that I had ordered at least five minutes before him. 

It was at this moment that I once again took note of the personality of the people at the Century City mall.  Like the condescending movie theater attendant, my friend at Bibigo seemed a bit pretentious and superior.  After two interactions with this personality type, I was ready to return home even before the movie started.  Once again, I was taken aback by the difference in personality type from the types of people I normally interact with in Westwood and in my hometown.  Nevertheless, the conclusion of my night was rather pleasant as I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and ride home.    

In closing, I really enjoyed the experience I had when visiting Century City.  A destination just three miles away from UCLA, this district provided a bleak contrast compared to the more simplistic Westwood Village that I frequent much more often.  One of the more “glamorous” destinations in my travel plans, Century City proved to be a refreshing place.  As I travel other places in Los Angeles, however, that may fall under the “struggling” category, I am sure that I will find even bigger differences and entirely new experiences that I am looking forward to as well. 

Kling, Rob, Spencer Olin, and Mark Poster. Postsuburban California: The Transformation of Orange County since World War II. Berkeley: University of California Press, [1995], c1991 1995. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft0k40036b/