Los Angeles Is . . .

LIVING IN Los Angeles is like living in a bubble rolling along a path of needles. Ya kno' its going to pop, but you just don't know when.



A YOUNG man meets and falls in love with a young woman at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. This area is known as Miracle Mile, and the whole movie takes place there. They make a date, which he misses, and while he is searching for her, he accidentally finds out that we (the United States) are about to start a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. He frantically searches for her so that they can escape Los Angeles.

Harry finally meets the girl of his dreams--on the last day of Earth. Harry mistakenly picked up a ringing pay phone to learn that a nuclear war had already begun. Now with a ticking clock and a rioting city deteriorating around him, Harry must guide Julie to safety. But can he save himself as lawlessness becomes the norm and terror grips every living soul in the city? Written by Tim Kretschmann ( courtesy of ImDB)


The 1988 film Miracle Mile captures the paranoia that constantly grips Los Angeles. People living on top of each other. So close but yet so far. Its like a game of Telephone where what one person says may start out as the truth, but as it snakes down that line things can become twisted, more surreal than anyone can ever imagine. to understand the movie is too understand the areas:

Miracle mile is a one mile stretch between Wilshire, Fairfax, and La Brea. When my father first moved out here, "He said that it was beautiful, everything new and clean it seemed but now its just broken down. Nothing has its sheen anymore, just homless zombies, and roving rockers past their prime, with fairy dust pouring through the palms just trying to rememnber a glimpse of the stars"

Some things that may help put this in perspective:
Support_for_the_theory (broken windows theory, When people think an area is broken down they treat it as such. Crime rises, etc...)
(Quick history of Miracle Mile... Look at the history and compare it to the movie version. Kinda funny how word spreads so fast in Los Angeles about a nuclear holocaust and what does this say about this city's degrees of separation)

-- Jason Collins

Frank Zappa and the Watts Riots

THIS SONG is about the Riots of '65, though I think it applicable to any riot. What do you think the lyrics say? Deeper meanings? Any hint of the social structures that caused the riots?



Trouble Every Day
Lyrics by Frank Zappa

Well I'm about to get sick
From watchin' my TV

Been checkin' out the news
Until my eyeballs fail to see
I mean to say that every day
Is just another rotten mess
And when it's gonna change, my friend
Is anybody's guess

So I'm watchin' and I'm waitin'
Hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin'
Every time I hear 'em sayin'
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin' every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin' every day

Wednesday I watched the riot . . .
Seen the cops out on the street
Watched 'em throwin' rocks and stuff
And chokin' in the heat
Listened to reports
About the whisky passin' 'round
Seen the smoke and fire
And the market burnin' down
Watched while everybody
On his street would take a turn
To stomp and smash and bash and crash
And slash and bust and burn

And I'm watchin' and I'm waitin'
Hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin'
Every time I hear 'em sayin'
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin' every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin' every day



Well, you can cool it,
You can heat it . . .
'Cause, baby, I don't need it . . .
Take your TV tube and eat it
'N all that phony stuff on sports
'N all the unconfirmed reports
You know I watched that rotten box
Until my head begin to hurt
From checkin' out the way
The newsman say they get the dirt
Before the guys on channel so-and-so



And further they assert
That any show they'll interrupt
To bring you news if it comes up
They say that if the place blows up
They will be the first to tell,
Because the boys they got downtown
Are workin' hard and doin' swell,
And if anybody gets the news
Before it hits the street,
They say that no one blabs it faster
Their coverage can't be beat

And if another woman driver
Gets machine-gunned from her seat
They'll send some joker with a brownie
And you'll see it all complete

So I'm watchin' and I'm waitin'
Hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin'
Every time I hear 'em sayin'
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin' every day
No way to delay
trouble comin' every day

Hey, you know something people?
I'm not black
But there's a whole lots a times
I wish I could say I'm not white

Well, I seen the fires burnin'
And the local people turnin'
On the merchants and the shops
Who used to sell their brooms and mops
And every other household item
Watched the mob just turn and bite 'em
And they say it served 'em right
Because a few of them are white,
And it's the same across the nation
Black and white discrimination
Yellin' "You can't understand me!"
'N all that other jazz they hand me
In the papers and TV and
All that mass stupidity
That seems to grow more every day
Each time you hear some nitwit say
He wants to go and do you in
Because the color of your skin
Just don't appeal to him
(No matter if it's black or white)
Because he's out for blood tonight

You know we got to sit around at home
And watch this thing begin
But I bet there won't be many live
To see it really end
'Cause the fire in the street
Ain't like the fire in the heart
And in the eyes of all these people
Don't you know that this could start
On any street in any town
In any state if any clown
Decides that now's the time to fight
For some ideal he thinks is right
And if a million more agree
There ain't no Great Society
As it applies to you and me
Our country isn't free
And the law refuses to see
If all that you can ever be
Is just a lousy janitor
Unless your uncle owns a store
You know that five in every four
Just won't amount to nothin' more
Gonna watch the rats go across the floor
And make up songs about being poor

Blow your harmonica, son!




Just for kicks:






Zappa was Indeed what people would call the man.

-- Jason Collins

(photo credit, The Googly, from flickr creative commons)

Iconic L.A. : Olvera Street

OLVERA STREET is distinctly Los Angeles due to its history. 1781, when the 44 pobladores accompanied by a militia and two priests as legend has it made their way to the very spot that the first mayor of Los Angeles had declared to the king of Spain a good spot to build a town the City of Angeles was born: Olvera Street. The Street, or as some would call it the very first calle in this city shows the spontaneous aspect of growth and development that has turned this desert into a city (chaparral). The sociology of this city has formed around the power of people and the continuous influx of new people has kept the heart of this city beating booms. As both a haven of immigration being that the original settles of Los Angeles were of mestizo, mulatto, and African ancestry it seems that Los Angeles grew into its Anglo centered origins long after. For myself with the air gorged on the thick smell of chicken, beef, and pork with all sorts of different spices and flavorings you just feel as if this place is an emblematic symbol of “old style Los Angeles.” a possessive feeling that one gets once going downtown and seeing the adobe re-creations and colorful dresses all juxtaposed not only against gentrification but also the ebb and flow of the 21st century being next to Union Station, “One of the last great railway stations,” all its own just makes you feel proud. Olvera Street isn’t just speckled with facts about the first street but also is a temptress, wanting the tourist to join into the traditional dances, song, and dress. Olvera Street is truly a symbol of Los Angeles and is a quaint reminder of those that called this place home way before today. Olvera Street seems to also be a beacon for the immigrant who comes to this city and needs a healthy dose of home. No place actually incorporates with such vigor elements of its past such as Olvera street serving as a real life representation of how things used to be. Even within the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and the domineering figures that have made Los Angeles a city of wonder. Olvera Street speaks to the immigrant and culture in a very real way. With Mexican flair and faithfulness the Immigrant can find a home away from home inside its Spanish speaking environs.
The wares that are sold can also be cherished Time after time. Tourism spots have made Olvera Street a must for those coming to see California and most of all Los Angeles. This city tainted with the light of a dystopia can find a very real culture beating under the heart of artificiality.

-- Jason Collins

(photo caption, middle: "Found on Olvera Street"
photo caption, bottom: "Avila Adobe on Olvera Street."
photo credits: Loren Javier, flickr pool, creative commons)