INTRODUCTION TO WESTWOOD Westwood is a neighborhood in Los Angeles’s Westside. It’s widely known for being home to the University of California, Los Angeles although locally it's almost equally well known for its small shopping district, Westwood Village. People who've lived in Los Angeles longer than I are prone to speaking about Westwood with an elegiac tone normally … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Westwood
Los Angeles Linguistics Part 2: Regional Differences
Most metropolitan areas -- at least the ones I'm familiar with -- are divided both into neighborhoods and larger, multi-neighborhood administrative divisions or regions. Paris has its arrondissements, New York City its boroughs, Busan and Seoul have gu (구), Taipei has qū (區), St. Louis and New Orleans both have wards, Mexico City has municipios, and on. Their names vary, then, but the concept is generally the … Continue reading Los Angeles Linguistics Part 2: Regional Differences
Swinging Doors — Los Angeles Train Pub Crawl
The train-enabled bar crawl is surely as old as the train itself. The first public transit line in Los Angeles was the Spring and West 6th Street Railroad, a railway founded in 1874 which served Downtown. Surely some bright 19th Century Angeleno had the brilliant idea of using the horse-drawn railcars to carry them from saloon … Continue reading Swinging Doors — Los Angeles Train Pub Crawl
Happy Lunar New Year’s Eve
Tonight is Lunar New Year's Eve in the Americas. It's already New Year's Day in Asia so I suppose I should've posted this earlier since a good number of my readers are in (descending order to gently if unlikely stoke a bit of competition) Japan, the Philippines, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, … Continue reading Happy Lunar New Year’s Eve
Southland Parks — Visiting MacArthur Park
Neighborhoods often take their names from significant features within them, which in Los Angeles are often major street intersections and parks. Neighborhoods named after intersections include Vermont-Slauson, Broadway-Manchester, Central-Alameda, and Adams-Normandie. Neighborhoods named after parks include South Park, Alondra Park, Cypress Park, and, of course, MacArthur Park. MacArthur Park, however, was for half a century … Continue reading Southland Parks — Visiting MacArthur Park
California Fool’s Gold — Exploring San Pedro
INTRODUCTION TO SAN PEDRO I finally visited San Pedro for California Fool’s Gold. It’s long been one of my favorite Los Angeles neighborhoods but in general (and in this case), I rely on you, the vox populi, to tell me where I should go. Click here to vote for other Los Angeles neighborhoods to be … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring San Pedro
Urban Rambles — The Passeggiata in Los Angeles and the Silver Lake Reservoir Stroll
I'm not sure when I first heard about the passeggiata -- a sort of ritualized stroll which takes place along the coasts and in the town squares of many Italian villages. I'm a fan of walking customs around the world, such as competitive pedestrianism, forest bathing, rambles, and walkabouts -- so, of course, the passeggiata is right … Continue reading Urban Rambles — The Passeggiata in Los Angeles and the Silver Lake Reservoir Stroll
