Canadian Americans are a largely overlooked minority in the vast landscape of Los Angeles's diversity. Unlike immigrants from south of the Rio Grande, who are often the subject of public attention (whether celebrated, vilified, romanticized, ignored, or pandered to), those from north of the 49th Parallel are comparatively ignored and practically invisible. Los Angeles, after … Continue reading No Enclave — Exploring Canadian Los Angeles
California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Yorba Linda, the Land of Gracious Living
INTRODUCTION If Yorba Linda is known for one thing, it’s as the birthplace of disgraced Republican president Richard Nixon. 22 years after his death, the memory of Yorba Linda’s most famous resident continues to loom over the suburb, the main attraction of which is the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum, built on the site of … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Yorba Linda, the Land of Gracious Living
Share this:
African Restaurants of Los Angeles
Africa at night from satellite It's been noted that the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (enacted in 1968) is one of the key reasons Los Angeles today is the city that it is. That act ended the practice of favoring European immigrants and as a result transformed what had once been promoted as the "Great … Continue reading African Restaurants of Los Angeles
Share this:
Where Fools Fear To Tread — A London Snapshot
Last year, 2015, I visited London for the first time. I’m only getting around to writing about it now because I’m leaving for Mexico in a few hours. I wanted to write about visiting the UK earlier but it just seemed so unnecessary -- a bit like writing a book about World War II or making … Continue reading Where Fools Fear To Tread — A London Snapshot
Share this:
Pan-Asian Metropolis — Public Sculpture, Monuments, and Memorials in Los Angeles
Public art, by its definition, is only public when located in an open public space. Increasingly, corporate plazas patrolled by security guards are what often pass for public space and private organizations determine what hours of what days the public are allowed to view "public art" which in many cases could be considered "plop art," the sort of … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Public Sculpture, Monuments, and Memorials in Los Angeles
Share this:
Greater Streets — Valley Boulevard
Valley Boulevard is the main thoroughfare of the San Gabriel Valley, what Wilshire is to Midtown, Crenshaw is to South Los Angeles’s Westside, and Ventura is to the San Fernando Valley. Speaking of which, it’s about the only time “Valley” is used to refer not to the San Fernando one, but the San Gabriel. It’s … Continue reading Greater Streets — Valley Boulevard
Share this:
Pan-Asian Metropolis — Asian Statuary in Los Angeles
Even though I'm more "no money" than "new money," I share the latter's collective love of statuary. When wondering through the city or suburbs I'm pleased by the presence of garden gnomes or bodhisattva or fast food mascots. Nothing churches up a home like a yard full of tiny replicas of Michelangelo's David. This being Asian Pacific … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Asian Statuary in Los Angeles
Share this:
No Enclave — Exploring Tongan Los Angeles
As of the 2010 census, there were 57,183 Tongans living in the US, making them the fourth largest Pacific Islander group after Hawaiians, Samoans, and Chamorros. 22,893 Tongans then lived in California, with 6,489 calling the Inland Empire, Orange, or Los Angeles County home. In Los Angeles, the communities of Carson, Hawthorne, Ingelwood, Long Beach, Lennox, … Continue reading No Enclave — Exploring Tongan Los Angeles
Share this:
Pan-Asian Metropolis — Los Angeles’s Asian Temples
Most of the world’s major religions — and many minor — were born in Asia. The Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Bahá’í, Druze, Samaritanism, and Bábism), were all born in West Asia; Iranian religions include Zoroastrianism, Yazdânism, Ætsæg Din, Ahl-e Haqq, Mandaeism, and Manichaeism; South Asia gave birth to the Dharmic religions of Hinduism, Jainism, … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Los Angeles’s Asian Temples
Share this:
Mini-Mallism — Los Angeles’s Asian Malls
I assume that for most Americans, thoughts of the mall evoke the 1980s or an earlier era, when certain classes of young teenagers longed to spend their free time eating at places like Sbarro or Orange Julius, shopping at Banana Republic or the Limited, watching Hollywood blockbusters at the multiplex, and feeding tokens to machines at … Continue reading Mini-Mallism — Los Angeles’s Asian Malls
Eric Brightwell 