East LA digs
Thanks to Ensie - a new Boyle Heights resident - found out about a new place to check out here in East LA - a bakery/coffee shop called Cakewalk on 1st (between Mission & Boyle). Their open from 8am-2pm, so I’m going to check them out today.
What was disappointing was reading this review of Cakewalk from the Downtown LA News. The bulk of the review is average enough - describing the menu, highlighting the desserts, persuading the reader to check it out. What is frustrating is the subtle or not so subtle dig at life in East LA. Or life on the other side of the river, as the article’s intro points out.
As a rule, Downtowners are loathe to go east of the Los Angeles River. There are exceptions: the biannual trip to La Serenata de Garibaldi for example, the fine Mexican restaurant just over the First Street bridge. But the psychological barrier is strong.
For one, it has nothing to do with the review of Cakewalk. Besides this cheap jab, there is nothing else in the article related to the store being in East LA. Especially remarkable because that section of East LA is on the up & up.
But mostly, it bothers me hearing comments like that about East LA. Not because there aren’t things about this neighborhood to be concerned by, but because most of the people that I read or hear making the comments haven’t personally experienced any of the negative things of which they speak.
In that way, it really is just a psychological barrio, I mean, barrier. Without any Polyanna naivete, I’ve lived here for over 7 years without any more problems than a foul-mouthed tirade of a drunken neighbor. Maybe it is just easier to separate life into “the good” and “the bad” - the right side of the tracks and the other side. But the world that I see & live in & work & play in, the good & the bad usually live next door to each other, if not in the same house.
January 18th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Yeah, I agree.