One day, bitches: the future of the Los Angeles Metro

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shh!, I'm new too, and lazy. But I WILL introduce myself on the introductions thread, I swear.

I'd be tickled to meet y'all at a FAP anywhere from the beach to downtown, but sadly I'm booked Friday. Now Saturday...

As long as it's not in the South Bay. Don't even get me started on the South Bay... ;-)

rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 16 June 2005 00:28 (eighteen years ago) link

Vik, I'm curious how long you've lived in LA because ideas of what the center of LA is vary greatly over the years. And it's so personal. There's also a huge difference between west los angeles (which is what i've considered westside) and west hollywood. And then there's the gangsta definition which would be way south of both of these and is light years away from any westside descriptions here.

i think the eastside-centric attitude seems a very recent development starting with the the hipster influx into east hollywood in the 90's and probably affected by hyper-inflated real estate values. i mean those same people who won't go east of western now lived (or would have lived) in miracle mile in the early 90's.

here's a useful map i found of LA city... http://www.losangelesalmanac.com/LA/lamap2.htm
note there are so many unofficial names and names post offices use or don't use. ie. if you live in northridge. you would say you live in northridge and write that as your address (even though it's LA city). if you live in silverlake you'd say you live in silverlake, but not address letters there. and places like miracle mile or larchmont are just traditionally known names not really recognized anywhere.

lolita corpus (lolitacorpus), Thursday, 16 June 2005 03:29 (eighteen years ago) link

No more sandals?

please no

kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 16 June 2005 03:38 (eighteen years ago) link

or please, yes, rather. or just please.

kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 16 June 2005 03:38 (eighteen years ago) link

wow the distortion levels on here are going crazy

I NEVER CALLED THE WESTSIDE A FORTRESS

I WAS JUST TRYING TO SAY THAT THE WESTSIDE COMMUNITIES HAVE REPEATEDLY VOTED AGAINST THE METRO LINE BECAUSE OF RACIAL / SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS OF NIIMBY-ISM BECAUSE YOU SEEMED TO BE "OH-SO-OFFENDED" BY THIS NOTION, SPENCER

I'D LIKE TO SEE SOMEONE DISPUTE THIS WITH FACTUAL INFORMATION WITHOUT TRYING TO TWIST MY WORDS, ACCUSE ME OF MAKING "GENERALIZTIONS," OR FUCKING CHANGE THE TOPIC AGAIN OKAY THX BYE


and im only going to fap if its on my damn balcony 4 now

Vichitravirya XI, Thursday, 16 June 2005 04:21 (eighteen years ago) link

I'll only go to the west side of your balcony.

walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 16 June 2005 04:23 (eighteen years ago) link

Lolita OTM about neo-east-side Silverlake hipster pride.

walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 16 June 2005 04:24 (eighteen years ago) link

No fair, V - I was working from the paper you posted!

"Los Angeles's walled communities provide professionals from the real estate, entertainment and technology industries with an escape from the problems of the disenfranchised that lie beyond their well protected enclaves -- with tall gates, private security forces and 24-hour a day electronic surveillance."

How many can you balcony hold?

rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 16 June 2005 04:24 (eighteen years ago) link

Vic, about the metro line votes, I was trying to look this up but couldn't find any information. I'm quite ignorant of the recent political history of LA public transportation. Is there any good reading on the subject you could recommend?

x-post I didn't read the big article you posted upthread but I'll look at it now to see if that answers my question.

walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 16 June 2005 04:28 (eighteen years ago) link

lolita i've lived here for almost 7 years, from around "the ghetto" of south central to hollywood and funnily enough i live near relatively near la brea NOT silverlake etc

roger i posted that just to demonstrate the history of racial segragation here

whats just making me want to tear my hair out is how adamant everyone on this thread is being in completely DENYING what has already passed into history, and what is common knowledge.

its like...okay:

the encyclopedia is wrong, spencer / ile is right
the local times and alt weeklies are wrong, spencer chow / ile is right
all the pro-metro activist groups - which can be contacted online, try yahoo (im a member of that yahoo group) are wrong, spencer chow / ile is right


this is total madness and i dont know why im bother putting up with this thread. its only making my blood boil

Vichitravirya XI, Thursday, 16 June 2005 04:30 (eighteen years ago) link

im going to see batman begins. see u guys later when ive cooled off!!

Vichitravirya XI, Thursday, 16 June 2005 04:32 (eighteen years ago) link

you're citing an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit! and activist groups? PLEASE

I shift gears when I see tears (deangulberry), Thursday, 16 June 2005 05:20 (eighteen years ago) link

I'd be tickled to meet y'all at a FAP anywhere from the beach to downtown, but sadly I'm booked Friday. Now Saturday...

Ah, ya punk, missing out on Friday. But fear not, Arthur the Very Good is DJing on Saturday, and I'm frankly tempted to stay in LA for that after the Friday FAP and all. We'll see!

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 16 June 2005 05:25 (eighteen years ago) link

the thing is Vic, is that people are really really really really sensitive about places they grew up in. you can't talk about neighborhoods without affecting people. the fact is, spencer was born here. I was born here. it's our home. I lived in chatsworth when it was 213, my mom lived in 'mid-city' west when her number started with WEbster and my grampa lived in boyle heights when his number had only 5 or 6 digits. claiming seniority or authenticity is lame, but this is one of the few things where that's what it's all about!!! i mean we're talking character/traditions of city and you're saying because you've read some stuff and came here for college, your ideas are more 'right' than the resident's own stories and perceptions? it just sounds so arrogant and is no help to your (perhaps interesting and non-anger-inducing) ideas about transportation. i mean what if i spent a few years in another country and started lecturing them on the facts about where they live?

true, the metro line is a big mess and it sucks and it's unfortunate we don't have a transportation system and traffic is becoming catastrophic. but you can't just casually say 'i hate the fucking WESTSIDE so much' (and then say 'Spencer I don't hate the Westside' to what? try to back out of irresponsible stereotyping?) and not expect some shit. i mean i like some of your ideas on other threads, but Spencer's right in saying you're all over the place on this one.

lolita corpus (lolitacorpus), Thursday, 16 June 2005 05:51 (eighteen years ago) link

...this is like one big ugly break-up. I can't wait for Vik and Spencer's mind-blowing make-up thread.

giboyeux (skowly), Thursday, 16 June 2005 06:12 (eighteen years ago) link

I really don't think that trying to pull rank is any way to settle this.

Remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 16 June 2005 06:19 (eighteen years ago) link

There is no way for this to be settled. LA threads are always one big argument that never gets settled. IT'S HOW WE ANGELENOS DO IT.

I shift gears when I see tears (deangulberry), Thursday, 16 June 2005 07:18 (eighteen years ago) link

SHUT UP DEAN GULBERRY U ASSHOLE!

(Also I saw a guy coming out of the video store and I thought it was you, so I waved. Clearly it wasn't because he yelled something back at me in Armenian.)

Remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 16 June 2005 07:20 (eighteen years ago) link

what are we settling? these boards are to express thoughts and test ideas. it's not a review board needing to come to a decision.

lolita corpus (lolitacorpus), Thursday, 16 June 2005 07:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Lolita,

Yes, I know it looks like I contradicted myself on this thread, but I've clarified that: I don't "hate" the westside per say, and I've expressed that when I said that I meant I disapprove of their anti-metro voting patterns, which I do believe deserve to be hated.

All I'm asking for is someone to refute the WELL-DOCUMENTED AND VERIFIED claim that the westside's aversion to the metro is based on racial and socio-economic NIMBY prejudices of keeping the "wrong" people away from their residences and businesses.

Can anyone do that, supplying hard facts and proof, without turning this into a 'I must defend my homeland" emotional argument?

If you're taking offense to some sort of fucked-up misunderstanding of me "attacking" your native soul WHEN I'M NOT IN THEFIRST PLACE, then that's your own fucking problem.

I don't have to "prove" that I lose Los Angeles as much as you just because I haven't lived here as long, or don't have dead ancestors buried here...there is no other city in the WORLD I'd rather live, since this is my favoite. I thought my love would be evident with the enthusiam with which I started this thread. This is a city of immigrants and it's as much mine as yours; deal with it.

Vichitravirya XI, Thursday, 16 June 2005 08:28 (eighteen years ago) link

Heheh, I love how the metro map has completely ripped the style of the tube diagram, even down to the airport loop.

RickyT (RickyT), Thursday, 16 June 2005 08:30 (eighteen years ago) link

My views are no less valid simply because I've lived here a less amount of time, and if your perception of my opinion is that it's "arrogant," then that's your perception...I have nothing to do with that. I SHOULDN'T even have to say here that "I'm entitled to my opinion," since I'm not even expressing "opinion," but a fact. I truly don't understand all this defensiveness when I've gone out of my way to express that I'm NOT trying to slag off any large group of people blindly or sans evidence, and if you have sources that disprove and refute mine, come on: I'd like to see them.

I'm especially irked since 12 hours ago I told Spencer Chow that I'm open to being corrected but since then instead of showing me any evidence, all he's done is cast aspersions on my discriminatory faculties by saying I'm making "hackneyed" and "sweeping" "generalizations," without giving any counter-examples.

I've tried to be understanding and am still open to being corrected, but all you're doing is either taking my comments out of context, distorting them and arguing issues I did not directly bring up, or attributing to me viewpoints I don't possess in the first place. And I don't understand why.

Vichitravirya XI, Thursday, 16 June 2005 08:38 (eighteen years ago) link

.

I don't have to "prove" that I lose Los Angeles

*love*


okay time to turn ILX off again =)

Vichitravirya XI, Thursday, 16 June 2005 08:41 (eighteen years ago) link

and fwiw my balcony can hold roughly around 14-15 in-shape ppl.

"in-shape" ? omg did i say so un-PC on ile? i shouldn't have to say that anyway since you're all Angelenos and i'm being redundant

Vichitravirya XI, Thursday, 16 June 2005 08:48 (eighteen years ago) link

your native soul - soil!

okay no more drinking and ilxing. g'nite

Vichitravirya XI, Thursday, 16 June 2005 08:50 (eighteen years ago) link

what really confounds me actually is that anyone is claiming I'm "all over the place" on this thread, when I've maintained a pretty clear and consistent position

Vichitravirya XI, Thursday, 16 June 2005 08:54 (eighteen years ago) link

and dean, why does your fukked-up map-comment on myspace contain TWO long beaches? with one being next to norwalk?

did u get it off the PUBLICLY EDITED OMG UNRELIABLE wikipedia?

Vichitravirya XI, Thursday, 16 June 2005 08:55 (eighteen years ago) link

the more that I think about it, the more I'm insulted and disgusted by any claims of "senioroty" to the city on this thread. it's like new yorkers arguing abt who's a "native" new yorker or not...it's utterly meaningless and in a way, a direct knock against one's intelligence. so okay... if one isn't born here and his or her opinions are invalid, why should they even have the fucking right to vote? there's nothing more arrogant than THIS position

i'm going to tear myself away from this thread for now to get some sleep but i dont really see the point of returning; i really wish i didnt start it. clearly none of you are as exoted abt the potential map of the metro as i am (which if you notice, still doesnt service bev hills, bel-air, or the palisades)

Vichitravirya XI, Thursday, 16 June 2005 09:07 (eighteen years ago) link

( seniority / excited )

Vichitravirya XI, Thursday, 16 June 2005 09:08 (eighteen years ago) link

Vik, basically I can't see how anyone can ever definitively claim that someone would keep the metro out of their neighborhood because they fear that it will bring undesirables into their community. As deangulberry pointed out upthread, anyone can already take the bus or their car anywhere. I believe that most people on the westside would look at a nearby metro in their own self-interest, i.e. it would potentially enable them to avoid being stuck on the 405. The real reason why someone would vote it out (if indeed that's the case, and honestly you haven't really presented solid evidence that they have actually "voted" on it), would be to ensure the stability of the value of their real estate. For me, the cult of home ownership is the most powerful force in Los Angeles - forget about Hollywood, ethnic groups, etc - the real power lies in neighborhood associations and the glue that binds those together are the titles to their homes.

PS, You're still awesome, but I think you made some extreme conclusions upthread which are impossible to prove and can only ever come across as stereotyping etc.

Finally, as much as I love the LA Weekly, it's politics often border on the hysterical and while its often right, the incessant conspiracy theories and doomsday predictions sound like a boy who cried wolf if you've been reading them since you were 12.

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 16 June 2005 09:23 (eighteen years ago) link

You people are making me want to move to LA.

Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 16 June 2005 13:38 (eighteen years ago) link

It's a talent.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 16 June 2005 13:41 (eighteen years ago) link

spencer--henry waxman did keep the red line from coming westward from wilshire and western because his constituents in hancock park and fairfax didn't want a subway. the reason given was underground methane pockets, but it's safe to assume that "undesirables" had something to do with it. or property values, or whatever you want to call it. if i had a house in hancock park i'm not sure i'd want a subway station a few blocks away.

i'd rather talk about strip mall restaurants. my favorite new one is raku on olympic and barrington. it's japanese and korean and two people can get five little dishes for under forty bucks. highly recommended.

dan (dan), Thursday, 16 June 2005 15:47 (eighteen years ago) link

Now I'm hungry. (Oh yeah, did you like the Kraftwerk show?)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 16 June 2005 15:48 (eighteen years ago) link

All I'm asking for is someone to refute the WELL-DOCUMENTED AND VERIFIED claim that the westside's aversion to the metro is based on racial and socio-economic NIMBY prejudices of keeping the "wrong" people away from their residences and businesses.

Can anyone do that, supplying hard facts and proof, without turning this into a 'I must defend my homeland" emotional argument?


Why does anyone need to supply hard facts to refute your argument when you haven't supplied any to support it? It's not that I don't believe you but I would love to see some information about these votes you keep talking about: when were they, what exactly were they about, who voted which way, etc.

walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 16 June 2005 16:14 (eighteen years ago) link

I mean, I looked through the thread again but I just didn't see your claim being well-documented or verified. All I can find is one bolded sentence in a wikipedia entry and a long essay about gated communities.

walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 16 June 2005 16:16 (eighteen years ago) link

Dan, again I think that points to property value paranoia, especially if your house is near the tracks themselves. Apartments shake near lines in NYC and I'm sure that having a subway under your house could adversely affect the value of a home. Again, I don't think the stops and the people who might use them are as important as the lines themselves and the years of construction that residents might have to "endure".

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 16 June 2005 16:23 (eighteen years ago) link

spencer--at the time (mid-eighties?) there was a lot of discussion of "new york-style" problems that would accompany a subway, including vague and overt references to "undesirables", crime, etc. it is property value paranoia, but there was arguably more going on. for vic to go from there to blaming racist westsiders for the state of public transportation in los angeles is a bit much, but whatever. (she lives right in the middle of the area i'm talking about and may have more insight than i do.) maybe she has more evidence that she's yet to share.

dan (dan), Thursday, 16 June 2005 16:54 (eighteen years ago) link

He's a man, man!

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 16 June 2005 16:57 (eighteen years ago) link

Vic--get her! Anyway, Vic, Spencer, it's my birthday, stop bickering!!!

So, yeah, the Friday Fling: Let's start at Vic's balcony, then on to Mashti Malone's (I've lived in LA off and on for 12 years and never been!) and then caravan over to the Thai Elvis place. Or maybe we should do the reverse. Or we could just go to Bahooka's. And the bar at Hotel Figueroa. I don't know!

Where is Filipinotown?

Oh no, I completely forgot about the Basement Jaxx show! Don't they have the usual $1 tickets?

I don't understand the appeal of Eva Longoria at all.

also: "I don't live in Koreatown. I live in Larchmont."

Or Hancock Park adjacent. Remy, are you moving to East Hollywood/Silverlake Adjacent? Or Glendale? Or the Westside?

I really like South Pasadena (esp. I the new-ish video/DVD place on Mission, the people there are sweet) though their Gold Line protests are really ridiculous. The Southwest Museum stop is right up the block from me--I find the sound of the train sort of comforting.

I took the Gold Line to the Red Line to the Blue line to pick up my car at the Long Beach airport. Loads of fun until the final leg--I had to wait for a bus to the airport in that creepy downtown Long Beach area for 45 minutes. Apologies to anyone who lives there, but it's always seemed really depressing to me. Maybe it was thriving once.

Garvanza Ladyfriend (Arthur), Thursday, 16 June 2005 17:00 (eighteen years ago) link

Well whenever anyone puts a subway/metro/u-bahn/whatever ya wanna call it in a high rent neighborhood nowadays, there is distress about it, easier access for outsiders and tourists and oh my god Edna the noise and what if the train goes UNDER our house and sometimes people try to blow up or having shootings on the trains! etc. There is a bit of classism to it but I'm not really sure racism necessarily plays into it. Ultimately every single example I can think of off the top of my head has looked at the New York example and realized these fears are absolute nonsense and proximity to an underground has actually increased desirability.

xpost!

Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 16 June 2005 17:02 (eighteen years ago) link

I second all of Arthur's suggestions for the morrow.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 16 June 2005 17:19 (eighteen years ago) link

proximity to an underground has actually increased desirability

Except for my friend's beautiful apartment that he didn't know shakes violently whenever the subway goes underneath (at least he didn't decide to buy it).

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 16 June 2005 17:22 (eighteen years ago) link

Lafayette & Spring, btw.

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 16 June 2005 17:24 (eighteen years ago) link

Hey, we just had an earthquake!

Arthur (Arthur), Thursday, 16 June 2005 19:57 (eighteen years ago) link

Our building was moving quite a bit by the airport.

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 16 June 2005 19:59 (eighteen years ago) link

It was fairly gentle over here in Highland Park. They're saying the epicenter was east of Pomona.

Arthur (Arthur), Thursday, 16 June 2005 20:00 (eighteen years ago) link

Hahahaah my entire building was shaking

Category 5 http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Maps/117-34.html

it makes everything else on this thread moot... i havent read it since last night but still... we're all gonna die together so we might as well get along. Spencer you can have my "record" ceramic drink holder from the Bonaventure if i die first

Vichitravirya XI, Thursday, 16 June 2005 20:01 (eighteen years ago) link

epicenter - San Bernardino county

Vichitravirya XI, Thursday, 16 June 2005 20:03 (eighteen years ago) link

Vik, I met a girl who has collected *ALL OF THEM*. I think she might be marriage material.

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 16 June 2005 20:16 (eighteen years ago) link


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