Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 5 - Response to Andrea Dalisay

This week I decided to respond to one of my classmate's posts. I chose a post done by Andrea Dalisay about Santa Monica. 

Here is the link to her original blog post: http://andreadalisay.blogspot.com/2012/10/santa-monica_12.html

A copy of my response:

Andrea:

To be completely honest, I have never noticed this differentiation before. I think that it is probably because I haven’t gone to both the Pier and the Promenade during the same trip to Santa Monica. You did a great job in observing the different types of people and attitudes present in both places. I felt as though I was witnessing such events since they were done with such great detail. It makes sense as to why there would be these two different types of people in each place since the Promenade is geared to the upper and middle classes while the Pier is geared to the tourists as you said.

While I was reading your post I couldn’t stop from thinking about the Kling, Olin, and Poster article about Orange County. At first I couldn’t quite figure out why I kept thinking about the article, but I think that it has to do with these two similar, yet very separate zones that you witnessed. While the article does not exactly speak about the same type of zones that Santa Monica has, it does talk about how Orange County was built with “specialized zones” that are more “functionally differentiated than traditional urban areas” (Olin 7). The article mentioned this in respect to residential, commercial, and public zones. The interesting thing about your post is that you are talking about two commercial zones, but these are commercial zones catered to different types of people.  Since they are meant for different populations, they have different functions and thus are “functionally differentiated” even though they both are commercial areas. It’s quite interesting how two locations so near and even in the same city can be quite different. Since we have been talking about social and physical access in class, I also kept thinking about how you noticed the change between the two places once you crossed Ocean Avenue. This street seems to be some sort of barrier between these two separate worlds. I wonder if the reason why these two places are so different is because this street does act as a barrier for the tourists. Since the Promenade is quite swanky and expensive, maybe the tourists do not feel comfortable venturing across the street. Obviously, this would not be the case for all tourists since some are also either middle or upper class and would feel comfortable in both environments. However, it could be true for others.

Also, I loved how you talked about how Santa Monica can appeal to many different people since it has environments suitable for all these different people. If Santa Monica were only made up of areas as expensive as the Promenade, then a lot less people would frequent the area. However, this is also true if Santa Monica were only made up of areas as touristy as the Pier. Since Santa Monica has both of these places, many diverse people can come to this one city and enjoy themselves while feeling comfortable in their environments.

Great work, Andrea!

Ocean Avenue
source: http://narrowstreetsla.blogspot.com/2009/11/ocean-avenue-santa-monica-boulevard.html