Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 8 - West LA

The last few weeks I have been frazzled by midterms and unable to explore LA as much as I have wanted to. With the long weekend, I figured it would be the perfect time to visit a new place. Unfortunately though, I have been very busy with my grandma visiting and haven’t had as much down time as I expected. However, that being said I did travel to a place that I haven’t written about yet. This place is West Los Angeles. To be specific, I visited the area around Santa Monica Boulevard and Purdue Avenue because my favorite restaurant, La Bottega Marino, is located there.

To be completely honest, I had never known what this area was called. I always had considered it to be a part of Santa Monica since it was located on Santa Monica Boulevard and was on the way to Santa Monica from UCLA. However, that was very naïve of me to strip this neighborhood of its own identity.

Santa Monica Boulevard

West Los Angeles is very different from the places that I have already visited. The streets, especially Santa Monica Boulevard, are quite busy with cars. If you gave me the option of walking around an area of my choosing, I would most likely not pick this area.  The sidewalks are not only unwelcoming due to the busy roads, but they are also quite dirty and cracked. The only person that I saw on the street was a homeless gentleman sitting on the bench at the bus stop. This could be due to the holidays, but even if there had been more pedestrians on the streets, there isn’t much greenery to appreciate or sights to take in.

While driving around the area, I did notice that there seem to be many buses that travel down Santa Monica Boulevard. This suggests that this area is easy to access via public transportation. So even though I didn’t see many people on the streets, the plentiful amount of buses does suggest that many people are able to frequent the area. However, the amount of buses could also be due to the fact that many buses travel to Santa Monica and they have to go through West Los Angeles to get there.

West Los Angeles Courthouse

Across the street from La Bottega Marino is the West Los Angeles Courthouse. Before this most recent trip to my favorite restaurant I hadn’t noticed that this courthouse was located here. This time though, I did notice it. In fact, I had recently read a LA Times article about this courthouse that my dad had sent me (link to article). On November 14^th it was decided that this courthouse along with nine others would close all of their courtrooms. Some of the courthouses that will be affected are the ones in Beverly Hills, Malibu, Huntington Park, Whittier, Pomona North, San Pedro, and West Lost Angeles (Blankstein, 2012). While these courthouses will still handle some ticket payments, it is predicted that these closures will cause delays in trials and longer lines at the remaining courthouses (Blankstein, 2012). This is very relevant to social difference because these differences have led to unfair access to court for some individuals, especially those that are not able to afford a lawyer or expend the time that a trial can take. Since these closures will most likely cause longer delays for trials, it means that there will be even less access in a timely manner for many. In addition, these closures might also push individuals to have to seek justice in courthouses that are farther away and harder to access.

Along the lines of justice, this also loosely relates to environmental justice – a topic that we have begun to cover in our readings and in lecture. According to the Harvey’s article, “one of the best predictors of the location of toxic waste dumps in the United States is a geographical concentration of low income and of colour” (157). This means that poorer people and people of color unfairly tend to be the neighbors of toxic and harmful sites. This is one of the mechanisms that continue to emphasize social difference in communities and cities today.

Returning to my visit, the dynamics of the restaurant, La Bottega Marino, were quite the opposite from outside on Santa Monica Boulevard. The restaurant has a very intimate and welcoming feel. The staff is also very friendly. One time when I went to eat with my dad, I had accidentally slammed my pointer finger in the car door. Our waiter brought us out buckets of ice – much more than he had to do! While dining in the restaurant I feel as though the worlds of the customers do have the opportunity to interpenetrate. However, outside of the restaurant, I felt as though there were many separate little worlds that touched, but did not interact much more than that.

Inside La Bottega Marino

Requirement: Social Difference News Story