THE EASTSIDE

People are weird about Los Angeles' Eastside. On the one hand you've got people throwing up "w" signs yelling "west-siyeeeed!" On the other, you've got people from Midtown to Silver Lake and Echo Park claiming (pretending?) Eastside… All this points to the fact that "The Eastside" means different things to different groups and individuals. To many black Angelenos, the traditional division between the Eastside and Westside is the 110 freeway (which is why gangs like the East Side Compton Crips represent the east side). To many, possibly most Latinos, the LA River is the dividing line between the east and west sides (which is why a Latino gang like West Side Silver Lake 13 represents the west side). To many newer Angelenos and white (and maybe Asian) people, the east side begins much further west (remember "East Side Mondays" in Westlake's (keyword: west) Wilshire Royale?) None of the definitions are inherently more correct than the other but when people talk about The Eastside, let's get it straight -- they're talking about the region east of the LA River that includes Boyle Heights, East Los, Lincoln Heights, El Sereno… and the smaller neighborhoods within them.
 

EASTSIDE'S LOCATION

Pendersleigh & Sons' Official Map of The Eastside

The Eastside is neighbored by Northeast LA to the north, the San Gabriel Valley to the east, SELACO to the south, South LA to the southwest and Downtown LA to the west. The population is overwhelmingly Latino, approximately 91% (mostly Mexican and Salvadoran) with a small but significant and long-established minority of Asian-Americans (mostly Chinese and Vietnamese) who make up 5% of the population. Less than 3% of the population is white but that won't stop people from whining and moaning about gentrification…or having racial slurs regularly hurled at you by a small but vocal group of idiots if you're not Latino.

Large parts of the Eastside are hilly and traversed by winding, narrow streets. Industrial shops and residences often sit side-by-side. There's still significant backyard agriculture and roosters roam the streets. Non-whites (and "less-white" whites like Italians and Jews) used to be restricted from living in most of Los Angeles and the area was traditionally very diverse. Once racist housing codes were abolished and minorities could move out of the Eastside it became overwhelmingly Latino. For over fifty years the region has been the heart of Latino-Los Angeles and films like Mi Familia and Stand and Deliver have been filmed and set there. 

And now for the specific neighborhoods:

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BOYLE HEIGHTS

In the first half of the 20th century, Boyle Heights was an ethnically diverse gateway to LA for recent immigrants mainly from East Asia (mainly Japan), Eastern Europe (mainly Armenia and Russia) and Latin America (mostly Mexico). In the northwest, there's the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights which was mainly Jewish and its Breed Street Shul is the oldest synagogue on the west coast. The neighborhood of Arroyo Seco (not to be confused with the region of Northeast LA) in the Flats was home to one of the nation's most notorious slums until the 1940s. To read more about Boyle Heights, click here.

EAST LA

East LA is the world-famous heart of Mexican-America, what Harlem is to black Americans or Monterey Park is (or should be) to Asian-Americans. Like Boyle Heights, it was also traditionally home to a large number of Jews as well as Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans and Serbians. It includes the smaller districts of City Terrace, Belvedere, Whittier (not to be confused with the city), Eastmont and Wellington Heights and, in addition to being the setting of many Latino films, is a hotbed of all aspects of Mexican-American culture and the Chicano expression. To read more about East LA, click here.
 

EL SERENO

El Sereno sits atop the gently rolling Monterey Hills that separate the Los Angeles Basin from the San Gabriel Valley and is the easternmost district in the city of Los Angeles. The area was founded in 1905 as Bairdstown. It includes the smaller neighborhood of University Hills around Cal State LA. El Sereno was a filming location for Street Kings, The Mars Volta's music video for "Goliath" and other films. 

LINCOLN HEIGHTS

Lincoln Heights is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, dating back to the 1830s. Unlike most of the Eastside, Lincoln Heights was originally a wealthy Victorian neighborhood. With the arrival and development of of industry along the river, most of the wealthy residents moved first upriver and then to newly developed Midtown. The first group to fill the void was Italian-Americans, who largely abandoned Little Italy, which then became Chinatown. Over time, like the rest of LA, it grew more homogenous and Latino. Its park, Lincoln Park, is where that one band took its name from. To read more about Lincoln Heights, click here.

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