HACIENDA HEIGHTS


This blog entry is about the community of Hacienda Heights, which rocketed to the top (becoming the most voted for neighborhood yet) following efforts by the City of Hacienda Heights on Facebook. Initially I was looking forward to meeting some locals to play tour guide but by the time I came they weren't able. No worries, however, as I brought along Hacienda Heights native Brandi Shaver and recurring companion Will Fleming. To get in the mood I set the CARDIS's radio controls to KAZN, a Mandarin station broadcast out of Pasadena.

 

Hacienda Heights is a San Gabriel Valley city inthe located on the northern face of the Puente Hills and the floor of La Puente Valley. The highest point in the Heights is Workman Hill. Hacienda Heights is neighbored to the south by the SELACO communities of Whittier and La Habra Heights. To the west is North Whittier. North are Avocado Heights and the City of Industry. To the east is Rowland Heights which along with Hacienda Heights is sometimes referred to as The Heights. 

THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

Invariably when one speaks or hears of "The Valley," the valley in question is the San Fernando (despite the fact that there are at least six major and loads of minor valleys in Los Angeles County). For the same reasons that I'm mildly annoyed when people refer to "THE City" or "THE Bay," the notion of "THE Valley" smacks of ignorance at best and unpleasant small-mindedness at worst. This blog entry is an introduction to the San Gabriel Valley, that great and amazing expanse of suburbs, boomburbs, exurbs and enthoburbs (any "suburb" portmanteaus I've missed?) with surprisingly significant history and variety of cultures beneath the seemingly uniform surface of bandage-colored strip malls and homes. That being said, at the time of writing, the San Fernando Valley page on Facebook has 25,519 fans whereas the San Gabriel Valley page has a mere ten.

Pendersleigh & Sons' Official Map of the San Gabriel Valley

GEOGRAPHY

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.
 

Just in time for the end of Hispanic Heritage Month, we've divided up the Latino/Spanish DVD section into smaller subsections based on a film's country of origin. Now there are separate sections for Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Cuba, Chile and... the most popular, American Latino films. This follows similar moves in Asian Cinema, Foreign (mostly European) Cinema and African Cinema. Of course, the key objection here is that all the films are in the same language... which isn't true. Within its confines are films in Aranese,  Basque, Castilian, Catalan/Valencian, Caló/Pachuco, Chicano, English, Galician, Llanito, Nuyorican, Occitanian, Silbo Gomero, Spanglish, Tejano and combinations of several.

In the US, the word "Latino" is used often, regardless of accuracy, as shorthand for a region's dominant Latino population. In the southwest it usually means "Mexican," in the northeast it means "Puerto Rican" and in Florida, "Cuban." Indeed, those are the three largest populations of Latino-Americanos in the country, although it goes without saying that there are many less-recognized groups of Latinos. Each have their own distinct culture, history, and place in America.


This entry is about Hondurans, who at an estimated 527,154 (although possibly as high as 890,317) currently living in the US, make up the eighth (or seventh, depending on figures) largest Latino population in the country.


Upon assuming the office of president in 1981, Ronald Reagan authorized the CIA to have their paramilitary officers from the Special Activities Division begin financing, arming and training rebels to advance right-wing interests in Nicaragua. Meanwhile, the US backed Honduran army and death squads, notably Battalion 316, waged a quieter conflict against the left in Honduras. The bloodshed and economic situation provided the impetus for many Hondurans to pursue work and residency in the US, especially in The Carolinas, New York, New Jersey, New Orleans, Florida, Virginia and Los Angeles. In the latter, they often settled in the Midtown neighborhoods of Westlake and Wilshire Center, although many Garifuna, whose blackness trumps their Latino-ness in Los Angeles, settled in predominantly black South LA neighborhoods.