R.I.P. Michael Jackson

Posted on September 2, 2007 by EL CHAVO!

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Yup, he’s dead. Not that one, the other guy, the one that’s always been white. (That hilarious joke stolen from today’s Le Show, though he meant a different Brit.) Jackson, know as the Beer Hunter, wrote some good guides that gave proper attention to the various international styles of beer, sharing his knowledge of great brews with the rest of the world and showing us that beer can be more than just some canned insipid lager. Drinking and writing about beer could be the best job ever, but since all jobs suck I guess it ain’t.

The picture above has nothing to do with this post, it’s just one I had sitting around on my hard drive; I was going to take a pic of some of my beer and brewing books but it turns out my camera up and died as well, might have been the heat. And what’s a post without a pic? It ain’t worth writing. I hope to get a replacement soon.

R.I.P. MJ and my camera.

Posted in La Comida | 3 Comments

Attention LH Shoppers

Posted on August 30, 2007 by EL CHAVO!

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People love crap. They work all day earning money to buy crap. They spend their “leisure” time looking for the latest crap. They write blog posts about the hottest crap, and where to get it at the best price. And they’ll go on and on about the merits of one crap vs a slightly different crap. Pointy hats, romance novels, design magazines, mope rock records, frozen yogurt, paintings on tortillas, vintage sneakers, trendy pizzas, scrapbook supplies; it a steaming pile of things by which individuals define themselves. Which of course leads to neighborhoods being favorably or unfavorably rated by the availability and proximity to the places that warehouse said crap. Oh, what a wonderful life it must be to be consumed by consumption, the endless pursuit of dead things. Of course, I want in!

If stores full of stuff is the way we define a neighborhood I might as well start talking about our LH shops, give a hand to the local Chamber of Commerce and whatever it is they do, maybe my efforts will lead to a chair on the board? I can dream. Ready to do some shopping? Signame los que tienen dinero!

That pic above of the Spicy Chicken Well Being Korean B.B.Q. (right next to the LH mini-mall) was taken in early June, they had just recently opened in this spot that has a high turnover of restaurants. I had yet to pay it a visit..

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Posted in commodities, Lincoln Heights | 10 Comments

Huevos Rancheros: Hecho En Mexico

Posted on August 27, 2007 by EL CHAVO!

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After a long, arduous night of endless veggie tacos and a bottomless cup of my friends homebrew on tap (until the kegs ran out, that is!) the only thing I could consider for breakfast the next day was a hot plate of Huevos Rancheros! It also helped that Nate (or one of his pals from the LUF) put the idea in my head, pointing out I hadn’t done an HR post in some time and suggesting a place to try in Pasadena. I’m gonna follow up on that tip but for this post I headed somewhere much closer to home, just over the hill in beautiful El Sereno to the fancy looking place known simply as Hecho En Mexico. (BTW, I encourage everyone to forward HR suggestions, I can’t find them all on my own!)

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Posted in Huevos Rancheros, La Comida | 7 Comments

Oh, so it’s Emmanuel

Posted on August 14, 2007 by EL CHAVO!

I was somewhere today when this song came on over the speakers, some old pop ballad that I know little about but to which I can still manage to recite most of the lyrics. I have a bunch of songs lodged into my memory that same way; I’m mostly unaware of them until I hear the familiar tune or some part of the lyrics and then it just comes flooding forward into the most active part of my brain, a slightly more functional pit of grey matter. Luckily the search engines can do most of the heavy work, figuring out that todo se derrumbo is part of the lyrics for the used-to-be-popular song by Emmanuel. “Tu eras mi perro fiel, yo era tu guia.” Oh shit, did he just call his girl a faithful dog? Yes he did! What a bastard. If you don’t understand the Spanish lyrics you might still get a kick out of the dramatic posturing. The gyrating body language for todo se derrumbo (everything fell apart) is worth the price of admission. Which, of course, is still free.

Click ahead for another video clip.
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Posted in Musica, videos | 9 Comments

Going Nowhere

Posted on August 11, 2007 by EL CHAVO!

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Just a few pics of some cars that are going nowhere, at least not on their own power. For some, that metal contraption is just one broken part away from joining these stationary land beasts. My sincerest hope that yours never ends up in this situation, at least not by choice!

This first one is on the corner of Ave. 26 and Humboldt, where I followed a different old car on its path to decay. Notice the computer case underneath, hope they got their files out!

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Posted in Fotos, Lincoln Heights | 5 Comments

Gentrification: It’s the Little Things

Posted on August 10, 2007 by EL CHAVO!

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This is a picture of something missing. If you don’t know the area you might drive by and not look twice, but if you’ve lived in Lincoln Heights for any length of time, you’ll wonder about the sidewalk vendors that used to set up shop here. This small street leads to the St. Vincent thrift store, which gets heavy traffic from antique hunters and vintage clothing resellers. And for at least the past 10 years, a few men would set up their own shop on this small stretch of sidewalk, selling all kinds of castaway items like video tapes, kitchen wares, rusty wrenches, and old bikes just to try and catch some of that extra money that comes driving by on the weekends. But for the past few months they’ve not come back to take their usual spots, having been effectively chased away by harassment and ticketing. What an odd thing, after all these years, for that to suddenly happen. I wonder how the cops got wind to suddenly start enforcing one of those many random laws? Could it -by some freak coincidence- be related to that building on the right that is being altered into a box to house suburban suckers?

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Posted in Analysis, Fotos, Lincoln Heights, Shit I hate | 32 Comments