10 Things I Hate/Love About my Block in Silver Lake

by B.J. on 12/02/2007 12:41:00 AM 1 comments Print this post

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I'm with you - I'm not the biggest fan of dogs either.
# posted by Blogger The Humanity Critic : 4:19 PM
 
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Let me get the hate all over with.

10. My landlord's dog. I hate dogs. They're all over Silver Lake. Fuck em. I especially don't like the K9 pee reservoir called the Dog Park over at Silver Lake Park.

9. I am not sure, but how sustainable our all these novelty shops like the gelatto, shoe, and furniture shops especially given that a few of them have multiple locations? I don't think the adverb "very" would precede "sustainable" but I guess we'll see.

What we need is sweet bread shops, book places, Dippin Dots stands, Mobile vendor co-ops, and progressive cause organizations.

8. Sunset Junction and parking. Parking in general is bad (see #5), but this event takes the cake in terms of annoyingness that it deserves its own special mention.

Being a special event, I don't even know who to get mad at with that, anymore cause it's such a big event. But I do know that I'm basically chained at the hip to the 'partamento the weekend this happens.

For those of us who park on the street, our mobility is pretty limited. For one, mass transit only goes one way and doesn't even really lead to Central downtown.

What's more is that we don't even get any free pass to the event.

7. The 30 degree incline. I will never understand why people feel the need to rev up their engines even harder when they reach it.

Especially a certain stupidass motorocyclist who would rev up his engine just to get over it in 6.3 seconds instead of 6.8. I hope someone will have the sense to drop a flying kick on him while he's at full speed on his motorcycle. Or to be safer, when he's just walking to his house and walking his dog. Either way, it's the end results that count.

Anyway, I also hate parking up the steepest grade of this incline (see annoyances 5 and 6), especially when my home is at the very bottom.

6. Parking on Saturday, Sunday mornings.

I hate Madame Matisse and Millies Coffee. I almost shat myself with excitement when it got tagged up (see positives to Silver Lake #2).

What makes this problem worse is that the 99 Cents store is pretty anal about its parking. They post up tons of We-will-Tow-Away-your-car-at-all-costs-signs-even-if-there-is-usually-a-70% vacancy rate in our parking lot.

Those signs are right up there next to the just-as-ubiquitous we-don't-give-a-flying, contorting,-or-spinning-fuck-about-the-neighborhood signs.

5. Parking on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, especially next to Madame Matisse and Tantra and all those other hipster hangouts.

God do I hate trash day the most. A lot of perfectly good space being eaten up by random utility trucks and rolling trash bins.



4. Bellevue Rec Center posting no soccer signs basically everywhere without really having explained why. They strategically planted boulders around grassy areas to ensure that kids who break the rules face stiff penalties.

Use the open space however you want. It will just go against the 10 commandments of Park management to kick a ball around the area even though the picnic tables are hardly ever in use.

Another beef with the Rec Center is that out of sheer laziness, they cut their lights out at about 6:30.

3. People who use the place as its "playground" on Friday-Saturday nights, making me park uphill. God, I hate these people. I'm just a crosshair...here...waiting to smash your goddamn Beamer like I was Jack from Hook in that room full of clock.

2. Silver Lake Neighborhood Council representation...last time I went I just saw a lot of residents who probably weren't there when we first moved in from Chicago in 1989. I don't think I've seen a lot of Central American and non-gringo resident representation. We might live together, but I don't imagine us being chums or anything.

1. Gentrifiers beg at about the lower leg?

Well, rent is always getting higher. My parents are always complaining that the landlords are jacking up the price.

I wish I'd a known what the hell was up with those Live/Work condos down the street. Selling only for $700,000 a piece!

I don't know the business aspects and internal politico-economy of Silver Lake, but I have to wonder when I see stuff like the 98 cent store (not the corporate 99 cents stores) MC Computers, and a Cleaners shop go out in favor of some vegan eateries, comic book shops, the 34734279438 cafe within the area, and a gelatto shop.

I think it was the LA Weekly that noted how the emergence of gelatto shops in a neighborhod near you was a signal that your neighborhood would be gentrifying too.

I like talking lots of smacks, but I'm an optimist, and I always like to finish on the good.

10. Even though I do get mad at the trendies, the young whatevers (I can't call them young professionals 'cause I hardly ever see anyone walk out with a briefcase or anything) gentrifying, it's nice that they bring an element of multiculturalism and integratedness. But it's only a start because there's still a degree of separation.

9. 99 Cents store. The headquarters of Halloween, Christmas, Easter, we are told.

8. Open space to be opened at the Reservoir. Hopefully with enough leverage from the Committee to Save Silver Lake's Reservoirs.

7. Sunset Junction...bringing the music across the street from me. It's not quite that bad.

6. The 30 degree incline. Has a way of telling you who can park and who can't. Has a way of telling you who can run and who can't.

Of course I've only seen one other person run up it, and it seemed like he was inhaling asbestos after it.

5. The long-haired toothless, crutch-carrying white Bum in front of the 99 cents store who comes every morning from 7-10 and waves at me while I go running. That guy is hip-hop. You will probably never read this and I've never said more than one line to you but, this blog is for you.

4. Bellevue Rec Center track and basketball court. Just being there and actually being maintained is actually good enough.

3. Ground zero for some political rallies. I've witnessed a Kerry rally, a student immigrants march, and some antiwar rallies. This may be on the way out though...we shall see.

2. Graffing and tagging baby. Bombing a super lame ass Gentrifiers mural painted with a brush of dumbass next to you!



Blaow, I weigh one hundred and four-ty pounds...

Actually, on the other hand the one that feels, I do feel bad for the artists who spend time working on something, only to have it hacked up as quickly as it is.

I also feel kinda bad for the Elliot Smith memorial.

But understand that the claiming of open space in this form is really a battle from and for the young folks who in all likelihood probably don't have the privileges the artists have. It helps to keep the place grounded and hopefully opens the door for dialogue.

1. Location. It's next to the history of Echo Park and Historic Filipinotown.

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