Eastside...!

Of L.A., that is.

By way of Daniel Hernandez, peep this breakdown of Eastside LA's gentrification and the battle over it in print media. A trendy new magazine calling View From a Loft is being introduced as high-art-meets-eastside, but really it's more like a guidebook on how to pimp a neigborhood, hipster style.

More from EL CHAVO!:

"I'm tired of this "debate" since it mostly consists of Eastsiders fighting to preserve a semblance of place, informing newcomers from the far off West or beyond that we, on the other side of the river, do exist, and that (at least to ourselves) we do matter. Before I raise my army for the coming culture wars, and before the divide between the two LA's gets even wider, I figured I'd do some preliminary bridge building: I'm going to embark on an occasional series of posts to highlight aspects of the Eastside that I know. Mostly it'll be about places you can visit but sometimes there'll be posts that are based on the map of memory. Maybe it'll help some out there to take us seriously. (Ha, ha!) But even if it has no effect, and people still insist on erasing our identity, it'll be a record of the Eastside that actually means something to me, the place I call home."

This is what I love about Los Angeles: aggressive, in-your-face commentary. Passion. Those things have been sorely lacking in the Bay recently, at least from where I stand.