L.A. City had funds to install two bicycle friendly streets, and the recently formed LACBC  East Bike Ambassadors (EBA) were mulling over where to put them. Looking at the poster-sized L.A. Bicycle Master Plan map, the eight participants were torn on whether Evergreen Avenue in Boyle Heights, a street near the L.A. River Bike Path, […]

Around the Eastside, the Virgin de Guadalupe means a lot to everyone especially on her feast day, December 12. Live banda is bursting from people’s homes, processions leave assortments of vibrant flowers at the foot of  her mural. It’s the start of the holiday season, where toy drives shut down streets, and posadas become almost […]

Disparate Homeowners, long-time residents, advocacy groups, and other stakeholders hijacked the discussion at Thursday night’s Metro community meeting concerning Metro-owned properties in Boyle Heights. The meeting was supposed to be Metro’s sole opportunity to get community input before submitting design guidelines to the Metro board of directors for three sites – Cesar Chavez Avenue and Soto […]

When I try to talk to Rooster, a 20-year-old Eastside resident, he is visibly nervous. When we finish talking he says “You sound like a cop.” But when he speaks in public at Corazón del Pueblo‘s Flowers of Fire open mic poetry night, he commands the stage. Rooster riffs spoken word on the hypocrisies of the economy, jokes […]

Just because I haven’t been writing about Boyle Heights lately, doesn’t mean nothing is going on. The last couple of weeks saw festivals and community meetings that could create lasting change in Boyle Heights. Last week, the neighborhood celebrated the festival of Santa Cecilia at Mariachi Plaza. The multi-day festivities included a procession and day-long […]

Green Friday: A Truly Free Market YouthBuild Boyle Heights Charter School will be collecting items to refurbish such as toys, clothing, electronics, home furnishing tools and appliances for the public to use for free. The cooking demos to make flaming hot kale chips, a pop-up bookstore, and other food demos are all ideas created by […]

Two celebrations on Friday in Boyle Heights that commemorated the dead were done for the most part separate from each other. Yet, what was made out to be a celebration to commemorate the dead, turned into by accident the Eastside’s first informal but functioning art walk. Eastside Luv Wine Bar y Queso’s seventh annual Día […]

More than 40 Día de Los Muertos Celebrations have been happening this month in Los Angeles and its surrounding areas. Today marks the first Day of the Dead Celebration happening at Grand Park, set with live music, altars and artwork. While Day of the Dead has taken off around the city, the standard for its […]

The first of two town hall meetings focusing on housing, education, and employment conditions took place last Thursday at the Mendez Learning Center. The information and anecdotal stories compiled at these meetings will be presented at mayoral candidate forums before next year’s citywide elections. Comunidades Unidas de Boyle Heights, or United Communities of Boyle Heights, […]