Great photo set of LA from the 1950s from LAist.
http://laist.com/2016/09/01/amateur_photographer_charles_w_cush.php#photo-25
Marked for future reference.
However, just one word set off a ripple of alarms, cowbells, and racing firetruck engines...in my head.
"vanishing"
She used it in this sentence, "The Chicago Business took 14,500 images between 1938 and 1969, capturing a vanishing America. [emphasis mine]
I don't know if that was intentional and/or added by an editor, but I instantly get a sense of someone who is in love with an idyllic image of 1950s America, back when America Was Already Sooo Great, if you catch my drift.
Showing posts with label LA and the Internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LA and the Internet. Show all posts
A Legend Elsewhere, Just Another Jerk on the Freeway Here
I've kinda followed Steven Gerrard's career as a soccer player in Liverpool, England. Liverpool is usually one of the best teams in one of the top soccer leagues in Europe. As a crowd before games, they sing a very uniting, humbling song, "You'll Never Walk Alone," which is my favorite anthem of any sports team.
He was basically their everything-man, their longest-tenured captain for 12 years, which in any professional sports is an eternity. He was an icon for not just English soccer, but all of soccer
http://www.espnfc.us/la-galaxy/story/2600743/steven-gerrard-thrilled-with-z-list-celebrity-status-in-la
The ESPN interview makes interesting points as they paruse through Venice Beach --- that's something a high-profile athlete here, ala Stephen Curry or Chris Paul, might not be able to do here, but might be able to get away with in a not-as-basketballed-up place like say, England.
A legend elsewhere can be relatively anonymous and enjoy the public spaces here and probably vice versa. I was heartened to learned that he has already taken in the LA experience of...rush hour traffic and road rage.
He was basically their everything-man, their longest-tenured captain for 12 years, which in any professional sports is an eternity. He was an icon for not just English soccer, but all of soccer
http://www.espnfc.us/la-galaxy/story/2600743/steven-gerrard-thrilled-with-z-list-celebrity-status-in-la
The ESPN interview makes interesting points as they paruse through Venice Beach --- that's something a high-profile athlete here, ala Stephen Curry or Chris Paul, might not be able to do here, but might be able to get away with in a not-as-basketballed-up place like say, England.
A legend elsewhere can be relatively anonymous and enjoy the public spaces here and probably vice versa. I was heartened to learned that he has already taken in the LA experience of...rush hour traffic and road rage.
The Song that Almost Every Young Black Person on the Metro Green Line Knew
Something general that's always piqued my interest: where do people get their music? If not on the radio.
The past few weeks I've been wondering about Boosie Bad Azz.
On the Saturday that I biked to and from Marina Del Rey and ended up taking the Green Line to Avalon station, a young black woman was blasting her music for all Metro's patrons to hear.
Generally, I don't know why or care how people blast their music on the Metro. Personally I think it's young folk trying to show something to the world, which I have mixed feelings about.
One song came on what appeared to be her Pandora playlist:
Boosie Bad Azz's No Juice.
Almost every young, (non-alternative, hipster) who heard was mouthing the lyrics.
One black dude holding a Madden 15 XBox One cover. Several dudes who passed by. Some women.
It was a popping ass song that I had to Shazaam.
Being a fan of rap/hip hop (most prominently of the Mos Def, Roots, Blue Scholars), I'd never heard of the song, which is considered "Dirty South", a sub-genre of rap that I probably I would never run into anyway. Even if I listened to a Power 106 or KDAY, I don't think that any radio station here would play this.
Basically, it's a song about being real and not lying about how tough you are.
I did a cursory search of the song, and it turns out that Seahawks Running Back and current representation of intolerable/raw blackness Marshawn Lynch made mention of the song during an interview.
Just an everyday curiosity that makes me wonder about people's frame of references, in which music probably plays a big role in establishing or reinforcing an expressed identity.
The past few weeks I've been wondering about Boosie Bad Azz.
On the Saturday that I biked to and from Marina Del Rey and ended up taking the Green Line to Avalon station, a young black woman was blasting her music for all Metro's patrons to hear.
Generally, I don't know why or care how people blast their music on the Metro. Personally I think it's young folk trying to show something to the world, which I have mixed feelings about.
One song came on what appeared to be her Pandora playlist:
Boosie Bad Azz's No Juice.
Almost every young, (non-alternative, hipster) who heard was mouthing the lyrics.
One black dude holding a Madden 15 XBox One cover. Several dudes who passed by. Some women.
It was a popping ass song that I had to Shazaam.
Being a fan of rap/hip hop (most prominently of the Mos Def, Roots, Blue Scholars), I'd never heard of the song, which is considered "Dirty South", a sub-genre of rap that I probably I would never run into anyway. Even if I listened to a Power 106 or KDAY, I don't think that any radio station here would play this.
Basically, it's a song about being real and not lying about how tough you are.
I did a cursory search of the song, and it turns out that Seahawks Running Back and current representation of intolerable/raw blackness Marshawn Lynch made mention of the song during an interview.
Just an everyday curiosity that makes me wonder about people's frame of references, in which music probably plays a big role in establishing or reinforcing an expressed identity.
LA Magazine's Description of a Disneyland Map from 1968 Is Disappointing
http://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/citydig-disneyland-like-1968/
In the above link you will see a map of old Disneyland which looks a lot like Disneyland as it was when I last took a visiting cousin in June of this year. The basic sections of the park are there with the exception of ToonTown.
The author doesn't go as in-depth as I expected, except to name a few things from the bygone era. What's interesting is the sponsorship of attractions by major corporations including good ole Monsanto, Kodak, General Electric, Carnation. Nowadays, I can't think of any other particular brand within the park other than Disney. What would have been interesting would be side-by-side comparisons of different attractions and locations.
I wonder about the mundane things that make up the experience at Disneyland: how long were the lines? How were they managed? What were the prices relative to now? What was the surrounding geography prior to building the extra resort areas?
I also wonder what Disney was like before all the relatively recent cinematic successes of the Disney princesses and cartoons. What was the electrical parade like?
This would have been a whatever type piece that I wouldn't have thought about much again, if there wasn't one part of this blog that is banal and perhaps under the radar for 99.9% of the population, but irked me a little maybe because the writer used a phrase that I disliked when I don't think it's necessary.
It was use of the adjectival phrase, "politically incorrect."
I almost categorically dislike writing that includes that phrase, "politically incorrect" because it tends to signal a writer who appears to quietly show disdain for what they perceive as a more diverse, inclusive status quo. It's like a quiet clamoring for the exclusive "good ol days." I'm not going to try to guess the writer's intention, but in my experience, it's usually not a good sign.
The idea of "politically correctness" rests on the idea that some "truth" is not being spoken and/or is being censured/hidden because the person/entity (Disney) speaking does not want to offend people. It is as if the writer was saying that Disney was speaking some 'truth' by having this "unfriendly Indian burning cabins" show/exhibit, Disney made a reactionary decision to cancel it, and have been prevented from doing this only because some customers got mad and started crying to put it crudely.
Maybe that is exactly what happened, but as a part fan of the general stuff that Disney puts out, I'd also like to think that the internal decisionmakers of Disney itself became more diverse, aware, and more inclusive and sought to do away with the exhibition "organically."
In the above link you will see a map of old Disneyland which looks a lot like Disneyland as it was when I last took a visiting cousin in June of this year. The basic sections of the park are there with the exception of ToonTown.
The author doesn't go as in-depth as I expected, except to name a few things from the bygone era. What's interesting is the sponsorship of attractions by major corporations including good ole Monsanto, Kodak, General Electric, Carnation. Nowadays, I can't think of any other particular brand within the park other than Disney. What would have been interesting would be side-by-side comparisons of different attractions and locations.
I wonder about the mundane things that make up the experience at Disneyland: how long were the lines? How were they managed? What were the prices relative to now? What was the surrounding geography prior to building the extra resort areas?
I also wonder what Disney was like before all the relatively recent cinematic successes of the Disney princesses and cartoons. What was the electrical parade like?
This would have been a whatever type piece that I wouldn't have thought about much again, if there wasn't one part of this blog that is banal and perhaps under the radar for 99.9% of the population, but irked me a little maybe because the writer used a phrase that I disliked when I don't think it's necessary.
It was use of the adjectival phrase, "politically incorrect."
There are some comically dated attractions: the now politically incorrect “unfriendly Indians” who burned settlers cabins - See more at: http://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/citydig-disneyland-like-1968/#sthash.556U4oJz.dpufThere are some comically outdated attractions: the now politically incorrect "unfriendly Indians" who burned settler cabins.
There
are some comically dated attractions: the now politically incorrect
“unfriendly Indians” who burned settlers cabins - See more at:
http://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/citydig-disneyland-like-1968/#sthash.556U4oJz.dpuf
Ask yourself, would the phrase have been OK if the writer simply wrote this?There are some comically outdated attractions: the "unfriendly Indians" who burned settler cabins.To me it would've been fine, he could've done without that "now politically incorrect."
I almost categorically dislike writing that includes that phrase, "politically incorrect" because it tends to signal a writer who appears to quietly show disdain for what they perceive as a more diverse, inclusive status quo. It's like a quiet clamoring for the exclusive "good ol days." I'm not going to try to guess the writer's intention, but in my experience, it's usually not a good sign.
The idea of "politically correctness" rests on the idea that some "truth" is not being spoken and/or is being censured/hidden because the person/entity (Disney) speaking does not want to offend people. It is as if the writer was saying that Disney was speaking some 'truth' by having this "unfriendly Indian burning cabins" show/exhibit, Disney made a reactionary decision to cancel it, and have been prevented from doing this only because some customers got mad and started crying to put it crudely.
Maybe that is exactly what happened, but as a part fan of the general stuff that Disney puts out, I'd also like to think that the internal decisionmakers of Disney itself became more diverse, aware, and more inclusive and sought to do away with the exhibition "organically."
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