My Block by Diana, Candace, Fayza and Michael
LAist is currently holding a Bloc Party ticket giveaway. Email LAist at gmail.com with a little something about your block and the winner gets two free tickets to see Bloc Party at the Greek next Thursday. Deadline for entry is 4pm today.
I live in Glendale, and you know what THAT means! ARMENIANS! LOTS OF THEM. However, I feel that my block is special. I just graduated from college so i'm still living with my parents; thus, i live in a pretty nice neighborhood where there not just ANY Armenians, but WEALTHY Armenians. I'm constantly surrounded by them...all day...all night. and i say all night, because my house is on the corner of two streets and has recently become the hang out spot for various 16 year old Armenian couples, who like to park right outside my house and make out/have sex/drink beers/smoke pot(if they're cool) in their cars. Oh by the way, how does every Armenian teenager own a BMW? It's astounding really. I had never seen so many damn BMWs, until my parents moved to Glendale. Anyways...it's not that i don't like Armenians. I've never had a negative experience with one, and i fucking love Zankou Chicken. And i'm definitely not against making out, having sex, drinking beers or smoking pot in BMWs. I love all that shit. But when the 16 year olds start leaving their empty beer cans all over our front yard and then proceed to race their friends in their speedy little beamers in our residential block, waking up the entire neighborhood with the sounds of loud engines and screeching brakes, then i get a little pissed.
All of this being said...i'm not going to do anything about it, because
1. if i called the cops on them, they'd probably retaliate on my parents' house by teepeeing us (or something else a 16 year old would do) and the thought of my parents cleaning up toilet paper is just sad
2. calling the cops is a total pussy move, because cops just suck in general, and
3. i really dont care THAT much.
so thats what came to mind when i starting thinking about my block.
Diana
read more finalists after the jump
There's no block party like our block parties in the West Adams. We've had a S.W.A.T. team with dogs search our yards in order to find an armed fugitive hiding next door, a drive-by shooting that drew everyone out of their homes for an impromptu street greet, portable stadium lighting trucked in for the Transformers shoot that created daylight for several nights, and kids that use their bass-heavy car stereo systems to lure other kids from nearby apartments for summer parties. There are permanently unemployed people living adjacent to young professionals, families, retired people, and anyone else who just loves the beautiful, craftsman homes, the diversity, the proximity to downtown, and the old feeling of neighborhoods with big porches.
Candace
In LA, familiarity with your block is about as unbeknownst to the
average dweller as Gavin Rossdale's daughter was to him for the first
10 years of her life. I was no exception. So when my roommates
bestowed the honor of playing caretaker for their dog while they were
in Europe, I took advantage of the opportunity that walking him meant
- getting to know my 'hood. I'm a new transplant to Silver Lake (by
way of Pasadena by way of Kentucky by way of Ohio...yes, one of
those), and my first impression could be characterized by six letters
- G-H-E-T-T-O. But as I waited for the little demon dog to drop the
kids off at the pool on numerous occasions (and practiced responsible
fecal matter sanitation after him), I realized how unique my little
block really was. The neighbors aren't just neighbors - they are
familial. In LA, you'd think no one had any teeth, they smile so
infrequently. But here, teeth are flashed to the remotest of
strangers, often accompanied by a friendly nod. This ain't no
cell-phone-while-you-walk-your-dog block. This is a
post-dinner-family-stroll, smile-on-your-brother little community.
Who knew that existed here, in the heart of La La Land? I dig.
Fayza
My block is squarely in the teetering-on-gentrificaton part of Silver
Lake. You can get mugged here (I did), but you can also spend $55 on a
haircut. My favorite people on my block are the teenage skaters, whom,
as an aging neo-hipster, I feel compelled to try to impress by
cranking Bad Brains out of my Jetta whenever I see them as I'm
parking. I don't think they're impressed.
Michael
top photo by scott lowe