I'm slightly frustrated that there is so little digital media coming from certain parts of the City. I would argue that Silver Lake, Echo Park, Atwater Village, Los Feliz, Downtown and Hollywood are well-covered. Basically, the area is bound by the LA River on the north heading east over to Atwater Village, then back in towards the River to the 10 to the 110 north along the 101 west/north to Wilton south to Wilshire east to San Vicente northwest to Beverly Hills and West Hollywood over the Hill to Ventura Boulevard and then back to the River. If I could plot point, I would say most LA bloggers are in that zone based on the posts written about the City. Yes, there are some folks in West LA and more and more sprouting up in Northeast LA - I'm not saying they're not adding to the mix. But, I can say that with the Exception of the one or two blogs down in San Pedro and the few on the West Side Coastal Communities, few posts come from folks south of the Rosa Parks/Christopher Columbus/10 Freeway (or those just north like Pico-Union).
So, today, L.A. bloggers all over link to LA Observed's "franchisization" (myself included as of now). Some just note the news, while others congratulate Kevin, as do others, and still others. You see Kevin Roderick - whose site gets more daily hits than most of we LA bloggers combined - is adding new blogs to his "domain", as well as about a dozen contributors. He writes: "They come from a dozen distinct communities and should have a lot to add about life in the city." I don't disagree with their potential, but none of them live south of the 10 Freeway except in Mar Vista, Venice & The South Bay. To me, there is a large part of the City missing.
This absence of south-of-the-10 bloggers in the City reveals a missing component to the online interaction LA-centric sites provide. An active perspective with a specific neighborhood focus is missing. A lot - and I mean A LOT - happens south of the 10. I want to know about Baldwin Hills from a Baldwin Hillian; I want to know what's up in Watts from someone who played in the freak snow storm there 2 years ago. I want to know what's happening in Morningside Park, Pico-Union (just north), West Adams, & Harbor City from the people who call those places home.
With all our blogs that "represent the City," where are the voices of South Los Angeles? The strongest voice about South LA comes from those at, around, graduated from, or affiliated with USC. The most recent flurry of south-of-the-10 posts relate to one issue: the South Central Farmers. That's not representative of the community south of City Hall. Honestly, those posts are more about Ralph Horowitz than the community.
Now, I'm a City Nerd that claims no home, but I will admit: my limited time south of the 10, riding the Blue Line or driving down Central Avenue from the 101 to Century Boulevard (what would have been "100th Street" if the numeric system was followed), makes me want to know more. I am just as to blame as others trying to capture the City.
I guess this goes back to my question of who is/are the voice(s) of Los Angeles in 2006?
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9 comments:
Great Post. I've had many of the same thoughts about the narrow picture of Los Angeles that is plainted by most of the "citywide" blogs. Los Angeles may just be too big and complex to really be effectively captured by any of them.
There is a definite "digital divide" in the L.A. blogosphere, and it runs somewhere near the 10 Freeway. The paucity of voices in South L.A. may relate to the lack of computers and Internet access, the cultural and language barriers, and the simple fact that most folks are too busy working (often at multiple jobs) to spend time blogging.
It's a shame that nearly all of what we hear about South L.A. is negative. In my 4 years as an inspector there, my experience of the community was completely different and I wish the media would take care to portray more positive images. I've tried to share some of that perspective at my blog, but it would be far better for people who actually live in the community to be part of the L.A. blogging world.
I actually love it that the city is more widely represented now, thanks to the blogosphere. I used to hate that so much media attention was focused on West L.A., Santa Monica or more affluent areas of Southern California. Of course, people still have no idea where Hacienda Heights is (where I grew up), but its better now.
Mitch is right though - laptop computers, DSL connections and time not spent working are luxuries that many in South L.A. do not have. Even those I would not classify as "poor" don't have the time, because they have families (e.g. a Glendale police sgt. I know who chooses to stay in South L.A., but instead of putting his kids through the public schools, home-schooled them. They all went to Ivy League schools, too).
I second Mitch, with the note that South L.A. has no neighborhoods that attract blogging-oriented white hipsters the way that Eastside nabes like Lincoln Heights and Highland Park do. I would love to know if there are any urbanism-oriented black bloggers operating out of Leimert Park, though.
ahahaha! I've lived in Lincoln Heights 5 years and unless you're talking solely about the Brewery, I'd hardly consider it a white hipster enclave.
My first comment here! And thanks for adding my to your neighborhood nerd list.
This is a great post, and it definitely points to a technical devide based in socioeconomic conditions.
But, I also think part of the skew you're describing could be that if anybody's blogging in South L.A., it's probably kids, and if they're blogging, they're probably using MySpace, and as much as I hate/love MySpace, the site's really not well-connected to the rest of the "blogosphere", it's got it's own community. The same thing seems to go for Xanga, and others.
Or maybe, it's us Blogspot and Typepad users that are isolated from the MySpace users?
Regardless, I'm willing to bet that if I searched MySpace for folks from South L.A. high schools, I'd find there are folks relating their experiences daily and blog style.
Does anybody know if Technorati searches MySpace?
And, of course, being a MySpacer isn't the same as being a blogger. But a blogger could be a MySpacer.
Anyways, great discussion to get going here.
I wouldn't call Lincoln Heights a "white hipster enclave," but it does attract those of a certain "urban pioneer" mindset. From classmates, I hear about white trust-funders buying old bungalows there all the time because they can't even afford Atwater Village anymore. Lincoln Heights certainly does have a lot of things going for it that would seem to presage gentrification: cheap but solid housing, attractive topography, an abundance of high-quality cheap food, not much violent crime, proximity to other hipster areas (Little Tokyo/Arts District), and so forth.
Much of South Central, though, has very little of these things. There are storefronts still sitting empty 14 years after the riots (and in some cases, 41 years after Watts), and violent crime is still an issue in most areas outside of West Adams.
If you saw the people around here in the arts district, you can tell they are not hipsters. We just wear black.
There's a trend for neighborhoods that blog well. One is a history of the neighborhood dates back more than 50 years. Buried content will inspire nerds. Another is writers or creatives living there who have free time and will blog. And to write about a neighborhood pro-bono takes a desire to justify staying there, or wanting to make it better.
Many of those things are missing in the neighborhoods were speaking about. And it's a shame. There's a lot of history there, and a perspective on changes being made, either by those who are embedded for a few generations or immigrants taking over some of the stores and stories would be an added plus to LA centric blogs. Maybe a blogger exchange program is needed. Or to have a high school writing class that uses journals as part of the curriculum use a blog as well.
The Palms-Village Sun at
www.PalmsVillageSun.info
covers an area
south of the 10 Freeway.
We are multicultural.
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