Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 6

This week, I want to comment on my classmate Patrick Soulages's post about Brentwood. I found this post is written very detailed and insightful. You can find his post here. Here's my comment:

Brentwood is not a familiar place to me and I haven't visited there before. I like your desciptions in the beginning, telling us how's Brentwood actually looks like. This is so useful for me as a newbie to get a basic idea about the place. From our observation, it seems like Brentwood is a more affluent neighborhood when compared to other cities in Los Angeles. I like your example on how the price of the restaurants itself reflect what part and district of L.A. you was in. And this also reminds me to a similar experience I had before in Beverley Hills. Everything there is far to expensive to what I have got. People I observe in there also more likely to be the middle and upper class, which is not surprising. Brentwood as like as Beverley Hills just make people get an impression of more affluent and higher class in this small communities. When I continue reading your post, you also further mention about the golf course in Brentwood Country Club, further proving how this place shows its prestige and elitism. (If there's more pictures would be fantastic!) In this case, I am just kind of curious whether people living in this place actually receives a higher income than its surrounding areas and using simplymap would definitely helps telling us about this income difference.

When reading your post, I also have a look on other classmates' comment and I find Christina's one is really thoughtful. As reading your post about Brentwood, I am always wondering the social class people in Brentwood falls into. At first, I thought Brentwood is just a place agglomerate the middle and the upper class groups. However, Christina tells me not only do these people tend to live there, but also includes a group of young adults and young families. What make me even more surprised is her observation about the Bruins. "I find it more of a recent graduate haven or more the Westwood for recent graduates. It seems to be the city where most Bruins gather afterwards, and it is filled with people in their twenties and early thirties, giving it a very young vibe."  I would say this is really interesting and reminds me the concept of social mobility we have learned in class. What factors contributed to the trend for Bruins to live there? (As I know some parts of the area particularly the Brentwood Country Club that you have mentioned is quite expensive and not affordable for recent graduates to live there.) These are all interesting questions that can be further explored and discussed. But still, I believe you have done a great job in applying concepts such as the concentric ring model to Brentwood, and it seems it is true that Brentwood is a zone where people move out when considering about the model we have learned in class.

To sum up, it looks like Brentwood is a very nice place that worth to explore. Reading your experience in Brentwood thus makes me curious to learn more about the place, for example comparing its social difference in terms of the quality of life and neighborhood status with its surrounding places like Westwood. If I have time during my winter break, I would definitely like to go there once, especially to the Brentwood Country Market, and I am sure it would be a nice experience. :)

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 5

Koreatown

This week, I went Koreatown for my project. Koreatown is an officially recognized district in the city of Los Angeles, which contains the heaviest concentration of Korean when compared with other parts of L.A. The place also connects to the adjacent neighborhoods of Wilshire Center and Pico Heights. Finding about the fact that why L.A. has a great proportion of Korean arouses my interest to explore the place. Regarding to this, I do some research in the Internet. L.A. is the city with the second largest Korean population in the world. But why this the case? History, like wars is definitely an crucial factor for the high immigration of Korean to the states; however, Koreans only moved into the area after the changes in the US Immigration laws. With the advanced and rapid transition, investment of banks and corporations, its population spreads tremendously. Nowadays, Koreatown becomes one of the famous places in L.A, gathering up to a large population of 324,586 in the metro area. (2010, Census) By using simplymap.com, it indeed gives us a clear picture how people from different race diverse and its pattern in this metropolitan area. For instance, Asian communities are more likely to be concentrated in the East Los Angeles, and this is true because this area consists of Koreatown, Japan town and Chinatown, which allows people with the same ethnicity to agglomerate together. Besides looking at the Asian population, it is also interesting to see the patterns between the blacks and the whites. While the former is concentrated more likely in the west L.A or even in the coast, the blacks are more likely concentrate in the south central part of Los Angeles, for example areas like Inglewood.

To arrive my destination, I start my trip from UCLA, driving through the Wilshire Blvd to K-town. Everything changes once I enter into the area, including the types of building, roads and language in the billboards and the types of people in the street. The place also seems less glamorous unlike other parts of L.A since the buildings and obviously older especially when comparing with those in Beveley Hills or The Grove I have visited in last few weeks. As I go further to the east, it's noticeable that there are many Korean restaurants and grocery markets nearby. People I see in the street also varies, ranging from Korean to the Latino. I have a chance to enjoy a korean barbecue lunch with my friends and it's just SO DELICIOUS!!! :9 While I am having my lunch, I also discover how division of labor is interestingly practiced. Even though the restaurant owner is a Korean woman, the whole restaurant isn't only just operated by Korean, rather several groups of people like Mexican and Latino also work for the restaurant. Yet, unlike being as the waiters, cashiers and servers like the Korean do, they all work in the behind, mostly in the kitchen to wash dishes and preparing food for the chef. Nevertheless, the same case does not happen in the Mexican restaurants nearby. In this case, it seems this particular phenomenon and relationship between the ethnic composition helps distinguishing Koreatown with other parts of L.A.

After having my lunch, I also take a walk in around. Often times, I heard people saying that K-town is dangerous as crime do always happen in there. (especially in the night time?) While walking in the street, I notice many old and damaged buildings, but what actually makes me feel unsafe perhaps is the group of homeless people in the streets beside and outside the grocery stores. Regarding to this safety issue, I also uses simplymap.com to discover more interesting facts about the K-town. One that really stands out to me is the rape index collected in Census 2011. In the map, the darker areas represent a higher rate while the lighter means less. And it is clear that the trend is going toward the K-town, reflecting a signal of danger and risk in there. Based on my experience in Koreatown and the evidence from simplymap. I now become more convinced and understand why there's such notion for the place.

In conclusion, Koreatown isn't just a place that agglomerate the Korean people together to embrace its culture. By observing this small town, it helps me to learn more about the relationship between its special ethnic composition and culture, and more importantly, understanding how it's different from other L.A. areas. (P.S. Below is a video that gives a very nice introduction to Koreatown. Enjoy!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN1rbiaorV8

Blogging Social Difference in L.A: Week 4

Unfortunately, I got sick over these few days. In this case, rather than opening a new post, I decided to stay at home to read and comment on my fellow classmate's blog. I have read a few posts today and especially enjoyed reading Kei Komuro's experience in Downtown Los Angeles. I believe Kei has done a great job in exploring Downtown L.A while at the same time, incorporating some interesting concepts from the readings. My comment and suggestions for improvement is then in the following. And here's the link of Kei's post.

Hi Kei,

My name is King Wing and I enjoy reading your experience in Downtown Los Angeles. Downtown L.A. is definitely one of the most multi-centered metropolitan regions in L.A. I especially like the way you start your post, telling us how this area is like and how it reflects the facet of postsuburban spatial organization. I can't agree more with you. Since Downtown is formed by many small districts, it's not surprised that you see Downtown as not having a specific and cohesive center because the place is simply too broad that we can see a bunch of small cores between the blocks and buildings. Besides, while reading your post, I also observe how cultural diversity prevails in this area. For example, looking at the pictures of the small communities like the Financial District, Chinatown and Little Tokyo not just only shows how people are varied from different cultures, such as the difference in their languages, but also reflects people's socioeconomic class and status when we look at the types of housings, restaurants and stores in these communities.

In the rest of your post, I also find that you mention some very interesting points as well, like how inequality is related to one's ability to access information to a extent. In other words, how this information gap affects and distinguishes the difference between the lower class people and the business men. Regarding to this point, you quote a statement, "It can be assumed that this 'gives their industries greater leverage than their less technologically sophisticated precursors had'  to explain your idea and assumption on information capitalism in the town. However, I think it would be better if you could expand this point a little bit more with explainations. For example, after showing pictures in your blog, you could go further and conclude why "these group of people" are not privileged and receives less information that causing them to be separated from the others. Another same situation comes out when you quote "the result of complex and weakly coordinated sets of conscious decisions by private entrepreneurs and many politicians who reflect their interests" to explain your idea. This point is interesting as well, but again it would be good if you can further elaborate such as adding your comments or a few descriptions of the pictures so as to enrich your argument. With all the elaborations, I believe your argument would definitely be more precise and insightful. Lastly, I would say I really appreciate the way you incorporate as many as different concepts from the readings. It is not an easy task, but you do it quite well. Besides, I love the pictures that you have taken and also the way you highlight the words in color so that it makes it very clear to me what certain point or concept you are telling. This is pretty cool and reminds me perhaps I should do the same thing in my upcoming blogs :)

Overall, I find the arguments you make in the post are insightful and with more elaborations, this would be a really great post! Reading your experience in Downtown also makes me understand more about the place and sort of reminding the question; what difference does difference makes? It seems that Downtown L.A is really a fantastic place that worth to walk around, explore and incorporate concepts that we have learned in class, and I can't wait to explore this place on my own in the coming weeks. Again, thanks for your great post and keep on! Have a nice weekend!

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 3

The Grove

This week, I get a chance to visit the Grove with my friend Michelle. The Grove is basically an outdoor mall that just happens to be next to the Farmers Market. It is also known as one of the famous tourist spots in Los Angeles. When I leave the parking lot to the mall, I am already shocked by its artfully decoration. Not only do the place features a large center park with a fountain, some musical performances are also showed to the visitors. Famous brands and stores are also around in everywhere, like Banana Republic, Gap and Coach etc.... All these cast a glamour to the place, which makes me feel like I am inside the Disneyland. As a shopaholic, I can't wait to shop around in different stores, yet; most of the things in there are a little overpriced (perhaps because it's a tourist spot?:o) so I end up buying nothing. But still, me and my friend have a fantastic lunch in The Cheesecake Factory, which is always one of my favorite restaurants in the states.

Being located across the Fairfax Avenue and the 3rd Street, I am a little surprised to observe the huge differences between the Grove and its surrounding. If the Grove is like a fairyland like I have described in the above, its surrounding areas will get you a little disappointed because they do not show the same image as the Grove does. Indeed, when looking around these areas (e.g. Korea Town, Little Ethiopia etc), they give me another picture. Not only do they represent a large range of ethnic population, but these micro communities also seem practicing cultural agglomeration because of their proximity. In this case, I am kind of wondering how these micro communities actually interact with another in these areas. To make a better comparison, I would like to explore more about that when I visit places like Korea Town in the coming weeks. Another thing comes cross my mind is the social class difference. During my car trip, I pass through some streets in Beverley Hills and parts of the West Hollywood. Surprisingly, within only the few miles away between them, I discover a large disparity between the two places. Beverly Hills is definitely a rich area because houses are beautifully decorated with amazing scenery. Its housing price is also very high when comparing to houses in other L.A. regions. With the high living standard and spending, people who live there are more likely to be the middle and upper class. Nevertheless, when comes to West Hollywood, the glamorous scene in Beverly Hills no longer exists. Rather, working class are more likely to be dominated in this area and I even notice problems like poverty when I see two homeless man in the street.

Lastly, in the reading The Growth of the City, it mentions that our city is consists of a set of rings, ranging from the core "loop" to the "commuters' zone". Although the rings may not be directly applied to the entire L.A. area, we can still relate it to some extent. For example, we can consider the Grove as the "loop" (imagine it is a small town), the transition zone to be Korea Town, and the residential zone to be place like Beverly Hills, which "high-class apartment buildings or of exclusive "restricted" districts of single family dwellings." (The Blackwell City Reader, 2010) Though these may not be exactly correct, but it does help me to gain a better understand about the process for the growth of a city as well as how's these rings can be applied in the contemporary L.A. area.

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 2

Santa Monica Beach (Bus Trip)
Journey begins! When I consider where to go for my project, the first location that comes out immediately in my mind is Santa Monica. Santa Monica is always my favorite place in Los Angeles not only because it is the place where I am most familiar with the city so far, but also because I am in love with one of its famous places ---- the Santa Monica Beach. Therefore, I have decided to make this place as my first location. Since I am living on campus, I reach there by the bus, and bus Line 1 perfectly matches up with my location. It takes approximately 35 minutes to arrive my destination in the afternoon.

In my impression, Santa Monica Beach is a place full of fun and happiness. It is also a place where I can see racial diversity easily because people are varied in different races, like the whites, blacks, Latino, Mexican and Asians are found everywhere in the beach. The tourists there share a common goal; to relax, play, taste the nature and atmosphere. For example, I notice many groups of families, friends and couples are riding bikes in the bicycle path, cooling themselves in water, sunbathing under the sun as well as playing volleyball games with a lot of excitements. In the pier next to the beach, there are also a group of enthusiastic amateurs performing magical show, acrobatics and singing. Their performances are really fabulous and amazing. However, despite all of these, I am surprised to discover that there's a group of people seems not belonged to this happy and comfort zone. And they are the homeless, lifeguard, janitors and the road safety guard. Unlike the others, they do no smile and feel happy at all; indeed, I feel kind of loneliness in their eyes when compared with the laughers from the people around. Moreover, I notice that most of the people are less likely to get closer to the homeless. Many of them also just simply pass by without giving sympathetic eyesight. This situation reminds me the concept of stratification I have learned in class. According to our professor, "stratification is the differences created through proximity to power; and therefore it is expressed through inequality." I can’t agree more with this statement base on my observation. The homeless people I see in the beach is definitely the group of lower class people because they have very low social status and strong barriers to access to power; the workers for maintenance and janitors fall into the working class and some tourists may fall into the higher class that apparently have a much higher ability to access power. In this way, stratification clearly forms between different groups of people in the beach since they truly reflects how social class inequality pervades among them, and at the same time, affects people’s statuses and how they are being valued by the society.

Santa Monica Beach. Here I come! :)

Apart from stratification, another important concept of organic solidarity from Durkheim's The Division of Labor can also be applied to my observation. Organic solidarity refers to the cohesion exists in a society that individuals and groups are specialized and integrated in order to fulfill needs from each other. As a part of the community, everyone in the beach is performing a different role or task to help maintaining the beach. People are carrying cohesiveness to a certain extent because people function together to fulfill needs from another. For instance, the lifeguards are responsible for taking care people's safety, the managers sells snacks, drinks and food in their stores, and the tourists are the customers who spend money for food and souvenirs in the beach. In this case, I would argue even though people in the beach come for different purposes, each of them implicitly carry some "functions" and they do cooperate in a certain way that helps fulfill needs from each other. This is all how i view organic solidarity can be applied in the beach.

To sum up, Santa Monica Beach is a worth place to visit not only because it's full of fun, but also because it allows us to explore social difference such as racial diversity and stratification. I enjoy my trip there and will probably visit there again with my friends soon! :)

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 1

Introduction: “What difference does difference make?”
As an international student from Hong Kong, I always wonder how it's like studying in the United States ---- one of the most developed countries in the world. Thanks to my parents, I gain this valuable opportunity to study aboard, having the chance to explore and feel how it's like living in the states. Although I have only stayed in L.A. for less than a month, I have no doubt that L.A. is a very diverse city. UCLA is a good example. It is one of the most ethnically diverse universities in the U.S, which students are come from different parts of the world and belonged to different race and ethnicity. In this way, I believe UCLA can be a small model of this diverse L.A. city. But what causes L.A. more diverse than other cities? What factors contribute to the social difference in this place? In what ways social difference plays a role in L.A.? To answer these questions, I am going to visit five places in L.A. and make a deep analysis on how social difference pervades and influences different areas in Los Angeles. Through my visit, not only do I hope to answer the question “What difference does difference make”, but also more importantly, to understand why and how factors like race, gender, social classes, education and resources contribute to the disparities in today's world.

As a newbie of this city, I am so excited to explore places around L.A. However, one thing I feel so confused now is to decide where should I go since I am so unfamiliar with the city. (Perhaps someone should give me some suggestions? :P) But still, I believe it will be fun to discover and explore this metropolitan area, and I also hope that I can gain a better understanding about how social difference serves as functions to shape the city and affect an individual. 

Before ending up my first post, just let me give a brief introduction of myself. My name is King Wing. I am a junior transfer student from the Bay Area and this is my first quarter at UCLA! My major is communication studies and I wish to work in the media industry. I am also an outgoing person who loves travel and photography. Again, I hope everyone enjoy reading my following posts and welcome to my blog! Let’s start the journey! :)