This is a book I had wanted to read for a while but for most of that time it wasn’t available from any of the libraries I most often visit. I even considered ordering it from the author’s bookstore, Tia Chucha’s. Then in September 2009 I noticed on Cal State L.A.’s online catalog that they had it in their new book section. It was about time they got it since it was published in 2002 and CSULA is very close to if not within East L.A. I first heard about the author, Louis J. Rodriguez, because I was interested in learning more about gang culture. Coming from Southeast Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, I hadn’t heard much about gangs. My closest gang affiliation was playing a member of the Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks, in a high school production of West Side Story. A while ago I read an article in the L.A. Times, possibly in the book review section that mentioned the book Always Running as a definitive account of gang life in the L.A. area. Later I checked out the book that's a non-fiction memoir by Luis J. Rodriguez. It’s about his life in the gang Lomas or “hills” in the west San Gabriel Valley in the late 60’s and early 70’s. They were rivals of the gang “Sangra” that was slang for San Gabriel. This was back when mostly Latinos lived in the area and long before it was populated by Asians.
Always Running was written as a warning to Rodriguez’s eldest son who was 15 at the time and starting to get interested in gangs. It is not a happy book and at times the story is very violent and graphic. About the only humor is in the author’s and fellow gang members’ nicknames. He’s called “Chin” because an injury made his chin more prominent. One of his homeboys is called “Chicharron” because of his dark skin, I think. Though it doesn’t romanticize the life at all, much of the book’s writing has a poetic quality to it. You could almost say the book is urban and gritty and poetic and lyrical at the same time. I remember seeing late author Frank McCourt be interviewed by author Mitch Albom at the 2006 L.A. Times Festival of Books. McCourt said he was tired of critics saying his writing was “poetic and lyrical” just as they describe most Irish or Irish-American authors. He said, “I want them to say (my writing is) urban and gritty.” Well, Luis J. Rodriguez seems to have succeeded at being both. It’s a dark book with a hint of hope at the end.
Rodriguez had written other books, poetry, more non-fiction, and even a children’s book. In one of my classes at CSULA we reconstructed one of his poems about a noisy machine. He has a website, www.luisrodriguez.com that includes his blog. I read it sometimes. It describes his speaking, writing, fundraising, and gang intervention activities. The Republic of East L.A. seemed interesting: a book of twelve fictional short stories all connected to East L.A. It took some time to locate the book in the Cal State L.A. library after I learned they had it. I didn’t know where the new book section was. The location wasn’t given online as it is for the other sections but I figured it couldn’t be too hard to find. I eventually found the new books on a few shelves on the north end of the library’s ground floor. It was near where they had special exhibits. At the time they had different chess sets from around the world (see earlier blog). They had the paperback edition that was orange and yellow with a picture of a young woman on the cover. I’m not sure about the origin of the photo. It seemed to correspond most closely to the story “Las Chicas Cuecas”. The book does give the origin of the photo of two feet standing on the lower rung of a metal fence that is used for the title page spread and the chapter opener page. It is from La Jette, a French short film from the 1960’s that inspired the 1990’s film Twelve Monkeys.
All the stories in the Republic of East L.A. either take place in the area or have characters from there, usually both. I think Rodriguez lived there when he as a young adult, after his gang days. The stories are all fiction, though I believe some parts may be semiautobiographical such as the story “Miss East L.A.” about a rookie reporter for the fictional free community newspaper called the Eastside Star. The title of the book, The Republic of East L.A., comes from a quote attributed to barrio evangelist Jo Jo Sanchez in an early 80’s L.A. Times article. I think most of the stories were originally written in the 20 years before the 2002 publishing of the book. A few seem a little dated such as “Pigeons” that describes West Covina a place “with only fairly well off Anglo families.” (p. 9) Or maybe he was describing it as a place that used to be like that. Now it seems like more Asians than Anglos live in West Covina.
I like how all the stories reference streets, areas, and/or neighborhoods that actually exist. I could locate just about every East L.A. street mentioned on a map. Rodriguez spends several sentences describing the former General Hospital now called USC-L.A. County Medical Center. He writes “A lot of Chicanos inhaled their very first breath there—and exhaled their last. It’s the cheapest and most overworked hospital in the city. Our hospital. East L.A.’s.” (p. 178) Many places mentioned or even featured are not in East L.A. At one point the main character of the story “Mechanics” suggests to his wife and family that they go out to eat at a “good restaurant” such as Clifton’s or Philippe’s in Downtown L.A. The narrator/limo driver in the first story, “My Ride, My Revolution” describes driving Taiwanese businessmen to Valley Blvd’s Asian Heights in Alhambra. The preachy narrator of “Oiga” describes how she walked miles and miles to her ex-boyfriend’s house in Hacienda Heights. I can understand that because Hacienda Heights is far away from many places. Then there’s the party scene in “Las Chicas Cuecas” that takes place at a house in Highland Park on Avenue 47. The author mentions that the area is controlled by the gang The Avenues. They are one of the first gangs I heard about after first I moved to the L.A. area.
I was hoping the stories wouldn’t be as dark and graphic as Always Running and they weren’t, for the most part. They are a bit depressing, more than I thought they would be. It’s as if East L.A. is full of broken dreams. But some stories such as “Finger Dance” have some hope. Some are darker such as “Shadows” and “Pigeons”. “Las Chicas Cuecas” is a bit dark and graphic in parts but also includes some hope. Its title translates to “the bent girls” as in they’re bent out of shape by their difficult life but they’re not broken. Some stories contain humor or other things I can relate to. In “My Ride, My Revolution”, the first person protagonist, Limo driver Cruz Blancarte, listens to a tape of the band Pavement as he waits for his next rider to board. In “Mechanics”, a coworker of the main character quotes Charlie Parker when he says, “Just remember, romance without finance is a nuisance.” (p. 117)
The Republic of East L.A. is pretty good but I’m glad I didn’t have to buy it to read it. I guess I was used to reading Rodriguez’s blogs about his work and his and his wife’s bookstore/press, his gang intervention work, and his promoting art as an alternative outlet for youth pressured to join gangs. I guess life is hard for most residents of East L.A. and Rodriguez realistically portrays this. But it’s not all bad and the book ends on a high note. How could it not with a story titled “Sometimes you Dance with a Watermelon.”
Always Running was written as a warning to Rodriguez’s eldest son who was 15 at the time and starting to get interested in gangs. It is not a happy book and at times the story is very violent and graphic. About the only humor is in the author’s and fellow gang members’ nicknames. He’s called “Chin” because an injury made his chin more prominent. One of his homeboys is called “Chicharron” because of his dark skin, I think. Though it doesn’t romanticize the life at all, much of the book’s writing has a poetic quality to it. You could almost say the book is urban and gritty and poetic and lyrical at the same time. I remember seeing late author Frank McCourt be interviewed by author Mitch Albom at the 2006 L.A. Times Festival of Books. McCourt said he was tired of critics saying his writing was “poetic and lyrical” just as they describe most Irish or Irish-American authors. He said, “I want them to say (my writing is) urban and gritty.” Well, Luis J. Rodriguez seems to have succeeded at being both. It’s a dark book with a hint of hope at the end.
Rodriguez had written other books, poetry, more non-fiction, and even a children’s book. In one of my classes at CSULA we reconstructed one of his poems about a noisy machine. He has a website, www.luisrodriguez.com that includes his blog. I read it sometimes. It describes his speaking, writing, fundraising, and gang intervention activities. The Republic of East L.A. seemed interesting: a book of twelve fictional short stories all connected to East L.A. It took some time to locate the book in the Cal State L.A. library after I learned they had it. I didn’t know where the new book section was. The location wasn’t given online as it is for the other sections but I figured it couldn’t be too hard to find. I eventually found the new books on a few shelves on the north end of the library’s ground floor. It was near where they had special exhibits. At the time they had different chess sets from around the world (see earlier blog). They had the paperback edition that was orange and yellow with a picture of a young woman on the cover. I’m not sure about the origin of the photo. It seemed to correspond most closely to the story “Las Chicas Cuecas”. The book does give the origin of the photo of two feet standing on the lower rung of a metal fence that is used for the title page spread and the chapter opener page. It is from La Jette, a French short film from the 1960’s that inspired the 1990’s film Twelve Monkeys.
All the stories in the Republic of East L.A. either take place in the area or have characters from there, usually both. I think Rodriguez lived there when he as a young adult, after his gang days. The stories are all fiction, though I believe some parts may be semiautobiographical such as the story “Miss East L.A.” about a rookie reporter for the fictional free community newspaper called the Eastside Star. The title of the book, The Republic of East L.A., comes from a quote attributed to barrio evangelist Jo Jo Sanchez in an early 80’s L.A. Times article. I think most of the stories were originally written in the 20 years before the 2002 publishing of the book. A few seem a little dated such as “Pigeons” that describes West Covina a place “with only fairly well off Anglo families.” (p. 9) Or maybe he was describing it as a place that used to be like that. Now it seems like more Asians than Anglos live in West Covina.
I like how all the stories reference streets, areas, and/or neighborhoods that actually exist. I could locate just about every East L.A. street mentioned on a map. Rodriguez spends several sentences describing the former General Hospital now called USC-L.A. County Medical Center. He writes “A lot of Chicanos inhaled their very first breath there—and exhaled their last. It’s the cheapest and most overworked hospital in the city. Our hospital. East L.A.’s.” (p. 178) Many places mentioned or even featured are not in East L.A. At one point the main character of the story “Mechanics” suggests to his wife and family that they go out to eat at a “good restaurant” such as Clifton’s or Philippe’s in Downtown L.A. The narrator/limo driver in the first story, “My Ride, My Revolution” describes driving Taiwanese businessmen to Valley Blvd’s Asian Heights in Alhambra. The preachy narrator of “Oiga” describes how she walked miles and miles to her ex-boyfriend’s house in Hacienda Heights. I can understand that because Hacienda Heights is far away from many places. Then there’s the party scene in “Las Chicas Cuecas” that takes place at a house in Highland Park on Avenue 47. The author mentions that the area is controlled by the gang The Avenues. They are one of the first gangs I heard about after first I moved to the L.A. area.
I was hoping the stories wouldn’t be as dark and graphic as Always Running and they weren’t, for the most part. They are a bit depressing, more than I thought they would be. It’s as if East L.A. is full of broken dreams. But some stories such as “Finger Dance” have some hope. Some are darker such as “Shadows” and “Pigeons”. “Las Chicas Cuecas” is a bit dark and graphic in parts but also includes some hope. Its title translates to “the bent girls” as in they’re bent out of shape by their difficult life but they’re not broken. Some stories contain humor or other things I can relate to. In “My Ride, My Revolution”, the first person protagonist, Limo driver Cruz Blancarte, listens to a tape of the band Pavement as he waits for his next rider to board. In “Mechanics”, a coworker of the main character quotes Charlie Parker when he says, “Just remember, romance without finance is a nuisance.” (p. 117)
The Republic of East L.A. is pretty good but I’m glad I didn’t have to buy it to read it. I guess I was used to reading Rodriguez’s blogs about his work and his and his wife’s bookstore/press, his gang intervention work, and his promoting art as an alternative outlet for youth pressured to join gangs. I guess life is hard for most residents of East L.A. and Rodriguez realistically portrays this. But it’s not all bad and the book ends on a high note. How could it not with a story titled “Sometimes you Dance with a Watermelon.”
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