Published Dec 7, 2006
I live in a moderately rough part of town. This is intentional; in LA, you can find great apartment values in neighborhoods that may look a bit “transitional” but in fact be perfectly safe. My ‘hood, although safe, is filled with both actual gangbangers and those who look like ‘bangers. Every day as I walk to get lunch, I see Latinos in white wife-beaters and baggy jeans, or African-Americans wearing red. Today, walking back from the store, I saw three such worthies, tall, big, African-American, lounging on a car; one was wearing a Stop Snitchin’ t-shirt. As I walked past, the tallest one said “hey, ‘scuse me, yo!”
Me: “Yeah?”
Banger 1: “Yo, you know where rainbows come from?”
Me: “Yeah, they’re light refracting off water droplets in the sky.”
Banger 2: “I told you so!”
Banger 1: “Yo, where you hear that?”
Me: “Some science teacher”
Banger 3: “That’s ‘cause it’s a scientific fact!”
Banger 1: “I don’t believe that, you know, ‘cause light is the giver of life, so a rainbow seems more meaningful than all that. It’s like a statement about new life and beauty.”
Banger 2: “Thank you for your help, sir”
Me: “You’re welcome”
Banger 1: “You have a good day”
Palms: where my personal racism is challenged every day.
Mmmmmm. Happy rainbow talk at lunch. Pensive bangers rule, as do preppy guys who stop and converse with them. Palms is good for stuff like this, even the Cheviot-Hills-Adjacent part.
Beautiful people saying wonderful things are what I like to hear about. Thank you.
This makes me smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside :)
Almost sounds like a scene from the Simpsons or something. Surreal contradictions is one of the things I love about LA, which I think plays no small part in making it a great creative capital.
Definitely Simpsons-esque. There are great moments when Snake, or the two punks who hang out with Nelson, will deliver some bit of goofy philosphy…
I’ll be honest, I expected no comments on this and a flurry of condemnation of my musical taste. I’m not sure what to make of this disjunction between expectation and reality, but I bet I can find more entries like this one out there.
Your liking of Xmas muzak shows execrable taste, but I figured that was so obvious as to require no comment. And really, if you want to be gauche in your own journal, that’s your prerogative… g