Trading up

I was struck by the new LA scene.

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-foodtrucks22-2009jul22,0,7542552.story

The last time when I was working in Los Angeles, we called it “roach coach”.

Now, there is this nouveau lunch truck scene in Little Tokyo, away from the industrial park, its incubator.

(it makes sense, since many of the assembling type of jobs have been off-shored. Tacos trucks are then forced to trade up or that the Recession is pushing the non-Latino customers to lunch down – or that more unemployed people wanted to start a restaurant business on wheels, thus suburbanizing the once entrenched urban niche).

To lunch at one of these “coaches” is a step-up from the hot dog stands, since you can order a taco, a burger, or if early, scramble eggs.

I  was delighted when treated to one of these lunches, and more surprisingly, by some Vietnamese upperclassmen.

They were trying to show me that they were in the know (at the time of my arriving in LA , I was from the NE).

So, being amazed at palm trees, holding a taco and marvelling at the thick smog, I thought I had finally arrived at Hotel California.

A drive-by on Sunset would reveal many wannabes: producers, screen writers, actors, or just grips, all in black.

Billboards on Sunset were in your face, overarching hilly neighborhood, a 180 degree image of East LA street arts (graffiti).

You will not find any lunch truck near Rodeo Drive, where the celeb shoppers set up private shopping appointments.

Everybody is starved to death, especially those models during Market Week (BTW, they are closing down NY Garment district, and the LA counterpart may soon follow ).

Lunch trucks in LA, and the homeless population are two sides of the same coin: both cannot find adequate restrooms.

You will hardly see the owners of these trucks (for they are inside busy at filling your tacos order), but it keeps the immigrant family together.

In LA, it’s not uncommon to see small businesses stratified along ethnic lines: Korean for Dry Clean, Ethiopian for taxi, Cambodian for donut shops, Vietnamese – Nail shops, and Latino- lunch trucks and Mexican eateries.

Moving about LA could make one dizzy due to a bunch of factors:  the smog, the traffic jam, the interracial mix, and the urban sprawl.

And when you finally get to see Hollywood, you thought celebrity sighting is like bird watching in Central Park. Well, the truth is, you can go for years in LA without ever running into a celebrity (although I did share an elevator with Jaqueline Bisset and her tennis star companion at  Beverly Center.) Most tourists will have to settle for a celebrity map.

And one cannot mention LA without its night clubs. People on the West side are actually living for these things.

Got to wear the right clothes, with the right look to get passed the bouncers. Then when you are hungry, oh well,

you can always settle for one of those tacos trucks. When hungry, and when it’s dark, it doesn’t matter where the food come from: nouveau or traditional. But you got to do it fast: safety is the number- one concern, not status.

Best way is to observe LA from the safety of your bedroom. They always have these establishing shots of LA in perfect weather, and the footage was probably archived from the early days of Chinatown. California is more than a state.

It’s a state of mind. And it doesn’t matter whether you are Cinderella or Cyndi Lauper: girls just wanna have fun, “until the sun comes up from Santa Monica boulevard”.

Have a taco while at it. It’s in now. It’s OK. It’s health- department certified!

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