HOLIDAY POSTCARD #2

Dear Reader,

A great time was had exploring the beaches of Santa Monica and Venice, and equally there was much to enjoy wandering around the canals area of the latter.  Having, over the years, seen plenty of pictures of the golden sands and palm trees of California, along with the many bodies beautiful of the keep-fit fanatics who hang around such parts, I was kind of expecting to feel let down by the reality.  But no…it did prove to be something out of a movie set, or at least a promotional advert for the state.

A couple of days after we arrived, Jonny and Goldie suggested that we take a trip to downtown Los Angeles as it was an area where tourists were rarely found, despite it having a number of interesting buildings and attractions.   They drove us in and parked in an area called Little Tokyo, where international baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani, and current member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is celebrated via a mural on the side of a 15-storey building. It is also a short walk from City Hall, a magnificent building that has featured in loads of films, TV shows and music videos and in which we could take a lift to the 27th Floor to an observation tower for some stunning views to all corners of the city.

Nearby is Union Station, a very impressive art deco building that must have the most luxurious waiting area for train passengers anywhere in the world, with plush, comfortable leather seats in a cathedral-like space, and as someone who enjoys train journeys and is a fan of art deco style buildings, I could have happily spent a lot longer wandering its nooks and crannies.

Lunch was eaten at Phillipe’s, a legendary downtown restaurant/diner that’s been in existence since 1908 and in its present location since 1951 – the charming interior looks as it hasn’t changed since the 50s and the camera on the i-phone went into overdrive.  It’s a place where people from all walks of life come together, often at long wooden tables, to enjoy the food they have ordered and collected on paper plates from the counter.  There was a real sense of friendliness and relaxation within its four walls, with a fascinating and eclectic mix of customers – police officers, business people in suits, casually attired workers dressed for the seemingly always warm weather, railway staff and a smattering of tourists – of all ages, colours and ethnicities.

The walk from Phillipe’s back to City Hall took us through the oldest part of the city, where a plaque commemorates Los Pobladores, the founders of the City of Los Angeles in 1871 and who consisted of eleven families, including twenty-two adults and twenty-two children, who has come from the provinces of Sinaloa and Sonora in New Spain, now called Mexico.

I’m emphasising all of this as, just 48 hours after our walkabout, this one square mile area around City Hall and Little Tokyo was all over the news as the scene of protests that had begun after agents of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had arrested alleged illegal immigrants at several locations across the city.  Despite the protests being something that the local police force were more than capable of handling, the (insert your own description here) President of the USA chose to deploy both the National Guard and the Marines to Los Angeles, an act which further increased the tensions and led to further and a different type of protests.  TV and digital platform reporters/journalists from all around the world captured all that was unfolding.

We watched from a living room in Santa Monica, some 16 miles away from downtown, horrified and angry at what was unfolding.  It was hard to believe that an area of tranquillity that we had experienced and enjoyed so much just a couple of days earlier was now very much a strictly no-go deadly zone and not our scene at all (thank you Mr Weller).

I try not to get too political on the blog. I’ve always wanted it to be a place where everyone can come in and be part of a broad-based community where views and opinions can be openly expressed and debated/argued if need be, and I think that over what is now coming up for nineteen years, it has worked well in a self-policing way.

But I do want and feel I need to say this.

If you are someone who thinks the actions of ICE and Donald Trump are merited, then you really aren’t welcome.  I know I can’t stop you visiting TVV on an occasional or regular basis, but I would really rather you didn’t.

Yours sincerely

JC

PS : Those of you who are always welcome should come back later today for something more akin to normal service.