Dispatch from the Ghetto

Last week I served jury duty in Inglewood. I can't talk about the case and it was totally uninteresting, but I was left with several impressions from spending a wee bit of time in the ghetto. There is barely anywhere to eat lunch. I was at the courthouse and so presumably, there are a lot of employees and other folks around during the lunch hour. On my first day, I wandered out at lunch time to find a place to eat. There was a Mexican buffet that looked horrific, a Mexican taco place that was shuttered and abandoned, a donut shop that served sandwiches...none of these places were much of an option. I crossed the street to a mall type of area and there was only one place to eat - a fish and chips place run by a Chinese guy. At this point, I was running low on time and just committed. It was pretty gross and unhealthy. The salt and pepper and ketchup containers were sticky, the sodas served with a straw, the shrimp not like the stuff they sell at Santa Monica seafood to say the least. I would venture to guess 50% of the people I know would simply not eat this food. I, myself, would never eat it again knowing what I now know.

Many of the storefronts are abandoned. I was walking around the streets carrying my laptop in my bag and I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb, just like a total idiot. And here's the thing, I know very little about the ghetto, but I don't even think Inglewood is considered that bad. I probably shouldn't even call it the ghetto. I'm positive there are much worse areas south of the 10.

Walking around, I was trying to make connections with how this area was similar to other parts of LA...one thing that struck me is there were a lot of movie posters on billboards and bus stops and they are the very same movies plastered around the rest of LA. People were wearing sports gear and I actually felt like I overheard sports related conversations - basketball and football - I suppose just because the Super Bowl just happened. But the rest of it has a much different feel. I actually overheard one of the first overly racist things I've heard in awhile just waiting in line to get into the courthouse. Some black lady was chastising a random Mexican guy toward the front of the line saying something along the lines of "those people steal everything from black culture, why don't they act like themselves," or something to this effect. It was strange and totally unprovoked, for some reason she just felt compelled to say something aloud to the guy she was with.

Of course, the area was mostly black folks. One can easily forget there is a very large black community in Los Angeles if you spend all your time north of the 10. There is a middle school across from the courthouse. The building looked new and really nice, but it certainly had the institutional feel to it, and I could hear the loudspeaker making announcements, etc. I suppose all public schools are pretty much like this, but not knowing anything about the school or anything, I know basically no one I know would feel comfortable sending their kids to this school because of the neighborhood around it.

I suppose the logical comparisons with Inglewood, would be Echo Park and San Gabriel valley, as each of these areas are predominantly minority communities. Echo Park has a much different feel, perhaps because of the hipster gentrification, but also there is just a lot more street activity and food and other stuff going on. I know Echo Park isn't exactly known as a safe area, but it certainly feels safe most of the time I've been there. Inglewood is more spread out and less concentrated, and perhaps the court house area is not a major commercial district. San Gabriel has a different vibe as well, with the long boulevards and multitude of food spots. There is something more charming about the geography of Inglewood, however, the place feels older and civic than San Gabriel. I really don't like the feel of San Gabriel, the long, wide, roads with signs all in various Asian languages, and the blazing hot sun beating down. But goddamn, if the food out there doesn't give all of LA a total run for it's money.

There's Hollywood Park nearby, which always gave me a jolt of joy to see as I drove back to the freeway. It made me wonder about the old Forum days when the Showtime Lakers played and Inglewood was probably THE place to be during basketball season. I wonder if the community was different and more vibrant back then. And then again, maybe I was just in the wrong spot. Not like downtown is exactly nice where the other courthouse is - especially a couple blocks from it.