Airbrushed Signs East L.A.

Avui was another intense day of photographing the widespread custom of airbrushed signs in the Latino community of East Los Angles. There is so much to document and write about, but I have to remind myself that I am on vacation. If the day before yesterday I photographed custom street signs from the '60s and '70s, today was all about airbrushed street signs in a community that is now primarily immigrant. They have brought with them their tradition of airbrushing popular products on their store fronts. Their signs advertise food, cleaning products, and mix the religious with the profane. My guess is business owners find airbrushing an inexpensive alternative to neon or fluorescent signs. In either case, it is a marker of their cultural identity in a new country giving them in opportunity at success. Their businesses are bright, colorful, and unique in appearance. Aside from the airbrushed signs, I took shots of business fronts that just caught my eye for their rundown or interesting appeal and anything else in between I found alluring.

              My cousin called this the psychotic zombie piñata.

My father and my brothers used to come here to treat our asthma. It is so rundown now. Is Dr. Marshak still alive?

New friends who serenaded me with Vino Tinto by Estopa. 

With so much photographing, I had to grab a bite at King Taco. Taco al pastor and a sope of carne asada.

Signs You Won't Find in Barcelona

Driving down Washington Blvd. to visit an uncle of mine, I made parades along the way to snap shots of my recent sign fascination. These are signs I saw all my young life driving into Santa Fe Springs. I like how the signs reflect a bygone era. I am attracted to the font, originality, and their  signage to advertise a particular business. They are posted close to the street as opposed to the front of a business like the present day flat rectangular signs seen in strip malls. Custom signs are attractive and unique in how they attract drivers from a distance as opposed to whizzing by one dimensional crowed business signs that lack character and influence to attract  potential customers. You will mai find signs of this dimension in Barcelona for reasons of tight street space and local custom. Some of the signs I photographed date back to the '60s and '70s and look dated and worn out. And that's just what attracts me to vintage signs.

p.s. The last two signs were taken in East Los Angeles.

Adeu!

This hammer once advertised a construction company.

Huntington Beach and Noia Memories

I had not gone to the beach in California in over three years. My guapa cosina took me to Huntington Beach on a Tuesday afternoon and to our surprise we saw viewer stands being assembled for the U.S. Open of Surfing, yeah! Before heading out to the shore we stopped at the street fair to look at vendor stands selling surfer clothes, yummy treats and produce. 

When we finally got to the water's edge it became clear why I do not like going into the water in California. The sand looks brownish grey when moist and feels concrete hard when wet. Two other things keep me from going in to the water--rough rolling Pacific Ocean waves and seaweed that traumatized me as a child. I admit I am absolutely 100% partial to the Mediterranean Sea. Those clear waters and pebbled beach sense seaweed does it for me. Tanmateix, the one thing California beaches have embedded in my feel good memories of Californian beaches are the unrivaled sunsets. It is the one thing I will not find on my Barcelonan coast.

Another difference making me chuckle was the level of civility in public spaces. Huntington Beach provides pet owners plastic bags to pick up their pet's roadside business. In Barcelona, walking through the streets is like walking through a pet excrement mine field. But I do not know who is worse, lazy pet owners or lazy smokers who throw cigarette butts on the ground as if discarding flower petals to beautify the street. Huntington Beach has posted cigarette canisters on lamp posts to dispose of those irritating filters frequently found on streets, parks, and beaches in Spain. Take note Mayor Xavier Trias!

What are they fertilizing artichokes with?

cotton candy

I need to send this picture to Barcelona City Hall.

I need this in my neighborhood in Sant Cugat as does the city of Barcelona!

The name Barcelona hounds me everywhere I go.

I hated these as a young girl.