Yes, there is a first time for everything, as the cliché goes. This was my first visit to Exposition Park, a place I had long known about but had never visited when I lived in Los Angeles in the late 80s and early 90s.
I don't know why I had never gone. I guess I would have one if there had been a major festival held at the location. All it would have taken is a cultural presentation that was publicized in the Los Angeles Times' Calendar section and I would have gone. I went to other places, and it was close enough for me, just a few miles away from Olvera Street that I used to visit regularly.
The idea I had, and yes, it must have been a grave overexaggeration, was that it was seedy. I associated central LA with a dystopian, Mad Mad scenario, and it is not a stretch to imagine that it was right on the border with Compton. In those days, and even now, Compton has a fearsome reputation. It is associated with black urban youths with guns battling it out over turf, the way that Boyle Heights had Latino youth engaged in heavy gang warfare. And no, I am not exaggerating, despite how I started this paragraph. These were war zones, with continual reports about drive-by shootings and deaths in communities that were desperately poor, with youth that didn't have any sort of positive self-image. Yes, I know, now the people who have moved out of Boyle Heights and ascended the social mobility ladder have created this fiction of a Latino paradise in Boyle Heights, and they rage against what they perceive as aggressive gentrification, but I remember what a war zone it was, as reported in the media. And the same held true for Compton.
So, I think I thought that Exposition Park was on the doorstep of Compton, a place where I would be taking my life in my hands if I ventured close. It doesn't make sense, though, because it is next to USC, a major campus that caters primarily to the middle and upper classes. But USC students always said that their campus was located in the middle of a "ghetto", and besides, as a UCLA alum, why would I want to go visit the environs of USC?
But there are major museums at Exposition Park, such as the Museum of Natural History as well as the California Museum of African-American History. These places are listed on signs next to the freeways as we drive by the always-congested 110 freeway. Yes, drive down just one or two miles further south and you get offramps for streets that entered into the modern Los Angeles imaginary as entries to death zones. Streets such as Florence and Normandy, which was engraved in our collective Angelino mindset as the epicenter of the LA riots, where white truck driver Reginald Denny was brutally beaten on camera by thugs. This place was on fire back then, and the timber had long been dry.
So, I associated Exposition Park with Central Los Angeles, and thus, with danger. You drove by the area if you had to drive on the 110 freeway on your way to other parts, it was not a destination, it was a necessary depository for the fears and anxieties of Angelinos. And so, I think I missed out on many things.
There are the museums. I didn't get a chance to go today, although I walked outside them, but I saw places that must have valuable collections that can teach us not only about science but about our social environment and history. I would have visited today if I could, but they are still on timed-entry, and you have to reserve a time and also buy a ticket in advance. My visit today was not premeditated, so I didn't make the preparation. I just wanted to walk around the park and, principally, visit the rose garden.
Arriving to the location, you exit on Martin Luther King Blvd and then turn right on Figueroa. You get to a street called Exposition Park Blvd (the signs will announce it), and you pay $12 (shortly to go to $15) to park. It was, as the homies say, "popping" with families attending today. I saw many middle class families, but also, Latinos and some African-Americans. I say this because the attendees at Exposition Park don't really mirror the ethnic composition of the area surrounding it. The people around the area are poor, living in ultra-dense housing, and many are African-American and Latinos. However, a big difference you see here is that any homeless people or those that want to "hustle" are not allowed here, which is contrary to what has happened to other areas (such as Venice Beach) where they have taken over. Here, they are kept out of the environs, and thus, one feels very safe. This is a place you can go and feel secure.
I arrived and started walking around. The displays of aircraft seem a little dated and rusty. They must not have been updated in several decades. However, it was a very clean area. I was surprised that they let so many Latinos set up stands to sell food, and the ice-cream vendors (not the Anglos ones, the Mexican "paleteros") were walking all around. Pupusas, muletas, frutas, many Latino foods were being sold. I wonder if they have to apply for a permit, because if more of them gathered, and there were quite a few, I think they would scare away the Anglos and Asians.
The rose garden was beautiful, a riot of colors. Of course, the first thing I noticed was a family posing for Quinceañera photos. I loved the colors, and enjoyed taking photos with my Instax Wide camera. I was intending on taking more photos with my Minolta Autocord, but it was loaded with black and white, and it seemed pointless to shoot monotone photos in such an environment. I did take maybe four shoots, but mostly, I used my Instax Wide and my cellphone. I have to say, I am very impressed with the Instax camera. I loved most of the photos I took with it, and used up two rolls of color.
As I was walking around, I thought there would be another area that I could visit to the west. It was listed as the "Jess A. Brewer Jr Park" on the map, but it is a place that was fenced off because it was under construction. In a few of my photos you can actually see a giant crane in the background. We will have to return in 2022.
Well, I saw some of what Exposition Park has to offer, and one sight was the entrance to Memorial Colosseum. There is also a "Banc" of California stadium being constructed nearby. Most of the south was taken up by parking lots. I would have liked to go visit the campus of USC, but I imagine that access must be limited due to the pandemic-aftermath. UCLA is listed as a campus that is closed, after all, and I could see why. Besides, I was very tired and didn't want to walk any further.
I'll post a few cellphone photos in this entry and a few subsequent ones. My Instax Wide photos will be scanned and posted somewhere else. I want to make a book with my Instax photos, as a matter of fact. But here is my first batch of cellphone photos:
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