As expected Friday we would not be leaving early but eventually we left. My sister had to go return a sweater to one of her friends and as I started driving I remember one of her friends I had met last year owned a Mexican crafts store in that area so I asked her if we could go check it out. I am glad I did, we spent nearly an hour just looking around and admiring the Mexican craftsmanship in all the product she sells.
Next we would go eat as by now we were all hungry. My sister recommended this restaurant in the heart of South Central called La Carreta. On our way there I asked her to park the car so I could take some pictures of an old Baptist Church that was just sitting there looking abandoned. As I stepped out and left the door open my niece freaked out cause she said you don't do that in that neighborhood. Yeah,it's a little rowdy but we grew up around there and survived it.
A couple of blocks up the road was Jefferson High School, the high school that Chely attended. I was supposed to go there too but I opted for Huntington Park High. Needless to say we stopped for more photo ops there. Basically we would be going down memory lane for the next hour or so.
Finally we got to La Carreta where they ate some carne asada sincronisadas and I ate... yep you guessed it, tacos. There was a guy there with a guitar and harmonica playing music and he was surprisingly good. He sang typical Mexican music but he also belted some good ol Rock en Espanol. Of course Chely had to go and request some songs and then pose for a picture with the guy.
After we finished our food we headed for our old neighborhood. What a surprise to see the park I used to go to every day completely surrounded by a fence. Granted the fence was kindda nice but it was fenced. Just goes to show you the kind of neighborhood it turned out to be. Truth is it was always a rough place to grow up in but luckily many of us survived all the gang and drug activity in the area.
The father of two of my friends owned a bakery on Maple Ave and I decided to go see it it still existed. Not only it did but I got to see one of the two friends. We were disco dancing buddies from back in the 80's. To say it was a nice surprise would be an understatement, we spent a good amount of time going down memory lane and then we said goodbye.
A quick stop at our first home which by the way was just up for sale not too long ago I was told.
And last we also stopped by the little neighborhood chappel were we attended mass on Sundays.
Nest stop will be the Nokia Center but that will have to be a totally new post as we also took a zillion pictures there. So stay tuned and please come back later.
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3 comments:
How interesting to see where you grew up Jose.
By the way, loved the dancing on facebook!!! Way to Go!!!! You've got some moves...
Really interesting background info. The arts and craft store sounds like a place I would end up.
That is cool seeing the first house of your parents.
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