newest entry
contact
quien es nico?
a links page
Antes:
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
I also do stuff over at livejournal:
the insufficient blog
otro lugares:
absorbacon
abstractnixon
aiyah
amateur gourmet
amazing adventures of bill
appetites
archerr
bill and kent
blockade boy
center of gravitas
cheap blue guitar
chocolate and zucchini
comics 212
designer blog
dogpoet
edwin
how to learn swedish
hungry tiger
i make things
i was just really very hungry
insequence
island of misfit toys
lady, that's my skull
mysterysteps
news from me
old grey poet
once upon a tart
postmodernbarney
precocious curmudgeon
pretty, fizzy, paradise
roar of comics
something old, nothing new
stop touching my food
strange maps
super underwear perverts
there are some who call me tim
tinman
tmb
ultrasparky
diaryland
diaryland profile
ringsurf gay diary
previous next random list join
Stories from a man who fails to meet media expectations of what it means to be gay:
white, frivolous, over sexed yet sexless, shrill, single, stylish, a clown, unimportant, et al.
Locations
I�ve decided to include a little guide to areas I have or am likely to mention in the journal. It�s just a list of facts mixed with a bit of nico ramblings.
Nico Locations:
Alhambra
A mid sized city, south of South Pasadena and northeast of Downtown L.A. Built on part of the old Rancho San Antonio and named after the famed Spanish castle. Has a mixed Asian/ Latino/ Anglo population. The city is attempting to attract more business to it�s Main St. shopping district by building movie theaters and such. Kind of a Suburb city.
City Of Industry
An odd place. There are only a few hundred actual residents of the city. It�s pretty much just warehouses and factories. An industrial area that you tend to drive through going somewhere else instead of actually visiting as a destination.
Lake
South Lake Ave. A shopping district in Pasadena. Was once filled with shops aimed at rich San Marino matrons. The city would like it to return it to its old upscale days, but currently it�s still a mix of some �spensive places and more mundane chain stores.
Long Beach
Second largest city in Los Angeles County and built on the old Nieto Rancho. The city did the usual tear down most of the historic downtown area for massive redevelopment in the 70�s only to have that largely fail in the 80�s. There is a large fairly well organized LGBT community here and the city hosts my favorite pride festival.
Los Angeles
Not much explanation needed I�m guessing. It�s a place that people really love to hate. A lot. Those of us who grew up here accept that it neither the best nor worst place to live, but we have learned not to argue with L.A. bashers. Nothing upsets �em more than someone admitting they like it here.
Los Feliz
A neighborhood in Los Angeles just south of Griffith park named after Jos� Feliz. It�s a nice part of town, although other than an occasional movie at the Los Feliz 3 followed by a quick stop at Skylight book store I rarely go there anymore.
Montery Park
A city in the San Gabriel Valley south of Alhambra and Pasadena. I once read that the city incorporated in the early 1900�s to keep nearby cities from using it as some type of sewage dump. Kind of an odd start. Nowadays, it has a large Asian population, predominately Chinese.
Old Town
Old Town Pasadena. A touristy shopping district in Pasadena. It�s a �revitalized� old section of the city. A couple of decades ago it was home to porn shops and for some odd reason tons of printing firms. Now it�s filled with �fun and eclectic� shops and movie theaters, although every time I go, there is less eclectic and more generic chain store.
Orange County
Just south of Los Angeles County. Very suburban, very republican, kinda racially mixed in the northern borders, kinda Anglo in the richer southern borders, home to right wingers like lou sheldon. I lived here, specifically in the city of Irvine when I went to U.C. Irvine years ago. A lot of my identity as adult was formed in this very conservative atmosphere. Interestingly, living in the shadow of the beast as it were, has forced the local LGBT community to be very organized and active. Oh, also home to Disneyland and stuff.
Pasadena.
Also not much explanation needed I guess. A largish city, home of the Rose Bowl, JPL, Cal tech and that parade. Its in the west end of the San Gabriel Valley on what was once the old Rancho San Pasqual . It has a largish LGBT community, although not as as obvious or political as in other parts of Southern California. A standard lame joke is that gay folk go to Pasadena to buy a house and retire.
San Diego
A �fun� city, home to Sea Worlds and Zoos and and redevelopment projects. There is an odd constant military feel in the background of the city, do to both the city's past and the nearby Naval and Marine bases. Those bases may explain why there are �jarheads� running around every gay/lesbian club/bar that I have ever been to down there.
Silver Lake
A neighborhood in Los Angeles. Has a highly mixed Queer/Latino/poorer/richer population. The local gay �scene� is considered more leather and �real people� than in Weho. I used to work and hang there. Not so often these days. Recently, I read that this was now considered a �hot � place to live. Last time that happened, Madonna moved to Los Feliz.
South Central Los Angeles
Where I'm working now. The perception is poverty and black gangs. The reality is an economically depressed series of mixed African American and Latino neighborhoods. There are gangs, there are way to many liquor stores and not enough �regular� business�s.
South Pasadena
A separate city from Pasadena. Yuppies, old neighborhoods and homes. The city is very opposed to the proposed 710 freeway extension which would tear the city in half and destroy lots of historic Craftsman homes and bungalows and cause all manner of destruction (the John y Nico household is opposed to this freeway as you can probably already tell).
Weho
West Hollywood. Yes that city. Boystown, the Gay Mecca and other silly names. The city managed to incorporate back in 1984 because of an alliance between local Queer activists and Senior citizen renter groups. The accepted stereotype/perception is that the place is filled with with pretty, plastic, shallow, gay, Anglo boys. It�s not quite that simple.