The "Hood" vs. The Suburbs

Have you ever taken a look at what distinguishes different cities/areas? How the populations differ? The buildings?  It’s interesting what you learn by observing and analyzing your surroundings. Why is one area so different from another? How were these differences established? Once you begin to learn about why areas are so different and how you can tell a “bad area” from a “good area”, it’s truly mind blowing. So much is present in front of your eyes and we don’t consciously know it.

The truth is that the suburbs of the LA area are meant for the wealthy. According to Steve Macek, “During the nineteenth century, most suburbs of American cities were enclaves for the nation’s wealthy elite who moved there to avoid the noise, pollution, and crime of the big cities while remaining close enough to the city-based businesses and industries they owned to actively manage them”. This still exists today. As you take a cruise down most of the suburbs of LA, you begin to notice the big million dollar mansions, and you tend to realize that your car is surrounded by extremely expensive cars now. This is where the wealthy citizens of LA reside; mostly white citizens. You won’t see liquor stores or 7-elevens. It’s strictly nice streets, nice signs that let you know exactly what part of the suburb you’re in, big houses, nice cars and expensive boutiques or mainstream grocery stores. The suburbs can even shift your mood in a sense. It wakes you up and you begin to feel overwhelmed by all of the nice things that surround you—it makes you want to live there.

On the other hand, we have the inner-city regions. These regions, for example east LA, vary significantly in the characteristics. There are no nice houses, nice cars, or groomed streets. Instead, there is a large amount of pollution, noise, crime, and liquor stores. This is where some of the working class resides. Why? Inner cities are home to all of the factory jobs and labor jobs. Immigrants began to settle here in the 1920’s to find jobs and as a result this has become a region dominated by Latino and Black citizens. However, why don’t these communities look as well groomed as those of the suburban areas? These residents might live in the “hood”, however, they are still paying taxes.

The differences in these areas have been normalized. No one really asks themselves why the street cleaners don’t come around the bad areas as often. Little things like liquor stores on every corner make a huge difference, however, citizens living there don’t really challenge why there are so many. It’s interesting how the freeways act as barriers to separate these nice and bad areas. The differences one sees while driving down a big street can be overwhelming sometimes. Watching how one side of a street is nice and clean, while 20 minutes later driving down that same street, the difference in the area shifts from nice to uncared for. It is important that we take the time to understand the different characteristics of the suburbs and the inner cities and what these differences mean.

-Jackie