Sawtelle West Los Angeles's Japantown book
I got this book today. It tells the story of Sawtelle from a few people's points of view. That sounds ominous, but it's certainly not the whole story, since I recall Latinos living in the area as well. Gangs? SOTEL13? But as a Japanese American story, it's fun to check out. As a lot of you might know, I like the Sawtelle area. I enjoy it from way back when, I also enjoy it for the changes that are happening today. I'm part of that. GR is part of that. So it's important. Jack Fujimoto, is the fella who put this together, and he's a local "community" person. I recognize him, but never met him. I've seen his photo at the Japanese school I attended way back. He's part of the "old" neighborhood.
This photo is funny, since I was a kid eating the donut on the string. See how far back I go with donuts? I'm not in this pic, but I've played this game when I was little. Maybe that's why I buy a lot of donuts, when I get the chance. I had to eat my donuts on a string, in a hurry, and just one!
Check this dudes out. Who are they? What did they do? Check out their hair styles. That's a pool table they're leaning on. Where was that? It's cool they're fairly young, and all hanging out together. Do people in the area still do this? Where do they do it? What do they do? The "men of Sawtelle" from way back are sort of the folks who built the area up. It's different today, you won't get a solid crew like this. The guy with the smoke in his mouth, he's the Joe Pesci. Starts battles but then pulls out a weapon. The mysterious dude who's partially cut off with the glasses, he's the hitman. Front right is the playboy. The dude on left is the party man. "Hey bro, I just drank 8 Kirins! I'm drunk." Far left standing, the muscle of the group, sizing up how to break drunk guy's neck. Who are the rest of the dudes?
I was having some fun with the book, checking it out, seeing how it leaves GR out completely, as if we didn't help the area, but oh well, but it does include a few folks I do know. The photo above is amazing. Not that amazing to everyone, but for me. The woman with the black hair fourth from left in the front, is my grandmother. Yeah, I guess at 80+ in this photo, she dyed her hair. This photo was a special dinner for folks over 80. I don't know when it was photographed, or by who, or when this happened, but since my grandmother passed away a decade or more ago, it's nice to see her in this book - curing any omissions from the story of Sawtelle for the minute. I guess it's up to "us" to write the next book.Labels: random musings, street sights
posted by gr @ PERMLINK: 11:36 PM
8 Comments:
Didn't we "do that" Men of sawtelle hanging out. I'm not from there but I saw a few of you guys from the area watching the football game. But no one had those slick haircuts...well maybe your cousin jason did.
I'll call it like it is, and say, a get together in an apt is different than dudes getting together in a public place. I think the pool table was in one of the businesses that once existed. I think it was a bar, but I'm not sure. And I'll bet the folks who were in that photo were/are Sawtelle lifers. I guess a few of us are, but I don't really hang out on that street.
Pretty awesome. I heard that there used to be a pool hall where the Saudi consulate sits now. That's my guess for where the local dude pic comes from. Chances are they lived at the boarding house up the street where all the single guys from Japan stayed. The red brick building on the next block is where that used to be.
So where did u find it????
I just saw the books at The Japanese American National Museum book store. They also
have one for Boyle Heights (grandpa shig
would probably like this one. He's
always posting old photos from that
area in the GR lounge.) There is also
one for SF Japantown and the Japanese
Americans in Chicago. The last I heard,
they were going to make one for
Little Tokyo as well. It seemed difficult
though, like Eric was mentioning about all of
the omissions. From the get go in
Little Tokyo, they were having some
trouble with who was going to be
in charge of it all. There are so
many factions and groups and each
one has their own story or memories
of how things went down. I don't know what
ended up happening, but I guess we
will see.
Hey Eric, the reason I was at the museum
was so I could finally see the GR exhibit.
I really liked the way you could see
all of the issues in the beginning. It
looks like you guys took a big leap
from issue 2 to 3. I'm also really
glad that they decided to designate
that space to exhibits like yours.
I thought it was very appropriate
to initiate it with your display and it
was great to celebrate your 50th issue
with it.
Also, my friend was blown away
by Masakatsu Sashie's orb paintings.
I remember you posting him and his
work when you went to Japan
for Murakami's contest.
The only thing for me was
I wish they could have delegated
more space for you guys
and you could have shown more
of your artists.
But I guess it's better to keep
people wanting more. :)
Sometimes we hang out at norm's or islands or the softball field...does that count?
Yo Mr Yum we gotta hang out in spots like Blue or maybe one of the karaoke joints. A boba shop? GR2 art show?
I should stick a pool table in the back room at Safe and Save. Now that'd be Sawtelle local.
yum yum, nope, going to norms doesn't count, it's not quite the same, but really, it's great in many other ways. I'm sure a lot of these folks, hung out much more often, and I bet they were super tight. The reasons might be because they were screwed in every other way, so they had no choice but to band together, but softball once a week. I'm good with that, it's a great thing. I know there are possies of kids who hang out, maybe they go to one of the churches, went to a language school, and live in the area, but still it's just impossible to replicate.
We'll be carrying this book in the next few days.
Awesome! Let me know when they come in.
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