LET'S CLEAR UP the geographical quirks first.
There is the east side of Los Angeles, which is the part of the city of Los Angeles that lies east of the L.A. River. It is home to neighborhoods like Highland Park and Lincoln Heights, and it is sometimes collectively called "the Eastside" -- one word. (The same holds for "the Westside," the part of the city that lies west of whatever money meridian celebutantes refuse to cross.)
And then there is East Los Angeles.
It is \o7not\f7 the Eastside, nor is it part of the city of Los Angeles. It is east \o7of\f7 Los Angeles, in L.A. County, an "unincorporated area" hunkered between Boyle Heights and Monterey Park, Commerce and Montebello. Its seven-ish square miles are bounded by more freeways than Beverly Hills and Brentwood and Bel-Air have put together.
East Los Angeles is the foundry of many things Mexican American: zoot suiters, dazzling murals, cherry low-riders, Los Lobos music, Chicano protests and Garfield High, where Bolivian-born Jaime Escalante taught his students college-level calculus. And here in "East Los" 20 years ago, Richard Anthony Marin -- Cheech, short for "Chicharron," Marin -- starred in the comedy "Born in East L.A.," about a Mexican American mistakenly deported to Mexico; some things, as recent headlines prove, do not change. (Marin, who lives in Malibu, the 88th incorporated city in Los Angeles County, unfortunately wouldn't say anything about the prospect of East L.A. becoming the 90th city in Los Angeles County. Too bad; he'd have a great shot at becoming mayor.)
East Los has been trying to become its own city since Cheech Marin was a teenager.
The first time, about a week after the Bay of Pigs disaster in 1961, the bid lost by 340 votes. The second time, in 1964, cityhood supporters couldn't get enough signatures on the petitions. The third time, in 1974, the idea got clobbered by East L.A. voters and buried so deep that it hadn't been undertaken again in more than 30 years.
Poor East Los.
Always the \o7dama\f7 at someone else's \o7quinceanera\f7. It's had to watch as Hidden Hills and Palmdale and Carson and Diamond Bar and Westlake Village all grew up and became cities. Vernon -- population under 100, which doesn't count the doomed critters about to be turned into Dodger Dogs -- has been a city for more than 100 years. Even Hawaiian Gardens -- a midget of a town named after a bootlegger's punch stand -- became a real burg.
