It was a cool night east of the Los Angeles River as the poet mounted the stage and grabbed the microphone. He cleared his throat and with these words, he drew the line:
You are not the Eastside
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A title bout between two Eastsides
East of the river is the traditional Chicano heart of L.A. West of the river is a gentrifying region of boutiques and galleries. Both want the name.
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If you look at the downtown skyline and city hall is on your left
You are not the Eastside
It's a simple geographical fact
A battle of the Eastsides has been taking place in this city of blurry boundaries, a grudge match to reclaim a title some say a hipper crowd has stolen from the Chicano heart of Los Angeles. And with this month's poetry slam, Rafael Cardenas and eight other poets told those also using the Eastside name -- Echo Park, Silver Lake, Los Feliz and downtown --that they're fed up. Time for a throw-down.
Before a packed crowd in a Boyle Heights wine bar, appropriately called Eastside Luv, they came to claim their turf. Their hands sliced the air with each stanza. Their tones rose and fell with emotion. They called the other Eastsiders trendsetters, invaders and liars. The audience, awash in the bar's red glow, hollered back in approval.
"It's about time they heard the truth from the real Eastside," said Xavi Moreno, 25, as he applauded the performers.
The protest is no mere issue of semantics. It's a threat to their community's identity, the Eastsiders said.
They argue that the term "Eastside" is synonymous, in California and beyond, with the Chicano movement; home to working-class immigrants and the city's first Latino mayor in more than a century.
It's the Eastside of social justice battles in the 1960s, Spanglish and taco trucks. In pop culture, it's the Eastside of Los Lobos and Cheech Marin's parody song "Born in East L.A." It's Mariachi Plaza, Garfield High School and El Tepeyac Cafe.
And the longtime, indisputable dividing line between east and west, the original Eastsiders said, remains the Los Angeles River.
About a decade or so ago, outsiders began arriving west of the river.
They settled beyond the skyscrapers and up the road, where Cesar E. Chavez Avenue yields to Sunset Boulevard. Boutiques and art galleries soon pushed out many discount stores and mini-marts.
The newly gentrified area started to collectively call itself the Eastside -- as in east of the riches of the Westside. Their east-west dividing line is Western Avenue or La Brea Avenue, even La Cienega Boulevard.
