Indie Rock Bakery Settles the Debate: Eastside, Westside
Where the Westside ends and the Eastside begins is always a contentious subject. The basic (if oversimplified) idea is that there is a fundamental difference between the communities on L.A.’s purported Westside and its Eastside. That Venice is different from Boyle Heights isn’t particularly controversial, but just where one draws the dividing line certainly is.
There’s no shortage of suggestions for demarcators. One is Western Avenue, leaving everything west of Western on the Westside. Back in the day, Western used to mark the western edge of Los Angeles, but today I think we can do better. As it turns out, there’s an Eastern Avenue in East L.A.
There are also a number of people who suggest that anything east of the L.A. River—East L.A., Boyle Heights, Highland Park—is on the real Eastside of L.A. This faction seems intent on discrediting Silver Lake and Echo Park hipsters who claim the Eastside. The argument is convenient, at least on paper. But is it necessary for “Eastside” and “East L.A.” being essentially synonymous?
Further complicating the issue is that some in East L.A. are campaigning for cityhood. Moreover, there’s an officially designated community on the Westside of Los Angeles called West Los Angeles. Should we consider everything east of this community to be Eastside? Of course not.
Personally, I like La Brea Avenue. Of course, this is almost entirely subjective (although La Brea does a decent enough job of bisecting L.A.). When I’m driving across town, La Brea always feels like the middle, the same way Wilshire does going north-south. It’s where WeHo turns to Hollywood proper. The people, the stores, the food—they start to feel subtly different. The tacos get better. Pretty soon, the subway appears.
But even though I unofficially back La Brea, the more important thing is to realize that there is no singular magic line where everything changes. (In fact, I actually tend to think of Mid-Wilshire, the Miracle Mile, Mid-City, Koreatown, etc. to be … well, I just call it Mid-City.) Los Angeles is, after all, a city without a single center. It represents a unique constellation of neighborhoods and communities. So while shorthand notions of the Westside and Eastside can be convenient, there’s no need to let them limit your understanding of the real city beneath the grid.
