Silly Londoner Discovers Northeast L.A.

Categories: Food News

nelasunset.jpg
Guzzle & Nosh
Dusk in northeast Los Angeles on Eagle Rock Blvd.
This is what happens when London rag The Evening Standard sends a cheerfully clueless writer to Los Angeles. She discovers an "alternative Los Angeles," one where, "You'll even find that rare Los Angeles sighting -- the non-collagen-implanted, surgically unaltered human being."

You know where we find that kind of neighborhood? Everywhere.

On one hand, writer Eddi Fiegel seems to genuinely enjoy the city and the neighborhood, heaping praise on Cafe de Leche, Galco's, The Coffee Table, Swork, The Luggage Room and Vertical Wine Bistro. On the other, the story is rooted in the dumbest L.A. cliché of all time.

To be fair, Angelenos have their own stereotypical notions about British food, so let's acknowledge that cultural cluelessness runs both ways. But only Brits immediately think of David Hockney when you say "Los Angeles."

You'd think from Feigel's story we'd never had a Reyner Banham (born in England) or a Mike Davis. If you start with a baseline perception of Los Angeles as a shallow, soulless city filled with collagen-addled zombies, the real L.A. will always look better.


Follow Squid Ink at @LAWeeklyFood and check out our Facebook page. Follow the author at @ElinaShatkin or contact her at eshatkin@laweekly.com.

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Cafe De Leche

5000 York Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

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Dianafaust
Dianafaust

Why be snarky about the fact that an openminded Londoner took the time to see how real people live in our neighborhood? She's not "silly," but thoughtful. She did us a favor by breaking through the stereotypes that foreigners have about our city. Why would you dis that?

Graham Starfelt
Graham Starfelt

When I was in England, everyone would Oooh and Aaah when I told them I was from Los Angeles, and then proceed to ask me all sorts of dumb questions. Stereotypes about Los Angeles, good and bad, seem to be more firmly entrenched there than they are in the rest of the English-speaking world.

Pat Saperstein
Pat Saperstein

I guess I skipped over the collagen-implanted part and was just happy that he spent time on the less-familiar parts of L.A. I think the editors outside L.A. have a standard line like that they force their writers to put in since it always sounds about the same.

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