110 Degrees

The Good, the Bad, the Hope, the Heart

I live in Barrio Hollywood, the biggest neighborhood on the West Side and the most well- known. Everything you need is right down the street - nice parks, friends' houses and the two best things of all: Pat's Drive-In, 1202 W. Niagara St., and Grande Tortilla Factory, 914 N. Grande Ave. Pat's has the all-time best fries I have ever tasted, and I have been all over the United States. It's been around since the early '60s and is still going strong. At Grande Tortilla Factory on the weekends, you can smell the tortillas cooking all over the neighborhood from this little place. Early in the morning there are so many birds chirping it sounds like a relaxation CD right outside your window. During the day you hear car systems. Nighttime is when you can hear all the drama starting - guns being fired and louder car systems and lowriders' hydraulics. With all this drama, you then might also hear howling and snarling. The dogfights. I usually wonder why the dogs are yelping or why women are screaming, but that's just because I'm metiche, nosy. In the morning, though, it's like nothing ever happened. Guys are out washing their cars and the birds are chirping again. ***

In the neighborhood, the houses aren't mansions, but we keep them clean and well-maintained. The yards have scrolled gates and behind them, beautiful roses that the nanas have grown. Sometimes people hang out in their front yards: lifting weights, fixing cars, listening to music, playing with kids, relaxing after school or work. On some streets you see old abandoned buildings with fences knocked down and all kinds of weeds growing everywhere, and in the back yard you see old cars rusting away and dog poop from the strays. An outsider might see a lot of negative things about Barrio Hollywood, but if you know the place and the people, you see the beauty and hope lying just underneath the surface. All the families know each other, and the kids from each family play together. On porches, best friends sit and watch their kids play while they talk about getting their nails done at the local salon. There's a great sense of community. ***

People who live here have a choice of where to live. Some have money, but they choose to live here. You don't have to have a nice house and a big yard. You have to have love and community and family, which are better than those things. The people you hang out with become like your family if you hang around them long enough. Around here family is very important. People are proud of their parents, and they look up to them. In Barrio Hollywood there are many different generations of people. No one ever moves away if they can help it. You have grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, parents, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren all living together. Since there are so many different generations in one place it creates great wisdom throughout the community. Everyone tells each other their stories and their friends' stories. You can't hide anything here. When someone dies in Hollywood, whether they're young or old, we remember them every day by the things they left behind. We memorialize their death by glorifying their life. People put flowers where their loved ones have passed away. They reach up like trumpets for joy and remind us to stay hopeful.