Guest on November 12, 2010, at 04:44PM – #1

TAKE EM AWAY!

Guest on November 12, 2010, at 04:52PM – #2

Here's the paradox: downtown has two (2!) gay bathhouses that require no membership and feature promiscuous sex, gambling, prostitution, drug use and the presence of many illegal immigrants. A straight club is busted because it featured just some of those things. How is this fair?

Guest on November 12, 2010, at 06:38PM – #3

Sorry, but simple logic warns that if you're an illegal, you shouldn't be surprised when you get arrested.

Guest on November 12, 2010, at 06:39PM – #4

Guest #2. When it comes to issues involving gays, the city has to be very sensitive. The gay voice in city hall carries alot of weight. Villariagosa's cousin, is the state assemblyman for downtown. He's openly gay and was handpicked by the mayor to represent us (he ran uncontested). It also wouldn't be very PC.

Guest on November 12, 2010, at 07:38PM – #5

Guest 4, my point was not to crack down on the gay places. The straights should have their playgrounds too. Leave places like 907 alone!

Guest on November 12, 2010, at 09:09PM – #6

I think that what your guys do not understand is that they are looking for girls who have been trafficked - and some are from other countries - the point is they should have never left the protection of the girls without providing support (most of these girls are not there because they want to or like it) - ICE will deport them without addressing any other issue - that is the problem.

Guest on November 12, 2010, at 11:51PM – #7

This article and its subject matter are confusing. Why would they seize condoms?

Also, I don't understand the problem with raiding a place on suspicion of lewd behavior, human trafficking, gambling, and counterfeit identification, then arresting the people suspected of those acts for violation of another law.

As I understand it the LAPD isn't supposed to stop someone for the mere suspicion of being undocumented, but that's not what happened here.

My biggest problem with this story is that Guest no. 2 doesn't know how to use the word paradox correctly. How is THAT fair? Flame on.

Guest on November 13, 2010, at 08:23AM – #10

Isn't prostitution legal in Mexico? If this is all they can do to earn money, they should do it there. Anyone involved in bringing them here and profiting from it should be punished, including the women who put themselves in this situation. I think this contributes just as much as the illegal drug trade to the gang proliferation in this region.

Guest on November 13, 2010, at 08:28AM – #11

What about the 320 men?, I'd say 90% of them are illegal also. Sooooo tired of illegals, sooo tired...enough already! Time for a firm and fair change.

Guest on November 13, 2010, at 08:38AM – #12

This city may be well on it's way to becoming Mexico. Take a look at Los Angeles street, or Broadway, or Santee Alley. Trash everywhere, non-tax paying businesses, perhaps mostly illegals. This city can no longer carry this burden of illegals. First obvious step, we need get the Mayor and his Latino gang out of office. Second step, start to clean up illegal businesses. Third step, deport ALL illegals. Last step, built an impenetrable border wall/fence system to secure the country.

Guest on November 13, 2010, at 08:44AM – #13

"...triggered an outcry from immigration advocates." WTF?, seriously? Goodbye beaners! Hasta never!

Guest number 3 said it best.

Guest on November 13, 2010, at 09:05AM – #14

Guest 7, a paradox is an apparent contradiction. I used the word correctly.

Guest on November 13, 2010, at 09:14AM – #15

@ Guest #2: And how is it you know with such authority what goes on in the gay clubs?

BTW, I know of Mid-Town Spa, but what's the other club? If you're talking about KLYT (or whatever the name is), it was historically a gay spot, but according to one employee it's now more of a place for the fiscally-challenged to get a really really cheap bed for the night.

Guest on November 13, 2010, at 09:48AM – #16

"@ Guest #2: And how is it you know with such authority what goes on in the gay clubs?"

Guest 10, I frequent both the Midtowne Spa and KLYT. I have for several years.

KLYT is still gay. the current room charge is $17 for 8 hours, so that eliminates many of the "fiscally-challenged."

Sometimes a down and out straight will use it as a crash pad, but trust me: it's a gay club. If you're interested, try half price days on Tuesdays and Thursdays or busy Sunday afternoons. You'll usually have to wait for a room, but they open the little waiting room just to the left of the check in counter.

If you're a woman, sorry, but it's men only and no cross dressers allowed.

Guest on November 13, 2010, at 10:00AM – #17

A paradox is a proposition or thing that is self contradictory. What you meant to say with your juxtaposition of the two situations (gay bath house versus hostess club) is that there is hypocrisy at play, or an inconsistent application of the law. It's not self-contradictory or internally inconsistent.

For example, if you and buddy were drunk on the street and only one of you got arrested for public intoxication, you wouldn't characterize the occurrence as paradoxical.

Guest on November 13, 2010, at 10:10AM – #18

BTW, trivia facts: The aunt of the KLYT's owner runs the prostitute hotel upstairs from the bathhouse (it used to be called the Eldon Hotel). It rents rooms by every 20 minutes. It has four or five permanent residents, prostitutes and bathhouse employees.

Have you seen the local transgender prostitute with manish features and long black hair parted in the middle? The one who wears sandals and sits on the curb on Winston? She lives in the hotel.

The KLYT's owner is also one of the owners of the notorious Coral Sands Hotel (the "crystal palace") in Hollywood on Western Avenue. His first name is Felix and he is Korean-American.

The KLYT is located at the corner of 4th and Los Angeles.

Guest on November 13, 2010, at 12:56PM – #19

"A paradox is a proposition or thing that is self contradictory."

Paradox also may refer to something that is ironic.

All of these stories involving crime and the seamy side of central LA, which have been cropping up more frequently within the past several days, are depressing.

Speaking of which, how do people maintain their sanity and patience when living in a country like Mexico? So much horrific crime, poverty, misery and corruption existing there. No wonder people from that country try to escape to the US.

Only problem is if the liabilities of Mexico also are exported to this country along with the immigrants, then where is the next promised land for everyone to escape to?

Guest on November 13, 2010, at 01:24PM – #20

Correct, guest 11. It's a paradox that the downtown wild-west gay bathhouses are left alone while straight club 907 is busted.

Guest on November 13, 2010, at 04:51PM – #22

I knew this post would bring out the best in blogdowntown's anti-gay and anti-immigrant crew. nice.

Guest on November 14, 2010, at 09:13AM – #23

the problem isn't immigration - it's illegal immigration. there's a big BIG difference, but people always conveniently choose to overlook that fact.

Guest on November 14, 2010, at 10:23AM – #25

"MEXICANS ARE WILLING TO DO THE JOB 99% OF THE REST OF YOU WONT!"

This argument is trite & irrelevant. There are plenty of cities around the US where there's been no influx of cheap illegal labor and those jobs get done. Especially now, people are willing to do whatever's available. There are far more reasons to deny illegals than to support them. Due to being non-citizens, they forgo things like paying taxes, getting proper health screenings before entering the country, and learning English. They do indeed contribute to the importing of Mexico's liabilities; drugs, human trafficking, law-evaders, prostitution, communicable diseases, and remittance of billions of US dollars to Mexico instead of spending here; remittance of US$$ being their #3 GDP. (And yes; those who hire them to avoid paying a decent wage to an American citizen are just as guilty as coyotes and should also be prosecuted.)

The only jobs I would concede to them being appropriate for are the agricultural jobs which are seasonal and should only warrant a worker's visa. They should be sent back home after the season ala the bracero system.

Guest on November 14, 2010, at 01:24PM – #26

"It was no secret at the scene of the operation on Friday night that there were undocumented girls working in the club."

"Girls"? These were children? If they weren't (and all mentioned but one appear to be of age), please refer to them as "women."

Guest 2, are you trying to get your favorite spots investigated and closed down? Because that's what happens when you put these places on blast in a blog. Dumb.

Guest on November 14, 2010, at 02:23PM – #27

I really don't see any of this as an illegal immigrant problem. The immigrants, legal or not, I see around Downtown seem very hard working and appreciative to have employment. Guest #8, commment #12...I have had enough of the tea party rants..your comments are racist "the Mayor and his Latino gang out of office". I suppose Councilman Huizar, who is spearheading the cleanup of Broadway, is included in your "gang" comment. You and Sarah Palin should go live in lily white Alaska if that is your choice...and I am a white guy tired of this anti-latino BS. Most Downtowners love the ethnic diversity here.

Guest on November 14, 2010, at 02:34PM – #28

The law is the law unless your mexican I guess then you have city officials on your side. Me as a white male who pays taxes, who is on my side? Where are my lobbyists? I work in a restaurant with pretty much only illegal immigrants. Most have absolutely zero interest in learning english and move back to mexico after a few years. Then come back, work, leave it's a cycle. A few have been here for over like 5 years but they speak zero english. A few can speak basic english but, on a kids level.

I fully support deportation and I wish we could enforce it better. Human trafficking is a horrible crime all parties involved should be punished, aside from the women taken against their will.

In a perfect world homeless and disadvantaged Americans would do the the jobs that nobody wants to do here in America. Illegals would be cut out of the job force by Americans who had good work ethics and just wanted to work and make money. California pays out entirely too much to people who choose to live off the system. Force people to work and change the standard that is, Mexicans will do what Americans wont.

Guest on November 14, 2010, at 06:17PM – #29

If you are a current or ex-employee of any downtown hostess club, you may be eligible for an employment-related lawsuit against your club.

You've probably been ripped off.

For more information, email me at victoratkinson@gmail.com.

Guest on November 15, 2010, at 06:20AM – #31

yikes, there are some typical blog type posts on here. I hope the good people that actually care to learn the issues about immigration don't get too discouraged. Here are some facts and figures for those who want to learn more about some of the common myths about the subject:

Immigrants don’t want to learn English — FALSE The development of English proficiency among non-English speaking immigrants today mirrors that of Nineteenth and early Twentieth century immigration, when masses of Italian, German, and Eastern European immigrants came to America. While first generation, non-English speaking immigrants predictably have lower rates of English proficiency than native speakers, 91% of second generation immigrants are fluent or near fluent English speakers. By the third generation, 97% speak English fluently or near fluently. (Source: Shirin Hakimzadeh and D’Vera Cohn, “English Usage Among Hispanics in the United States,” Pew Hispanic Forum, Dec. 6, 2007. http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=82; Janet Murguia and Cecilia Muñoz, “From Immigrant to Citizen,” The American Prospect (Oct. 23, 2005), http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=10487)

Immigrants Don’t Pay Taxes — FALSE Undocumented immigrants pay taxes. Between one half and three quarters of undocumented immigrants pay state and federal taxes. They also contribute to Medicare and provide as much as 7 billion dollars a year to the Social Security Fund. Further still, undocumented workers pay sales taxes where applicable and property taxes—directly if they own and indirectly if they rent.
(Source: Immigration Policy Center, “Undocumented Immigrants as Taxpayers,” (November 2007), http://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/docs/Undocumented%20as%20Taxpayer%2011-29-07_0.pdf; Eduardo Porter “ Illegal Immigrants are Bolstering Social Security with Billions,” New York Times, (April 5, 2005), http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/business/05immigration.html?ex=1270353600&en=78c87ac4641dc383&ei=5090&partner=kmarx)

Immigrants Increase the Crime rate — FALSE Recent research has shown that immigrant communities do not increase the crime rate and that immigrants commit fewer crimes than native born Americans. While the undocumented immigrant population doubled from 1994 to 2005, violent crime dropped by 34% and property crimes decreased by 32%. Furthermore, Harvard sociologist Robert Sampson has found that first generation immigrants are 45% less likely to commit violent crimes than Americanized, third generation immigrants. (Source: Immigration Policy Center, “Ímmigrants and Crime: Are They Connected,” December, 2007, http://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/docs/Crime%20Fact%20Check%2012-12-07.pdf; Robert Sampson, “Open Doors Don’t Invite Criminals,” The New York Times, March 11, 2006, A15; Executive Office of the President: Council of Economic Advisors, “Immigration’s Economic Impact,” June 20, 2007, http://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/cea_immigration_062007.html)

Immigrants Take Jobs Away from Americans — FALSE A recent study produced by the Pew Hispanic Center reveals that “Rapid increases in the foreign-born population at the state level are not associated with negative effects on the employment of native-born workers.” In fact, given that the number of native born low wage earners is falling nationally, immigrants are playing an important role in offsetting that decline. The Urban Institute reports that between 2000 and 2005 the total number of low wage workers declined by approximately 1.8 million while the number of unskilled immigrant workers increased by 620,000, thus offsetting the total decline by about a third.
(Source: The Urban Institute, “Trends in the Low-Wage Immigrant Labor Force, 2000-2005,” March, 2007, http://www.urban.org/publications/411426.html; Rakesh Kochhar, “Growth in the Foreign Born Workforce and Employment of the Native Born,” Pew Hispanic Center, August 10, 2006, http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.phpReportID=69)

Immigrants are a drain on the United States Economy — FALSE The immigrant community is not a drain on the U.S. economy but, in fact, proves to be a net benefit. Research reported by both the CATO Institute and the President’s Council of Economic Advisors reveals that the average immigrant pays a net 80,000 dollars more in taxes than they collect in government services. For immigrants with college degrees the net fiscal return is $198,000. Furthermore, The American Farm Bureau asserts that without guest workers the U.S. economy would lose as much as $9 billion a year in agricultural production and 20 percent of current production would go overseas. (Source: CATO Institute, CATO Handbook for Congress: Policy Recommendations for the 108th Congress, http://www.cato.org/pubs/handbook/hb108/hb108-63.pdf; Executive Office of the President: Council of Economic Advisors, “Immigration’s Economic Impact,” June 20, 2007, http://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/cea_immigration_062007.html; Derrick Z. Jackson, “Undocumented Workers Contribute Plenty, The Boston Globe, April 12, 2006, http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/04/12/ undocumented_workers_contribute_plenty/)

Undocumented immigrants are a Burden on the Healthcare System — FALSE Federal, state and local governments spend approximately 1.1 billion dollars annually on healthcare costs for undocumented immigrants, aged 18-64, or approximately $11 in taxes for each U.S. household. This compares to 88 billion dollars spent on all health care for non-elderly adults in the U.S. in 2000. Foreign born individuals tend to use fewer health care services because they are relatively healthier than their native born counterparts. For example, in Los Angeles County, “total medical spending on undocumented immigrants was $887 million in 2000 – 6 percent of total costs, although undocumented immigrants comprise 12 percent of the region's residents.” (Source: The Rand Corporation, “RAND Study Shows Relatively Little Public Money Spent Providing Healthcare to Undocumented Immigrants,” November 14, 2006, http://www.rand.org/news/press.06/11.14.html; Dana P. Goldman, James P. Smith and Neeraj Sood, “Immigrants and the Cost of Medical Care,” Health Affairs 25, no. 6 (2006): 1700-1711)

No doubt undocumented immigration is a hot issue, but instead of being misinformed by politicians who use scare tactics related to immigration as their platform, journalists looking for a story, or any other jo-smo who thinks he knows something without studying anything--get educated and make good informed decisions! Take some pride as a human being, Angeleno,American,whatever you believe in and take the time to research something that effects all of our lives: ) Thanks Cayla for showing me the post. Peace! James

Guest on November 15, 2010, at 07:57AM – #33

Blogdowntown loves its racist and homophobic rants.

Guest on November 15, 2010, at 09:09AM – #34

Someone's going to complain about anything that happens.

The police raid a club and arrest a bunch of people for illegal immigration, people complain. But if the police don't raid the club, people complain that the police aren't doing enough to stop human trafficking.

Target signs a deal to come downtown, people complain that it donated money to a politician who said bad stuff about gay people in a different state a couple years ago. Target doesn't come, people complain that the city isn't doing enough to lure big retail businesses.

Guest on November 15, 2010, at 11:19AM – #36

Southern California is a hub for human trafficking, indentured servitude and other criminal ventures involving forced employment and sexual coercion. Illegal immigrants are a particularly vulnerable population, and victims, fearing deportation, often endure patently illegal work conditions.

A recent raid at a downtown Los Angeles "hostess club" may offer a glimpse into some of these operations, police say. Last week three dozen officers showed up at Club 907 with a warrant to scrutinize the venue's records — and to swab the seats for semen samples. Eighty-one women were arrested, mostly illegal immigrants who were charged with using counterfeit identities. Seven men also were arrested, including the manager, who was charged with conspiracy to commit prostitution, police said. On the surface, it looks like a standard-issue vice raid. But details of the working conditions at Club 907 suggest that the women may not be the perpetrators, but the victims of a crime.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/13/opinion/la-ed-raid-20101113

Guest on November 15, 2010, at 01:38PM – #39

Guest #10 is wrong when he says that "Paradox also may refer to something that is ironic." Here is a good summary: http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-irony-and-paradox/

Guest #18 misses some of the points the fine tax-paying white supremacists on this message board have been burying in their racially charged sloganeering.

(1) Fine, immigrants want to become proficient in English. Is having 3% of people who aren't fluent in English as a third generation immigrant good? I think its pretty down right stupid. It's almost as idiotic as comparing immigrant groups today who literally have hundreds of sources for learning English with 19th Century Italian immigrants.

(2) Fine, immigrants pay taxes. Do they pay enough? Saying that 1/2 of undocumented immigrants pay into social security necessarily implies that 1/2 don't. Whitey's point stands. In addition, have you even thought for a second how millions of undocumented immigrants are able to pay payroll taxes? It's because they're fraudulently using other peoples SSNs or inventing them outright.

(3) Fine, undocumented immigrants don't tax the health-care system as much as "natives." This has got to be the dumbest argument yet. You basically state outright that undocumented immigrants cost LA county close to $900 million dollars. How you can square this fact away with the proposition that "Undocumented immigrants are [not] a Burden on the Healthcare System" is beyond my understanding.

(4) Fine, undocumented immigrants don't increase the crime rate, but they do increase crime. In order to prove that they don't, you would have to affirmatively prove that no undocumented immigrants have ever committed a crime. In fact the relevant proposition that "Undocumented Immigrants Increase the Crime Rate for Citizens" is most certainly true. Messing with statistics to prove a point is just intellectually mean spirited (forfty percent of people know that).

In conclusion, your arguments are so idiotic that I find myself hating you for fueling racists and their preposterous fear-mongering. We need an immigration policy that reflects the realities of the impact that illegal immigration (yes I used the word illegal instead of the sanitized "undocumented" designation) balanced by compassion and the vision for the so-called American Dream that most of us enjoy. Scouring the data in order to find a justification for illegal immigration is not the way. In any event, when have "facts" ever disabused Republicans of any of their preconceived notions?

Guest on November 15, 2010, at 02:44PM – #40

Those of us who choose to live in Little Mexico City are probably the wrong audience for your hatemongering.

So go post at Stormfront or wherever you normally hang out, please.

Guest on November 15, 2010, at 03:08PM – #41

I can only assume that Guest 17's comment is directed at the my previous post (#39). I don't understand where he's coming from or what his comment regarding "Little Mexico City" means.

Guest on November 15, 2010, at 07:05PM – #42

"Guest #10 is wrong when he says that "Paradox also may refer to something that is ironic."

Actually, based on your link and it's summation, paradox is merely a stronger version of irony:

1. Irony deals with incongruities between what is topically perceived and its underlying cause whereas paradoxes are not only incongruous but outright contradictions.

Guest on November 15, 2010, at 08:29PM – #43

Everyone on this blog has got to admit, this club seems sleazy.

I am so sick of downtown sleaze.

Hurray for LAPD.

Bless the cops who set up the bust.

Guest on November 15, 2010, at 08:45PM – #44

Book em Denno

Guest on November 16, 2010, at 08:41AM – #45

Ok Guest #10. I'll admit that the way you framed your statement as "may refer" shoehorns paradox into the broad definition of irony. I still maintain that its not paradoxical to raid Club 907 and not the gay bath houses.

Guest on November 16, 2010, at 07:52PM – #46

i was just looking at this program were they show how Europeans polluted and destroyed the land of my indigenous people. I am an American of Zapotec decent my people are out there in your fields picking your crops and constructing your cities while your writing stupid comments and getting overpaid.just remember every piece of fruit or vegetable on your plate gets touched by my people.you people put the blame on my people but you don't realize how blessed you are to have us doing all your hard labor. bunch of overweight lazy asses

Guest on November 16, 2010, at 10:03PM – #47

This has been a great blog. I mean, it started with a downtown raid and ended on the definition of paradox. just lovely.

It's all in good fun. Everyone posts about what they feel, it's perfectly normal to find that your post has nothing to do with the initial blog article. Well, here's what I think after skipping through the log:

-I think that the argument that gay clubs looked over is partly correct. In my opinion it comes down to different things; power and money. The golden rule here is that the little guy always gets screwed. Compared to some of the clubs downtown that host to upscale clients (asian, latin,european and american alike) the 907 club is small time. It's good tat the LAPD moved in on the place but it would have been better if there'd been an investigation to see who was funneling money into the club and who really ran the place, if you were to go that far up on the chain you'll start to see different color skin my friend.

-The 907 club is a small venue with a couple of average looking girls that will dance with you and conversate all for a moderate fee. I've never gone inside but I have passed by the place on my way to the mayan theatre. I've been to other hostess' bars and let me tell you from what I've heard from friends who have been there it's nothing as horrific as they make it out to be. The girls at these place are first off NOT ALL MEXCAN! (F.Y.I. for all you narrow minded people out there), they are asian, central, south and north american.

-Let's be honest people, what did they really get in this lewd venue?

two bags of coke. WTF?! what is that. you can find more than that on a friday night under the toilet of the Factory's men's restroom. (Disclaimer: not a proven fact). Unless the two bags of coke they found were thrash bags (and they were not, if they were it would've been mentioned) then there's really no way to know if the drugs were just for personal use. what else? alcohol. Did I fall asleep and wake up in prohibition? are we going after moonshine smugglers and their evil distilled spirits? because if we're not then IDK why this is such a big deal. what else? condoms. really? condoms? really? I don't even want to comment on why ANYONE other than the Pope (yes I said it) would want to confiscate condoms. The only other thing is a firecode violation... and I can name thousands of LA clubs, venues, restaurants, goverment offices, churches, schools and even jail facilities that are not up to code.

taking all that away this raid like many others was a blatant intrusive, abusive and unexcusable trample on the human rights of people who worked at this place. There was $100,000, where did that come from? you see this type of cash in big drug rings. Why was the investigation not focused on drug traffic? why didn't we read about arrests of drug dealers? It's obvious that this club had prostitution and drugs behind its doors but where does the fake papers charge come in? I'm not saying let them all go, just raising the point that if it was truly the hell hole they say it is then there's more pressing issues at hand.

-also, on the undocumented worker issue, I think guest 18 made a good point at stating that alot of the myths about undocumented workers are false and made up just to instill fear on some people and pressure others (let's remember people this is how you win elections ;D). The greatest point that I think guest 18 raised was not that he was always right and his opinion was law, but that you should read more about the issues that are important to you and not rely on media outlets to guide your hand. Guest 21's argument much like alot of the banter out there misses the point. No one's trying to say that one race is better than the other (or at least they shouldn't), no one should say that in order for a race to be accepted they have to meet certain requirements. Let's remember that the melting pot we call america is made up of different ethnic backgounds. Can anyone of us truly call ourselves American? Even california was once mexico... but well that's a whole 'nother blog.

-I strongly think that guest 2 was trying to say that raiding a straight bar while another gay bar would be hypothecally around the corner is IRONIC. More than the definition the form of usage suits irony better, so you can try and change the way a word has been used in the english language or you can just admit you're wrong.

-Also, I think the club was sleazy.. but if we took away al the sleaze from downtown we'd have to rename the city.. there's always been an air of irony to the city of angels that we call home. This is really a cut throat city, one where you have it all and see it all. Sleaze is as much a part of LA as the hollywood sign (saved in part by mr. Playboy himself) and sunset strip (which is turning to be kinda sleaze if you ask me.. who's with me?)

That is all folks.

Guest on November 17, 2010, at 02:37PM – #48

Guest No. #24. A few points:

(1) I didn't mean to actually inject "race" as an issue into my comments (if anything my comments about white supremacists were meant to be facetious), but more so I wanted to point out that a lot of arguments made in the admirable quest to protect undocumented immigrants' rights are simply put, logically fallacious.

(2) "Conversate" isn't a real word.

(3) Los Angeles was part of New Spain for longer than it was a part of Mexico. This isn't really relevant to our discussion, but I'm starting to get the vibe that the pro-booby bar side of this discussion is harping a bit too much on notions that Mexican nationals somehow have a superseding right to be in this country illegally. (Incidentally, I invite the bloggers of blogdowntown to write an article about LA's coat of arms).

(4) Guest #23's point (which could have been validly made) is just as bad as all the other bigots' posts in previous comments. Making ad hominem attacks on people you've never met just makes you appear foolish. I guess its still in good fun though.

(5) Lastly, I want to say something about the melting pot. The melting pot is real and alive and its clearly a cornerstone of the American life. I love this city, but sometimes I feel like our embrace of multi-culturalism is at odds (some may say paradoxically so) with the idea of a melting pot. In a melting pot, given the differing viewpoints, we're supposed to come come together and adopt a homogeneous set of common values. Instead, in it seems to me that LA has a burger cooking on the grill, and tamales steaming in a separate pot. Even though its not one big cauldron of deliciousness, the kitchen still smells good and we're all invited over for dinner.

I move for these comments to be closed, and further discussions regarding these topics to take place on the latest article regarding Club 907.

Guest on November 17, 2010, at 04:01PM – #49

"Little Mexico City"??

If only downtown Los Angeles was a fraction as cool, developed and happening as Mexico City.