Driving through Hancock, the wide streets are bordered by trees that form an arch of green across the wide
avenues, punctuated by the occasional majestic African palm. The sunlight
pours through the trees with a sparkle. But as you travel further toward
the outskirts, the trees thin, no longer creating a canopy, and finally grow increasingly sickly.
The needles on the pines grow slightly brown and the trees themselves come
further and further apart until you are suddenly dumped into
Here, these streets can no longer be saved by a tree or two,
they give a fresh meaning to what used to be called the mean streets. Now
instead of trees are Mexican Panaderias (bakeries), Salvadorian Pupuserias (places
that sell “pupusas” which we will come to in a later
tale), Korean Barbeque, tiny mercados (markets) and
Vietnamese Boba places.
And if this multiplicity of nations did not by themselves represent quite enough of the world, you
drive a few blocks west into an entire Hasidic community, with Shuls on every corner. There are Persian Shuls, Russian Shuls and (of
course) the “classic” eastern European variety. But LA could never be
content to allow this phenomena to occur without
adding a touch of irony. On the corner (in the heart of Hasidic-land)
stands an American icon: the Honeybaked Ham
store (do you think they offer a Kosher one?)!
But before I forget I must get back to the “Boba”. In large parts of LA
the Boba place has supplanted the coffee shop. Even places that still
call themselves coffee shops still offer Boba. Boba itself is an
interesting thing, part food group, part desert. The Boba is best
described as a gelatinous ball made of tapioca. These little balls rest
at the bottom of your drink (iced coffee, fruity drinks, etc.) and are chewed
slowly after slurping your drink. Unfortunately the straws are so wide
that one can (as I did on my first try) suck one straight through the straw so
that it might ever so efficiently lodge in ones windpipe! Perhaps this
delight might sound more appealing if one thinks of them as gummy-bears. Boba used
to be known, I’m told, as “bubble tea” or “pearl tea” and was typically served
in ice-tea. I have never been clear how the Thai Iced Tea came to be
served in Vietnamese restaurants or how adding the Boba would make that drink
then be know as “Korean”, but why ask why?
The Boba stores have names like: Bobalicious, Boba World, Bobapioca and the perfectly cross-cultural (and my personal
favorite) Boba-loca
There is even a web site called boba-fate which offers (if you can deign to email them a photo of your Boba, (and by-the-way they suggest you use your camera phone for this)) a fortune-teller to study and interpret your Boba image. You will receive a return email with your fortune (in less than a day)! How about that? I can’t say I ever considered my future might lie in a Boba (except that one that landed in my windpipe)!
Bobalicious, Boba World, Bobapioca and the perfectly cross-cultural (and my personal favorite) Boba-loca
How LA defies description, every street I turn down I enter yet another world. I still loose my breathe occasionally,
sometimes at the beauty, sometimes at the devastation and chaos, but there is always something!
In Hollywood, the grocery store “Ralphs” has come to be called the “Rock & Roll Ralphs”, apparently a
visit at midnight will explain the name (but I can’t stay awake until midnight proving once again that I’m not fit to
live in Hollywood).
The built in comedy of the decrepit piano store (somehow hanging on in the run-down
I could go on and on, but I think I’ll save some for tomorrow.
==fin
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