Blogging Social Difference in Los Angeles: Week 8

Hello!

This week I commented on Monika Holser's blos post about social difference in Westwood Village. Her blog is http://mhwelcomingwanderlust.blogspot.com/

This comment I left on her blog is below:

Hello Monika!

I am commenting on your Week 7 post about Westwood. After reading your post, I realized that I haven’t posted about Westwood now it is time to discuss the home turf for which this class is based upon.

Expanding and elaborating on your discussion of the divide between the old money and the young college students will be the main purpose of my comment. I think the most noticeable social difference in this area is between the student population of UCLA that is very diverse in race and socioeconomic status against the backdrop of the very rich established people inhabiting Bel Air and the surrounding areas. Westwood stands out distinctly amongst the surrounding enclaves of Bel Air and Beverly Hills, which at some points are quite secluded and hard to access. This disparity of wealth is elucidated by the many homeless people that inhabit the streets of Westwood. The city/suburban environment that constitutes Westwood as a “village” has a lot of public business and accommodations that allow for the homeless to settle there. This is not as likely in the surrounding areas such as Bel Air, due to its infrastructure being mostly private residential property.

This example of shaping cities due to different forms of commerce and institutions in said city can be drawn from the reading: Neo Liberalism as Creative Destruction by David Harvey. This redrafting of cities to accomodate institutions of business is exactly the form of "creative destruction" that was mentioned in the essay. 

The lack of wealth of the residential areas of Westwood, which are mostly college students, is apparent with the many cracks in the street and some less than optimal aesthetic conditions of the apartments. This is because most of the housing is being rented by students and not owned by wealthy tenants that keep the area looking very nice and put money into neighborhood restoration.

Overall, the diversity of Westwood is a very defining and endearing factor of this urban village. While there is old established money and commerce in this area, it is diluted by the heavy concentration of university students and the homeless. These factors also make Westwood a much more urban landscape, which I’m sure many of us in this class do not mind.