Vlogstyle Contest: A Winner Is You!

Militant congratulations to Robert Joyner of Monrovia who correctly spotted city councilman Tom LaBonge popping into the frame at 2:31 on the Militant's latest "Vlogstyle!" episode at the Dodgers' Coliseum game last weekend.

For those who missed it, LaBonge shows up on the lower right-hand corner of the screen? (viewer? app? YouTube thingie?). Known for being quite the shutterbug, the councilman, camera around his neck, walks towards the left of the screen and at 2:35 approaches Dodger VP Howard Sunkin, who points to the McCourts to his left. LaBonge steadily sets up his camera, dashes towards the McCourts and at 2:43 he suddenly pops out, in total fanboy mode, to snap a picture of Dodger president Jamie McCourt .

As the winner of the Militant's contest, Robert wins a pair of field level Dodgers season tickets a 2004 limited-edition Tommy Lasorda Collectible Coin (still in its original packaging) and a 2008 Dodgers Pocket Schedule with Brad Penny and Don Drysdale on the cover. Okay, so the Militant picked these up for free at the stadium at various times, but the Lasorda coin is currently fetching $6 on eBay...

So congrats, again Robert and Stay Militant!

The Festival For Bangladesh

The Militant takes time off from talking about the Dodgers to bring you coverage of a local cultural event!

The local Bangladeshi community threw a two-day festival this weekend featuring a parade and cultural fair at the Shatto Recreation Center, near 4th and Vermont in Koreatown. The Militant, who mentioned the community before in a previous post, rode down there Militant-style on Sunday afternoon to check out all the action and learn more about one of Los Angeles' newer immigrant communities.

The South Asian country of Bangladesh, relatively small in size, lies under the eastern "panhandle" of India and faces the Bay of Bengal, whch is part of the Indian Ocean. Bearing cultural similarities to certain regions of India, Bangladeshis speak Bengali and are predominantly Islamic.

Numbering roughly 2,000 and growing in Los Angeles County, the Bangladeshi community is currently centered around the northeast corner of Koreatown, in and around the Vermont and 3rd Street corridors. Many of them attend prayer services at the nearby Islamic Center of Southern California any Bangladeshi markets and restaurants, marked by their availability of Halal products and menus makes them a culturally visible community among those of many other cultures in the area.

Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge, who represents the area, was an invited guest in the festival's program and said, "If you put a pin on a map on 3rd on Vermont and drew a 1-mile radius circle around it, you'd have more people from countries than the United Nations." The organizers from the Bangladesh Unity Federation of Los Angeles told the councilman that the community desires to have a community center and a "Little Bangladesh" designation somewhere in the area.

Though the Militant unfortunately missed the parade, he was able to catch the festival-- which, apologies to all you Dodger-weary readers seeking a diversion - took place on the recreation center's baseball field -- which was very similar to other cultural festivals the Militant had attended. There was a main stage, seats for an audience and tents with food and clothing vendors, and booths offering satellite TV services, political awareness and one from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Dept. (Sheriff Lee Baca was there earlier in the day).

And like other ethnic festivals, there were various generations represented -- the older native-speaking crowd, and the English-speaking, American-bred youths, of which one group of teens raved about the latest Bluetooth cellphone headsets amongst each other.

The Militant's main draw was the food. His first exposure to Bangladeshi cuisine was not a very impressive one, but he was willing to give it a second chance, and wasn't disappointed this time. He had Bangladeshi poori, a similar fried, puffed bread as its similarly-named Indian cousin, but this version was stuffed with a thin layer of lentils and served with a ketchup-like sweet and spicy sauce. He also had something called "zapuri" (sp?) which was a tasty salad made up of puffed rice, dried lentils and wheat sticks, peanuts, chopped cilantros, diced chiles, oil and salt, shaken up together. Pretty good and healthy too! He also treated himself to a cup of mango lassi and a small bag of kotkoti, which is a Cheeto-shaped crunchy fried wheat snack with glazed sugar.

In addition to the Militant, there were other non-Bangladeshis there, sampling the culture, including local African Americans, Latinos and Koreans, also sampling the food and perhaps getting their first taste of this culture.

One commonality of immigrant cultures is a connection to a tragic historical event in its native country. For the Bangladeshis, it was the 1971 Bamgladesh Liberation War in which Bangladeshis ultimately gained independence from Pakistan, but not without the loss of three million Bangladeshi lives during that war which they consider to be a genocide. The late former Beatles guitarist George Harrison's Concert For Bangladesh was the western world's likely first introduction to the country and its turmoil, and Harrison is regarded as a cultural hero among many Bangladeshis today. The organizers at the festival evoked Harrison's name and even LaBonge brought up his Los Anga-les connections and invited the Bangladeshi community to join him in a future Griffith Park hike (because that's how LaBonge does it) as they plan to dedicate a section of the park to Harrison.

The Militant looks forward to hearing more about this growing community and awaits the arrival of "Little Bangladesh" one day soon.

Councilman LaBonge Backpedals (And That's A Good Thing)

Not to be outdone by half a dozen or so members of his colleague Eric Garcetti's staff participating in a Midnight Ridazz tour a couple weeks ago, Los Anga-les City Councilman Tom LaBonge (pictured left) took to a bike himself on Thursday evening and joined riders on a 6-mile round-trip ride along the 4th Street corridor - the extreme southeast corner of his own 4th district. Organized in conjunction with the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, the ride was both a social event to meet the councilman and a way to help promote 4th Street as a bicycle-friendly boulevard.

About two dozen bicyclists that consisted of constituents, staffers, bike activists, three LAPD bike cops and at least two bloggers rode against the setting sun along 4th St. from Shatto Park in Koreatown, and up the socioeconomic ladder from the dense apartment blocks on the eastern side of the street to the stately near-mansions of Hancock Park, ending at Fire Station 61 near Park La Brea. Along the way, the police officers corked (velospeak for "blocking traffic to keep the mass of riders together") most of the cross streets, and even the councilman did some corking himself. An LAPD cruiser rode behind the pack to assist any possible flats or breakdowns. At the fire station, the riders were allowed to use "the facilities," as other participants chatted with officers, firefighters and fellow riders before riding through the station on the way back (pictured right).

The ride made a pit stop at Larchmont Village where most of the cyclists took over a metered parking spot (pictured left) right in front of the Above The Fold newsstand after an SUV just left.

"Let's see, how many bicycles can you park in this space?" the councilman asked aloud. "Seventeen!" he said, after tallying it himself, with room for a few more bikes to spare. The Bicycle Coalition folks got excited about not only the public demonstration of the bicycle-to-auto parking space ratio, but that a city councilman gave it his blessing.

At the pit stop, LaBonge treated the riders to a free cone of chocolate chip ice cream at the Larchmont Baskin-Robbins (the chain originated right here in Southern California) as the councilman chatted it up with not only the riders, but people who strolled along the village, including the daughter of KTLA reporter Stan Chambers. The councilman, wearing a light blue t-shirt and grey shorts, walked into the Louise's Trattoria next door, meeting and greeting folks. Los Angeles is LaBonge's small town as well.

The ride went along 2nd street for most of the way this time, the councilman calling out the route, and eventually landed back onto 4th Street at Kingsley Drive. There were definite signs of the "bike boulevard" concept in more than just the green "Bike Route" signs -- at Normandie Ave., the crosswalks were even outfitted with street crossing signal buttons for bicyclists! (pictured right)

The Militant even chatted with the councilman along the ride, telling the politico how he enjoys biking in streets of the Valley at night during the summer. It might have been because of the conversation, that near the end of the route, LaBonge announced to the riders that he would make this ride a monthly event, on the last Thursday of the month, and that the next one on September 27 would go from his Valley field office in Toluca Lake on through the Chandler Blvd. bike path in North Hollywood.

See? The Militant has proven he already has influence on our public officials.

Tom LaBonge's style has been described as loud, garish, grandstanding, extroverted, showy. But the Militant got to see another side of the councilman: The city geek. Which was a good thing, as a number of the riders were city geeks as well (most especially the blogging contingent). From mentioning the historical significance of nearby Hoover Street at the beginning of the ride (it was the original western boundary of the city when it was incorporated in 1850) to Western Avenue (the city's new western boundary in 1915) to chatting about the design of the Los Angeles River bridges, this guy not only knows the city, but seems to have fun with it. During the ride back, he led the pack, not just because he was the councilman but because he seemed so damn excited about doing this, including pushing the crosswalk buttons at major intersections. He even stopped to pick up a piece of paper left on the street and disposed of it in a nearby trash bin (of course, this was in Hancock Park...). Yeah, maybe he was showing off, but unlike many other local politicians who insist on getting chauffeured around town, LaBonge seemed to enjoy experiencing the city...which is probably as close to being Militant as far as a local public official can get...(well, for now, at least...).