Rambling around the hood

We live in an interesting area of the city. Taking the main road to the highway, we pass through an economically depressed area. There are some… curious differences there from what I’ve lived in previously. For example, there are an astonishing number of churches! Just glancing at google maps, within 10 miles of me I see Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Southern Baptist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Seventh Day Adventist, Evangelical — several of which are named in Spanish as well — Roman Catholic, Polish Catholic, Greek Catholic, Romanian Orthodox, several more where I can’t tell their “flavor” by just their names… I had to laugh, in fact, when I realized there’s a Westboro St. near where I live — and there’s a Baptist church on it! I think we’ll avoid that one… ;-)

My guess is that most small religious groups tend to not have a lot of money, so they gravitate to areas where land is cheap, and build their houses of worship there. In fact, in some cases that appears to be literal: there are a surprising number of these churches located in what appear to be just refurbished houses! They’re not all Christian churches, either. There’s a Jewish synagogue, a Hindu temple, and a big, lovely Buddhist temple nearby, as well as several smaller Buddhist temples that appear to be a mix of Vietnamese, Chinese, and… Thai? I’m not sure on that one. But watching the fireworks blooming into the night sky from all the Asian religious centers for Chinese New Year’s was very pretty from our hillside. We have a truly fabulous view of the city for both night and day, I think.

One of my housemates pointed out another difference this area has from higher income areas: a lot more car parts stores. His guess was that people try to get the cars fixed themselves, since that’s cheaper than taking it to the dealer. I wouldn’t have noticed that, but then you can write what I know about car repair on a matchbook… and still have most of the paper left over. Hmm… now that I’m thinking about it, there’s also a lot of home repair business here — there’s a Home Depot and an OSH just down the road, if I’m remembering correctly. My guess, though, is that that one’s a mix of both folks trying to build and repair on their own… and the fact that land was likely a bit cheaper out here, when these two big stores first moved in.

There’s an awful lot of fast food around here too, but a dearth of the “middle-class” types of restaurants. I like exploring the little taquerias, but sometimes I just want to be able to easily find a Chili’s or a Panera’s. I know — I’m a boring white-bread girl. ;-) There’s also very few national-chain grocery stores nearby, though there are some nice looking smaller, Hispanic grocery stores that I’m looking forward to exploring. I think for the first time, though, I can really understand what is meant by a food desert — and how they’re linked to issues with obesity. It’s just easier to swing by the Burger King or MickeyD’s on the way home, rather than to walk or drive out of your way to find a TJ’s or a Safeway, for example.

I’ve also noticed a surprising number of small businesses in the area which are located in houses. Frequently these houses look like they’re still being lived in, too — that the garage (or some other room) has been converted over for the business, and the family continues to live in the rest of the house. My thought was that this was likely a great savings for the business owners, most of which appear to be female: no business rental fees, no commute costs! The other housemate, however, believes this is more broadly due to a lack of viable commercial real estate. He thinks because of the area looking so low rent, most construction tends to avoid the area as a bad investment. However, if enough small businesses thrive, eventually the families move out of the house, convert it entirely over to business (either their own, or renting to others), and live somewhere else. If that happens enough then the area will become economically stronger, and construction will start moving in.

I don’t know. I’ve not seen a lot of these houses as being entirely business, rather than mixed business and living. On the other hand, I’m not surprised that it’s women running businesses out of their own homes that seem to be making the area economically healthier. It’s always been the small businesses — rather than the large corporations — that did the hiring and job creation which really helped the economy. Sounds counter-intuitive, I know, but that’s what the statistics in the reports I’ve read state. That’s not to say that there aren’t any larger businesses here — there are — it’s just that the small ones are more numerous and easier to see sometimes.

One of the most popular categories for small businesses is the beauty industry. There are an awful lot of tiny beauty salons, nail shops, hair places, and dress stores. I’m talking the flouncy prom- or quinceañera-style dress: tons of flashy cloth and glittery tulle and sparkly tiaras and that sort of thing. I have very mixed feelings about these — just as I have for most of my culture’s standard life rituals for women. I think it’s absolutely wonderful that girls have a day that’s given over to them as they cross over from girlhood to womanhood… but from what I can understand of how these are currently portrayed, the rituals seem to be angled more for the young woman now being dressed up and prettied to show she’s newly available for men — rather than celebrating, say, her new maturity and self-agency. In the huge, colorful window advertising, for example, all the carefully coiffed and brilliantly dressed young women are shown either in docile submission to the cross held by a (male) priest, or as if they’re a heavily-made-up little princess waiting to be married off to the prince who chooses them. I’ll freely admit I didn’t attend my prom and a quinceanera isn’t part of my cultural background… but wouldn’t it be awesome to see just one of the ads presenting a young woman in one of those dresses — with her graduation gown and mortarboard as well?