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Carlos Godinez
English 115
October 12, 2014
Ethnography/Fieldwork Report
941
Ethnography of Citywalk
Next to the entertainment capitol of L.A., there lays an area that should replicate that
feeling of a city with the diversity and many shopping, and eating facilities. I mean all cities are
built around this idea but it really gets the gist of an outside mall next to a theme park. Citywalk
has been opened since 1993 and has been home to many premieres, events, music videos, and
about anything else you can think about pop culture. There were tons of huge products placed
eating establishments like a cross combination of Pizza Hut and KFC all the way to having a
Tommies Burger. It is a way for it to appeal the generation of now and later. There are stores to
galore to appeal to everyone I saw from young to old, it seemed that they enjoyed what they
were looking at. There were stores like Hot Topic to appeal to the younger generations and then
there were also a comic book store, Things from Another World, that had a huge spaceship prop
to replicate an alien ship had crashed there, which appealed to the comic book enthusiasts
subculture and also the recently shutdown Gamestop which appealed to the gaming subculture as
well. Well there is also a Universal Studio gift shop located near the entrance of Citywalk while
you walk away from the theme park; I mean if that isnt a marketing scheme I dont know what
is. It is a huge space for all these facilities to be in one area and it brings in all these cultures

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around into one not so condensed area. There are people who have their parties like
quinceaneras, a traditional event for the daughter entering adulthood at 15 years old, or a
wedding reception would take place in one of the space to rent out. I have touched upon
traditional culture events but I believe the one thing that overcomes that is the music culture.
With music, it is a really big deal there. There is even a huge area dedicated to having
concerts, The 5 Towers. Just recently put in, all musical events are held at this one location every
so often. The concerts are free so you can imagine how people show up to these if they know the
artist thats playing or it can be an up and coming artist thats finally going to start his career in
music and gain some recognition among whatever genre he or she is playing in. The 5 Towers
has even housed some concerts from well known artist like Tyrese Gibson, Cher Lloyd, to even
Cee Lo Green. They even had bigger artist like Linkin Park, Guns and Roses, Aerosmith, etc.
that held their concerts at the recently torn down Gibson Amphitheater. Not even music artists
but also comedians like Gabriel Iglesias and George Lopez along with many other people.
Entertainment is a huge part of Citywalk and what helps make it unique among itself. There are
people called street performers that are playing their own music to promote themselves to the
public that are in Citywalk and hope for the oncoming guests to listen to their work. Like I said
the entertainment there is what really helps this place stay vivid and full of life every day and
night. It is like the mini city that never sleeps.
The people here at Citywalk are friendly but also kind of distant from others as well.
What I mean is that whenever I tried to ask groups or an individual person would not
acknowledge me at all. I even held out my CSUN ID so they can have a clear understanding that
I was a student doing research for my English class. I was not expecting no one to answer my

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questions at all so I couldnt get a different perspective on how Citywalk. From what I did
observe during my time there was that everyone has a different attitude towards the area
depending on who they were with. I saw people interacting with their groups in very particular
ways like different morals among their groups. I saw a group that was family that looked like
they had to follow what the parent/ guardian had towards them and was expected to follow them
and have fun while doing it. It sounds horrible when its described but its not at all it is just
family spending time together like any other family would. Then when that individual is among
peers, those morals seemed to be different among that of a family. It as if they were set free out
from the hold of their parent but still follow the rules, sometimes, that are in effect at Citywalk. It
was especially different because of the time I went, it was the weekend of Halloween Horror
Nights, a time where Universal Studios transforms it park into a horror movie and scare the
guests that attend. There were lots of groups like that. Individuals were among their group of
friends to have a good time getting scared. Many subcultures were in their own groups especially
the common punk or Goths subcultures attended waiting in line to go into the park. It was really
interesting to see how a person can change their behavior so quickly than ever in a few years of
conditioning their behavior.
It was a real sight though because all you can see were huge groups of people just
hanging out with each other just enjoying a good time with no worries at all. It is good to see
everyone actually come together, no matter their culture, to have a good time.