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Ashly Lopez

Professor Batty

English 101

28 March 2018

La La Home of Diversity

Home. A four letter word that can have a different meaning to each individual. The City of

Los Angeles is home to approximately 3.9 million people who come from all over the world.

Each having a different or similar reason explaining why they’re living here making it a home

for themselves and families. Although many live in Los Angeles each person comes from a

different place/country. These individuals share one common denominator, which is they’re the

reason why Los Angeles is a diverse community. Different cultures have made L.A their home,

different cultural buildings or small communities have been established to represent those

cultures/people. Los Angeles is an example of a city that has a diverse environment, which is

what makes it feel like home.

Los Angeles is unique, populated by people who come from different places of the world. At a

point in their lives, these people had to start from scratch, creating a home in a place unfamiliar

to them and now they call it home. Diversity is a characteristic that defines what Los Angeles

means to me. Besides being a home, it is a place filled with things that remind me of where I

came from, a place I once called home as well. All around me I see people whose skin color is

the same as mine but we come from different places. They may speak different languages than

me but we’re the reason why this city is diverse.We each have different ways of representing

where we come from with the way we dress, the languages we speak, our values or even beliefs.

Just like all those characteristics are different we’re also different from one another. That is what
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makes L.A feel like home. Los Angeles has buildings all around that represent something

different, like cultures. It also has little communities such as Chinatown, Koreatown and Little

Armenia that are examples of why I consider Los Angeles a diverse place and a home.

People find themselves leaving their homes, having to start all over with their families in a

foreign land they no nothing about, especially the language. I think what makes it a little easy to

call this place home is the diversity that Los Angeles provides. With multi cultures living around

it is easier to feel at home because you are with people who may be similar to you in some way.

People may be able to relate with their similar situations, help one another and grow together in a

community similar to the one they left behind.

To demonstrate that L.A. is a diverse city, I’m going to bring in an observation I made about

Placita Olvera. A place that has shops, museums, foods that are a representation of Spanish

culture. For example, the shops have Mexican candy, colorful clothing, candles and chancletas or

guaraches( as known in Mexico) Small guitars were hanging in the roof of the shops along with

Mexican fighter masks. These shops make up a culture that lives in Los Angeles. In addition, I

overheard a conversation a little girl was having with her dad in Spanish about her grandmother

living in Mexico. Saying her grandmother would love it here because it looks like her little

community where she lives in Mexico. A couple minutes later, two women walk by wearing

some Guatemalan outfits that are colorful and match with their ribbons tied around their braids.

Although these people are from Spanish communities they’re still different from each other. You

can spot how many different cultures you can see gathered in one small place. So much diversity

was seen that day by my own two eyes. This can be used as prove to back up the statement that

L.A is a diverse city.

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This city is a place filled with multiculturalism that separates it from other places around the

world. You see Hispanics, Asians, Armenians, Americans, Chinese, African Americans etc

walking around a place I call home. They call this place home as well. Surrounded with people

who may have similar stories as them or who want the same thing in life, “As an enduring

cultural symbol for the City of Los Angeles.”( Estrada 2) This writer of the academic journal

states that these people are a symbol of diversity in the city of L.A. Their cultures are riches

brough to this place to provide an environment with a chance of other cultures to grow and be an

example to other countries to be diverse.

For this reason diversity makes this place feel like home. It is surrounded with buildings that

represent different cultures, populated by people with different cultural backgrounds. Mr.

Russell, writer of Los Angeles Times once took a walk and noted what he saw. So he illustrated

in his article “To the northeast in Lincoln Heights, Latino and Asian cultures meld, and so do the

churches: Primera Iglesia del Nazareno stands next door to the Chinese Assembly of God.”

Meaning during his walk, he saw different establishments along the street that were

representations of different cultural backgrounds. They can symbolize the diversity that exists in

Los Angeles and how people make home of a land that was once foreign to them. Despite the

struggles many have gone through, they still keep fighting for what they want. The thirst many

people have to gain a better life for themselves has been a factor of L.A being diverse.

Moreover, many films have tried to adapt the way the life in L.A is. One example of this is La

La Land 2016 film of Hollywood. This film is a representation of the Hollywood side of Los

Angeles. It focuses on the struggles people have to go through before reaching their goals such

as becoming actors and getting rejected in auditions to becoming the lead in a movie. Or getting
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fired from a restaurant to opening your own business. It sowed the riches and fame it brings to

some once they reach their goals and some may confuse this and think of it as a piece of cake.

But that’s not the story for everyone. In addition, those who do not live in Los Angeles see this

city as a land of opportunities yet do not see the difficulties that may pop on the way. This side

of the film can be used as a source to use in order to show some of the struggles people go

through in this city.

Furthermore, this film wasn’t able to show the diversity that exists in Los Angeles. No people

of color were casted in this movie as lead roles. Nor were any other cultures shown just “White

Americans” trying to reach their dreams. As well, Los Angeles in filled with a high percentage of

homeless people, this film of course did not show any of that. Although they showed some

struggles, it is not the same as living under no roof, food, etc. The film La La Land only focused

on the rich side of Hollywood and forgot that there is another side of the city filled with different

cultures, hopes and dreams.

Without diversity we would not know about the different cultures that exist or we would not

have the opportunity to learn new things from one another. Living in a diverse city gives me/us

the chance to stand out as a city because of the riches we have which happen to be the different

cultures found in every corner.

Works Cited Page

Chandler , Russell. “A Home for Diverse Faiths : A Stroll around Downtown L.A. Shows off Its
Ubiquitous Houses of Worship and Reveals Cultural Richness and Ethnic Diversity.” Los
Angeles Times , 11 Aug. 1999.
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Estrada, William D. “Los Angeles' Old Plaza and Olvera Street: Imagined and Contested
Space.” Western Folklore, vol. 58, no. 2, 2013, p. 107., doi:10.2307/1500162.