Grandma Downtown

So my mother is visiting for 10 days and it's been really cool to see her reaction to Downtown. She's a total New Yorker, has lived in the Bronx since her family moved there from Puerto Rico when she was five. And she loves Downtown LA. She keeps saying, "Wow, it's so lively down here! There's so much to do! It's really nice!" Art Walk was a huge success. Kidlo got his photo taken at a gallery, MB and my mom bought some gear at Kapsoul (which is owned by our former neighbor and had its grand opening yesterday), and I scored two fabulous prints photographed by two Marshall High School students for $30. Mom loved all of it, the crowds, the art, the music.

Mom had actually been kind of biased against Downtown because she'd seen a news story about Skid Row. She'd called me afterwards and was like, "I saw on TV that there's a shelter on 6th Street. Don't you live on 6th Street? Are you guys safe?" But she's been here three days and she's cruising around the neighborhood by herself, bought a sandwich at LA Cafe ("Damn, that was a good sandwich!"), has been hanging out with Kidlo at his preschool and just generally fitting right in. I've had a bit of a sense of Downtown LA not being quite ready for primetime, but at least one New Yorker thinks it's great right now.