Day 18- Los Angeles

– Eli Meyers

We started off the day at 9:45 as we continued our journey in Los Angeles.  We traveled to South Central and learned about the riots that occurred there as a result of Rodney King. We also learned that part of the city’s plan to better South central was to repaint the houses and rename it South LA to cover up the poverty and suffering that occurs there. We also drove through many of the streets of this neighborhood to get a better sense of what stores and services this neighborhood has.

After South Central, we enjoyed food from food trucks which is a new and trendy way to get food in LA. There was Vietnamese food, Chinese food, salad, tacos, and burgers.

After lunch, we visited Beverly Hills. It was very interesting to see the difference between South Central and Beverly Hills. Beverly Hills had extremely nice and expensive stores while South Central basically only had auto shops, bail bonds, liquor stores and dry cleaners.

After walking own Rodeo Drive we had a discussion where we compared and contrasted the two neighborhoods.It really made us contemplate over the necessity of unnecessary luxury stores. Following Beverly Hills, we went to a farmer’s market and had some delicious fruits that surprisingly weren’t processed in a factory.

Everyone had a great time buying and eating the fresh fruits and vegetables. After the farmer’s market we went to Beit Tshuvah, which is a synagogue for recovering addicts. There we heard from speakers who told us their story, and each of their stories were very inspiring.

They spoke to us like we were adults and told their stories without any sugar coating. We then finished the day with a dinner of delicious pizza which is an addiction that I think I may have.

I really do look forward to San Francisco tomorrow.