If you weren't aware about the gentrification (or, the reversal of white [capital] flight into cities) going on specifically in L.A., read this article about what's going in Echo Park.
Below is a content analysis of the article, done by my one of my friend and Sociology PhD candidate Daniel Olmos' colleagues (emphasis mine):
I love all of the code words being deployed here: FORMERLY >> 'needed to be cleaned up,' 'a no-man's land,' 'lawless,' 'Latino character,' 'narcotics, prostitution, and shootings,' and get this (!), 'people who like to lurk in dark corners....' NOW >> 'upscale destinations,' 'young revelers,' 'gourmet food trucks,' 'hip party people,' 'playground,' 'cool groups of young investors,' and 'pedestrian friendly.' What do we learn by reading this? Well, until COOL CAPITALISM comes to town, working-class areas of color like Echo Park are 'non-spaces' of illegitimacy that do not exist culturally for readers of the LA Times and elsewhere...that is, until they are 'civilized' by hipsters who transform them into cosmopolitan spaces of consumption.
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