A Cruise Down Memory Lane

Lupe's, East Los

 By kiki

A few years ago, I had an appointment with a Hematologist at USC's Norris Cancer Center. My bone marrow sometimes did not produce enough red blood cells. My red blood cell numbers would go up and down like a yo-yo. After seeing and bullshitting with the doctor for what seemed like hours, it was only about twenty minutes; he said, "go to the lab and see the vampire." After waiting about 5 minutes in the lab's lobby, the vampire invited me into her cave, showing me her fangs. She told me, "sit here" I did. She then opened a drawer on her workstation and brought out a bunch of tubes. I told her, "why not just get a five-gallon bucket" she replied by giving me a look that said, 'if you don't shut up, I will; after that look, I kept my mouth shut because I didn't want to die of exsanguination. After leaving the lab, I made an appointment for a two-week follow-up. The lab results would tell me if anything serious was happening. (nothing was)

USC Norris Cancer Center is located just west of Soto Street in Boyle Heights (east of downtown Los Angeles). Driving out of Norris, I visited my old stomping grounds, "East Los."

I drove south on Soto to 4th Street; I had hoped to see some old familiar haunts as I turned left on 4th Street. But most are gone; the dance halls and bars I used to hang my hat at are no longer there; in their place are fast food joints and mini-malls, but as I approached Rowan St., or is it Ave? However, one of my favorite places as a teenager to dance in the early 1950s still stood: 'Our Lady of Lourdes church. I pulled onto Rowan and parked to look at the church where Connie and I used to dance to the Amenta Brothers and The Counts, among others. We also caught the Hunter Hancock Show there a time or two. I went time-traveling as I sat in the car looking at the church, and I got lost in my yesterday memories. And that was a beautiful thing for one with more yesterdays than tomorrow. 

"Our Lady of Lourdes" church

After reminiscing for a few minutes, I continued traveling east on 4^th St., which soon turned into 3rd Street. Within a few minutes, I was in the heart of East Los Angeles, 3rd St., and Ford Blvd. East Los Angeles is so big that any intersection you happen to be on could be the heart of ELA. A block or two east of Ford Blvd. 3rd St. slopes down a bit; as I was driving down the hill, I was straining my neck, trying to see if one of my favorite eating places, "Lupe's," was still there! There it is! I street-parked and jumped out of my car to get one of their famous burritos. Lupe's is one of those places that doesn't have an inside eating area or a few stools outside on the counter, but they have some of the best Mexican food in ELA. Had a green chili burrito; it was the bomb!! Unfortunately, the lady that owned Lupe's died last year. She also owned Lupe's in Pico-Rivera until she sold it some years back. Nobody can figure out why she named her food stands "Lupe's" since her name was not Lupe; it was Tuchie; I hope I'm spelling it right.

Leaving Lupe's, I continued driving east on 3rd St. to where it ends on Atlantic Ave. From there, still heading east, I took Beverly Blvd. towards Garfield Ave, made a left on Garfield, jumped on the 60 Freeway, and in no time, I was back in 2013

It was a sweet cruise down Memory Lane!