The Hills
Naw, not the Hollywood Hills. CHINO Hills. The current home to the First Lady of the Nocon administration and site of Mother's Days past and present. If Fontana is my 3rd home (after SD and LA), the Hills comes in at a close 4th since I spent so many summers there.
Over the years I've become more familiar with places surrounding the CH. Diamond Bar, heavily populated by Chinese Americans. The "Life Plaza" down the freeway (don't know what it's really called), home to late-night boba shops and some killer Chinese food. Sam Woo off the 60. The Buddhist temple in a trailer (not sure if that's still there). All those businesses with signs in Chinese. Shit, my cousins who live in Chino Hills are even part Chinese.
Noticing a trend here?
White people noticed and have had enough (article last month in LA Times). They're protesting the opening of a 99 Ranch (Ranch 99 for my hella hyphy friends) because they don't want "the equivalent of a Chinese Pic 'n' Save less than a mile from the kind of high-quality shops our city has been trying to attract to this area."
The news is a month old, and I"m not sure what's happened since then. But still, smells like racism. The quotes get worse in the article.
And that shit don't even make sense. How can the new 99 be a mile away from some shit that don't even exist! "Trying" to attract? I'm not an expert in urban planning, but Chino Hills isn't exactly Beverly Hills. The Ralphs on Phillips Ranch looks just as unimpressive as the one I go to on National and Sawtelle.
Damn this was only supposed to be like a 3-sentence topic. But I realized how ridiculous these people sound and how well a 99 Ranch would do Chino Hills. It sure wouldn't hurt my family there, and most importantly, it would only extend the possibilities of food we could have cooked at family parties. mM.
My favorite line from the article is "I don't want another Hacienda Heights." Hah! Most of our Nocon families in Cali have their roots in Hacienda. My earliest memories in life are from our house there. These white people can't get away from us!
I'm guessing 99 Ranch has its own interal issues like health codes and worker wages to deal with, but I'm just shocked by the reaction to the idea of an Asian-themed grocery store in general. I say build on, Chinese people. Stink it up with all that seafood and tiger penis. Maybe I'll drop by for coconut juice and Pokee sticks on my way back to LA.
(thanks angryasianman.com)
*********************************
Back in the day me and Lance used to play this game called Woody Pop (the name wasn't so disgusting in '94) on our Sega Game Gears. Recently, I've made an effort to read more news.
Now I can do both!