JJ and JL

Walking down the narrow streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown, one sees the cluster of brightly lighted stores with neon lights hanging on the walls. Signs in both English and Chinese are displayed inlarge letters to attract the customers. As the evening approaches, the street lights are turned on and the nightlife of the city begins, but there is not much going on. Some people hurriedly walked the streets, as the sky gets darker, not paying too much attention to their surroundings as they rush home. Sitting on one of the corner of the street is a middle-aged male playing an erhu, a two string fiddle. With his sunglasses and hat eluding a vibe of mysteriousness, he plays songs. Laid out in front of him, is a small jar for people passing by to put their donations. The man is certainly quite a sight for tourists, but not so much for locals who have seen the various people play the erhu on the streets of Chinatown for the past few years. Although there is seemingly nothing special about the man, who just wants to play music and earn some spare cash for it, the man is a representation of a particularly rich cultural life that help to distinguish San Francisco from other cities. Chinatown, a predominately Chinese neighborhood, is filled with new immigrants who bring along their traditions and culture from China. The man in the photo is a primarily example of newcomers contributing in enriching the diversity of the city by sharing a part of his culture through music.

http://nonphotographer.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/dsc_0788.jpg

JJ and SN

Sarah Nisar, San Francisco

This is a picture of downtown San Francisco I took when I went to the Bay Area last year. I love San Francisco because, in my opinion, it's not uniform. It's culturally diverse, but it makes me feel cozy when I go downt here because the houses are small, yet it gives me a warm feeling of joy and joyness. I think the context of this photo would pertain to Jacob's [emotional] reaction to the "innovated" North End in Boston. The prominent feature of the housing in SF is the [not overdone] Venetian touch. Jacobs mentions Venetian effects on the "renovated" North End in 1959. She also states, " The streets were alive with children playing, people shopping,people strolling, people taking." This description is also valid with SF,where the streets of downtown are always animated and crowded with people-but not in a claustrophobic manner- but in a unifying exciting feel. Jacobs states, "This ubiquitous principle is the need of cities for mostintricate and close-gained diversity of uses that give each other constantmutual support, both economically and socially." I can take this text from Jacobs and apply it to the San Francisco city. The thing that stands outmost to me about SF, is that the mutual relationship among the communityis not forced, but instead, it is a rather natural occurrence. Even though SF is really busy, I believe that it contains elements that fit Jacobs' criteria.

JJ and EM

Los Angeles. “A Prison or Apartments?”

It isn’t a prison or jail, but apartments where low-income families live in Los Angeles. Jane Jacobs’ take: Ethnicity is a form of urban diversity, but she doesn’t use race as an analytical category. However, because of the lack of race development as an analytic category, the effectiveness of her argument is significantly weakened. Nevertheless, the slums remain a major gang territory for the poor and lastly; there is no commerce or street life to keep “eyes on the street” (e.g. use of sidewalks).

Menchaca, Michelle. _A Prison or Apartments?_ Flickr, Los Angeles. _Flickr_. 4 Mar. 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/florecita_roquera86/>.