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Ashly Lopez

Professor Batty

English 101

4 June 2018

La La Land of Diversity

Home. A four letter word that can have a different meaning to each individual. It can be a

person, place or thing that they define as home. A home is located in a city, which is found in

state, that is part of a country. About 3.9 million people made the city of Los Angeles their home

and I’m part of that amount. In this city, everyone looks different, speaks differently, dresses

differently, eats different foods and so on. This is only because of the amount of multiculturalism

that exists in this city. Everywhere you go you will see someone representing a different culture.

Although some may say that diversity in this city isn’t a good factor because of the unwelcoming

that it brings to this city. Despite that, Los Angeles is an example of a city that has a diverse

environment which is what makes it feel like home.

The city of Los Angeles is filled with different cultures that represent all cultures around

the world. It isn’t a city where you will find only one type of culture. Anywhere you go you will

come across someone who immigrated from another country for any reason whatsoever. And if

you have the chance, you will learn a little about them and their unique culture that made it to

this City of Angels. Diversity is a characteristic that defines what Los Angeles means to me. Not

only have I come across with people who came from where I did but, their stories are similar to

mine as well. I see people whose skin color is the same as mine, others are lighter, darker, or in

between which only means that we all used to belong somewhere else. But now we belong here.

We each have different ways of representing our cultures. We do this with the way that some of
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us dress, the languages we speak, or what our values and beliefs are. Of course each culture is

different and this is what makes Los Angeles a diverse city because of all the different

characteristics that are found.

Just like every city has historical buildings, Los Angeles if filled with small communities

as well. Such communities include Chinatown, Little Armenia, Koreatown and so on. People

were able to find shelter in these communities and found others just like them, with the same

cultural background. These are examples of how Los Angeles has managed to try to feel

everyone welcome despite racial or any type of discrimination that has or can be made against

people who immigrate to this country. This city is home to many people as mentioned before.

Their histories have been shared throughout monuments, museum exhibits, or murals also known

as street art. These all show the diversity that lives within the city of Los Angeles. These factors

also help us to learn more about these different backgrounds because after all they can be living

right next to us.

In addition, Los Angeles is also filled with buildings that represent such cultures. Some

represent religion, wars, or just simply the culture behind it. For this reason, diversity makes L.A

feel like home. Russell Chandler, whose a writer of Los Angeles Times once took a walk around

L.A and noted what he saw. He then wrote an article of it and he illustrated that, “[T]o the

northeast side in Lincoln Heights, Latino and Asian cultures meld, and so do the churches:

Primera Iglesia de Nazareno stands next door to the Chinese Assembly of God.” Mr. Russell saw

different establishments alongside each other that are representations of the cultures that have

made Los Angeles their home. These can symbolize the diversity that exists around us.

We know that this city is filled with people who come from all over the world. But to

some this may seem unacceptable because they start to think about the terrible things it brings to
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the city such as crime. But I argue that these people come to this country/city to escape terrible

things that are happening in their home states. Some people only say terrible things like that

because of those who actually come to this country to do awful things. Thanks to those people,

the ones who actually come to better their lives are looked down upon. According to the article

about Placita Olvera, “Los Angeles Old Plaza” states that “[A]s enduring cultural symbol for the

City of Los Angeles”( Estrada 2). This quotes points out that the cultures found in Los Angeles

are riches brought to this place to provide an environment with a chance of other cultures to

grow. Multiculturalism in Los Angeles keeps growing and expanding everywhere. People should

accept these cultures because most people don’t know what they’ve had to go through in order to

save themselves.

To demonstrate that Los Angeles is a diverse city, I’m going to bring in an observation I

made about Placita Olvera. A place that has shops,museums, and foods that are a representation

of Spanish culture. For example, the shops have Mexican candy, colorful clothing candles and

characters of Spanish TV. Small guitars were hanging in the roof of the shops along with

Mexican fighter masks. These shops make up a culture that lives in Los Angeles. In addition, I

overheard a conversation a little girl with long braids was having with her father in Spanish. It

was about her grandmother living in Mexico and how she’d love this place because it would

remind her of her old house back in Guadalajara. A couple minutes later my attention lands on

two women walking by wearing some Guatemalan skirts and match with their ribbons tied

around their braids. Although these people are from a Spanish community like myself, they’re

still different from each other. You can spot many different cultures gathered in one place alone.

So much diversity was seen that day by my own eyes. This observation can be used to backup

my argument of Los Angeles being a diverse place.

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Moreover, many films have tried to adapt the way the life in Los Angeles is. One

example of this is the film La La Land, a 2016 film by Hollywood. This film is a representation

of the Hollywood side of Los Angeles. It focuses on the struggles people have to go through

before reaching their goals such as becoming actors and getting rejected in auditions to become

the lead in the next big buster movie. Or getting fired from a restaurant to opening your own

business. It shows the riches and fame it brings to some once they reach their goals and some

may confuse this and think of it as a piece of cake. But that’s not how it goes for most. In

addition, those who do not live in Los Angeles see this city as a land of opportunities. Yet do not

see the difficulties that may pop on the way. This side of the film can be used as a source to

illustrate some of the struggles people go through in this city.

Furthermore, this film wasn’t able to show the diversity that lives in this city. No people

of color were casted to play lead roles nor did any other culture appear in this film. Only “white

Americans” were shown trying to reach their goals. Americans are not the only ones who

struggle while reaching their goals. Many cultures are looked down upon and sometimes are not

given the opportunity they need to strive in this city. The film wasn’t able to show their struggles

and only showed the struggles of certain people. It also focused on the rich side of Hollywood

and forgot about the other side that is filled with different cultures, languages, hope, and dreams.

Without the diversity that exists in the city of Los Angeles, many of us wouldn’t know

that some of these even exist. We wouldn’t know about the different cultures that come from all

over the world. We wouldn’t know how to appreciate such differences that exist among us.

Living in a diverse city gives us a chance to stand out because of the riches we have which

happen to be different cultures. Without diversity this city would be boring or dull. We’d get

bored of seeing the same people all around who come from the same place as everyone else. But
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with diversity we get to see different aspects of everything that is out there in the world. This city

of Los Angeles is one example of a city that is populated by many cultures.

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Works Cited Page

Chandler, Russell. “A Home for Diverse Faiths: A Stroll around Downtown L.A. Shows off its

Ubiquitous Houses of Worship and Reveals Cultural Richness and Ethnic Diversity.” Los

Angeles Times, 11 Aug. 1999

Estrada, William D. “Los Angeles’ Old Plaza and Olvera Street: Imagined and Contested

Space.” Western Folklore, vol. 58, no. 2,2013, p.107., doi:10.2307/1500162