La Placita and Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

Gianna and Agueda

 

2 thoughts on “La Placita and Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels”

  1. 1.Describe your route to the location and what observations stood out the most during your travelling experience to the site?
    My route to La Placita was very direct and easy to follow which was great for me because I can get a little anxious traveling on my own. All I had to do was walk down a few streets from campus to get to the Claremont Metrolink stop. I got on the train at about 12:15 and it took me all the way to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. When I got on the train there were very few people in my car whereas on the way back it was much more crowded. My guess is that most people taking public transportation into L.A. on Sundays head in earlier than I did but since I left a little before 5 pm, there were more people leaving L.A. at the same time. Aside from the atmosphere on the train, the L.A. river is probably what stood out most outside. Both my partner and I commented on it in our photos, but she describes how much more interesting it was to her having just learned about how important it is to the city. While I did not have the same reaction on the train, reading her post made me think more about it and what I have learned in my classes with regards to the L.A. river and its significance. Once I got to Union Station, which I got to admire extra after taking a few photos and realizing how gorgeous it is, it was just a short walk up past Olvera St. to La Placita.

    2.What observations stood out the most at the site?
    To me the most remarkable thing about this site is it’s beauty and peacefulness in the midst of such a bustling urban setting. La Placita is a community pace. Everyone has access, which I believe is a very intentional feature of this church given its commitment to serving the latino/a community and beyond that serving the poor. It is not at all exclusive. Even with such public access though, it is kept looking beautiful by all those who share the space. This to me is a testament to the level of respect people have for La Placita, and to how sacred it is. As I expected from reading the guide, the majority if not all of the people there were Latino/a and most often people were there with their families. Whether they were there for Sunday service or to bring flowers to la Virgen de la Guadalupe or eating a meal together in the little restaurant, few people were there alone. This contributed even more to the feeling of shared community.

    3.How are your partner’s travel photos different from your own?
    The main difference between our photos is that most of hers are at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral whereas mine were all at La Placita. This was actually a misunderstanding on my part. I didn’t realize Our Lady of the Angels was so close and that I was in fact supposed to go there too. I thought the literature brought it up to show the contrast between it and La Placita- a more important community sight from what I understand. In reading about her travel though, it seems like one of the reasons we each ended up focusing on opposite locations was because of the route our travel took us. It sounds like when she got off her bus the first destination she encountered was Our Lady of the Angels whereas mine was La Placita. I think this is really interesting because it shows you what a different perspective people can have based off their travel routes and physical points of view. The other big difference was our mode of transportation and our starting points. I took the Metrolink from Claremont while she took a street bus from El Monte. Even so, our photos on the bus/train were not incredibly different, the most notable difference being that her form of transportation, the city bus, was much more crowded than the Metrolink.

    4.How are your partner’s travel photos similar to your own?
    As I said, despite our modes of transportation differing, our photos of our travel on public transportation are actually quite similar. Both of us took pictures through the window of the L.A. river. We also took a picture of the seats around us, although the seats around her were filled and those near me were all empty. When we got to the site, another similarity is that all the photos are taken from outside the churches rather than inside. Giana (my partner) talks about how she felt uncomfortable taking photos inside because it was a space of worship, not picture-taking. I felt similarly at La Placita. In fact, even though I explained that it is a very public and inviting space, I felt as though on a Sunday, I did not really belong there, especially taking photos, so I simply observed it from the outside. If you look at my pictures though, you see that there is actually a prominent space of worship outside. Taking pictures of that space felt uncomfortable, especially the selfie, but I felt as though it was such an important space that it needed to be part of my photo documentation. Another similarity is that we both took pictures that captured the beautiful architecture of both Our Lady of the Angeles and La Placita. The photos we took capture the difference to a certain extent, but you have to go yourself or look up more pictures to really understand the difference. I know because while I did not visit Our Lady of the Angeles on this particular trip, I have seen it on other trips. Perhaps that is why I did not know they were so close, because they are such different spaces I imagined them being worlds apart even though I had been to both of them individually before.

    5.Why do you think your experiences are similar and/or different? (Ex. You are travelling from completely different locations. Was it rush hour or the middle of the day? Are you a Los Angeles native or is the Los Angeles area new to you? How did your form of transportation — ex. bus vs. MetroLink — shape your experience?)
    I mentioned earlier that our starting points definitely played a role in shaping our experiences. She was immediately surrounded by other people of the city while my first leg of the trip I was all by myself. Another huge difference as I have already mentioned was the fact that she (as she was supposed to) went to both Our Lady of the Angeles and La Placita whereas I only went to La Placita, and she experienced Our Lady of the Angleles first. Because I did not go to Our Lady of the Angeles I did not experience the same contrast in that day, while I have been there before as well, but by only visiting La Placita, I got to focus on it in a way she may not have. My experience was also very much influenced by the fact that it was a Sunday, day of worship. I have been there on other occasions and there are always people there but not nearly as many as there were on this trip. I don’t know what time of day or what day of the week she went but I can imagine that different circumstances could have provided her with a different experience from my own. She also had the potential to experience traffic since she was on the city bus while I was on the Metrolink.

  2. 1. Describe your route to the location and what observations stood out the most during your traveling experience to the site?

    Since I live on campus I was already in LA and only had to take one bus to get to the Cathedral and La Placita. For most of the bus ride the outside environment looked rundown, old, and dirty. The houses looked old and there was graffiti everywhere. What stood out the most to me was that all of a sudden the outside environment turned extremely nice as soon as I got closer to my destination. The buildings looked new, the streets were clean, and there were big beautiful green trees everywhere. It is amazing how two parts of one city could look so different and only be separated from each other by a couple of blocks.

    2. What observations stood out the most at the site?

    What stood out the most to me at both churches was how detailed every picture and statue was. They were so beautiful filled with little details that you have to look close to see everything. The colors of the paintings were so bright and rich. Every statue’s face was perfectly shaped with symmetrical eyes, mouth, and lips. Even the statues of animals in the cathedral’s courtyard were detailed and you can see every strand of fur on their body.

    3. How are your partner’s travel photos different from your own?

    My partner started her trip from Claremont, which is a lot farther from CSULA so she had to take the MetroLink. In her photos, you can clearly see that she did not have anyone around her and the cabin looked almost completely empty. It is very different from my experience because the bus was so packed and there was nowhere to sit for most of the ride. I did have photos of both the Cathedral and La Placita but my partner did not due to miscommunication.

    4.How are your partner’s travel photos similar to your own?

    One of my travel photos is a picture of the LA River. My partner also took a picture of a riverbed. Both of our pictures consisted of a riverbed that was for the most part dry and empty. Lastly, we both look happy on our way to our destination taking public transportation. The photos of our destination are similar because they are focused on the beauty of the outside of the churches. We both felt it was more respectful to take pictures outside the churches because there were people there worshiping God when both made our visit. Lastly, my partner mentioned in her photo of the Union Station that there was great diversity of people there and in my picture on the bus I also mentioned diversity. We both encountered a way of transportation that serves and is used by all different types of people.

    5.Why do you think your experiences are similar and/or different? (Ex. You are travelling from completely different locations. Was it rush hour or the middle of the day? Are you a Los Angeles native or is the Los Angeles area new to you? How did your form of transportation — ex. bus vs. MetroLink — shape your experience?)

    Our travel experiences were different because she was coming from a farther place than me and I already live in LA. While it took her an hour or two to get the Cathedral and LA Placita, it only took me around 45 minutes. From the looks of here pictures her travel experience there seemed a lot more peaceful and relaxing than mine. My trip was more chaotic because people were constantly moving in and out of the bus and I had to be more alert making sure I didn’t miss my bus stop or get anything stolen from me. Our experiences are similar because we both are not Los Angeles natives. Although I live in Los Angeles I am not from the city and don’t really travel out of school area, so the Los Angeles city was new for the both of us. I did leave to my location in the middle of the day but there was not much traffic on the streets. My partner did take the MetroLink so it easy to say she had little to no traffic on her way to the churches. My form of transportation (the city bus) shaped my experience by showing me that public transportation isn’t that bad. It cost me less that $4 dollars to get to my location and back home. Once I was at my location I saved a lot of money and time because I didn’t have to pay or look for parking.

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