Tag Archives: culture

culture, Food, L.A. Life, New Experience

626 Night Market

May 26, 2018 Shelly Hacco

By Bryan Lee

Here in SoCal, we hold the largest Asian-themed night market in the U.S, the 626 Market! For those of you who are unfamiliar with night markets, these immersive events contain numerous vendors that serve a assortment of food, with our very own numbering upwards of 250 vendors! From traditional asian street food to fusion-styled treats that are familiar to the Angeleno palette. Not only that, the 626 Market offers local vendors outside of food, like various art and entertainment. The locations change too, with markets popping up in Arcadia, K-Town, Orange County, and more!

If you’ve come from Taiwan, you’ll feel right at home here, and even if you haven’t, you’ll be able to experience and enjoy something completely new and exciting! This is a place to eat a lot of amazing food, to immerse yourself in traditional Asian culture, to learn more about local businesses and artists, and ultimately to have a great time. The night market has a lot to offer and is definitely a great place to visit with your friends or family!

Here is the website to check out locations, as well as the dates that each location is hosting 626: http://www.626nightmarket.com/

Featured image by tofuprod on Flickr

Bryan Lee is a senior in the animation program at USC! He was born and raised in Southern California so he knows a lot about the culture and lifestyle here on the west coast. Bryan enjoys a lot of things like Italian food, music/concerts, and all types of movies and tv shows. As an animator, his favorite hobbies are to draw and just to talk about art, however, he also enjoys a lot of hiking, basketball, and many other kinds of sports. Bryan also has had experience as a Taekwondo instructor and referee, an art teacher, and working at the 626 Night market near here in Arcadia.

culture, music, New Experience, USC

USC Kazan Taiko

April 2, 2018 Shelly Hacco

By Erika Gomi

We’re so loud that the university doesn’t want us to practice on campus. This is one of the struggles the USC Kazan Taiko group has to face. We are always in need of a space that will allow us to play loudly on our drums. At the beginning of my freshman year, I decided to join the Taiko club on campus (Kazan Taiko). I had never done Taiko before, let alone a musical instrument, so this was to be a completely different type of thing than what I was accustomed.

Taiko is Japanese drumming. We play on chu-daiko (a type of drum) with our bachi (drum sticks) that we make ourselves on retreat! Usually the main song is played on these drums and then a base beat is kept on the shime-daiko, a smaller drum like a snare drum. Taiko is a very loud instrument and it’s best when you play with lots of energy! We also have special uniforms we wear during performances. In addition to the club T-shirt that has the name of your generation (the year you joined – I’m part of the Wood Rams), you also get tabi (special socks/shoes) and special pants. Then during the performances you get to wear happi (a traditional Japanese coat usually worn at festivals) and hachimaki (a type of headband worn for many occasions).

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Food, L.A. Life, New Experience

Uncover LA: Echo Park

December 18, 2017 Shelly Hacco

By Tracy Castillo

When foreigners, or even non Southern Californianers, hear someone mouth the word “Los Angeles”, their immediate thoughts are probably overtaken with images of palm trees and the Hollywood Hills, but there is actually much more to Los Angeles than the popular tourist attractions. Over the last decade, Los Angeles has created a large cultural hub that spans from countries and cities all over the world. There’s Koreatown, Little Tokyo, Little Armenia, Little Bangladesh, and the list keeps going on and on. All of these hubs are filled with great cultural vibrancies consisting of great restaurants with native dishes, and stores stocked with the country’s native products. I am lucky enough to live in one of these cultural hubs just five miles north of campus, Echo Park.

Being in a situation in which I had to a find a home that did not require a one year lease, I ended having to look for housing outside the USC area and in the Echo Park area. Though I miss the convenience of living just a couple blocks from school, I enjoy living in this colorful neighborhood more. Echo Park is filled with taco trucks, coffee shops, and health food restaurants (seemingly on almost every corner). You may wonder what cultural category Echo Park falls into, but it doesn’t quite fir into any one box. I would say that it has a culture of its own, a Los Angeles culture where all walks of life have come together to respect and coexist within each other’s customs. For example, is it not uncommon to see a young artistic crowd patiently waiting to order authentic Mexican food from the taco truck camped out in front of the Ralphs’s, or a native Latino family walking into a vegan donut shop. These are instances that show how two very different sets of people are embracing each other’s customs.

So if you ever find yourself stumbling into Echo Park, here are some suggestions. If you want great inexpensive Mexican food, you must try the taco stand off of Alvarado St and Scott St. This stand is set up every evening in a vacant parking lot next to the Autozone. Here you will find a simple yet refined menu that can whip out anything from tacos to mulitas. If you’re curious to try an ever-popular vegan restaurant, Sage is the perfect one. Sage is an all vegan restaurant that serves everything from Biscuits & Gravy to a Cauliflower Steak Dinner and a Brownie Sundae, but don’t let the word, “vegan” scare you, trust me, it is all very tasty!

And after dining at Sage, you can walk down to Echo Park Lake and rent a peddling boat and float around the lake or you can hang out by the grassy patches and read a book, listen to music, or simply gaze at the lake.