Relaxing in Carpenteria
For this blog post I took a trip to Carpinteria which is just southeast of Santa Barbara. I was a little unsure if anyone would consider this part of Los Angeles, but it's not too far to where I would consider it to not be part of L.A. I knew I had never been to Carpinteria prior to this trip, but knew that I had been to many places very close to it such as Ventura and Santa Barbara. Therefore, visiting the actual town of Carpinteria was a new experience for me. Of course I had expectations going into the town since I knew it was a beach town.
The drive itself took about an hour and a half, which wasn't too bad given the traffic and the time we left at for a Friday afternoon. Once we hit the 101-N, it was just a straight shot to the town. I got off an exit towards Downtown Carpinteria which led us to a street that contained many shops and restaurants. It seemed like a very close and homey atmosphere the way the streets were lined up. Upon driving down the street I decided to turn and park on Linden Ave. which appeared to be Carpinteria's main strip that led down to the beach. Linden Ave. had many restaurants to choose upon. I walked along the street with my two friends deciding which restaurant to go into for dinner. Walking through the town, I took in everything that I saw. There were small "mom and pop" type of shops and I noticed that the average race I saw along the sidewalk were white. As we walked down the street I could tell this place seemed like a very nice, family-oriented, town. An old couple was walking their dog and the woman smiled and said "hello" to us, proving my observations of this town to be even more precise.
Hi Erica,
ReplyDeleteFrom what I read and saw from your post this little town does seem very pleasant. It looks clean and cozy, and sounds like everyone gets along and are friends. When I read your observation that most people were white, I thought about Massey and Denton’s writing about segregation and race. Maybe it is because this was this week’s readings and it is still fresh in my head, but I was thinking, if there were blacks that are seen, I would hypothesize that the environment would be very different. For instance, people at the restaurant you visited wouldn’t be as nice or as talkative and treat everyone like they were friends. When I read “The Continuing Causes of Segregation,” I imagine that if blacks started moving into a white area, white families would eventually start looking for a new place and move out and the place would be unattractive to other whites. I think Carpinteria is a very segregated town because it is not very racially diverse. This can be another example of how segregation still exists. Whites here probably are “unwilling to tolerate more than a small percentage of blacks in their neighborhoods… and… discrimination against blacks is widespread and continues at very high levels in urban housing markets” (Blackwell Reader pp.181). So, to conclude about the big question of the course about what different does difference make, here, the difference of race affects how a town such as Carpinteria works or feels. It affects how the residents’ attitudes towards each other are and this builds a certain atmosphere of friendliness or unfriendliness. Of course, this difference also causes a big issue that America has been dealing with throughout history which is race inequality and segregation.
Also, when I read this blog, it reminded me of my car trips up north on 101 freeway. I am from the bay area so I’ve had fun road trips up and down 101 and this town reminds me of Solvang which is a town that 101 freeway passes and its north of Santa Barbara. Coming from the bay area where it is very diverse with race, I was a little surprised to find that my family and I were the only non whites in Solvang. Nonetheless, everyone was very nice and the little town was so beautifully maintained with such nice and relaxing atmosphere. The clean benches and the flowers on the sidewalk in both Carpinteria and Solvang really have similar urban design plans which are to suggest walking and interacting with fellow residents in town when taking nice and slow strolls. I think the pictures of this town convey very similar impressions.