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Rene Sorto
Professor Griffith
English 113B 8AM
March 23 2015
Project Space
West vs East, North vs South, theyre all the same thing; they both show the area of the
rich and the poor, power vs none. In a country that runs by equality, obviously doesnt show it in
the area of Los Angeles, What is obvious is the social differences and unequal treatment that we
see between two distinct areas, Beverly Hills and South/East Los Angeles. Both areas have major
differences involving their economics, race and regulations; both are divided by their social
differences. Depending on where you live, who you are, where you come from and what you do,
more power to you. Even when it comes to your race or economic status, living in this area has
started to become a stereotype where people automatically assume youre poor or rich. Viceversa, if you are from a certain race or noticeable economical status, you are assumed to be
living in one of these places. The struggle for equality hasnt really changed much; all we hear is
talk, but we never really see the actions taken to make those changes. When it comes to living in
an area, we know that the rea with more money gets the preferential treatment while the other
side gets to wait for their turn.
Money is power; in this case Beverly Hills has the power over East Los Angeles because
the people who live there have more money. With money comes the power to influence others
and to make your own changes (Hume). If anyone can live in Beverly Hills it would be a dream
comes true, but unfortunately, not everyone can live there. Beverly Hills is an expensive place to
live in; not only does Beverly Hills have the most expensive houses in the US, but the area is fill

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with expensive restaurants, stores and more. Only wealthy people get the chance to live there,
including lawyers, doctors, famous celebrities, lottery winners or even just people who are born
in a wealthy family. We wont see people that make around 30,000 a year trying to settle there;
even if they do they wont live there long enough because of how expensive the houses are or
because theyre not stable enough to keep the houses financially. It could also be that the realestate agencies denies you the house for your race; if it were to be a white and a black person
trying to get the house, most likely the house will be given to the white man. What the price of
the houses and the environment in Beverly Hills does is help keep the poor or minorities away
from that area. It forces them to stay away where they can afford to stay and live far away from
the wealthier neighborhood. The stores in Beverly Hills are mostly well known and expensive
brands. They have stores like Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Michael Kors. These expensive
branded stores are another way of keeping people with no money out of the area. The restaurants
there are generally four to five start restaurants and most likely require you to spend more than
where a person who lives in East LA would pay for rent. One plate of food in these restaurants
can cost around hundreds of dollars and they even have beverages than can cost a lot for so little.
Someone with a low economic status would have to live in South or East LA where the rent and
the places are more affordable. The stores that we see in the East or South are Ross, JC Pennys
etc. Theyre stores where the sell cheaper goods for less; Its more affordable for the ones who
cant afford to pay in a store at Beverly Hills. This is also another way of keeping the poor in
area, by giving them what they are able to get at the price theyre able to pay. Restaurants that are
normally seen in East Los Angeles would be fast food places like Mc Donalds, Burger King or
Jack in the Box. Thats the other thing, people with more money are able to pay for healthier
food since its more expensive and others with less money cant. So the other alternative that the

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poor people have when it comes to them wanting to buy food will ultimately be at a fast foo
restaurant where the prices is cheap even though the food is really unhealthy. Its mostly the rich
who own those stores or restaurants and it shows how in control the rich people are; more money
more power. They basically run Los Angeles.
Depending on the race or ethnicity, a person can have more benefits over the other. When
it comes to Beverly Hills and East Los Angeles were talking about Whites and Latinos,
Mexicans, Black. In Beverly Hills white people are the ones who dominate the area, and in East
LA its the Hispanics and Blacks who live there. According to the United States Census, From
the 34,109 people who are living Beverly Hills 82.4% are White and 5.7% are Latinos or
Hispanics in 2010(United States Census Bureau). In East Los Angeles, from the 126,496 people
who are living there 1.5% of whites alone live there and 97.1% of Hispanics live there (United
States Census Bureau). This proves to show the separation between the two races. More white
people live in the richer area while the majority of the Hispanics live in the poor side of the city.
The areas even make people feel like an outsider or as it they dont belong there, like if a Latino
would go shopping at the Beverly Center, that person would feel like theyre the only Latino
there. Because theyre not that many Latinos and theyre many White people, it makes it hard for
the person to feel comfortable compared to a swap meet where that person can communicate
more. Also in these two areas where the races are separated, Beverly Hills has the preference
with the Law. I noticed that when I had been in East LA, When someone calls the police for help
it took them longer to come to them compared to the times I would see in Beverly Hills.
Sometimes they make a bigger deal out of it if you were to live in Beverly Hills or even if you
were white. Ive had neighbors complain about how the police were taking too long to get to a
crash scene. When I saw a car accident happen in the rich area, I always seen them come by

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quick or sometimes they were already by the scene and it because they have more cops
protecting that area. The law is more enforced in Beverly Hills than East LA. I see that people
get tickets for J-walking the streets at Beverly Hills, but in the poor areas, people walk the streets
as if it were a side walk and as if they had the right to be there. Its unbelievable, but its true.
Officers and Fire Fighters arrive at the scene faster depending on the area you live in and the
ethnicity or race you are. Beverly Has more power and more control, so it shows through the
preference they have from the law.
The Places in which you live in can only prosper or stay depending on the way things run
in the area, its order. Its almost as if every place in LA has its own government or laws.
Depending on the people who live there, the laws are enforced differently, education is different
and the power is shown through the community. In Beverly Hills we see nice, clean streets with
beautiful grass everywhere, and the gorgeous architecture. However, in east LA you have trash
on the sides everywhere, smaller homes and less trees or plant life. Another noticeable difference
between these two areas, when it comes to homes, Beverly Hills has houses without gates and
East LA has houses with gates. Why is it that people have gates surrounding their houses? Well
its a way of keeping unwanted guest out of the place. Most houses from Beverley Hills dont
have gates because they dont need them; they dont really have much to worry about when the
area is already being protected with extra care. Still many people from Beverly Hills put on gates
since a few people have been trying to break in to rich neighborhoods and steel. East LA, on the
other hand, has houses that are closer together and actually occupy gates around ever house. Its
a sign that more crime happens in the area because of how unsafe it is, so they have the need to
board themselves up. It will take East LA a while for it to prosper and make its area look better.
Just like Beverly Hills, the people of East LA have to enforce their ways of living, like cleaning

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up after themselves, keeping the walls from being vandalized and helping people get educated
about the social differences. Beverly Hills does their part in enforcing the law, they keep the
streets clean, they prevent crimes from happening and most importantly, most of them obey the
law. Also in these two places Beverly Hills has more educational opportunities especially since
most of them have money to afford it. East LA doesnt have the money to afford those
extracurricular activities or tutors that they want for their kids or themselves. Kids go to school
from Beverly Hills get better treatment school wise and it helps them perform better (Kohler).
Even the teachers from Beverly Hills get better pay compared to the teachers from East LA. Its
upsetting but the truth is Beverly Hills has more order and power over East LA.
Los Angeles has a distinct separation that is being allowed by citizens and even though
not much is being done, the individual people should start taking charge to make the change. If
its not being done, then do it yourselves. East LA is full of poor Latinos and Blacks who have
the streets and houses beat up with trash or graffiti. Beverly Hills on the other hand is a wellknown place, occupied mostly be white rich families, that among others has more opportunities
and has the preference over the rest of Los Angeles. Even though were supposedly treated with
the same treatment, it is not true and we can see the difference between both sides. More to the
north or west, more rich people and more in the south or east area is where the less wealthy
families live. The rich has proven to have more power because of their status and they want to
benefit where they live. They take action in to helping their community and thats what East LA
should do and theyre starting to do already, but its not enough. More people from the LA
community should help out more even by helping their kids go to college to get a better
education and future. More Helpful minds will come up from the place they know need help and
once theyve gotten the power, theyll help build Los Angeles in to a Beverly Hills.

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Work Cited
Beverly Hills (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. US Census Bureau. March 25,
2015. Http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0606308.html.
Hume, Robert D. power and Fairness in a Generalized Ultimatum Game. PLps ONE. Jun2014,
Vol. 9 Issue 6, pl-9. Print.
Kohler, Maxie, Lois Christensen, Jennifer Kilgo, Anthony Broughton, Noelle Mclnerney, and
Wenjia Wang. Poverty. Childhood Education, 89.4 (2013): 270-274. Print.