I have lived in several neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles County. While I loved each and every place and neighborhood that I have previously called home, if I had to choose a favorite I would choose East Hollywood, where I am currently living. The video I’ve included is called “This is East Hollywood” and was made by my friends in the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council. It gives a great overview of the area and its shops, schools, places of worship, areas of recreation, hospitals, and of course many amazing restaurants. It also highlights many of the reasons why I love living here. I love the diversity, accessibility (lots of places I like to go to are within walking and biking distance, easy access to public transportation (relative to other LA neighborhoods), fewer chain stores and lots of mom and pop shops, and I regularly hear multiple languages spoken including Tagalog, Thai, Armenian, Mandarin, Russian, English, and Spanish. That is by no means an exhaustive list of the things I love about this area but to sum it up I feel like I live in a place that has a “soul and heart” if you can attribute that to a neighborhood. Many places I’ve been to feel like they lack heart and soul and instead appear to me as some type of test tube creation.

Yeah, there are downsides to this place too and plenty of things I would love to see change and improve. The downsides go hand in hand with the upsides though. Part of what makes this area great is that it was not created in a test tube and it grew up and out in a very organic and perhaps even chaotic manner. My hope is to be an asset to this community and to give back in ways that benefit all those around. I am excited to live here as a follower of Jesus and to share His good news. At the same time my prayer and desire is that all people will be blessed by Christ’s presence in this community whether they choose to follow Jesus or not. I really don’t know how that may manifest itself though the possibilities are endless. In a year I’ll likely be able to look at previous entries to this blog and see very clearly how Jesus is blessing this community through those that love Him and are living their lives in pursuit of Him.

Enjoy the video. This is East Hollywood and I’m glad we can share it with you.

Categories: video