Eastside vs. Westside

Writer and L.A. native Kevin Roderick says, “Wilshire technically doesn’t go to the Eastside, if you think of the Eastside as east of downtown, which I do.” Thank you, thank you, thank you. Although I am very much from elsewhere, and live in Pasadena, I get really cranky when I read or hear of some far, far western denizen referring to, say, Western Avenue as being “on the Eastside.”

The name of the city is Los Angeles. The geographical center of the city is the point at which all of the street numbers begin, which is the corner of 1st and Main. If your street number is a western one, you live on the Westside. If it’s an eastern one, you live on the Eastside. Period. And just because the corner of Melrose and Highland is 10 miles east of you, it does not mean that it’s on the Eastside!

Will Owen

Pasadena