Westwood Vs. Claremont
For this week's blog I decide to actually
focus somewhere we can all understand; Westwood, itself. Since I’m a commuting
student I spend little time if any here in Westwood so it was a new experience
for me. Spending the day here in Westwood to me was visiting a new location as
well but since I’ve already done it, I’ll let it slide. Westwood is west of
UCLA and is known as part of West Los Angeles. Westwood is known because of UCLA,
the atmosphere of the city somewhat resembles a college town with the
incorporation of Los Angeles. This then lead me to not only focus on LA but the
city of Claremont and how the resemble one another.
 |
| The Distance aprox 50 miles |
As I walked around the city of Westwood,
I noticed that the Westwood area resembled a lot of an area near my home which
is Claremont. Both cities are college based cities that thrive upon the schools
in their area. If you were not aware Claremont is home to 7 colleges; Claremont
Mckenna, Pomona College, Pitzer College, Harvey Mudd, Scripps, Claremont
Graduate University and the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences.
The difference between both cities is that Westwood is home to UCLA a public
school and Claremont is home to 7 private colleges. Both cities are very clean,
walking around Westwood knowing that it’s part of the LA area I expect it
would be somewhat filthy because it’s part of LA, however, it surprised me
because it was fairly clean being located in the LA area. As I walked around
Westwood I noticed that much of the population are students which is somewhat
like Claremont. Claremont is consist of many students but not to the extreme as
Westwood since Claremont is home to 7 small private universities in regards to
UCLA (the largest public school). If you go into Westwood and stand
anywhere between Wilshire Blvd. and Le Conte and just count the number of
luxury vehicles, it is astounding. It is
also a symbol that is indicative of the social class that the driver probably
belongs to. While there are nice
restaurants in town, there are also average chain restaurants that are probably
there because of the business they’ll likely receive from college students. Also
Claremont is home to a large group of retirees. Both cities are cities of
wealth and is very noticeable in the vehicles and the shops surrounding the
area. Both cities have a lower crime rate Westwood has only had 20 violent crimes
over a six month period and 306 property crimes placing Westwood near the
lowest rate of Neighborhood rank from the LA times (http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/neighborhood/westwood/crime/).
Claremont also falls in the same category it’s been stated on banners around
the area that is one of the safest areas in the countries but the Claremont PD
has yet released exact numbers of crimes. Walking around both of these cities I
do feel safer, there is a sense of security because I rarely saw any homeless
or “fishy” people around. Since both communities are pretty wealth the problems
and crimes you see are white collar. For example earlier this year one of the
Claremont Colleges, Claremont Mckenna, it’s Director of admission was caught
lying on reporting SAT scores of its students. (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/04/claremont-mckenna-vice-president-acted-alone-in-exaggerating-test-scores-report-finds-.html)
 |
| Claremont Mckenna |
After learning about how the city is a tool for reproducing labor I can see what Claremont and Westwood interest is. Both cities are focusing on making sure the students and individuals are ready for the workforce. Not only are they preparing their citizen and students to be as successful as they can and be above the average class level. Also the surrounding of both their villages is to make the community residents feel okay and better because as longs as entertainment and consumption makes the residents feel okay, allows them to feel okay doing their labor/studying. Both communities do well on making sure its residents enjoy their location of living with the choices of entertainment after. Both cities demonstrate being part of the 4th urban revolution because although they each have their own center within the city there is no large center because everything is connected people work within each city and outside each city. Residents can “play” within their city as well as on the outside of the city.
 |
| Westwood Village |
 |
| Claremont Village |
.gif)
.gif)
Hey Jose,
ReplyDeleteI really liked this post. I've never been to the Claremont area but have friends from high school that ended up going to college there. I had a prior understanding that it was an area engulfed by private schools, and good schools to say the least. You gave a good description of the areas but one thing I wanted to know is what kind of people are walking around. You noticed that people around Westwood are driving fancy cars. My argument would be most of those people don't live in Westwood and are either passing through on Wilshire or are working there.
I loved your comparison of crime rates; it was an interesting fact and something that is very nice to know. Do you think Westwood has a low crime rate because it is a college town? Like do college kids get a good reputation of not stealing other people's things? One other thing as well; in Westwood there are a handful of grimy looking people that look like they are on drugs. These are people that are constantly seen walking the streets; and we don't know if they have a home or what not. Is it justified to think that they have a part to do with the crime rate? My friend would always be afraid walking by them...is that a sign of how we perceive inequality?
Good post though, really informative.