Oxnard, California. My hometown. I'll talk about how I fit into this city and how this city inseparably fits into me (for better or for worse), but first we have to see what this city is (this IS my blog and about ME, after all...don't judge me...). Let's run down how the we roll...
Farms. Supposed Strawberry Capital of the World. If that's not the case, then it definitely has the biggest Strawberry Festival in the world, in which case I would still have to conclude that Oxnard is definitely the Strawberry Capital of the World, and thus the circle of logic is complete--Oxnard owns you in berry making. Cabbage also calls Oxnard home, broccoli sometimes calls home and leaves a floret or two on the message machine, and possibly a celery or two. Let's not forget the mushrooms...once, a very large pile of mushrooms and horse manure (apparently that's a part of the farming process) caught fire and essentially tainted the air around Oxnard...the news from LA came out and everything. True story. Also, probably most importantly, the farms contribute to a large immigrant Mexican community.
Beaches. Expanses of beaches. Oxnard Shores. Silverstrand. Hollywood Beach. Hollywood-by-the-Sea. I believe about ten dozen more, give or take nine dozen. The houses in and around these beaches are probably the nicest in all of Oxnard, and if the houses themselves aren't that nice, then the fact that they're literally 10 to 346.8 feet from the sand sure is. The people in these houses are often upper to high-middle class white families. When you have all this and enviable waves, you have *ding* surf culture. *ding* skate culture....
...aaaaand *DING* PUNK. FUCKING. ROCK. Home to Nardcore, Oxnard Hardcore. Stalag 13, Aggression, RKL, Ill Repute, Dr. Know...um, No Motiv *cough*. All this has risen from the sandy, bleach-blond ashes of the beaches of Oxnard. If you think Nardcore is no big deal, which it may not be if you're not or have not at sometime been into punk in any way, then think again. Nardcore, and subsequently Oxnard, have their place on the national stage...recognition from New York to LA, if not but for two things: fruit. and Hardcore.
Oxnard may be punk as kitten with a stud collar (which at the same time screams kinky...which I couldn't definitively say Oxnard is), but at the same time it's fucking hippity hop. More than your momma. Oxnard is not Oxnard sans the chrome spinners--NAY sans the shiny plastic hubcap spinners, nor without 70s-80s era American cars e.g. the Monte Carlo or the Caprice, and especially the El Camino. Describing Oxnard is for naught without the 12" subwoofers blasting anything and everything short of Bela Bartok, useless without jackets for Los Raiders or Los Dodgers. In short, Oxnard makes all y'all look ghetto, mo'fucka.
I could go on about the basics of Oxnard, but really that's a lot of what you need to know. So what's there to do? Well, from the above said the beach is clearly a destination. However, as far as unique forms of diversion, the line gets drawn (in the sand, I suppose...) there, and the line is thin. You could probably golf...golf courses abound, especially nowadays. This I did for 14 years, btw. And no...I did not love it for all of those 14 years. Sorry golf, I cheated on you many times. Shopping is popular in this increasingly commercialized city. But few to no unique shopping experiences exist here...shopping centers pop up and fill with the latest biggest chain stores. And the same can be said for dining...we Oxnard type think we're hot shit when Krispy Kreme comes to town, or Chick-Fil-A (which, coincidentally enough, replaced the Krispy Kreme when the KK went out of business). Hometown Buffet? OH SHIT SON. Really, the best dining you'll probably find in Downtown, and Downtown is quite small indeed once you get to the meat of it. And that's mostly because of Taco de Mexico on 7th and Oxnard Blvd. Otherwise, nothing outstandingly unique in Oxnard. Nothing other than the sand (besides which is Pepe's Mexican, another good place). All that can be enough, sometimes.
At night, even less to do. For the automobile-less teenager, this town can potentially be terrible, and most dangerously, boring. Beach at night? Sexy, but not for everyone. Shopping...not unless 7-11 is particularly interesting. Good microwaveable burritos though, or so I hear. Though there may now only be one 7-11 in Oxnard, on C and Wooley, unless the one at the Citgo on Ventura and 5th is still open, which may be doubtful. I hope by now, you're starting to feel bored yourself. This is the feeling. And I'm sure city government is clueless as to why gangs are so very prolific in Oxnard...what else is there to do, but congregate? And in congregation, there is still nothing to do...you would think that we, your gracious teenagers of Oxnard, would be less violent and malevolent had you, the City, would just allow us something more and invite more than just commercial interests. I digress. The point is Oxnard can be boring.
Bored teens are dangerous.
You could start a hardcore band. But chances are, in my experience of listening to hardcore, going to hardcore shows, and trying to make a hardcore band...1) you won't get "big" and 2) you won't make anything unique or anything that can stand the test of time i.e. worth listening to in 6 months. (Sorry, but it's the truth.) Good thrills for a while though.
So Oxnard's made a lot of who I am. But it took choices...not between good or bad, God no. Not between rich or poor, that's not so much a decision. But the general attitudes, the goals and aspirations...that, a city can lay out, at least partially, and those are the paths that I dealt with. Nothing about Oxnard defines a single stereotype. No, too much disparity for that. Too many contrasts to lead down a definitive path in the middle. You can choose to build the path betwixt the ends, but if only because it doesn't exist. Not to say that people in Oxnard fit this mold or that mold. I don't think that's ever quite true for any human being anywhere in the world. But I believe there are definite lines in the sand between the people and their paths in Oxnard...I would be lying if I said otherwise.
So I hope I've captured the complex heart of Oxnard in these few paragraphs. In a few, I'll get to how this heart's a part of me.
No comments:
Post a Comment