I guess that is a sign of being from the east coast if you notice fellow honkies completely ignoring the Spanish-speaking population that was there first. It screams at me when I leave my apartment. I didn't expect to see a conquered people when I move to Los Angeles. I learned about the Mexican American War in school, but it was a far-off thing for an upstate New Yorker. It's not until you're sitting at the light when you're heading down Fairfax that Pico Blvd would have been 13th Street -- the unlucky general of a vanquished people gets his name on the main drag for orthodox Jews and repair garages. The billboards are in Spanish. The taco trucks have permanent encampments all over town. The city was ranch land until someone started making silent movies in the land of eternal sunshine.