Garcia Shoe Store & Repair

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I got off the bus on Beverly near Gerhart and noticed that the sign for Garcia Shoe Store & Repair was whitewashed and the store gone.

It was one of my favorite signs around my neighborhood.

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Avenida Cesar Chavez

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A Denny's restaurant sign is installed on the corner of Avenida Cesar Chavez and Mednik Ave on Friday February 19, 2010 in East Los Angeles.

There used to be a Victory Outreach thrift store where the restaurant is now.

Taco Bell Sign

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Taco Bell used the symbol of a sleeping Mexican wearing a sombrero until it was sold in 1978. Pepsi then changed the logo to a Mission Bell. Over 30 years later the racist logo is still proudly displayed at a Los Angeles Taco Bell on Washington Blvd. in Los Angeles.

Barreras Chicharrones

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I exit the northbound 710 freeway at Avenida Cesar Chavez several times a week. For years as I waited to turn left or right I would look right at the painting of a pig cooking in a pot on Barreras Chicharrones. I kept telling myself that I need to shoot a photo of the sign. Time went by and one day, as I headed south on Ford Blvd., I stopped my car in the intersection and snapped a picture of the sign.

I thought nothing of it until several months later I looked at the building and it had been painted dark brown. The pig was gone. I went home and searched for the photo and did not feel at ease until I saw the smiling pig boiling in the pot.

House on Gerhart Ave.

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I got up early on Saturday morning to buy my mom tamales and see if I could find some hand painted store signs to shoot.

I was not expecting to find this sign only a block from my house.

Everyday it seems to get worse.