If they look closely enough, visitors to the Los Angeles Public Library's new maps exhibit may notice a geographic incongruity. On older maps of the city, the neighborhood northeast of downtown and across the river from the Elysian Hills bears the name "East Los Angeles." That area--today known as Lincoln Heights--is usually considered part of L.A.'s Eastside, but "East Los Angeles" proper typically refers to the unincorporated community east of Boyle Heights, several miles away from Lincoln Heights. What happened--who moved East L.A.?
As the perennial debate over the location of L.A.'s Westside and Eastside continues, the migration of "East Los Angeles" may remind us that, far from corresponding neatly to cartographers' designs, names for neighborhoods are often determined by a nexus of topographical features, community aspirations, cultural considerations, and political decisions.