What does "La Cienega" mean? (1 Viewer)

[Rain]

Does anyone know what "La Cienega" means.
It's used in a song by Ryan Adams that I've been listening to quite frequently lately.
Here's how it goes:

Oh the night, here it comes again.
It's on with the jeans, the jacket and the shirt.
How'd I end up feeling so bad
For such a little girl?
And I hold you close in the back of my mind
And it feels so good, but damn it makes me hurt
And I'm too scared to know how I feel about you now.
La Cienega just smiles...see you around.

Anyone?
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[Rain]

Ok, a friend of mine had her supposedly fluent-in-Spanish friend translate. His offering: "the swamp."
Given that an internet search reveals "La Cienega" and variations on it are popular names for streets, hotels and resorts and given that it makes no sense in the context of the song (nor would it account for the capitalization of that phrase), I find that hard to believe.
Anyone else?
[Edited last by Rain on October 09, 2001 at 01:15 PM]

 

[Carlo_M]

My boss (who is Mexican and fluent in Spanish) says it's misspelled but it does mean "the swamp" - funny since we work within 10 miles from La Cienega Blvd in Los Angeles.

 

[Jay H]

A little background...
http://extratv.warnerbros.com/dailyn.../09_01/ra.html
Seems like the album is kind of based on Los Angeles..
There is a La Cienega Blvd in L.A.:
Extra long URL deleted by me Trust me on this one..
Doing more searches for "La Cienega Ave" and "Los Angeles" finds theres alot of hotels and restaurants on that avenue which leads me to believe it's not some dinky sideroad in the scheme of LA...
Perhaps it's a Proper Noun used as if it's a person????
Am I nuts?
Jay
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[Edited last by Jay H on October 09, 2001 at 01:45 PM]
[Edited last by Jay H on October 09, 2001 at 01:46 PM]

 

[James Nguyen]

Having grown up in Southern California,
La Cienega is most definitely one of the more major roads that runs through the LA area...
In reference to the song, I'm assuming that the artist is using "La Cienega" as a proper noun in reference to the major road, that the street itself is smiling upon him saying "see you around" since the quote makes it sound as if he's just recently lost a girl/got dumped... i.e. the streets will always welcome him..
shrug... but at the very least, I can offer up that the road is quite large in the LA scheme of things, right up there with Melrose, Sunset, Fairfax, Culver, etc.

 

[Rain]

I did some research.
To clarify:
cienaga is "swamp."
La Cienega, which as far as I can tell only ever appears capitalized, as though a proper noun, remains a mystery.
Seems unlikely that so many hotels, restaurants and resorts would name themselves "swamp" and then misspell it as well.

 

[Scott H]

He is referencing the L.A. street/area in the song.
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[Rain]

He is referencing the L.A. street/area in the song.

Well, that much we'd already established, but I want more info. If we are all satisfied now that La Cienega is not "the swamp," then it still must mean something outside of being the name of a street. Surely that came from somewhere else, no?
So what is it?
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"Imagine all the people, living life in peace..." - Imagine by John Lennon
Anyone in the Vancouver Canada area interested in a meet? Click here

 

[Scott DeToffol]

Great album, btw. Ryan is amazing.
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[Rain]

Ah, the Scotts are being soooooo helpful.

Just kidding, guys.

 

[Scott H]

Surely that came from somewhere else, no?

"The present day name is actually a misspelling of the Spanish word "cienaga", meaning "marsh" or "swamp." The misspelling began with the name of the local ranch."
That from the Los Angeles Almanac: Link Removed
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My DVD Library
Runaway production? No thanks. Where I've filmed, benefiting local economies: AL, CA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, MN, MO, MT, NV, OH, OR, TX, WA, WY.

 

[Joel C]

That's a great CD! It is currently #1 on the Top 30 at the radio station I work for.
www.wluw.org
Godd stuff!
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