When I Think of Home: Images from L.A. ArchivesMain MenuIntroductionThe greater Los Angeles area is on the traditional lands of the Gabrielino/Tongva, Chumash, Fernandeño Tataviam and Yuhaaviatam/Maarenga’yam (Serrano) peoples. We acknowledge their presence here since time immemorial and recognize their continuing connection to the land, to the water and to their ancestors.L.A. FirstsMigration to Los Angeles in Pursuit of Health and HappinessThe Community and Cultural Enclaves of L.A.Los Angeles Architecture and LandscapesHistoric Home MuseumsContributorsChronologyMapping the ExhibitAcknowledgementsWhen I Think of Home: Images from L.A. Archives is the first digital History Keepers exhibit produced for the annual Archives Bazaar and would not have been possible without the collaboration of LAAS members and Archive Bazaar Exhibit subcommittee members.
Chavez Ravine, 2016
12020-09-30T15:39:01-07:00Curtis Fletcher3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673e310112Chavez Ravine by Miyo Stevens-Gandara depicts Dodger’s Stadium, a triumphant icon of Los Angeles pride and identity, with the bulldozed phantom of the Chavez Ravine community that existed in its place before the stadium’s construction. Stevens-Gandara draws parallels between the historical accounts and testimonies of the Chavez Ravine community’s displacement and the present issue of gentrification and displacement facing communities everywhere.plain2020-10-11T19:13:18-07:002016Self Help Graphics & ArtIn Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (This Rights Statement can be used only for copyrighted Items for which the organization making the Item available is the rights-holder or has been explicitly authorized by the rights-holder(s) to allow third parties to use their Work(s) for educational purposes without first obtaining permission.)Courtesy of Self Help Graphics & ArtLos Angeles, Calif.Miyo Stevens-GandaraStella Castillo3fcfe63ebb36641784421d25ab3a77ed9ea98855
1media/Page_1.jpg2020-08-24T18:08:39-07:00Suzanne Noruschatd5b4fb9efb1f1d6e4833d051ebc06907bb9dba64Los Angeles Architecture and LandscapesHilary Swett24structured_gallery2020-10-16T12:41:09-07:00Hilary Swettcd5ec8edf676fb8512f57ded484e422144cea730
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1term2020-10-05T17:35:48-07:00Suzanne Noruschatd5b4fb9efb1f1d6e4833d051ebc06907bb9dba64Self Help Graphics & ArtLikhita Suresh3Founded in 1970 as "Art, Inc.", but incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1973 as "Self Help Graphics & Art" (SHG), SHG is dedicated to the production, interpretation and distribution of prints and other art media by Chicana/o and Latinx artists. Our multidisciplinary and intergenerational programs promote artistic excellence and empower our community by providing access to space, tools, training and capital.structured_gallery2020-10-09T12:34:17-07:00Likhita Sureshfa36a2f3506609c5e2c064df653783c84fd35c54
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1media/Page_1.jpg2020-08-24T18:08:39-07:00Los Angeles Architecture and Landscapes24structured_gallery2020-10-16T12:41:09-07:00As the inhabitants of Los Angeles have shifted over time, they have transformed the landscape to accommodate their growing numbers and influenced an environment often misunderstood in its layered uniqueness. The land protected and cultivated by the indigenous Tongva and Fernandeño Tataviam people whispers of their presence through familiar landmarks (for example, Cahuenga translates to Kavwénga, “place of the hills”) though missionaries and early settlers now dominate the greater imagination of what people think of when they think of the historical landscape of “Los Angeles.” The perception of L.A. as a palimpsest, or blank slate, has been carefully crafted by such renaming, redesigning, and remarketing to sell an idea that usually contrasts with lived and historical reality.
Much of the city today exudes a dream-like aura. The combination of the dreams of those who migrate to Los Angeles from all over the globe for a new life and those of enterprising settler-investors results in a confusing and mesmerizing landscape. As Mike Davis succinctly puts it, “compared to other great cities, Los Angeles may be planned or designed in a very fragmentary sense (primarily at the level of its infrastructure) but it is infinitely envisioned.” [1]
Visionary architectural stylings of Richard Neutra, Frank Ghery, and Charles Sumner and Henry Mather Greene influenced possibilities for building in Los Angeles. One of the architectural designs featured in this exhibit is the mid-century modern design of Pueblo Del Rio, a public housing project in the city of Long Beach. It was built in 1940 for African-American defense industry workers and is now inhabited by Black and immigrant communities that call Long Beach home. Following a completely different path than Pueblo Del Rio, the residents of Chavez Ravine were forcibly vacated to make way for the construction of Dodger Stadium, depicted in the print above by Miyo Stevens-Gandara. You can see the outlines of bulldozed homes beneath a jubilant stadium, reminding us that along histories of triumph for some there are parallel histories of loss and displacement.
Amid the artistic visions, social boundaries are drawn through the built environment of the city, influencing how people interact with the landscape. Freeways encourage sprawl, athletics and entertainment spur redevelopment of existing communities, and industry creates enclaves where communities simultaneously thrive and are sequestered. This exhibit offers a glimpse into some of the areas where constant envisioning meets resistance, balanced by recreation offered by beaches and outdoor spaces that are so highly sought after in Los Angeles.
[1] Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles (New York: Vintage Books, 1992), 23.