An addition to the VFaL blogroll Dogs of Downtown, a photo survey of canine living in Downtown Los Angeles authored by Nancy-Jean Carlson, owner of Pet Project.
Recently featured is Mr. Lucky, who was a photo model for me this past summer. Why Mr. Lucky? When asked to shoot a Downtown bookstore environment, it was suggested that a book store with a cat hiding in the back would do the trick. 'Cept it is Downtown, so the Pit Bull mix with a mid-day shift watching the door of Metropolis Books seemed appropiate. Don't let that lethargic look fool you. Mr. Lucky is as sharp as a tack.
Another addition to the blogroll is the community based Little Tokyo Unblogged that's been unleashed with multiple authors. It's part of Little Tokyo Unplugged and set up so the community
"can share information, thoughts, ideas, and opinions about the Little
Tokyo neighborhood."
For now, have some public art as they explain the non working old camera box seen on First near Central that was once an interactive
piece to project photos by Little Tokyo's Toyo Miyatake:
First-generation Japanese American photographer Toyo Miyatake (1895)
opened his photography studio in Little Tokyo in 1923 and spent the
rest of his life documenting his community's life on film. When
Miyatake, his family and 120,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly
incarcerated by the U.S. government during World War II, Miyatake
bravely smuggled a camera lens and a film plate, considered contraband,
into the Manzanar concentration camp in California. Using a
secretly-constructed camera, he captured everyday life in Manzanar.
Downtowners, meet Under the Alexandria, a family of three who migrated from Silverlake, found a loft, and set up a blog. The main voice is Mom:
There have been a few things to adjust to. Having the car a block
away is a pain in the ass when you have the baby and groceries and
other shit to haul around. And the neighborhood is definitely still on
the gritty side (though a helluva lot better than it used to be).
Seeing drug dealers on 5th did not make me a happy mama.
Downtown will be the workplace for soon to be former LAist Editor Tony Pierce, who will be overseeing the 25 blogs at the LA Times.
Andy [Steinberg, LAist News Editor]: Is there anything specifically interesting that
you're charged with off the bat in your job description? What is your
proper title?
Tony: The title is still being worked on. i hope
theres a team of people on that right now, actually. and to be honest,
that was one of the biggest things Meredith [Artley, LATimes] and I discussed. She's
really open minded as I am. Hopefully it will say Blog in there
somewhere. But that word has never been on a business card at the LAT
so it will probably be something far more general. Titles don't
interest me much. people usually just point and say, yep thats the
nutball I was telling you about yesterday.
[view] LAist Tony Pierce Moves on to LATimes--Mainstream Media Will Never Be The Same
'An official welcome to Walter Melton who is now blogging at SkidRowScribe to "communicate to myself and continue the process of healing." The former Ivy Leaguer is documenting his personal recovery and transition, and began SkidRowScribe October 11 to mark his one year anniversary from being "clean from cocaine." Recently, he blogged about a visit to Central Division where he spoke in front of LAPD:
"Finally I arrived at the point were I could tell them the reason I was
there. I was there to tell them that a lot of people on Skid Row support
them. Many residents of Skid Row are tired of (non-profit) groups speaking for them.
They desire open communication." "
Rico adds Stephen Friday (FridayinLA) for a K-Town and Westlake POV, extending the now mostly Downtown architecture and construction coverage over to MacArthur Park. [angelenic goes group] Skyline from MacArthur Park by fridayinla [flickr set]
Judith Baca send an email from Provincetown, Massachusetts where the muralist, UCLA Professor and co-founder of SPARC , is spending the month as Artist in Residence for the Gaea Foundation. While on the east-east side, where the sun sets with in a different light , Judith started a blog dubbed Political Landscape Writer and gives an update on her portrait of Dolores Huerta that will be part of The Cesar Chavez Monument in San Jose. Plus, she writes in her recent entry:
I am beginning to believe I am a
political landscape painter. I have always known the value of art as a
tool for transformation both personal and political. What I have had to
learn through being attentive to my own curiosities and artistic focus,
is that I choose often to use land as my method of recording memories
and stories in my paintings and murals.
The blog may continue when she gets back to the "westside". Above is youtube on the 60s segment of her lifelong project The Great Wall.
Downtown Murals Hitting the Wall (1984): 110 North at 4th The Street Speaks (1986):
721 East 6th St. La Memoria de Nuestra Tierra (1996): Topping Student Center, USC History of the Mark Taper Forum, History of the Ahmanson (1997): N Grand at Temple Our Victories, Our Future (1998):
321 S Bixel St
(S)he's Angry, (S)he's Militant. (S)he's blogging. Militant Angeleno is the new sphere carrier in L.A.s geek chorus. First big post; Day with The Police. Random previous post: Added Backstory on the original Hard Rock Cafe that was located in Skid Row and a site for a Doors shoot. Lives on the Eastside. Anti-Hipster. LACityNerd endorsed.
Do we start calling a gentro-hipster from points east a Gentrogrant?
Photo: Hard Rock Cafe, 1983. UCLA Library / Digital Collections.
