Woman Artists On Immigration

http://waoi.blogspot.com/2009/02/art-activism-and-collaboration.html

I found this blog and I thought it pertained to our class because of the issues it raises on crossing borders, confronting barriers, and bridging identities. It relates to Los Angeles because the event (which took place over a year ago) took place in Los Angeles. Both the location and timing of the exhibition is significant because of Los Angeles' close proximity to the Mexican American border and also because of it being an election year. There were forty artists selected for the exhibition, 57% of them from the Los Angeles area. All the pieces were dealing with immigration.

Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies

http://www.amazon.com/Los-Angeles-Architecture-Four-Ecologies/dp/0520260155/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271954815&sr=1-1

For my Core class last year, I read a book entitled Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies by Reyner Banham. It discusses the uniqueness and beauty of Los Angeles as a city from a perspective that really appreciates it while addressing the issue that Los Angeles’s beauty as a city is usually disregarded. The most memorable and persuasive part for me was where Banham discusses the aesthetics of Los Angeles freeways. I had always thought about them as an eyesore on the city. It was fascinating to hear a perspective that discusses them as something that in fact adds to the beauty of the area. Banham shows aerial shots of the freeways that emphasize the abstract shapes of the architecture and beautiful shots of them at sunset that forces the viewer to see them in a new light. The book also discusses the diversity of architecture in varying areas of Los Angeles, but the part of the book that struck me the must was the discussion of the freeways.

LA Times's "Mapping L.A" project

One of my favorite places on the web (I admit it, I'm a huge nerd) can be found at

http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/

The "Mapping L.A." project was launched in February '09 by a team at the Los Angeles Times, with this mission statement:

"Los Angeles is a city that remakes itself constantly, so drawing boundaries for communities can be perilous. City officials are happy to designate community names, but have never been willing to set borders. But, with your help, we at The Times have done just that.

Why draw lines? Consistency is one reason. If we report that an event occurred in Van Nuys orWestwood, we want people to know exactly where we mean. Beyond that, defining boundaries will allow us to give our readers a wealth of data, about demographics, income, crime, schools and more, for specific geographical areas."

The project at first glance is a large interactive map of Los Angeles, currently broken into 114 pieces -- each piece a neighborhood of the city. The map allows you to familiarize yourself with the neighborhoods, their geographical relation to one another, and really get a feel for how our massive, expansive city is laid out. The map also allows you to click-through on a neighborhood, which will then pull up a page with a more detailed map, tons of demographic info, and a section where readers can post their comments on "Life in [the chosen neighborhood]." A second tab on the same page allows you to look at all of the schools in the area, with statistics and links to each school's special "California Schools Guide" page (another seriously impressive Times online project).

The map is constantly changing, like the living city itself. As communities change, the map adapts, while also saving a version of itself -- this will produce (and is already producing) a long-range, detailed study of how L.A. changes over time, with available snapshots of each iteration. In all, the project is a fascinating, super-convenient resource; a great way to teach people about their communities, and engage discussions about everything from neighborhood geography to good restaurants. It's also, as I said already, just a cool place to nerd out for awhile. Try it, I dare you.

Don't Be a Menace to South Central while Drinking you Juice in the Hood

The film, Killer of Sheep, portrays a run down Watts neighborhood through a lens of reality. Unlike the black exploitation movies of the time, which portrayed blacks as ass kicking, jive talking, brothers fighting the man, Killer of Sheep focuses on depicting the reality of living in Watts. What Killer of Sheep did to films like Superfly, Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood did to the gangsta genre of the early 1990’s. With the release of Boyz N the Hood and Menace II Society, came a perceived notion that life in the hood entailed gun toting, excessive drinking and drug use, gang membership, and Daytons. While there is no doubt that some of these acts do exist, the sheer ridiculousness of the films drive me crazy with embarrassment. Luckily the Wayans brothers were there to parody. Don’t Be a Menace takes parts from both Menace II Society and Boyz N the Hood, along with a few others, and pokes fun at every stereotype presented. For instance, in both movies the characters are constantly holding 40 oz. malt liquor bottles. Don’t Be a Menace takes this further buy covering entire kitchens with “40’s.” Even a liquor store is named “Guns and Forty’s.” While Don’t be a Menace certainly takes a different approach than Killers of Sheep, they are both effective in drawing the line between stereotype and reality.

"Buffalo Bill" Cody

Our discussion about the representation of minorities in entertainment, specifically American Indians in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, prompted me to think about the representation of Buffalo Bill himself in popular culture. Given that he is one of the most popular subjects of film and television in recent history, the various portrayals of him vary significantly, from a flamboyant exhibitionist to a more stately entertainer.
Buffalo Bill has been a subject of film and television since shortly after his death in 1917, with the silent film "The Iron Horse," in which he was played by George Waggner, which debuted in 1924. Since then, he has been played by a variety of very famous actors, including: Roy Rogers, Charlton Heston, Paul Newman, and Stephen Baldwin. His most recent "appearance" was on the Canadian television series "Murdoch Mysteries," which goes to show how wide-ranging his appeal is. Interestingly, Buffalo Bill was also very popular in Italy in the 1930's and 40's, so when Italy found itself at war with American, brochures were published that said that Buffalo Bill was actually an Italian immigrant named Domenico Tombini who was from the same province as Mussolini. Though there is no historical evidence for this, it allowed stories about him to continue to be published, now under the title of "Buffalo Bill, the Italian Hero of the Plains."
Even just his name has been used in many modes of entertainment that have nothing to do with him as a person, for example, the serial killer in "The Silence of the Lambs" is named "Buffalo Bill", and Eminem's most recent album, "Relapse," includes a track called "Buffalo Bill." All of these examples just prove his extreme appeal and popularity in contemporary culture, both in the United States and all over the world.

the Old and New Chinatown

In Garcia’s A World of Its Own, he mentioned workers of various races, including Chinese. He told us that Chinese immigrants succeeded in the laundry industry of Los Angeles for a while in the late 19th century. Chinese were believed to arrive in Los Angeles as early as in 1852. They were mainly laundrymen, gardeners, agricultural and ranch workers, and road builders. As Garcia mentioned, Chinese became dominant in the laundry industry after their arrival. At the same time, their residential area, Chinatown came into being at where the Union Station is now. Old Chinatown celebrated its peak time from 1890 to 1910, when it became not only a residence region, but a commercial community as well. It had its own temples, opera houses, newspaper and telephone exchanges. However, the Old Chinatown did not enjoy its heyday for long. The Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882 gradually had its influence on immigration patterns and halted the growth of Chinese immigrants. Consequently, landlords felt that there was no need to renovate their houses because there was no swelling demand for housing. Not satisfied with dilapidated houses, people began to move out of the community, forcing landlords changing the function of houses from residence to vulgar entertainment such as gambling and opium center. When the California Supreme Court decided to relocate the Old Chinatown to make room for Union Station, there were few voices of opposition—unlike the relocation of Chavez Ravine in 1940s which ignited protests from Mexican communities.
After the relocation, the Chinese community spent several years looking for an ideal place for new Chinatown. Finally in 1938, the new Chinatown has its grand opening. The new Chinatown was designed to show that the Chinese community was willing to adopt modern ways of living—neat and orderly. With Hollywood style of exotic, the New Chinatown served as a center for tourists to explore the mysterious Oriental world. For the following 72 years, the New Chinatown experienced a slight downfall as a place a interest, but it remains to be a business center for Chinese community as well as a symbol of Oriental world for tourists and filmmakers.

The following is a simply travel guide of the New Chinatown: http://www.experiencela.com/Adventures/Chinatown.htm

Hollywood

When many people think of Los Angeles the first thing that pops into their mind in the Hollywood sign. Most people can't tell you the purpose is currently or once served, but they know it stands for the glitz and glamour that surrounds LA. The Hollywood sign website, describes it as, “a universal metaphor for ambition, success, glamour…” Many do not know that the signs original purpose in 1923 was a giant billboard for the real estate in Hollywood. In 1978 the sign had reached such poor conditions that starlets raised money together to help pay for a new sign. The sign, which was only supposed to stay up a short time as become a landmark in LA. Featured in movies, songs and for general California promotions, the sign serves a new purpose for each generation and will continue to do so. The Hollywood sign even has its own website featuring history, news and events, and even a webcam of the current goings on at the sign… Now, “You can also catch a glimpse of Hollywood’s biggest star from outer space.”

http://www.hollywoodsign.org/