Los Angeles, CA

An Alternative Guide to L.A.

While in L.A., I got my hot little hands on a very unique and exciting “Map for An Other L.A.” This map was created and published by the Llano del Rio Working Group. This group of artists, activists, social ecologists, and writers take their group’s name from a now long-defunct communist colony that developed in 1914 45 miles from Los Angeles in the Antelope Valley. (Email the Working Group at llanodelrio@gmail.com for a copy of the map). I am listing the places located on the map. I read on Indymedia some concerns about some of these spaces and groups being ucovered for ‘the man,’ if you will. I think that if those in power want to know about these places, they would not have to go through much trouble to find them anyhow. I find it to be extremely important (and also the very point of this website and fieldtrip) to increase information and communication amongst ourselves. Had I recieved this map sooner, my time in L.A. would have been more productive and connected 20-fold. Only through efficient communication will we find unity.

Here is an excerpt from an essay on the back of the map (my emphasis):

“Los Angeles developed later than other cities, on the grid of the freeway, a city with no singular history museum uniting the place in a linear truth, Los Angeles exists in secret patterns, in obscure wildlife, there are children in South Los Angeles who have never been to the beach, have never heard of Griffith Park, but grow corn and beans in 4-acre gardens on Compton Avenue, know a woman called the seed lady who has a collection of 20,000 heirlooom seeds. Micro-communities, un-labeled by a political dominant fill pockets of this Mediterranean landscape (full of micro-climates and rogue cool breezes), the dark hollows of Happy Valley, the steepest streets in all of California with 30% grades in Echo Park. These geographies allow for secret micro-political regions to form, there is no way a coherent, unified politics could exist in a city of 469 square miles, too much land, too much land outside of known purposes, unincorporated territories.”

The history of Los Angeles is indeed varied, but runs deep. What a fascinating place I found it to be. There is so much good mixed in with so much bad. You can find the good if you try– it’s hidden in little nooks and crannies; it’s informal and based on community/communication. Surprisingly, I actually liked it there!

List of Places for An Other L.A.:

Published on December 29, 2009 at 7:19 pm  Leave a Comment  

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