KCET Story: Third-annual Southeast L.A. River Arts Festival held entirely online

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Where else are you going to see a Latinx Bob Ross in huaraches this weekend? And naturally, Beto RosSela (see what he did there?) will be painting pajaritos on a virtual riverbed. You can join Beto and dozens of other residents and artists as they perform this weekend for the third-annual Southeast L.A. River Arts Festival held entirely online.

The first art walk I covered in the Southeast was in 2014. On the corner of Atlantic and Gage in the City of Bell, the main stage stood proud in front of a spray-painted mural. The participating businesses included used car lots, a vintage thrift shop and a paleteria, among others. They featured grassroots organizations like Chicas Rockeras, visual art and DJs who could be seen up Atlantic all the way to Slauson. In the last three years, it’s moved from the street into the actual floor of the L.A. riverbed in South Gate, and last year, attracted nearly 8,000 visitors. Due to the pandemic, festival attendants will have to “walk around” and view art, watch modern dance and hear spoken word poetry via pre-recorded performances on the web instead.

Read the rest of the story below:

https://www.kcet.org/shows/southland-sessions/stories-in-the-stream-third-annual-southeast-la-river-arts-festival-goes

Watch the festival here!

https://www.selaartsfest.org/

How Bell Gardens is Banking on Bicycle Club Casino’s Luxury Hotel

The sign illuminates eight lanes of the neighboring 710 Freeway. In contrast to the new monument to luxury, the gritty Long Beach Freeway leads into the post-industrial heart of Southeast Los Angeles. Thousands of eighteen-wheelers trucking in the majority of exports into the United States from the Pacific Rim make this the busiest highway with the most accidents in the state. The transported goods that make their way into every store across the country all pass by the Bicycle Club and the thousands of families who live along it.

Read the rest of the story here.

Protesters and police arrive at the soft opening of the Bicycle Club_photo Vickie Vertiz.jpg

I can defend myself: One mother’s story, a whole community’s struggle

Laverne Cox thinks Zoey Luna rocks and you will too. In this interview, Zoey and her mom, two Downey residents, tell their story of struggle and victory against transphobia, violence against trans people, and how the ACLU and so many other organizationsZoey's first pink birthday dress_a short but historic family journey_photo Ofelia Barba have supported their journey.

Laverne Cox on Zoey's spirit_The T Word_photo credit Ofelia Barba

New Essay on KCET’s Departures

“…now I know what the garden gives.” – Jorge Segura, educator and photographer, Downey, CA

Read a love letter I wrote to urban gardening in southeast Los Angeles here.
“What the garden gives: homegrown food along the Alameda Corridor

Stay tuned for the next essays on the Bell Art Walk and more!

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KCET Communities: “Pioneers of Artistic Revolution: Making Art and Space in Southeast L.A.

As part of  an ongoing project about the importance of the 710 corridor in Los Angeles, Vickie Vertiz contributed an article about the arts, teachers, and artists in Southeast Los Angeles, where she grew up. She names a few writers who also document the lives of the people in Southeast L.A., such as Steve Gutierrez’s short stories in Live from Fresno y Los and in Hector Tobar’s book, Translation Nation. 

While the 710 freeway is considered the backbone of commerce in Southern California, the Southeast L.A. region is rich with writers, visual artists, amazing public school teachers, and community art activists. Read the article here.

 

Bell businesses. Photo credit: Cynthia Herrera
Bell businesses. Photo credit: Cynthia Herrera