Sunshine Vistas and the 21st Century City Reimagined
KCET.org
LA
Letters
January 18, 2013
by Mike Sonksen
California, and Los Angeles specifically, has always been considered a
laboratory of the future. Californians have been reinventing
themselves and the local landscape for generations. This week
L.A. Letters highlights a few sacred sites and two new books that
exemplify re-visioning Los Angeles and the 21st Century City.
On the eastern side of the Cal State L.A. campus is a hillside set of
stairs climbing upward for several hundred feet. Students call these
stairs “Cardiac Hill” with good reason. Nonetheless, climbing Cardiac
Hill is well worth it because on a clear day from the top one can see
not only Mt. Wilson and Mt. Baldy to the northeast, but also the
massive Mt. San Gorgonio further east, and even further — Mt. San
Jacinto near Palm Springs. The ability to see these towering peaks all
together in one view is rare and sublime. I have to stop every time I
see it and pause for a second.
The majestic vista reminds me of the joy Carey McWilliams describes in
his book “Southern California: An Island on the Land.” He writes: “I
think of the view from a favorite arroyo in the late afternoon, the
east slope still bathed in sunlight, the far slope already full of
dark shade and lengthening shadows. A cool breeze, as one can look
across the plains, out over miles of homes and trees, and hear the
faraway hum of traffic on the high-ways and see the golden light
filtering through the mist-laden air.”
McWilliams’ favorite arroyo must have been one on par with Cardiac
Hill. There are only a few vistas in Southern California where you can
see such a panoramic shot of the three tallest mountains south of the
Sierra Nevada. Seeing these giants together reminds me that Mother
Nature still rules Southern California. Furthermore even though we are
an epicenter for pollution and smog, the mountain’s brilliance still
prevails.
Also visible from Cardiac Hill is leafy Pasadena to the north and Phil
Spector’s Alhambra mansion immediately east. Further off in the
distance, the endless sprawl of the San Gabriel Valley blends into the
Inland Empire. Citrus groves are now tract homes and freeways bisect
big-box shops and subdivisions. The hills of City Terrace and Monterey
Park make Montebello only partially visible from Cardiac Hill. About
four miles southeast of Cal State L.A. is the Armenian Genocide
Memorial in Montebello, at a site called Bicknell Park.
The 85-foot tall concrete sculpture of eight clustered arches is
elegant and can be seen from the freeway if one looks close. I saw it
myself years back before I knew what it was.
Just south of the 60 Freeway and the Garfield Boulevard exit, the
Armenian Genocide Memorial dates back to 1968. Though neighborhoods
like Glendale, East Hollywood and Little Armenia are more famous for
their connections to the Armenian community, Montebello is the site of
the Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Cathedral and the oldest enclave of
Armenians in Southern California.
In 2011, an official sign declaring the memorial was placed on the 60
freeway. The existence of this memorial is especially significant to
the Armenian community because the Turkish government and others
continue to deny it ever happened. The memorial is a source of
strength for the community and a reminder of the not too distant
past. The genocide kick-started the modern Armenian diaspora, bringing
hundreds of thousands of Armenians to America after the First World
War.
A plaque on the memorial says: “Armenian Martyrs Memorial Monument:
This Monument erected by Americans of Armenian descent, is dedicated
to the 1,500,000 Armenian victims of the Genocide perpetrated by the
Turkish Government, 1915-1921, and to men of all nations who have
fallen victim to crimes against humanity.” Every year on April 24th,
thousands of Armenians from all over the Southland converge for
Genocide Remembrance Day. Thousands of Armenian-Americans have made
the pilgrimage there over the last 45 years, and a few other Armenian
Genocide memorials have been built around North America after
Montebello’s.
Another sacred site in the San Gabriel Valley east of Montebello and
visible in the hills of Hacienda Heights is the monumental Hsi Lai
Buddhist Temple. Famed for its classic Chinese architecture and vast
gardens, it’s the largest Buddhist temple on the West Coast. Perched
in the chaparral north of the vast Rose Hills Cemetery and the
Whittier hills, I’ve been able to spot the temple from several miles
west in Montebello and Monterey Park as well as driving on the
60. Whenever I see it off in the distance I take a deep breath and
appreciate it.
*****
“Post-Ghetto: Reimagining South Los Angeles” is a new book on UC Press
charting the evolving landscape of L.A.’s south side. The dozen essays
highlight recent hopeful signs like new community gardens, successful
gang-prevention programs, food justice, and lower crime in the area
since the 1992 Uprisings. Daniel Widener’s piece, “Setting the Seen:
Hollywood, South Los Angeles and the Politics of Film” juxtaposes two
Black films from the early 1970s, “Repression” and “Wattstax,” to
trace the history of Black Cinema in Los Angeles and to reveal
different ways South L.A. has been portrayed in film. Widener writes,
“Whether utopian or dystopian, these films show South Los Angeles as a
place of active black subjectivity, of regular folks acting, instead
of being acted upon. This is self-determination.”
Widener celebrates the self-determination of these films because they
presented alternative views of Black culture from what Hollywood
stereotypically did. This theme of reimagining South Los Angeles
defines the book.
Editor Josh Sides has curated an optimistic yet sober account of South
L.A.’s transformation. He writes, “It is unlikely that a color-blind
society can ever be created, so thoroughly are racial and racist
beliefs woven into the fabric of the United States. But the creation,
maintenance, and perpetuation of the ghetto is not inevitable. The
authors of this volume are deeply invested in thinking about,
proposing, analyzing, and implementing remedies in Los Angeles in
hopes of someday residing in a post-ghetto nation.”
“Rage is Back,” published by Viking, is a new novel about the New York
City graffiti underground loaded with insight on contemporary culture
that applies equally to Los Angeles. Author Adam Mansbach,
best-selling author of “Go the F to Sleep,” has composed a tour de
force that manages to be both an ode to New York, hip hop and
graffiti, as well as a narrative about the ties between friends,
family and the magic of art. Kilroy Dondi Vance, the savvy biracial
protagonist, is the son of one New York’s most famous graff writers
ever and the narrator of the action-packed tale.
Dondi doesn’t disappoint waxing on topics like graffiti history, race
relations, gentrification, and other similar cultural touchstones
especially relevant in these times. The mix of sarcastic humor and
insight charges the work, like in this passage: “Don’t ever mention
Haring to a graffiti writer, by the way, or Basquiat either. Not
unless you’re ready for a tutorial about how those guys were chumps,
never hit trains, didn’t hang out at the Writers’ bench on 149th and
Grand Concourse, only painted where it was safe, fronted like they
were real heads and made millions while the real heads are real broke
heads, some of them with real broke heads.”
The plot centers on the return of Dondi’s father Rage and an ensuing
citywide art campaign organized by leading graffiti artists to defeat
the crooked MTA police chief. Flashback scenes from the 1980s explain
the two decade backstory. A dash of the supernatural pervades the work
in the mythical tunnels below New York. Dondi’s commentary on
gentrification in Fort Greene and Williamsburg could easily apply to
Silver Lake and Echo Park.
There’s even one chapter where the narrator changes and the transition
is seamless — the character name Cloud Nine takes over for a few
pages to tell a story. The book culminates when Dondi, his father
Rage, and their entourage paint all the trains in New York City. The
dénouement is the redemption of Dondi’s father and exposing to the
public the corrupt police chief. Sandwiched in the midst of all the
action and humor is a heartfelt and tender story of father and son and
the redemptive power of art to bring people together. “Rage is Back”
is a masterful work that puts Mansbach in the same league as scribes
like Zadie Smith, Junot Diaz and Michael Chabon as one of the most
cutting edge contemporary novelists.
“Post-Ghetto” and “Rage is Back” both involve re-imagining the 21st
Century city in pursuit of creating a better future. Urban alchemists
are at work. The same spirit radiates at the Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple
and Armenian Genocide Memorial, visionaries are re-imagining the city
with sacred sites to create the reality they want to see. These
authors and sites shine bright in the kaleidoscope of L.A. Letters.
PHOTO CAPTION: Armenian Genocie Memorial in Montebello | Photo by Arev
G used under a Creative Commons license.
PHOTO CAPTION: Isaac Hayes performing at Wattstax, with Rev. Jesse
Jackson, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | Credit: Courtesy of
Wattstax.
From: Baghdasarian