University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2018 The Whiteness Project of Gentrification: The Battle vo er Los Angeles' Eastside Jaime Guzmán University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Ethnic Studies Commons, and the Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons Recommended Citation Guzmán, Jaime, "The Whiteness Project of Gentrification: The Battle over Los Angeles' Eastside" (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1433. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1433 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. THE WHITENESS PROJECT OF GENTRIFICATION: THE BATTLE OVER LOS ANGELES’ EASTSIDE __________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Social Sciences University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________ by Jaime Guzmán June 2018 Advisor: Armond Towns ©Copyright by Jaime Guzmán 2018 All Rights Reserved Author: Jaime Guzmán Title: THE WHITENESS PROJECT OF GENTRIFICATION: THE BATTLE OVER LOS ANGELES’ EASTSIDE Advisor: Armond Towns Degree Date: June 2018 ABSTRACT For many years, the city of Los Angeles has declared war on communities of color. In the past decade, former communities of color like Echo Park, Silver Lake, and Highland Park have all been converted into predominantly white, affluent neighborhoods. In essence, working-class people of colors’ neighborhoods are being uplifted in order to welcome a much more affluent population to town. The newest target of Los Angeles’ gentrification for the past couple of years has been the greater Eastside. In this project I present my critical intervention of gentrification as a whiteness project. This critical intervention argues that gentrification should be understood as a revitalization process that redevelops a blighted neighborhood by effectively cleaning it of its bodies of color. As a critical intervention, gentrification as a whiteness project posits that the revitalization of neighborhoods of color must be understood as a process with both classist and racist implications. In short, this critical intervention argues that a racialization process undergirds the classist “take-over” of a neighborhood by a wealthier incoming population. In order to support the claim that gentrification should be considered a whiteness project I hope to consolidate three major threads of research that are currently unrecognized in dominant gentrification literature: (1) capitalism is a raced project in the U.S.; (2) displacement is not separate from gentrification; (3) and the locality of gentrification is connected to global systems. ii By employing critical and rhetorical methods, I explore gentrification by analyzing three points that contextualize urban communication: materiality, bodies, and movement. In this way, the goal was to understand how the city created new urban built environments for gentrification (Chapter 1), how artists and beneficiaries of a revitalized neighborhood used their bodies to (re)center their right to gentrify any neighborhood (Chapter 2), and finally, which movements were formed in order to counter these claims for gentrification (Chapter 3). Ultimately, by analyzing these three different sites of gentrification I aimed to map out a critical rhetorical cartography of L.A.’s gentrification in order to highlight the ways that power, subjectivity, and place-making are negotiated. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The best parts of this dissertation are a result of my wonderful committee: Christina Foust, Kate Willink, and Raúl Pérez. I would especially like to thank Armond Towns for being an awesome advisor and completely transforming how I view critical race scholarship. Also thanks to the people I met in Denver, especially: Ramona Beltran, Danny Olmos, Frank Tuitt, Johanna Leyba, Thomas Walker, Anthea Johnson Rooen, and Paula Martin; and to my friends: Xochilt, Sergio, Michael, Diana, Andres, Daelena, Sara, Tai, Claire, Misty, and Delma. Also thanks Deb Ortega for your mentorship and for colloquially saying what would become my hardest lesson: “Just because you’re brown doesn’t mean you’re down.” I would not have survived this doctorate program if I hadn’t met Raisa Alvarado Uchima or Kasey Uchima. Since day one of orientation you both welcomed me into your lives, embraced me as a friend and never let me go. Thank you Maritza Rios and Beverly Calero: your friendship has profoundly changed me for the better. This dissertation would not have been possible if it weren’t for all those countless nights we talked about this topic as we drove around East L.A., looked at the city skyline over the hills of El Sereno, all while blasting cumbias y norteñas. Also thanks to my CSULA family, especially, David Olsen, Ulises Moreno, Rob DeChaine, Tindage, Rob, Jenna, and Angelica for being an awesome editing friend. Most importantly, I am here because of my family. My rock throughout this entire journey has been my ama, my brother Adrian, y mi Ama Gela. Thank you to my extended family for consistently believing in me and pushing me along the finish line (especially my cousins Johanna, Meli, and Erika). En fin, todos mis éxitos están dedicados a la memoria de mi nana y mi apa. Los amo con todo mi ser. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: GENTRIFICATION AS A WHITENESS PROJECT ....................... 1 Solving “Blight” & Critical Intervention .............................................................. 3 The Eastside: A History ....................................................................................... 9 Literature Review .............................................................................................. 13 Gentrification as Ownership ................................................................... 14 Whiteness as Property and Racialized Space .......................................... 17 Gentrification: A Whiteness Project ....................................................... 21 Methods ............................................................................................................. 24 Chapter Breakdown ........................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER ONE: THE SIXTH-STREET BRIDGE: A GENTRIFYING URBAN BUILT ENVIRONMENT.......................................................................................................... 32 Blight and Redevelopment ................................................................................. 36 Caltrans ............................................................................................................. 39 Sixth-Street Bridge: History & Relevance .......................................................... 40 Maltzan’s Ribbon of Light ................................................................................. 42 L.A. Communication: Roads, Bridges, & Freeways ........................................... 44 Unsafe Bridge .................................................................................................... 51 Region Revitalization ......................................................................................... 54 Silencing of Boyle Heights ................................................................................ 58 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 62 CHAPTER TWO: ARTWASHING EL BARRIO: (RE)MAKING BOYLE HEIGHTS ... 65 Artwashing in Boyle Heights ............................................................................. 69 Whiteness and the Politics of Civility ................................................................. 75 (Re)Centering Whiteness ................................................................................... 79 Centering Civility Discourse .............................................................................. 87 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 93 CHAPTER THREE: DEFENDIENDO EL BARRIO: LOCAL MOVEMENTS CONTESTING GENTRIFICATION ............................................................................. 96 Contextualizing the Gentefication Movement .................................................... 99 Anti-Gentrification Movement: Who Are They? .............................................. 103 Gentefication Movement .................................................................................. 107 Anti-Gentrification Movement ......................................................................... 114 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 120 CONCLUSION: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? ............................................... 122 A Whiteness Project ......................................................................................... 123 Future Endeavors ............................................................................................. 127 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 131 v LIST OF FIGURES Introduction Figure 0.1. A map of the Eastside .................................................................................