LA PLAZA: PAST AND PRESENT Historicizing Toxic Vulnerabilities in Late Industrial

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2019 | 10:30 AM

125 Paseo De La Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012

ABSTRACT

The La Plaza, or also known as El Pueblo de Los Angeles, district of is a site of confluence for the multicultural, historical, political, social, economic, and environmental issues of urban L.A. Recent efforts to update (read: gentrify) La Plaza ​ ​ further stratify the socioeconomic demographics of this downtown area. It is my goal to analyze La Plaza as a case study for LA’s, and view it as a site of the visible intersections of environmental, cultural, socioeconomic, and urban vulnerabilities.

La Plaza has a long history that traces back some hundreds of years (though that timeline is certainly – and rightly – contested by the indigenous Gabrielino and Tongva communities who called what is now LA home since time immemorial). This area encompasses the oldest section of Los Angeles, and the main plaza was the city’s center during the Spanish and Mexican eras. Today, is a tourist attraction where people flock to experience “authentic” Mexican culture. Though the plaza is most closely identified with the Latino community in Los Angeles, it is also associated with other racial and ethnic groups. LA Plaza is also home to Los Angeles Union Station – the main transit center for the city that was built in 1939 on LA’s Old Chinatown (which thus forced the displacement of thousands of Chinese and Chinese-American residents).Today, the multigenerational trauma of displacement and loss affect present-day Chinese-American residents of “New” Chinatown, as evidenced by continuing public dialogues. ​ ​ In 2011, LA Metro acquired Union Station, and in the years since Metro has undergone several renovation and expansion efforts related to the transit hub. Furthermore, a $140-million dollar luxury commercial-residential complex began construction in 2017 - across the streets from a newly built homeless shelter. The construction of such luxury ​ ​ complexes raises concerns over the growing economic disparities and gentrification evident throughout Los Angeles.

One of the goals of this field works trip is to develop an archive of created images that marry historic images of locations along La Plaza with photographs of them in the present day (see cover image above). To get started, participants can access a collection of historic images of La Plaza buildings here. ​

1 FACILITATOR

Stephanie Narrow PhD Student, UCI Department of History [email protected]

Stephanie Narrow is a second-year PhD student at UC Irvine and a historian of California and the American West. She currently serves as the Program Officer for the UCI History Department’s Career Development for Historians Program. The program, supported by the Mellon Foundation and the American Historical Association, seeks to prepare its graduates for intellectually satisfying employment both within and beyond the academy by offering an array of scholarly, pedagogical, and professionalization opportunities. Stephanie is also an active public historian and serves as the Public History Editor for California History. She has contributed to numerous museum installations in the Los Angeles area, including exhibitions for The Autry Museum of the American West, the California Historical Society, and El Pueblo de Los Angeles. Her research focuses on the role of 19th century global communications technologies and print media in facilitating transnational constructions of empire, race, and indigeneity.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER 1. What communities and/or entities (racial, ethnic, class, corporate, public, etc.) claim this space? 2. What types of people do you see in La Plaza? Though perceptions may be inaccurate (and problematic), take note of the age, gender/sex, potential occupation, class, etc. of others at La Plaza. 3. Which narratives are celebrated or condemned throughout La Plaza? Are any narratives absent? 4. What areas are open to the public? Are there certain areas off limits? If so, what types of buildings/locations are not accessible to the public? 5. What forms of toxicity (environmental, industrial, cultural, social, political) are immediately visible? What is concealed? Is that concealment deliberate? 6. Who/what polices and/or survellies this space?

READING PREPARATION 1. Bermudez, Esmeralda. “LA’s Mexican American Cultural Center Begins to Blossom After Rocky Start.” Los Angeles TImes. July 15, 2017. ​ ​ “https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-plaza-20170715-story.html ​

2 2. Hackel, Steven W. "Digging up the Remains of Early Los Angeles: The Plaza Church ​ Cemetery." Quarterly 94, no. 1 (2012): 1-24. ​ ​ ​ doi:10.1525/scq.2012.94.1.5. 3. Pink, Sarah. "Photography in Ethnographic Research." In Doing Visual ​ ​ ​ ​ Ethnography, Second Edition ed. 65-95. London: SAGE Publications, Ltd, 2007. doi: ​ 10.4135/9780857025029.

SITE PREPARATION 1. Website for El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument: https://elpueblo.lacity.org/ 2. Website for La Plaza de Cultura y Artes: http://lapca.org/ ​ 3. Website for the Chinese American Museum: http://camla.org/ ​

WHAT TO BRING ● Comfortable clothes and shoes ● A smartphone or camera for taking pictures ● A smartphone with access to the archived image databases or the images printed ​ ​ out (for reference). ● A smartphone with access to a map app or a printed map of El Pueblo ​ ​ ​ ● Preferred note-taking supplies (pen, notebook) ● Snacks and water

TRANSPORTATION ● Metrolink ○ Participants are strongly encouraged to take the Metrolink to and from La ​ ​ Plaza, as the controversy surrounding the construction of Union Station is one of the central inquires of this project. ○ Time: Stephanie Narrow, the field works coordinator, will meet UC Irvine participants at the Irvine Metrolink Station at 8:30am on Friday, January 25. PLEASE ARRIVE EARLY. The Metrolink will depart the Irvine Station ​ ​ promptly at 8:54 am and arrive at LA Union Station at 10:04 am. Participants are free to return back to Irvine at their discretion. The Metrolink departs Union Station for Irvine at 2:11 pm, 3:19 pm, 3:47 pm, 4:30 pm, 4:50 pm, 5:46 pm, and 6:40 pm. . ○ Tickets: The roundtrip cost of a Metrolink fare is $21.50. You may purchase tickets online or through the Metrolink app the day-of, or purchase tickets at the station. Find more information here. ​ ​ ● Driving ○ If you choose to drive to La Plaza, a map of available lots and their corresponding prices is available here. ​ ​

3 DATA

Please visit at least 6 locations complete this chart with your observations. Four of your observation sites should be taken from the list below. Most of these locations can be found on this map of El Pueblo. Refer to the “Questions to Consider” section above for ​ ​ examples of guiding questions.

● Garnier Building/Chinese American Museum (CAM) ● Kiosko ● Union Station ● America Tropical mural ​ ● Avila Adobe ● Sepulveda House ● Firehouse Museum ● Father Serra Park ● Vickrey/Brunswig Building ● Pico House ● Olvera Street/Olvera Street Cross ● Parking Lot 2/ Emergency Homeless Shelter ● La Plaza Catholic Church ● La Plaza de Cultura y Artes.

4 LOCATION OBSERVATIONS

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