DOCUMENT: West Adams (WA) 20160213_Tastemaking, Vinyl records, organic vegetables, and a humble Superiority Complex as a way to reinforce the community in the face of gentrification.

From a productivity point of view, today was one of those days in which not much on my list got done, but I'm going to blame the weather for that. You see, it's Winter in Los Angeles, and it is about 80 degrees outside. It is not my fault.

My friend Dylan texted me yesterday saying he wanted to shoot some pieces of graffiti in my neighborhood. He has been working on a wet plate collodion project called "Public Access", and since he told me about it, I have been pseudo-scouting my surroundings for him.

We met around 8:30 and headed out all the way to the end of the block to shoot a piece called Supernatural Conductor by Ekundayo. I shot around the block, and documented his process on film as he prepared the plates, loaded up, shot the image and developed the plate in a make shift chemistry lab / dark room right on the sidewalk. Then, we drove around back streets and alleys looking for other potential pieces to shoot. We wrapped around noon and went our separate ways.

Having shot just one roll of film and carrying two other loaded cameras with me, I still had the urge to explore some more and look for opportunities to shoot for myself. Instead curiosity struck me and I had to check out a small retail community brewing up on Adams Blvd. West of Fairfax, Adams Gateway.

Adams Gateway is a brilliant, guerrilla type urban retail intervention in shipping containers which has the potential to revive, or jump start the soul of the West Adams community by bringing together new and potential residents as well as deep rooted families that have lived in the area for decades by offering cool shops with local crafts, a soon to arrive coffee truck, vintage goods, amazing and funky music at Dig It Vinyl and locally designed wicked clothing for those with a rockabilly attitude at Superiority Complex. I myself can't wait to get my WA T-Shirt from Tastemaking , they didn't have my size today :(. I think it is going to be the I ♥ NY of Mid City. Oh! And here's the best bit; ORGANIC vegetables at DO. Yes, I said "organic". And it is right next to J n J's Burger Shack / BBQ, a neighborhood staple serving BBQ ribs, Pork Belly sandwiches and burgers.

Don't get me wrong, I still cringe at the idea of gentrification, but what I think that I'm witnessing here is perhaps the best example or urban sensibility to the existing community and growth while addressing need; and it is happening from within, promoting residents, and local crafts before corporate sterility. 

 


DOCUMENT: West Adams - Auto repair, the small fish, and the irony of whitewash.

DOCUMENT: West Adams - Auto repair

Yesterday, I met a potential buyer for the building I live in. Nice guy. He was about my age. We had a short conversation about surfing and the recent and rapidly increasing changes in West Adams.

That said, it is becoming more and more obvious that I am dead center in the heart of the newest economic muse for investors & speculators of the housing market. On the one hand, it feels nice to have new art galleries and coffee shops pop up in the area. My neighborhood could be the next Venice or Silver Lake. Soon enough, it is going to be cool to live here. Perhaps, I'll be one of those guys that says "yeah, I lived there before it was hip". Or not. On the other hand, I must pause for a second and recognize that despite my skin color, higher education and good salary, I'm still a little fish in this pond...

...but to survive, I must keep swimming.

One thing I love about this place is its character. West Adams, like most old neighborhoods has its roots in a period of a growing middle class of about a century ago. In fact, this used to be an affluent place to live in. Check out "Uncovering Los Angeles’ Forgotten Neighborhood" by Jordan G. Teicher.

The beautiful old houses, the greenery and old tree lined sidewalks, the churches and ministries in every corner, the store fronts, auto repair shops and that community feel that I remember as a kid in Puerto Rico, still thrive here. People know their cashiers and bag boys, and neighbors talk to each other at the grocery store.  Businesses still make a living among friends and neighbors. Something you probably can't say about places like Abbot Kinney Blvd. in Venice anymore. BTW, I lived on Abbot Kinney in 1997/98 "before it was cool to live there, but not early enough to be one of them super cool artists from decades before when it was really cool, and dangerous to live there".

Here's the ironic part, despite the fact that Venice is 64.2% white people with a median household income of $67,647 according to a 2008 The Los Angeles Times | Local study "Mapping LA", and West Adams is only 2.4% white and the median household income is $38, 209 crime (in the last six months) is almost twice as much in hipster Venice than it is in West Adams. Property crimes alone and four-fold. Hmm!

When you look at the cost of housing after a neighborhood has been gentrified, specially as we have witnessed on the West Side, one can only assume it is a safe and happy neighborhood. Why wouldn't you? People with money live there. Right!  

But while fancy coffee houses, tailored jean shops and high priced bungalows and modern homes may be the magic dust that glitters over such a neighborhood and some people make a small fortune, while investors just rack it up , it seems that the unaddressed social issues not only remain under the surface, but may even compound after time under the whitewash that is gentrification.

 

DOCUMENT: West Adams_20150719

I have been living in this area for about 3 years. Already I've been noticing some changes. Not that I'm an expert or anything, but about 10 years ago the thought occurred to me: "people can't keep coming to Los Angeles and commute in from a continually expanding periphery. They'll eventually have to come back in."

So, according to Anthony Bourdain gentrification goes something like this. In a neighborhood were mostly immigrants and low income families live, and were rents are usually lower than average,  first come the craftsmen and artists followed by the hipsters. Then a handful of galleries and coffee shops open. After that, the middle class is attracted to the area by it's artsy, eclectic feel (just look up Echo Park and Silver Lake), and the rents skyrocket, leaving people that have been living in these areas for generations no choice than to move out. It all culminates with a quick one-two punch, a banh mi / cup cake shop combo open up next to each other followed by a deadly body blow of a Whole Foods (check out Lincoln/Rose in Venice CA). 

I've known people who lived in this area way longer than myself, so by no means do I consider myself a trailblazer. I'm also neither a an artist, nor consider myself a hipster. I have no tattoos and wearing "product" on my hair doesn't really help that much.

 That said, in addition to the recent new businesses like Delicious Pizza / Delicious Vinyl, the art gallery across the street and the fact that I recently saw a white girl with blue hair walking a poodle and a man mowing the lawn with an electric lawnmower, I'll say West Adams is somewhere between stage 2 and Stage 3 of this transformation. I believe the crucial surge will occur when the Expo Line hits the Ocean in a couple of years.

My intention is to capture the minute details of this transformation of West Adams Blvd. between La Cienaga and Crenshaw Blvds. with emphasis between Crenshaw and La Brea for as long as I live in the area. 

Some of the following posts will include photos taken in the past 3 years along with current ones.