Eddie Solisâ€s photography show, “Through the Eyes of a Bus Rider,” is comprised of dozens of black-and-white photographs that document his travels on the Los Angeles Metro infrastructure. The selected works were curated from thousands taken throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties over the past decade. Solis is well aware that many Southern California residents are not familiar with what a car-free lifestyle entails, so his photography show is curated line-by-line to create geographical cohesion with the galleryâ€s Northeast L.A. location.

Solisâ€s experiences as a Los Angeles resident fuel his two-man hardcore duo, Itâ€s Casual, and his well-known podcast Los Angeles Nista. Media are not Solisâ€s sole means of affecting social change to benefit the environment—“The way I live is my strongest, most effective form of activism,” Solis claims, “I want to inspire as many people as possible to adopt this lifestyle, not just for the good of the environment, but as a way for us to regain the sense of community that was lost when Los Angeles county became fragmented by our freeway infrastructure. We need to overcome the isolation our dependence on the automobile has promoted.” Solisâ€s environmental and social messages coalesce in his current endeavor, an installation of his photography.

After the opening reception, the show is on view to Sept. 30, by appointment.

ABOUT THIS EVENT:

LAVA – The Los Angeles Visionaries Association is pleased to announce a free roof-top screening of a newly-discovered circa 1949 short color film of Main Street and other downtown Los Angeles locations, the Union Rescue Mission-produced Of Scrap & Steel. The screening is in conjunction with a series of downtown stories on the In SRO Land time travel blog, featuring material from the Union Rescue Mission Archives.

ABOUT THE FILM: In mid-1948 the Board of Directors of the Union Rescue Mission approved the expenditure of $5,000 to make the 30-minute film Of Scrap & Steel which portrays the redemption and good works of Arthur Hawkins, an alcoholic executive who ended up on the streets of Los Angeles and whose life was saved when he turned to the URM for help. Porter Hall (Arthur Hawkins) is one of only two actors in a film otherwise populated by real Los Angeles characters. (You may recall Hallâ€s performance as the pesky guy on the train in Double Indemnity.)

Of Scrap & Steel was only shown in screenings organized by the URM or related organizations, and would have been completely lost if Liz Mooradian, URM historian, had not saved a deteriorating 16mm print and had it transferred to video before it was too late. Of Scrap & Steel is just one of the remarkable artifacts discovered in the Union Rescue Mission archives and explored in the In SRO Land blog.

This entertaining and powerful short film is a compelling snapshot of life on Skid Row (Main Street) circa 1949, and a fascinating document of the important work that the URM continues to do with the most needy in the community. Although downtown Los Angeles features in numerous noir films, it is extremely rare to see color images of eastern downtown, and rarer still to see full-color live-action footage of the vibrant street scene that included rescue missions, pawn shops, amusement parlors, bars, restaurants and the ever-patrolling paddy wagon in search of drunkards to haul away to jail or County work crews.

This free rooftop screening is jointly organized by LAVA–The Los Angeles Visionaries Association, the In SRO Land time travel blog and the Union Rescue Mission. Attendees are encouraged to dress warmly for the cool night air. Refreshments will be provided compliments of URM.

This screening is held in conjunction with the Skid Row Walking Tour, a separate free event beginning two hours before the screening. Separate registration for each event is required if you wish to attend both the screening and walking tour.

Nearest Metro station is Little Tokyo.

Limited free parking is available at the URMâ€s underground parking lot. Just tell the attendant you are there for the film. Please carpool: if each guest arrives with one other person in their car, there should be enough parking for all. Those arriving later will have to leave their keys with the parking attendant.

In addition, there will be overflow parking in the San Julian parking lot located just behind the URM, on San Julian Street between 5th & 6th Streets, on the east side of the street, adjacent to URM. Registered attendees will be able to enter the URM from the Womenâ€s entrance on San Julian. There will be ample staff to direct you from the lot to this entrance.

In the event of rain, we will screen the film in the Chapel.

Schedule

6pm – Doors open (reserved guests check in at the main entrance and are sent up to the roof)

7pm-7.30pm – Refreshments served compliments of the URM. Guests can watch the sunset (7:45pm)

7.30pm – 8pm – Rev. Andy Bales (URM), Richard Schave (Esotouric) and Prof. Paul Rood (BIOLA) will introduce the film in the context of the neighborhoodâ€s history, and their work on the In SRO Land time travel blog, and a brief introduction to the life and legacy of the URM‘s founder, Lyman Stewart.

8pm – Film screening

8.30pm – Q & A 

9pm – Event ends

Please use the form on the left to register for this event. No “Plus Ones.”

ABOUT THIS EVENT:

Please join Richard Schave of Esotouric, Prof. Paul Rood of BIOLA and Rev. Andy Bales of the Union Rescue Mission (URM) for a 90-minute walking tour along the historic paths that have delineated Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. This tour derives from the ongoing 1947project In SRO Land blog series that uses the archives of the URM (founded 1891) as a tool for exploring the social and architectural history of the forgotten people and places of Downtown Los Angeles.

The tour begins with a survey of the early history of the outreach by the URM through its gospel wagon and at two now-lost buildings: the original home at 145 N. Main (now City Hall Lawn) and the long-time location at 226 S. Main (now a parking lot next to the former St. Vibianaâ€s Cathedral).

The main themes will be the evolution of public policy on Skid Row from the private philanthropy of Lyman Stewart to todayâ€s Continuum of Care, the transformative work of the URM, and the architectural history of the neighborhood.

The route will include Main Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets (for a then/now comparison of the surviving and demolished locations featured in the 1949 URM-financed short film Of Scrap & Steel, which will be screened later in the evening in a free event that requires a separate reservation). At 3rd and San Pedro Streets we will discuss the Azusa Street Revival, a transformative event in the spiritual history of Los Angeles and the West. During the walk back to the current home of the URM, Rev. Andy Bales will talk about issues and challenges facing the neighborhood and the URM today.

The rendezvous point for the tour is the URM‘s headquarters at at 6th and San Pedro Streets. A free shuttle bus will take tour attendees to 2nd and Main Streets, where the walking tour begins. Registration is required, and each attendee must register separately, to ensure sufficient seating on the shuttle bus.

Parking is available at the URMâ€s underground parking lot for registered attendees. Just tell the attendent you are there for the walking tour. If everyone attending arrives with one other person in their car, there should be enough parking for all. Those arriving latter will have to leave their keys with the parking attendent.

Nearest Metro station is Little Tokyo.

Join Kim Cooper and David Smay, co-editors of the book Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth: The Dark History of Prepubescent Pop from the Banana Splits to Britney Spears, and contributors Becky Ebenkamp and Gene Sculatti, for an audio-visual celebration of the history and mythology of this under-appreciated musical genre, and the Saturday morning cartoons where many of the most memorable songs debuted.

After the presentation, copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.

The event is free. Arrive on time to ensure you get a seat.  

Please note that, due to limited room capacity, attendees must register to attend the LAVA Sunday Salon. To sign up for this free event: First register as a user on this site, or login to your existing account and then return to this page. Refresh the page and the signup field will appear just to the left of this text. Enter your email address. No plus-ones; each guest must register individually. If you find you are unable to attend, please return to this page and cancel your reservation. Also, note that the Sunday Salon has a new time slot: 2-4:30pm.

Dead Men Do Tell Tales: Inside the Mind of Professor Donald Johnson

Join us this month as Professor Donald Johnson, Director of the Criminalistics Department at Cal State Los Angeles, shares lighthearted, offbeat and illuminating reminisces of his personal journey from morbid child to journeyman mortician to professional homicide investigator, forensic scientist and educator. From blood spatter evidence to embalming, bone collecting to rappelling down buildings looking for evidence, Professor Johnson always seems to find himself surrounded by the most interesting artifacts of lives interrupted. Share in his adventures, and learn about the shoes he fills at CSULA‘s Criminalistics Department, which was founded by the legendary LAPD criminalist Ray Pinker in 1965 and which continues to explore new frontiers in forensic science under Dr. Johnsonâ€s enlightened direction.

Professor Johnsonâ€s Sunday Salon presentation also serves as an introduction to his ongoing series of LAVA forensic science seminars in his teaching lab at Cal State Los Angeles, including the upcoming Serial Killer Summer Session: The Night Stalker & The 60 Freeway Slayer on August 16. Purchase your ticket for the program now and help support new research into the science of crime detection.

The Photography of Kristin Bedford: Race, History & the Divine

Los Angeles-based photographer Kristin Bedford will be presenting her series of photographs about the legacy of the African-American religious leader Father Divine. The body of work delves into issues of race, American religious history, and the mystery of enduring faith.

Father Divine, known to his followers as God, once had tens of thousands of devotees in 1930s Harlem. To the outside world Father Divine died in 1965, but for his followers he “lay his body down” and is still with them as he always has been. Now in their seventies, eighties, and nineties, eighteen of the remaining celibate followers live with Mother Divine at Fatherâ€s estate outside of Philadelphia. In 2013, Kristin Bedford spent five weeks living with and photographing this community.

The followers, who call themselves “The International Peace Mission Movement,” are living a way of life and performing rituals created over eighty years ago by their God. With the lack of new followers, their movement is likely in its final chapter. Bedford had the chance to experience and photograph their traditions before they fade away.

The Father Divine presentation will be followed by an exclusive sneak peek of Bedfordâ€s current photography project.

Biography

Kristin Bedford is a Los Angeles-based photographer who focuses on long-term visual studies of where we live – the streets we walk down, the places we worship in, the homes we create, and the spaces between them all. Her subjects have included religious movements, street culture in numerous urban centers, and the modern day legacy of historic African-American communities.

Kristinâ€s website

NY Times LENS Review

Game Girls is “A poetic take on Skid Row… Game Girls re-imagines what the documentary film genre can be.” -Shana Nys Dambrot for KCET Artbound.

We want to share some of what our team has learned and discovered along our journey making Game Girls! And trust us, you NEED TO SEE THIS.

See Downtown Los Angeles through director Alina Skrzeszewskaâ€s eyes. She has been making films in Skid Row for nearly a decade. Weâ€ll be screening her award winning documentary Songs From The Nickel in Indian Alley from 7:00 – 8:30PM. The film is comprised of 8 vignettes that will take you into the small flophouse rooms of an era since passed, into the old King Eddy Saloon, to underground tunnels of LA and street corners that have since drastically changed… Pop in and out, grab a drink and meander from the screening in Indian Alley to THESE DAYS store & gallery to view the late Carl Ramseyâ€s beautiful portrait series Women of Skid Row and other urban landscapes. Visit More Thanneâ€s special vintage sale, where 15% of the profit will be donated directly to Game Girls. More Thanne will also feature exclusive, unreleased clips from Game Girls! Listen to a live set of eclectic “soul ethnique” tunes by Gaio, straight from Marseille, France! And get inspired by a soulful, healing musical presentation by Downtownâ€s very own Charles Porter. Snacks and Drinks generously provided by our wonderful neighbors at Blossom and The Must.

Your donations will help fund the completion of Game Girls. Please donate what you can – we suggest a $20 or more contribution – every dollar counts. Our goal through this campaign is not only to raise money to move the film forward, but also to build awareness. We can do this together!

If you cannot make it to the event, please consider donating directly to the GAME GIRLS Indiegogo Campaign.

Join poet and memoirist Joan Jobe Smith for an afternoon of poetry & storytelling at the LAVA Sunday Salon. The newly published Tales of An Ancient Go-Go Girl by long-time Long Beach, California resident Joan Jobe Smith, is a picaresque True Tale, a 50-year Glotessey spanning the 1965 Los Angeles Watts Riots, near death at the hands of a homicidal ex-husband, the counter-culture go-go swinging let-it-all-hang-out 1960s-‘70s, single Motherhood and Feminism. Rarely does a natural poet and historian such as Joan Jobe Smith endure such ordeals and challenges and survive to tell the tale. It is a Tale written with go-going panache and patois, and heart, courage and humor to make our lives richer and wiser. The event will be a series of short Q&As with LAVA’s Richard Schave on milestones from the memoir, punctuated by Joan reading poetry selections which span her career.

Excerpts from 5-Star Reviews of Tales of An Ancient Go-Go Girl:

“Charles Bukowski said the inimitable Joan Jobe Smithâ€s writing ‘has the reality of force properly put down on paper; she cuts herself loose into the stratosphere.†Joanâ€s heart is so damned big. Sheâ€s not only cut herself loose into the stratosphere, she takes anyone who wants to go with her along for the ride. And now we have this raw-edged, honest, beauty of a book…” —L. Jakiela, Creative Writing Professor, University of Pittsburgh

“Vividly conjures up the dark shadows and wisecracks of a Film Noir, set in 1960s-‘70s L.A., with a cast of glamourous yet vulnerable dancers, slimy bosses, wharf rats (both rodents, ex-husband and customers) with walk-ons by celebrities (Dick Dale, Ike and Tina Turner) amongst the burgeoning pop music and drug counter-culture of the era. Energized by Joan Jobe Smithâ€s poetic eye and exuberant syntax, these true Tales will enthrall readers, revealing its author as a brilliant chronicler of her Noir-ish life and times.“—Jules Smith, Londonâ€s Times Literary Supplement

“I just finished reading Joan Jobe Smithâ€s Tales of An Ancient Go-Go Girl. She has such a descriptive, poetic talent for words as she weaves her true life tales of love, jealousy, near murder and trials. Bukowski advised her to write about her go-go girl years. I admire her ability to bring scenes from the ’60s and ’70s so vividly to life.”–Linda King

Architectural Historian Nathan Marsak, the LAVA Visionary of the Year for 2015, presents on the forgotten architectural landscape of nineteenth-century Los Angeles—a lost world whose most salient impulse was toward the imposing, rough-hewn blocks of the Romanesque.

The common narrative regarding the visual development of early Los Angeles usually involves the native vernacular of the pueblo, which one may still visit in any number of extant adobes; from there, following some historic boom times, we Angelenos and visitors alike are regaled by the wondrous Beaux-Arts high-rises of downtown. If pure Victorian architecture is considered, one likely turns attention to the Eastlake and Queen Anne examples along Carroll Avenue, or to the used-car lot of gingerbread, Heritage Square.

This does a disservice, asserts Marsak, to the wonderland of Richardsonian Romanesque, Romanesque Revival, and Romanesque-hybrid office blocks and civic structures that once defined our city. A confluence of money and local pride, primarily in the late-1880s, resulted in what was arguably Americaâ€s greatest center of the style, short-lived though it may have been. The ethos of the City Beautiful movement, skyscraper construction, and other factors contributed to its demise.

It is especially striking that these structures, whose construction exuded solidity and permanence, should have been removed on so great a scale. Besides illuminating twenty of the most notable lost masterpieces, Marsakâ€s lecture will visit those few remaining examples of the style. Attention will be given as well to the styles that fought for dominance in defining Victorian Los Angeles, e.g., French Empire.