I-7 Scenic Designer Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams visiting Los Angeles this past weekend to start work on design ideas for It’s All Bueno: A Pacoima Tale of Optimism. To help in that direction, Sigrid Gilmer sent out a bunch of starter scenes and some notes about her plans for settings in the play.
On Friday Juliette, Mikiko and I went to Pacoima to visit each of the locations referenced in the script as well as our known performance venue options however undetermined. Here’s our itinerary list and accompanying notes.
Pacoima Charter Elementary – school was letting out. We peeked at the playground atop the parking garage. Did not get to peek inside the small auditorium.
David Gonzalez Park Gym – we peeked into the locked second gym at the park- a gym dedicated to Boxing Club.
We walked from Gonzalez park to get some lunch at a restaurant at the strip mall on Van Nuys at Norris. We took photos of the bus stop on Van Nuys and talked with a vendor – tamales and more—at that intersection. Extremely hot (temperature) tamale was very delicious (and still quite hot) when we ate it later on.
San Fernando Gardens – we walked by, and drove by these unique looking public housing complex/buildings a few times.
Discovery Prep
Humphrey Park – took a peek inside the gym where a martial arts class of young children seemed to be led by another equally small child. In the park we talked with a vendor and her friend and two middle school aged girls. Maria Perez is a beautiful and friendly mom who talked with Juliette in Spanish for awhile. She had heard of our project through the Moms group at Hilary Broadus School! Her daughter Noemi Barajas was wearing PUC/Community Charter Middle School gym shorts so I asked her about her school. She really likes her school! I sure hope Maria and Noemi get involved in the play. I don’t remember the name of the mom/vendor. She was much quieter. We asked if we could film her making a raspado (finely shaved & syruped ice). Mikiko ordered a blue one which was chicla (bubblegum) flavored and not very delicious. Maria suggested we ask the Census workers meeting in the park to help promote our project as they began door-to-door visits, but we did not.
Maclay Middle Schoool Multipurpose Room – school was locked up, we looked at the building from the street as we drove by.
Maclay Community Center – Mikiko, Juliette and Kerry are in agreement that doing the play in the oddly shaped parking lot there is not ideal. Esther was there on her way to a meeting with Maclay Middle School Principal and vice principal. Not about us, but maybe she’d throw a reminder/request in…
Sara Coughlin Elementary – a biggish very new elementary school a block away from the Maclay Comm Center. Again, locked up, but maybe there is space to work with in there. An LAUSD school, not charter.
Hansen Hill – It was interesting to drive around on Hansen Hill, a unique promontory in Pacoima. Some of the homes on certain streets are much nicer there, but some of the homes seem like the rest of the neighborhood, esp on the north side of the hill. It was there that I realized that ice cream trucks in Pacoima do not play music, but play a weird amplified tone every 15 seconds or so. Unsettling and strange but maybe better than repetitious mechanical songs.
George’s Hand Car Wash – We pulled over on the north side of Van Nuys to look for this place by address. Juliette had seen the “Hand Wash” sign from a little distance off. We kept staring at the closed car wash, asking “George’s??” Then we realized we were parked directly in front of George’s – “The Original”—and the rival was the one across the street. Good signs!
Community Garden – also known as Project Youth Green. The garden is located in the back of a city park. The garden wasn’t open exactly but a youth meeting was happening so they let us in to wander while they had their meeting. The adult advisor (I don’t know what his title is) turned out to be Jorge Martinez who we’d met at Garden Volunteer Day in March. Sigrid interviewed him last month. Mikiko and Juliette were mentally trying out the idea of the common/youth/instruction area of the garden as performance space. We were taking photos and video and when Mikiko got her measuring tape out I went over to speak with Jprge and the youth who were meeting. When I said that we might be interested in performing the play there, the youth coordinator, Julio Alfaro was off and enthusiastically running about what a great idea it was and why. Eventually it seemed like the four other youth at the meeting were supportive of the idea especially when we said that we might be able to leave a little stage behind for them to continue using after we’d gone. Julio who is kind of like Candide in his enthusiasm, energy and positive outlook. He gave us a tour and some advise about how to move forward. Jorge also gave us a little advise too. We will actively look into the possibility of performing the play at the Community Garden. More on this soon.
Community Center – quick pass by since although it had been a dream to do the play there for awhile, we have a pretty solid NO about permission so we moved on.
Boys & Girls Club – after hours and we now know that they can’t have anything happening there after 8pm ever, so we moved on.
Swap Meet – was closed and so was strangely desolate with odd structures inside a fenced area in the middle of a large very empty parking lot. (Sigrid and I visited before. Kind of on the low end of swap meets.)
Valens Park – there was a small very plastic fair happening in the park. We stopped to gaze at the skaters and their specially designed part of the park for awhile. I made Mikiko try the natural tamarindo pod/goo/whatever while we hung out for a few minutes. Juliette introduced me to this when she found it in a bulk bin at Food4Less. It’s weird and tart and I like it a lot.
Costco – Yes, still rather pristine.
On Saturday, May 8 we had a Design Meeting at my house at 1pm—Kerry, Juliette, Mikiko and Costume Designer Garry Lennon. We talked about the Community Garden for awhile and also about the story of Candide and about It’s All Bueno. Then we all headed to Pacoima to finish visiting play locations.
Hansen Dam / Park – we stopped and walked part of The Mile—a walkway/bikepath along the top of the dam. Then we went down into the other part of the park on the Osbourn Ave side. Saw the two “lakes” – one for fishing/boating, one for swimming. We saw the outside of the halted-construction Children’s Museum Bldg. We saw a few people riding horses and plenty of people playing in the park , and some other people playing cards on a card table set up in the parking lot.
El Cariso Park / Sylmar – there was a kind of fair – vendors, music and farmers market going on at the park. Lots of vendors but no shoppers. This might have been because it was just time for the event to begin when we were there.
Mission College / Sylmar – next door to the park. We drove by the campus and the adjoining golf course.
Tia Chuchas Cultural Center and Bookstore – of course 3 of the four of us bought books. Mikiko bought a gorgeous book about the LA River & Art on/about the River and another book mostly a photographic study of East Valley ganglife.
MEND – the building was officially closed but there was a lot of activity going on in the kitchen/food drive part of the building. Mikiko and Kerry were able to take a look inside.
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