Technically Mount Washington

Los Angeles began Safer At Home restrictions on Thursday, March 19, 2020.

March 30. We talked with Stefani, a Highland Park resident, sociologist and faculty at UNLV (1x/week. She has history with Naked Angels (founded by friends out of Brown Univ. so similar to Cornerstone?), and a former movie exec. Her work merges sociology research and documentary film.  She reached out to us, wanted to connect, see if she could get involved. She lives on Eldred St., off Ave 50, right near the bottom of the stairs. Technically lives in Mt Washington, which is of course HP adjacent.

She told us about a few experiences close to the heart of her work in terms of art+community. One is about extreme cultural experiences on either side of a road in/near Las Vegas. A wealthy tech/startup founder designed and built a minimalist artists residence across the street from a long-established liquor store, & she is studying the social behaviors outside the liquor store. Another is that she was able to host a BBQLA event in her garage after it lost its location (alt perspective?). She works with college-bound youth and dreamers at Miguel Contreras High School (on 3rd Street, kinda south of Shakespeare Center LA).

Her work "explores the difficulty of breaking intergenerational poverty."

"How do we communicate across socio-economic boundaries? 

"Whose social etiquette do you follow to live there/here?"

Stefani is interested in documenting our process and wants to know what we need from a free ethnographer, ie: defining social norms. “How can I help?” she offered. She thought she might measure social distancing at the two parks- York/Ave 50 & and Sycamore. We didn’t have immediate ideas about what would be useful but we figured we could check back with her later.

April 6. Keegan works with an affordable housing developer and Mark met him at an event about housing. He lives in a house at/near Ave 50 & San Rafael with his partner and 5 other people. Over the course of 90 minutes or so we met all but 2 of the residents. One is “Safer At Home” in a different part of the city with his mother. Some of the housemates are Occidental graduates. They have built a large and intentional garden with edible plants & medicinals, planted more than a dozen trees. The have a “home care routine” (moved away from the word “chores”): ll tasks are available, rather than assigned. It’s a cleanliness culture. Three residents are experts in gardening. One is a city planner. The newest housemate only know Keegan when he moved in about a year ago; they used to work together. He still feels like a visitor but he likes living there. One housemate grew up in and around Highland Park. Asked about friction among roommates they said there was one who didn’t work out. Their example of how she was a bad match for the house was that she kept a jar of msg in the kitchen.

They host events and workshops and a variety of different people come over.

They’ve been sure to get food from Delia’s on York during the quarantine.  One had a bicycle stolen while he was in the grocery store.

“Gentrifiers have a choice about where they can live.”

What should a highland park play include?  Spanish. Helicopters. Gang violence. Police Sweeps. Yard Sales. Arroyo Seco. Debbs Park.