Los Angeles Times' June 13 article by Steve Lopez:
Pacoima residents want city to fight blight
and
KNBC-TV's June 4 news story:
The Pacoima Singers Bring Home the Gold
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
went to church last sunday
Sigrid and I spent Sunday morning with First United Methodist Church of Pacoima. They part of our project this summer in that they are owners of the school property where we’ll be living. We want to expand their connection to the project beyond “landlord” status to include other church community participation in the play. We’ve been talking with them for months in a positive but slow way. Xanthia and I attended Sunday service once in March and spoke to the congregation briefly about our project.
Since then the church board and the school agreed to let us live at Discovery Prep for our Institute. Reggie K has been our main contact with the church, but we are also in contact with Darrell the board chair, and Pastor Andre Wilson. We were present at a Neighborhood Council Meeting when Reggie K was elected and sworn in as a councilperson and since then Sigrid also interviewed him as a Pacoima community member.
Reggie arranged for us to talk with three senior church members after the service on Sunday. We had a great conversation with three long-time community members.
Sophia W. came to Los Angeles in 1956. She told us about the difficulty of getting hired as a school teacher here despite her accreditation and qualifications due to racism. She persevered and got work but continued to struggle with racism in the system and among colleagues for many years.
William D: “I’m 84 years old and I’ve been raising hell all along.” Bill prides himself on being outspoken and a social activist. As a WW2 vet he wanted to use his GI bill to buy a home but was very limited in terms of where he was allowed to buy property. He chose Pacoima. He experienced some significant racist attitudes and obstacles in his life.
Bob W had different experiences, or maybe handled obstacles and racism differently in his life. He worked as a LA County Sheriff, worked in the coast guard, served in Korea, and was a school teacher for many years. He was the second black person to buy property in Valencia (a neighborhood in the city of Santa Clarita, about 14 miles north of Pacoima but still in LA County).
Some recurring themes from these folks had to do with the challenges to becoming a homeowner—(Johnny Jerome the Black Real Estate Agent was the person to find!)--, in the 1960s things began to shift and social activism made headway as evidenced by a plethora of acronyms (NAACP, ACLU, Fair Housing Council, etc) and organizations. Both men spoke pretty specifically about the cost of giving birth which was generally about $300 and they would seek out the least expensive hospital for when their wives gave birth. The notion “I did it on my own” seemed an important point for all of these Angelenos.
We also talked about other signs of the shift, a social advance past racism. In addition to the the civil rights movement of the 60s, other historical/civic factors for change included the creation of the Pacoima Lutheran Hospital, the building of the freeways dividing up neighborhoods, the 1971 San Fernando earthquake (which destroyed the hospital) and “generational flight,” – the notion that after all the work this generation did to build homes and community, their kids wanted to get away and out into the world rather than stay and raise their own families here.
All three of these generous people encouraged us to please keep them informed about the project because there were all interested in the idea and enjoyed talking with us.
-pd
Since then the church board and the school agreed to let us live at Discovery Prep for our Institute. Reggie K has been our main contact with the church, but we are also in contact with Darrell the board chair, and Pastor Andre Wilson. We were present at a Neighborhood Council Meeting when Reggie K was elected and sworn in as a councilperson and since then Sigrid also interviewed him as a Pacoima community member.
Reggie arranged for us to talk with three senior church members after the service on Sunday. We had a great conversation with three long-time community members.
Sophia W. came to Los Angeles in 1956. She told us about the difficulty of getting hired as a school teacher here despite her accreditation and qualifications due to racism. She persevered and got work but continued to struggle with racism in the system and among colleagues for many years.
William D: “I’m 84 years old and I’ve been raising hell all along.” Bill prides himself on being outspoken and a social activist. As a WW2 vet he wanted to use his GI bill to buy a home but was very limited in terms of where he was allowed to buy property. He chose Pacoima. He experienced some significant racist attitudes and obstacles in his life.
Bob W had different experiences, or maybe handled obstacles and racism differently in his life. He worked as a LA County Sheriff, worked in the coast guard, served in Korea, and was a school teacher for many years. He was the second black person to buy property in Valencia (a neighborhood in the city of Santa Clarita, about 14 miles north of Pacoima but still in LA County).
Some recurring themes from these folks had to do with the challenges to becoming a homeowner—(Johnny Jerome the Black Real Estate Agent was the person to find!)--, in the 1960s things began to shift and social activism made headway as evidenced by a plethora of acronyms (NAACP, ACLU, Fair Housing Council, etc) and organizations. Both men spoke pretty specifically about the cost of giving birth which was generally about $300 and they would seek out the least expensive hospital for when their wives gave birth. The notion “I did it on my own” seemed an important point for all of these Angelenos.
We also talked about other signs of the shift, a social advance past racism. In addition to the the civil rights movement of the 60s, other historical/civic factors for change included the creation of the Pacoima Lutheran Hospital, the building of the freeways dividing up neighborhoods, the 1971 San Fernando earthquake (which destroyed the hospital) and “generational flight,” – the notion that after all the work this generation did to build homes and community, their kids wanted to get away and out into the world rather than stay and raise their own families here.
All three of these generous people encouraged us to please keep them informed about the project because there were all interested in the idea and enjoyed talking with us.
-pd
Saturday, May 29, 2010
the school where we live
ok, here is a first for me. this is a short, awkward video of the campus of Discovery Prep where we are living this summer. i hope it is helpful and doesn't freak you out. Be sure to turn the sound down because it's not v interesting and it plays too loud. xo pd
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
More May Meetings in Pacoima
2:00 Discovery Prep
Met with Sheryl S. to tour the school spaces. We needed another, more thorough look as we plan the details of living there. I had a list of questions, many of which got answered.
Xanthia used a Flip Cam to really help us remember the spaces and it’s a good thing she did. I see things on film (well, you know..) that I didn’t in person.
3:00p Maclay Community Center
Esther V is really maybe our biggest advocate in Pacoima right now. And she is really helping us out herself as well as introducing us to others and giving us access to people who know people! It was great for Xanthia to meet Esther for the first time. (X has been in 3 Truths rehearsals more than Pacoima lately.) Esther is going to let us use the two empty bungalow classrooms for rehearsal space! She is going to work with us to make all our hours—including nights and weekends—happen! She also sounded prepared to host us as a venue if need be, too, though we didn’t discuss that too much. She is very enthusiastic about performing the play at the community garden which is great to hear. She recommended making an appointment with City Councilperson Richard Alarcon to tell him about the project in person and asking for his assistance. She also said that it takes at least 2 weeks to get onto his schedule.
5:30p Mesa Meeting at Community Garden
Juliette was able to join us for this meeting! The Mesa Meeting was less formal than I expected, even for a meeting in a garden! Roxana from YSC was there. Also Odelia who we met at the Parent Center Directors’ meeting hosted by Esther. [Odelia is fantastic. She is one of the founders of the garden. She’s ready to audition for the play. She told us about a play she was in not long ago—a benefit or other special event at one of the schools?) and how fun it was to wear a costume, to pretend to be someone else, even though she had to tell her legs to stop shaking. Odelia’s 15 yr old daughter Nubia is also apparently a powerhouse onstage, acting and singing.]
Also at the meeting Laura Robledo (another founder, maybe 20 yrs), Julio Alfaro, youth organizer for YSC at the garden, who we met 2 weeks ago. Carlos, a gardener. Juan, another gardener who was trying to resolve an increasing problem regarding keys and access for gardeners. Javier a young person who was extremely polite and friendly and shy. Another gardener and another boy. Later another couple gardeners stopped by.
We started off the meeting with Roxana introducing us. Everyone present seems to know about the play idea, everyone is supportive. We suggested they do share the idea with the individual family gardeners too.
They discussed the key/access issue and created a schedule for volunteers to take turns minding the gate and access a few designated hours each day.
I’ll go to the Youth Council Meeting at the garden on Friday afternoon. I’d like to talk with them about what their ideas are, how we can help facilitate some of their dreams (ie: performance stage), and maybe they can take advantage of audience coming in and sell water, or do something to represent as Project Youth Green.
6:30p Neighborhood Council Meeting
Juliette and I attended, arrived a bit late because of previous meeting. There was even more loud music and women dancing with their class in the courtyard! I find it pretty great rather than distracting. It’s fun to see, at any point in the meeting, EVERYONE slightly dancing in their chairs to the influential rhythms of Stevie Wonder, for example.
Started with 10 Council members present, 2 absent. 16 stakeholders in attendance. Ended with 13 Council members plus 3 absent and 4 stakeholders, and 3 of us were not really stakeholders.
Announcements included: a gentleman marking Malcolm X’s birthday and somewhat vaguely seeking the council’s condemnation of Arizona’s latest anti-immigration laws, Pacoima Beautiful (4 women, 3 of whom maybe were working w/P.B as volunteers on this project) sharing a report that supported a request to create “No Trucks” routes in specific neighborhood locations with proposed alternate truck routes, and “Chef Jeff” a new resident who has training (experience?) as a first responder with the Red Cross and is also a self-employed caterer, and john Hernandez, another new resident who is opening an insurance office in Pacoima also introduced himself.
A presentation was made by someone with (probably) city development office about some programming cuts (budget) and a lawnmower trade-in program (old mower for new environmentally friendlier one).
Similar to last month, some new council members were voted in on the spot including: Fanny Long (former board member and mother of current board member Rebecca Long), Mr. Jeeter (former board member who is retiring from CSUN-35 yrs-- in June) as well as Chef Jeff and John Hernandez.
Maggie Estrada, Pacoima Field Rep for Alarcon’s office, then presented the outgoing Councilmembers with certificates of thanks and acknowledgement – even though most of them rejoined the board immediately! Maggie looked gorgeous in a fuschia pink dress, btw.
Lots of mutual thanks and good will was formally expressed.
Then committee chairs and vice chairs need to be nominated and elected and committees formed.
Rosie invited all to join the chamber of commerce which meets on 3rd Thursdays and the Vice President of the Sylmar Neighborhood Council invited everyone to attend their meetings.
After the meeting, as the next meeting impatiently burst in (PNC went over 10 minutes), Juliette spoke with Council President Ed Johnson and with former president Ruben Garcia and GOT THEIR CONACT INFO! Ruben is very ready to audition—he wants to be the latino John Candy. I spoke with Maggie about how to get approval for park access after hours for 11 days of our project. She says budget cuts might make that difficult. (Ugh.)
It was a gorgeous evening as we left. And we were reminded about how very hot it will be in July.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Pacoima Adventures with Mikiko and Juliette
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.
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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