What I really love about Los Angeles is the fact that we haveso many different and interesting things to do and see that are free.
Take our public art, for instance. You will find public murals in many parts of the city. The highest concentration is found in East Los Angeles.
The majority of residents here are of Mexican descent and the
Latino art scene is thriving along First Street and Cesar Chavez Boulevard.
Besides really cool young galleries there are murals on almost every corner.
Among the most amazing are the 51 murals of Estrada Courts.
Estrada Courts started as military housing, built hastily in the late 40ties for returning GIs. By the 60ties the complex had been turned into a housing project. Nowadays this area has a higher than average crime rate and I contacted the LAPD Hollenbeck Division
to find out how to visit the area safely.
So here my disclaimer as given by the LAPD Public Information Officer:
it is safe to visit the area during the early hours of the day.
However, you should leave by 3PM to avoid problems.
To learn more about the art work I contacted SPARC - The Social And Public Art Resource Center. They referred me to artist Rigo Maldonado who worked extensively with residents of Estrada Courts on social justice media projects. We met for lunch and I bombarded him with questions. He graciously helped me out.
"Mural art has been around since the time of the cavemen. Mexican artists Siqueiros and Diego Rivera really revived the art form in the 40ties as part of their political expression and that tradition influenced the development of the Chicano Art Movement here in L.A. In the 60ties Chicano Art was considered "folk art" and it was not considered "good" enough for museum exhibits."
"At the time, out of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement came the performance art crew Asco (Spanish for nausea for those who don't speak it), most of the artists went to Garfield High and grew up in East L.A.
Back then, even galleries were not showing Chicano art so Asco members protested by spraying graffiti on the outside of LACMA. The art scene grew in East L.A. through interventions. They used alternative spaces to show their work so you had art exhibits in bakeries and laundromats, lots of public spaces."
"The murals in Estrada Courts started up in the early 70ties just as a spontaneous expression of what was happening in the community and the first ones were painted by Estrada residents. The community took notice and Asco artists and others became involved."
"The murals really tell the story of this community. Many are very political like the homage to Che Guevara "We Are Not A Minority".
"Gronk and Willie Herron collaborated on "Moratorium" - the black and white mural. It looks like a photo montage and documents the 1970 anti Vietnam War Chicano Moratorium. At the time there was only one Latino news reporter, Rubèn Salazar. he was the news editor for KMEX television and a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Sheriff deputies shot tear gas at the protesters. One tear gas bullet hit Salazar in the head and killed him.
"Moratorium" documents that.
Many other murals depict scenes local kids and youth don't get to see. During our project work in Estrada Courts we learned that most kids here never get to go to the beach.
Yet other murals celebrate Latino history and tradition.
All the murals are about hope and history."
"Many of the Estrada Courts residents are not really aware of their history but everyone is very aware of their significance and very proud of the murals.
That's the reason they are well preserved. At one time, Los Angeles was the Mural Capital of the USA but that honor now goes to Philadelphia.
There are no programs to preserve them and many murals in Downtown have been destroyed by taggers. They know that their tags will stay longer because the murals are protected from over-painting.
Thankfully everybody in Estrada Courts has a lot of respect for the murals so they have been preserved for almost 40 years."
Take our public art, for instance. You will find public murals in many parts of the city. The highest concentration is found in East Los Angeles.
The majority of residents here are of Mexican descent and the
Latino art scene is thriving along First Street and Cesar Chavez Boulevard.
Besides really cool young galleries there are murals on almost every corner.
Among the most amazing are the 51 murals of Estrada Courts.
Estrada Courts started as military housing, built hastily in the late 40ties for returning GIs. By the 60ties the complex had been turned into a housing project. Nowadays this area has a higher than average crime rate and I contacted the LAPD Hollenbeck Division
to find out how to visit the area safely.
So here my disclaimer as given by the LAPD Public Information Officer:
it is safe to visit the area during the early hours of the day.
However, you should leave by 3PM to avoid problems.
To learn more about the art work I contacted SPARC - The Social And Public Art Resource Center. They referred me to artist Rigo Maldonado who worked extensively with residents of Estrada Courts on social justice media projects. We met for lunch and I bombarded him with questions. He graciously helped me out.
"Mural art has been around since the time of the cavemen. Mexican artists Siqueiros and Diego Rivera really revived the art form in the 40ties as part of their political expression and that tradition influenced the development of the Chicano Art Movement here in L.A. In the 60ties Chicano Art was considered "folk art" and it was not considered "good" enough for museum exhibits."
"At the time, out of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement came the performance art crew Asco (Spanish for nausea for those who don't speak it), most of the artists went to Garfield High and grew up in East L.A.
Back then, even galleries were not showing Chicano art so Asco members protested by spraying graffiti on the outside of LACMA. The art scene grew in East L.A. through interventions. They used alternative spaces to show their work so you had art exhibits in bakeries and laundromats, lots of public spaces."
"The murals in Estrada Courts started up in the early 70ties just as a spontaneous expression of what was happening in the community and the first ones were painted by Estrada residents. The community took notice and Asco artists and others became involved."
"The murals really tell the story of this community. Many are very political like the homage to Che Guevara "We Are Not A Minority".
"Gronk and Willie Herron collaborated on "Moratorium" - the black and white mural. It looks like a photo montage and documents the 1970 anti Vietnam War Chicano Moratorium. At the time there was only one Latino news reporter, Rubèn Salazar. he was the news editor for KMEX television and a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Sheriff deputies shot tear gas at the protesters. One tear gas bullet hit Salazar in the head and killed him.
"Moratorium" documents that.
Many other murals depict scenes local kids and youth don't get to see. During our project work in Estrada Courts we learned that most kids here never get to go to the beach.
Yet other murals celebrate Latino history and tradition.
All the murals are about hope and history."
"Many of the Estrada Courts residents are not really aware of their history but everyone is very aware of their significance and very proud of the murals.
That's the reason they are well preserved. At one time, Los Angeles was the Mural Capital of the USA but that honor now goes to Philadelphia.
There are no programs to preserve them and many murals in Downtown have been destroyed by taggers. They know that their tags will stay longer because the murals are protected from over-painting.
Thankfully everybody in Estrada Courts has a lot of respect for the murals so they have been preserved for almost 40 years."
Directions: Estrada Court is located in East Los Angeles at the corners of Olympic Boulevard and Lorena Street. It is accessible by bus from Union Station. The ride takes about 35 minutes.
All Estrada Courts Photos: Marion Renk-Rosenthal.
All Estrada Courts Photos: Marion Renk-Rosenthal.
Thank you, Rigo!Gracias!
Rigo Maldonado, artist.
Self Portrait Collage.
www.rigomaldonado.com
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