The Brief

Paintings of guardian angels, early gender-fluid cosplay and illustrations of spaceships streaking across a starry expanse.

Those are some of the images visitors will experience at a new exhibition at USC that looks at the connections between science fiction, the occult and the LGBTQ+ community in Los Angeles.

The art show, called Sci-Fi, Magick, Queer L.A.: Sexual Science and the Imagi-Nation, focuses on the period between 1930 and 1960 and pulls from private collections and USC’s ONE archive — the largest collection of LGBTQ+ materials in the world.

The show will run Aug. 22 - Nov. 23 at USC’s Fisher Museum of Art.

Organizers say it provides a window into alternate realities dreamed up by queer artists who were looking for respite from oppressive cultural norms.

“Science fiction is imagining things like a rocket ship, but we don’t make it yet... and it eventually becomes a reality,” said Alexis Bard Johnson, the lead curator of the exhibit and curator of the ONE Archives at USC Libraries.

“I think there was hope in that structure that other things in society could also change.”

Jim Kepner, cover of "Toward Tomorrow" No. 2, June, 1944

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Courtesy ONE Archives at the USC Libraries

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What you’ll see there

The exhibit features works by Morris Scott Dollens, Marjorie Cameron, Curtis Harrington and other notable artists, writers and filmmakers.

A prolific artist, Dollens sold hundreds of paintings at science fiction conventions. He also produced homoerotic photomontages of the male figure, which will be on display at the exhibit.

Johnson, the curator, said she was struck by the amount of science fiction artwork and ephemera that Jim Kepner, a journalist and gay rights leader, amassed throughout his life. Within that collection were images of partially nude male bodies juxtaposed with spaceships streaking through black space, a black-and-white illustration of a bikini-wearing man standing in ancient jungle ruins and several pieces by Dollens.

“Science fiction fandom and the world of publishing offered a platform and community for queers of all kinds,” Johnson wrote in an essay titled, "The Kepner File: Queer Art and Science Fiction Fandom."

The exhibition also includes several artworks by Cameron, a self-professed witch and L.A. occultist who was married to pioneering rocket scientist Jack Parsons.

As an actress and visual artist, Cameron’s creativity threads through the work of filmmaker Curtis Harrington. Harrington’s video portrait of Cameron, "The Wormwood Star," stands as the only visual record of many of the works she would later burn.

"The Wormwood Star" will also be on view at the show.

"Holy Guardian Angel According to Alesiter Crowley" by Cameron

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Courtesy USC

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Cameron’s piece, "Holy Guardian Angel According to Alesiter Crowley," will be on view at the exhibit, as well as her drawings of Parsons.

In a companion essay to the exhibition, art historian Kelly Filreis referred to Cameron as a "visionary."

“Her influence attests to how deeply the supernatural is intertwined within the histories of transgressive sexualities and alternative spiritualities in Southern California,” Filreis wrote.

What to know before you go

The Fisher Museum of Art is located on the USC campus at 823 Exposition Blvd. in Los Angeles.

Admission to the museum is free.

A catalogue to the exhibit , which includes the essay noted above, is available for purchase.

An employee of Los Angeles County’s Office of Emergency Management has sued his employer, alleging he was retaliated against for making whistleblower complaints about the response to the deadly Eaton Fire.

Nicholas Vaquero, an associate director in the Office of Emergency Management, alleges that officials leading the office failed to properly staff the response to the fire, which killed at least 19 people and burned thousands of homes and businesses in January 2025.

He also alleges the county’s emergency alerts were inadequate and that it submitted fraudulent data in order to receive FEMA reimbursement. Vaquero says in the suit that he used official county whistleblower channels to raise his concerns, in addition to speaking to OEM’s top two officials, Director Kevin McGowan and Deputy Director Leslie Luke.

Vaquero’s lawyers and the county declined to comment on the substance of the lawsuit. “L.A. County is going to address the allegations in court,” spokesperson Elizabeth Marcellino wrote in a statement to LAist.

LAist previously reported on Vaquero’s whistleblower complaint, in which he alleged that a now-retired employee with “a long history of sleeping on the job” was put in charge of emergency workers sending evacuation alerts and was asleep during critical moments of the first night of the Eaton Fire, when many of the deaths and much of the devastation occurred.

In the lawsuit, Vaquero alleges he has faced retaliation after raising his concerns, including being excluded from meetings he previously was a part of and being treated with hostility by the department’s leadership, among other things.

The complaint comes after county leadership launched a three-year restructuring of the Office of Emergency Management, which includes working to add staff and to conduct regular training for all staff on emergency alert software.

An after-action report from the McChrystal Group highlighted that the emergency management office was severely short-staffed during the fire. The department, which serves 10 million people, had a staff of 37 people at the time the fires broke out. Meanwhile, New York City has a population of 8.5 million and an emergency management staff of about 200 people, the report noted.

For the last three years, the record store and music venue Healing Force of the Universe has been operating on a sleepy street corner not far from Pasadena City College. Nearby businesses include a shoe repair store, a nail salon and several auto shops.

“We're kind of in a dead corner,” owner Austin Manuel said. “No offense if anybody lives here, but not a very foot-trafficked area, kind of a hard place to have a store.”

In spite of the location, Manuel said Healing Force has become a home away from home for musicians and music fans. One of them is Bobby Bradford, a jazz trumpet legend who lost his house and personal archive in the Eaton Fire. He performs regularly at the venue. (Healing Force has also partnered with LAist on fire recovery events.)

Its current location is set to close this month, but Manuel and his team are already raising funds to cover a move to another space: G-Son Studios in Atwater Village. The repurposed ballroom was the Beastie Boys' home base when they recorded their classic albums Check Your Head and Ill Communication. Run-DMC and Biz Markie stopped by at one point, and Beck also laid down tracks for his album Odelay there.

Inside Healing Force's space in Pasadena.

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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

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The vibe

Healing Force sells records, of course, but these days it’s more of a nighttime performance space. Manuel said he wants people to feel comfortable striking up conversations after a show.

“I grew up in the church in the South, and I was like, ‘How do I design this so that it feels like a Southern church lady could come in here and feel welcome?’" Manuel said. “ I didn't want it to be too cool.  I wanted it to feel kind of suburban in a way.”

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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

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Though the name might call to mind a cult slogan — and Manuel said they lean into that aesthetic on purpose — it’s actually a reference to the 1970 album Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe by saxophonist Albert Ayler.

At the venue, “people can kind of get … into a meditative zone,” Manuel said. “After the [January 2025] fires, it felt so good to come back together in this room and feel the healing of community.”

Healing Force's stage setup.

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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

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The performances

The shows Healing Force puts on share a common thread: They’re meant to promote peace and relaxation, as well as deep, careful listening on the hi-fi sound system. But they’re an eclectic mix of genres. On one night, you might see L.A. spiritual jazz band Phi-Psonics, who turned a residency at the venue into a live album, Expanding to One.

On another night, you might catch a spaced-out electronic set, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter or a group of session musicians who’ve played with the likes of Paul Simon, Elton John and Lucinda Williams.

About the fundraiser

With the new space on Glendale Boulevard, Manuel said, Healing Force would triple its capacity for concerts, get a bar space and be closer to other venues in Northeast L.A.

“If 1,000 people gave $25, we would get there,” Manuel said – though he also said most people have been giving more.

You can read more about the fundraiser and donate at Healing Force’s GoFundMe.

See the Pasadena space before it closes

The venue is still open at 1200 E. Walnut Street and is holding events through this Halloween weekend. You can see their events calendar on their website.

The racist DNA of Jim Crow discrimination may be embedded in your housing documents.

The language in housing documents that restricts sale or use of a property only to a person of the white race is called a “restrictive covenant,” and in California the practice goes back to the 19th century and continued into the mid-20th century. While housing discrimination persists, the practice was found unconstitutional in 1948.

California counties are reporting mixed progress in meeting the demands of a 2021 law to excise the language from property records.

According to Sylvia Manzo, deputy recorder in the Orange County Clerk-Recorder’s office, the county finished the job in March of this year, removing racist language from more than 27,000 property documents with the help of computer software.

This 1924 property document from Bakersfield includes racist language limiting use of the property in question to people of "the white or Caucasian race."

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Screenshot from CSU Bakersfield

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L.A. County is far from done. It says that with the help of an outside company hired in 2024, 50 million pages will be examined yearly, which would take about 10 years to finish the job.

Public agencies could use the public’s help.

Language examples

Here’s a 1924 example from a property in Bakersfield. The text reads, “That the lands herein conveyed shall never, at any time, be sold to or rented to or occupied by any person not of the white or Caucasian race.”

Or this language from a 1936 document relating to a Costa Mesa property: “That said premises shall not be sold, conveyed, rented, or leased to, or occupied by any person of African, Mexican, or Asiatic descent.”

How to get it taken out

The Restrictive Covenant Modification Form is at the heart of the effort to remove the racist language from housing documents. Each county has its own process. Some charge a fee; others don’t. Some require a notary certification for the signature; others don’t.

L.A. County:

Registrar-Recorder officials recommend these steps:

• Highlight or underline the unlawful provision on the recorded document
• Complete the Restrictive Covenant Modification Form
• Submit the form and the recorded document by email: RCM@rrcc.lacounty.gov or in person at the Norwalk headquarters at 12400 Imperial Highway in Norwalk
• Mail instructions are here.

Orange County:

The Orange County spokesperson says there may be some properties not caught by its software and urges the public to report them. Here’s the form

Riverside County:

Here’s the Riverside County form

San Bernardino County:

Here’s the San Bernardino County form

San Diego County:

Here’s the San Diego County form

Santa Barbara County:

Here’s the Santa Barbara County form

Ignoring the racist language in property documents, some say, reinforces the legacy of segregation, while taking steps to remove restrictive covenant language is a way individuals and organizations can repudiate policies that sought to discriminate.