A photograph from Merrick Morton's 1980s series on L.A. gang and street life.
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Courtesy of Merrick Morton
)
Topline:
In the 1980s few artists documented gang and street life in Los Angeles. Photographer Merrick Morton was one of the first to cement that era in history with his pictures of the men and women who lived it.
Why it matters: Morton wasn’t the only one putting attention on this slice of the Chicano experience during this time period. But, still, many people in the '80s weren’t exposed to the culture at this point.
Why now: His first solo show, “UN-REHEARSED” at Chinatown’s Eastern Projects gallery, exhibits cholos, Black gangs, guns, drugs, police brutality and other parts of L.A. history from period and beyond. He captures the violence but also the humanity of the communities.
The backstory: Morton is a homegrown Angeleno from the Valley and, before he began documenting cliques and gang life, he practiced photography at a state psychiatric hospital through a California grant that allowed people to interact with patients. (Some of those photos are showcased at the exhibit.)
Through his connections in his grant work, he was able to reach out to the California State Department of Corrections, which eventually led to meeting a correctional officer, Gerald Ivory, who allowed him to tag along as he visited parolees. That was Morton’s entryway to being in community with L.A. gang members and their families.
In the 1980s few artists documented gang and street life in Los Angeles. Photographer Merrick Morton was one of the first to cement that era in history with his pictures of the men and women who lived it.
His first solo show, “UN-REHEARSED” at Chinatown’s Eastern Projects gallery, exhibits cholos, Black gangs, guns, drugs, police brutality and other parts of L.A. history from that period and beyond. He captures the violence but also the humanity of these communities.
“For me, the most interesting part is some of the subjects that I shot going back to the '80s have actually shown up [at the gallery] and they've come in,” he says. Others “come in to see [photos of] their family. So, to me, that's the most exciting part of it.”
#276: Merrick Morton is one of the first people to document Chicano gang culture in L.A. He also photographed women in prison, Latinas at kickbacks, and people on death row. Almost all of his photos capture something that you might not expect: a tenderness, a realness. We meet up with Merrick at the Eastern Projects gallery in Chinatown, where an exhibit of his work titled "Un-Rehearsed" is on display,to talk about his art and how he started photographing these communities.
If you want to see some examples of his work, check out this article on LAist.com. Or - come see the free show in person! It's running until May 18th.
Photographer Merrick Morton Cemented 80s Gang Culture In History
#276: Merrick Morton is one of the first people to document Chicano gang culture in L.A. He also photographed women in prison, Latinas at kickbacks, and people on death row. Almost all of his photos capture something that you might not expect: a tenderness, a realness. We meet up with Merrick at the Eastern Projects gallery in Chinatown, where an exhibit of his work titled "Un-Rehearsed" is on display,to talk about his art and how he started photographing these communities.
If you want to see some examples of his work, check out this article on LAist.com. Or - come see the free show in person! It's running until May 18th.
Morton is a homegrown Angeleno from the Valley, and before he began documenting cliques and gang life, he practiced photography at a state psychiatric hospital through a California grant that allowed people to interact with patients. (Some of those photos are showcased at the exhibit.)
Through his connections in his grant work, he was able to reach out to the California State Department of Corrections, which eventually led to meeting a correctional officer, Gerald Ivory, who allowed him to tag along as he visited parolees. That was Morton’s entryway to being in community with L.A. gang members and their families.
Morton took portraits of people who ran with gangs like Elm Street, Venice Locos and Florencia 13, and photographed the events they were involved in, from hangouts and family barbecues to funerals and run-ins with police officers.
Photographer Merrick Morton captured all aspects of 1980s gang and street life in L.A.
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Courtesy of Merrick Morton
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Merrick Morton captured street photography and portraits of gang members in L.A. in the 1980s and on.
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Courtesy of Merrick Morton
)
Morton wasn’t the only one putting attention on this slice of the Chicano experience during this time period. There were other artists in different media who elevated the culture, groups like Asco, Carlos Almaraz, and the folks at Self Help Graphics. Morton also credits artist John Valadez — who captured pachuco culture — as someone who exposed him to Chicano culture and art and influenced his work. But still, many people in the '80s weren’t exposed to the culture at this point.
A white photographer in Black and brown communities
He and Ivory who, Morton says, had become a friend, started by visiting East and South L.A. communities, first photographing portraits of folks at the Obregon Park rec center and later gaining trust to visit them at their homes or other hang out spots. He notes the probation officer and the photog definitely got looks when they started out documenting this.
“It was sort of interesting for us, too, because he's a Black guy, I'm a white guy, and people would sort of see us on the streets, too, and say, ‘Who are you?’” he says.
But Morton, a self-described shy guy, says he never wanted to overstep. He knew how he could be perceived as a stranger, and a white man in his 30s, usually dealing with people of color who were younger than him. One of his advantages, says Morton, was it wasn’t common for folks to have a camera on them, like it is nowadays with iPhones. Many people just didn’t have photos of themselves or their homies.
Eventually, his photography of the communities lowered down walls.
Photographer Merrick Morton also captured the joy in gang communities.
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Courtesy of Merrick Morton
)
People like to be photographed. It's because it's showing themselves and it's showing their neighborhood, and it's really showing their culture.
— Merrick Morton, photographer
In the photographs, some subjects are covered in tattoos, with stoic gazes and soft eyes. Other pictures capture youngsters hanging out — maybe experiencing some type of joy — even for a moment. There’s also a glimpse of '80s and '90s fashion choices, especially with the ladies’ bangs and signature eyeliner eyebrows.
Hollywood work
This led to other publishing work. Morton's photographs were featured in LA Weekly and Rolling Stone — again, at a time when mainstream media wasn’t reporting on the humanity of these communities. Eventually, more people began to pay attention.
His photographs caught the attention of Hollywood. Morton was tapped to work as a consultant and set photographer for movies like La Bamba,” Fight Club and Blood In, Blood Out. He’s worked on dozens of films, as well as TV sets, for more than two decades, and those photos of Brad Pitt and other actors are also in the exhibition at Eastern Projects.
One of the bigger frames at the gallery holds a black and white portrait of a young Richard Cabral, “The Mayans” actor who was previously a gang member. Cabral had come through Homeboy Industries and Morton later met him on a film set, photographing him in 2011. Both have an upcoming project that features Cabral’s poetry and Morton’s visuals, in a documentary-style view of East L.A.
Morton’s work also took him to Mexico and Cuba to document those gangs, too.
“Sometimes people will say that, ‘Hey, you're exploiting violence … there are certain images of people holding guns or drugs,’” he says, “but I think for me, it's more about creating the dialogue to talk about these things."
Keeping the images alive
It hasn’t been easy to continue publishing these historic images. Morton's had film and photography confiscated by officials before. And when social media became part of our lives, Morton gravitated to Instagram. He began publishing his photos on that platform, gaining attention once again — the good and bad. Instagram ended up taking down his account three times or deleting pictures off his feed, most times saying that his images depicted violence.
The experience has been, to say the least, frustrating for Morton. He feels that sometimes the decision to take something down seems based on race, and that white people being photographed with their guns on an account like the NRA’s get a pass, he says.
“Sometimes it seems it's racial, what [social media platforms] go after,” Morton says. “Compared to if you're white, it seems you have a little more latitude, what you can put in.”
But he’s back on Instagram, and he stays because that’s how he is able to connect with his subjects or their families years later.
A group of eight Latino young men and boys throwing up gang signs in front of a car at a park.
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Courtesy of Merrick Morton
)
At the gallery, he showed me a photo on the wall of a woman from the '80s. She was dipping a cigarette into PCP (angel dust) among friends at a kickback. Then, he brings out his phone to show me another picture. It's the same woman from the photo, decades older, at his gallery show wearing a brightly colored traditional Mexican blouse and holding a sobriety chip.
Same person, different image, different life.
This might have not been the intention for Morton at the time he took her photo, but it seemed like a 180-degree moment, at least for this woman. It felt like a part of history, her history.
Merrick Morton's photography book, Clique: West Coast Portraits from the Hood, is available now and his work will be displayed at Eastern Projects until May 18. I recommend you see it.
David Wagner
covers housing in Southern California, where a massive post-fire rebuilding effort is underway.
Published April 1, 2026 4:44 PM
Fencing lines a sidewalk next to a home under construction.
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Erin Stone
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LAist
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Topline:
As Los Angeles homeowners grapple with the expense of rebuilding after last year’s devastating fires, an L.A. City Council member is putting forward an idea that could lower some costs.
Who’s behind it: Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades, has introduced a motion to explore waiving part of the city’s portion of the local sales tax for fire victims who purchase rebuilding materials in the city.
The details: The plan calls for returning the 1% of the local 9.75% sales tax that goes into the city’s general fund. The waiver could apply to lumber, appliances and other rebuilding goods purchased within the city.
Read on … to learn whether economists think the proposed tax relief could make a difference.
As Los Angeles homeowners grapple with the expense of rebuilding after last year’s devastating fires, an L.A. City Councilmember is putting forward an idea that could lower some costs.
Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades, has introduced a motion to explore waiving part of the city’s portion of the local sales tax for fire victims who purchase rebuilding materials in the city.
The 1% of the local 9.75% sales tax that goes into the city’s general fund would be given back to consumers under the proposal. The waiver could apply to lumber, appliances and other rebuilding goods purchased within the city.
The motion, introduced Friday by Park and seconded by Councilmember John Lee, says: “The City should do everything within its power to alleviate the financial burden for these residents and businesses in order to facilitate their return and stabilize the Pacific Palisades community.”
Would it make much of a difference?
Economists told LAist the proposal could help many homeowners mitigate the high cost of rebuilding, but likely wouldn’t tip the scales for under-insured, under-resourced property owners.
“It wouldn't hurt if it's very well designed and easy to use,” said Alexander Meeks, a director at the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute. “But I'm not sure if it's really going to tackle the scale of the financial challenge that survivors are facing.”
Meeks noted that the tax waiver wouldn’t lower up-front costs such as environmental testing, architectural design and permitting. And it may not help homeowners sourcing raw materials from outside the city.
Zhiyun Li, a UCLA Anderson School of Management economist, said the waiver could help some homeowners justify the additional cost of rebuilding more fire-safe structures.
“Homeowners must typically pay out of pocket to upgrade to IBHS+ standards, which are more stringent,” Li said. “The tax waiver could encourage upgrading to IBHS+ standards or investing more in mitigation, thereby reducing future risk and improving the likelihood of maintaining insurance coverage.”
What’s next for the proposal?
The proposed tax relief would not be available to properties that have been sold since the fires started in January 2025.
The motion has been sent to the City Council’s budget and fire recovery committees. If approved by the full council, it would require the city administrative officer, the Office of Finance and the city attorney to report back to the council within 60 days on options for crafting a tax relief plan.
The motion calls for the report to consider factors such as how to minimize the burden of administering the tax relief, what documentation homeowners would have to submit and what it would cost the city to oversee the program.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the House will take up a measure passed by the Senate last week to fund most of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of September. Republicans would then attempt to fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years using a party-line budget reconciliation bill that would not require support from Democrats.
About the deal: The agreement comes nearly a week after House Republicans dismissed an identical plan, refusing to take up the Senate-passed measure and instead passing a 60-day short term funding bill for all of DHS that had little chance of overcoming Democratic opposition in the Senate. Democrats welcomed the agreement as in line with their pledge not to give ICE any more money without reforms after immigration enforcement agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. But the deal does not include any of the policy demands Democrats are pressing for, such as a ban on masks for immigration enforcement officers and requiring warrants issued by a judge, not just the agency, to enter homes.
What's next: Congress is on a two-week recess, but the Senate and House could move to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP as early as Thursday using a procedure known as unanimous consent that allows the chambers to circumvent formal voting as long as no member objects. Even during a recess when most members are not in Washington, this could be unpredictable, especially in the House, where many hard-line conservatives oppose a deal that does not fully fund DHS. If a member does object, that could require waiting for another vote when all members are back from recess.
Senate and House Republican leadership have resurrected a stalled plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security after a record 47-day funding lapse.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the House will take up a measure passed by the Senate last week to fund most of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of September.
Republicans would then attempt to fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years using a party-line budget reconciliation bill that would not require support from Democrats.
"In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited," Thune and Johnson wrote.
The agreement comes nearly a week after House Republicans dismissed an identical plan, refusing to take up the Senate-passed measure and instead passing a 60-day short term funding bill for all of DHS that had little chance of overcoming Democratic opposition in the Senate.
Johnson called the agreement a "joke" and President Donald Trump declined to publicly endorse the deal. Trump had previously resisted any package that did not include his push to overhaul federal elections known as the Save America Act.
"I think any deal they make, I'm pretty much not happy with it," Trump told reporters last week.
Democrats welcomed the agreement as in line with their pledge not to give ICE any more money without reforms after immigration enforcement agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. But the deal does not include any of the policy demands Democrats are pressing for, such as a ban on masks for immigration enforcement officers and requiring warrants issued by a judge, not just the agency, to enter homes.
"For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement Wednesday. "Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered."
Trump seemed to bless the revived plan earlier Wednesday, writing on social media that he wants a party-line bill to fund immigration enforcement on his desk by June 1.
"We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won't be able to stop us," Trump wrote.
Despite the shutdown, ICE has been minimally impacted because Republican lawmakers approved $75 billion for ICE through another party-line budget reconciliation bill last year.
Congress is on a two-week recess, but the Senate and House could move to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP as early as Thursday using a procedure known as unanimous consent that allows the chambers to circumvent formal voting as long as no member objects.
Even during a recess when most members are not in Washington, this could be unpredictable, especially in the House, where many hard-line conservatives oppose a deal that does not fully fund DHS.
"Let's make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again," Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on X. "If that's the vote, I'm a NO."
If a member does object, that could require waiting for another vote when all members are back from recess.
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Logan Cattaneo, 6, poses for a photo with the Dodgers mascot during Dodgers Dreamteam PlayerFest at Dodgers Stadium in 2024.
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Michael Blackshire
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Getty Images
)
Topline:
The Dodgers Foundation says it's expanding Dodgers Dreamteam, its program for underserved youth. The foundation says the program will be able to serve 17,000 kids this year, 2,000 more than last year.
Why it matters: Now in its 13th season, the program connects underserved youth with opportunities to play baseball and softball and provides participants with free uniforms and access to baseball equipment. It also offers training for coaches in positive youth development practices, as well as wraparound services for participant families like college workshops, career panels, literacy resources and scholarship opportunities.
How to sign up: For more information and to sign up, click here.
An aerial view of snow-capped trees after a winter snowstorm near Soda Springs on Feb. 20, 2026.
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Stephen Lam, San Francisco Chronicle
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via Getty Images
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Topline:
California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season. It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century.
What happened? Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave.
Why it matters: Experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains. State data reports that California’s snowpack is closing out the season at an alarming 18% of average statewide, and an even more abysmal 6% of average in the northern mountains that feed California’s major reservoirs. “I think everyone's anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.
California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season.
It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century.
Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave.
But experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains.
On Wednesday, state engineers conducting the symbolic April 1 snowpack measurement at Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe found no measurable snow in patches of white dotting the grassy field.
“I want to welcome you call to probably one of the quickest snow surveys we’ve had — maybe one where people could actually use an umbrella,” joked Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “We’re getting a lot of questions about are we heading into a hydrologic drought? The answer is, I don’t know.”
Only the extreme drought year of 2015 beat this year’s snowpack for the worst on record, measuring in at just 5% of average on April 1st, when the snow historically is at its deepest.
“I think everyone's anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.
“Without a snowpack, and with an early spring, it just means that there’s much more time for something like that to happen.”
‘It’s pretty bizarre up here’
In the city of South Lake Tahoe, which survived the massive Caldor Fire in the fall of 2021 without losing any structures, fire chief Jim Drennan said his department is already ramping up prevention efforts.
“It's pretty bizarre up here right now. It really seems like June conditions more than March,” Drennan said. “People are already turning the sprinklers on for their lawns.”
Without more precipitation, an early spring may complicate prescribed burning efforts. But Drennan said fire agencies in the Tahoe basin can start mechanically clearing fuels from forest areas earlier than usual.
“That means we can get more work done,” he said.
It also means homeowners need to start hardening their homes now, said Martin Goldberg, battalion chief and fuels management officer for the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which protects unincorporated communities in the Lake Tahoe Basin’s south shore.
Goldberg urges residents to scour their yards for burnable materials, create defensible space and reach out to local fire departments with questions. The risks are widespread — from firewood, wooden fences, gas cans, plants, pine needles — even lawn furniture stacked against a house.
“In years past, I wouldn't even think of raking and clearing until May,” Goldberg said. “But my yard's completely cleared of snowpack, and it has been for a couple weeks now.”
‘A haystack fire’
Battalion chief David Acuña, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said fire season is shaped by more than just one year’s snowpack.
Climate change has been remaking California’s fire seasons into fire years. And California’s recent average to abundant water years have fueled what Acuña called “bumper crops of vegetation and brush.”
“Most of California is like a haystack. And if you’ve ever seen a haystack fire, they burn very intensely because there's layers of fuel,” Acuña said.
Like Quinn-Davidson, Acuña wasn’t ready to make specific predictions about fires to come.
But John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced, said the temperatures and snowpack conditions this year offer a glimpse of California in the latter decades of this century, as fossil fuel use continues to drive global temperatures higher.
How this year’s fires will play out will depend on when, where and how wind, heat, fuel and ignitions combine. But it foreshadows the consequences of a warmer California for water and fire under climate change.
“This,” Abatzoglou said, “is yet another stress test for the future in the state.”
