Director Ava Duvernay on her new documentary, “13th,” as in the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, which banned slavery ... Backstage with La Santa Cecelia, a Grammy-winning LA band that tells modern stories with traditional music ... Frank Romero finally has his first major museum retrospective, and he's interviewed by Cheech Marin ... Another “date which lives in infamy” is the day FDR ordered the imprisonment of 120-thousand Japanese-Americans, and it happened 75 years ago this weekend ... We get a sneak peek at “Girl at the White Horse,” a brand new cocktail bar at Sunset and Western, owned by the son of the Shah of Iran’s social secretary.
LA Public Library's archival photos show the real people who inspired ‘Zoot Suit’
"Zoot Suit," the 1978 Luis Valdez musical being staged anew at the Mark Taper Forum, was based on the real story of the Sleepy Lagoon case, the Zoot Suit riots, and the anti-Chicano hysteria of the time. The Los Angeles Public Library’s extensive photo archive tells that story in gritty black and white reality.
The Sleepy Lagoon was a reservoir at the Williams Ranch used as a swimming hole, in what is now known as Commerce, California. It was frequented mostly by Mexican-Americans kids who were often denied entrance to public pools. The reservoir got its name from the popular song, “Sleepy Lagoon” written by Jack Lawrence. It was also known for being a lover’s lane by night.
On August 1, 1942, several young couples from L.A.’s 38th Street neighborhood spent the evening at Sleepy Lagoon, among them Henry Leyvas and his girlfriend Dora Barrios. They were both beaten by a group of boys from a rival neighborhood as they sat in their car.
Henry and Dora returned to 38th Street that night bruised and battered, and gathered reinforcements to get back at the rival gang. Henry was able to rile up about 30 people to head back to Sleepy Lagoon.
The spot Henry and Dora had been beaten was abandoned, but he and his friends could hear the sounds a party at the Williams Ranch. Henry and his friends were convinced that the guys who has assaulted him earlier were at this party, and they headed to the ranch, and there was a ten-minute fight.
When the rumble was over, Mexican born José Díaz had been beaten and stabbed. He died that night at Los Angeles General Hospital.
The murder of José Díaz resulted in a crackdown by police on “Zoot-suiters,” who were primarily young Mexican-Americans who wore long coats and ballooned pants. During this time, over 600 Zoot-suiters were rounded up by the LAPD. And the LAPD charged Henry Leyvas and 21 others for the murder of José Díaz.
The headlines of the trail dominated Los Angeles news publications for months, and many of the articles reflected racist sentiments. Eventually, Henry Leyvas was sentenced to life in San Quentin, and his friends from 38th Street were also convicted.
In June of 1943, Los Angeles erupted in the Zoot Suit Riots, when servicemen and sailors attacked Zoot-suiters and often stripped the suits off the people who wore them.
The Sleepy Lagoon convictions were overturned on appeal in October of 1944. The court ruled that there was several issues with the case including: lack of evidence, the denial of counsel, and a biased judge.
"Zoot Suit" at the Mark Taper Forum is based on this contentious trail, blending fact and fiction, opening a window to the past, and shedding light on a few current issues as well. The run at the Taper has been extended through March 26. To see the story come to life for yourself at the Mark Taper Forum, visit their website.
(Note: A previous version of the story indicated that after the Zoot Suit Riots, the Los Angeles City Council banned the wearing of Zoot suits on Los Angeles streets. But the City Council only voted to have an ordinance prepared so they could officially ban them. The file went to the Police Commission and was never enacted by them.)
LA Mayor Bowron's role in the Japanese American internment
December 7, 1941 was "a date which will live in infamy," but just two months later FDR himself was responsible for an infamous date. He signed signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, forcing 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes.
To mark the 75th anniversary of the order, LA City Archivist Michael Holland tells us the story of Mayor Fletcher Bowron's support for the criminal mistreatment of so many of his city's citizens.
Certainly, some way should be devised for keeping the native-born Japanese out of mischief. I feel that this could be handled on the theory that the burden is upon every American-born Japanese to demonstrate his loyalty to this country, to show that he really intends for all time, in good faith, to claim and enjoy one citizenship rather than dual citizenship. Since the question to be determined is whether there is a mental reservation in his declaration, it would, of course, take considerable time to make the necessary investigation, possibly as long as the war would last, and during the period of such inquiry, while the question of loyalty may be in doubt, so long as there may be a possibility of an American-born Japanese having hidden in the secret of his mind an intention to serve the Mikado as a loyal subject of Japan, when and if such occasion should arise during all of this period the American-born Japanese might be well engaged in raising soy beans for the Government.
— LA Mayor Fletcher Bowron, 2/5/1942, KECA Radio
World War 2 made LA into the metropolis it would become. People came here in droves for work in the defense industry and many of them stayed for the weather and lifestyle. But that success story has a very dark side which we are still grappling with, and some of the proof is in the LA City Archive.
The archive contains radio speeches Mayor Fletcher Bowron made every Thursday night. Alas, there are no audio recordings of these speeches, but there are paper transcripts that let us recreate what they might have sounded like. (Listen to the audio player to hear actor Christopher Murray read excerpts from Bowron's radio speeches.) In many of them, Bowron supports the Japanese Internment and details how and why it would be carried out.
Bowron was elected in 1938 to replace the corrupt Frank Shaw, and instituted reforms to restore confidence in local government. He used the radio as a bully pulpit to call out other politicians who were resistant to his agenda. He was re-elected in 1941.
Then came the attack at Pearl Harbor, which bred a special hatred towards the Japanese living here in Southern California, many of them American citizens by birth.Los Angeles was at the center of the war effort, with the Ports of LA and Long Beach, oil refineries, and the factories producing the materiel needed to defeat the Axis Powers. In mid-January, 1942, Mayor Bowron had been told about a plan to intern local Japanese, supposedly to protect the home front and the defense industries from spies and saboteurs. His radio speech of January 29th mentioned the first part of the plan.
A few days ago, we dropped, at least temporarily, from the city payrolls all employees of Japanese parentage. This was done without violating the legal rights of anyone.
Not everyone approved. Clifford Clinton, of Clifton’s Cafeteria fame and one of the men behind Bowron’s election, wrote a letter of protest that reads, in part, "We should not permit hysteria and indignation to serve as a substitute for hard work and hard thinking. We should build up public morale by taking intelligent and humane action, not undermine it by yielding to the hysteria of a witch-hunt."
An unnamed Pasadena realtor also protested, writing, "Sometimes I wonder how genuine our democracy is. If by democracy we mean freedom and liberty for the white man, let’s say so and promptly subjugate all others so Hitler cannot divide and conquer. But it’s not that kind of America: let’s publicly reinstate these citizens."
But dissenting voices – and a report from the Office of Naval Intelligence -- were ignored. Bowron’s background as a judge was on full display as he defended the internment in his weekly radio address.
I have merely pointed out a legal theory that native-born Japanese never were citizens under a proper construction of the provisions of the United States Constitution. If they never were citizens, nothing could be taken from them and their position is different … (they) are in a class by themselves.
The theory he cited was a dissenting Supreme Court opinion from the 1890’s. He went on to express his preference that Los Angeles would never again have a large concentration of Japanese.
But many internees did return ...
It appears that within the next 3 months, 10,000 Japanese will be brought back to us from the relocation centers.
... and started up their lives all over again. A few reclaimed their homes and businesses, but most couldn’t.
The case for justifying the internment camps was never successfully proven. The U.S. Government no longer considered Southern California in danger from sabotage in mid-1943 and started to release the internees. The Supreme Court ruled against indefinite detention of U.S. citizens in December 1944. Six city employees were photographed with Mayor Bowron when they returned to city service in January of 1945.
Bowron was mayor of Los Angeles until 1953, and until Tom Bradley, was our longest serving mayor. After he left office, he became director of the Metropolitan Los Angeles History Project.
Fletcher Bowron died in 1968 at the age of 81, but before he did, he made several public apologies for the treatment of the Japanese citizens of Los Angeles.
Michael Holland first told this story in Alive!, the LA City employee newspaper.
The Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo will be marking the 75th anniversary Executive Order 9066 on Saturday, from 2-4p, with a Day of Remembrance.
La Santa Cecilia on love, life, and who had the sorriest rice
La Santa Cecilia has quite a list of accolades under its belt. The Los Angeles-based outfit has performed with Elvis Costello, performed for Michelle Obama, and recently tacked on a second Grammy nomination after their 2014 win for "Treinta Dias" in the Best Latin album category. After this most recent Grammy nomination for their album "Buenaventura," the band decided it was time to get back to basics.
"After so many hours, so many days, you start losing it and you get in this bubble," says Marisol Hernandez, the vocalist for La Santa on why they decided to make "Amar y vivir," an album recorded live in Mexico City. "I really feel with this album. We got to go back to those days to reminisce on these songs. We used to play these songs at quinceñeras, at funerals, and we get to bring them back. We get to pass down that love."
Marisol Hernandez, accordionist Pepe Carlos, drummer Miguel Ramirez and bassist Alex Bendana have been together for ten years. "We've gotten to achieve a lot of dreams," Marisol tells Offramp producer Taylor Orci. But there was real struggle in the beginning.
"We had a group text about who ate the sorriest rice," Marisol says, laughing. Drummer Pepe Carlos agrees, "I put some garlic in my rice and it still tasted bad," he recalls. "Gas was really high a few years back and I racked up $7,000 in debt on my gas card because it cost more than food." Marisol chides him, "You sound like a grampa!"
"Amar y Vivir" is expected to drop in May. La Santa Cecilia will be playing February 18 at the Valley Performing Arts Center.
Ava DuVernay's latest film '13th' - Deconstruction of the 13th Amendment
She was the first African-American woman to win Best Director at Sundance in 2012, for “Middle of Nowhere.” Her work in “Selma” was nominated for best picture at the Oscars in 2014. And now Ava DuVernay is getting raves for “13th,” which is up for an Oscar this year.
The documentary's name is a reference to the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. Ratified in 1865, the amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in this country with one exception – "as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V66F3WU2CKk&feature=youtu.be
The documentary traces how that amendment has influenced the modern day prison system - a system currently home to 2.2 million people. “13th” also examines the often contentious relationship between cops and communities nationwide.
KPCC's Alex Cohen spoke with Ava DuVernay to talk "13th." Here are the highlights:
Why DuVernay believes this exception in the 13th amendment has affected the perception of black identity in society:
“The systems of oppression have made black people terrified of their own selves is one of the saddest statements in the film. It is true, it is devastating, and it is the biggest weapon that racism has had – is to turn people against themselves to make people believe that they don’t have value. This is one of the things we have to do as image-makers, storytellers, activists, and forward thinking people is to reverse that narrative, and it’s not only done through films – it is done through the ways that we treat each other.”
The documentary includes graphic footage of lethal interactions between police and African American men like Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, and Philando Castile, and she made sure the families gave permission.
“The families that allowed us to show the footage I am forever indebted to because I think that the sequence is powerful. It really connects the dots between a harmless clause in the 13th amendment, and not only the 2.5 million people behind bars, but the general myth of criminalization. The idea that black men, black woman, people of color in general on site are guilty of something. That sequence goes a long way to telling the story we wanted to tell here.”
DuVernay is also in the midst of directing "A Wrinkle In Time" for Disney. She will be the first black female director to work on a film with a budget of $100 million dollars. What it means to break that glass ceiling in Hollywood:
“That’s the burden of being a woman filmmaker – of being a person of color filmmaker; you are carrying the hopes and dreams of so many people with you. Because the industry would see any kind of failure as a failure for people who had nothing to do with the film… With that said I am very good at compartmentalizing. I have put that aside in a box at the back of the room in my head where that deserves to be… It’s a ridiculous notion that Hollywood has perpetuated and will perpetuate.
Click the audio above to hear the entire interview with Ava DuVernay, including a story of her earliest experiences with the police as a girl growing up in Compton.
The too-short career of installation artist and farmboy Jason Rhoades
"Jason Rhoades. Installations, 1994-2006" is at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel in the downtown LA Arts District through May 21, 2017.
The exhibition is conceived to share and celebrate his unwavering vision of the world as an infinite, corpulent, and lustful universe of expressive opportunity. Assertively pushing against the safety of cultural conventions, Rhoades broke accepted rules of public nicety and expanded the frontiers of artistic opportunity through unbridled, brazenly ‘Maximalist’ works. In short, Rhoades brought the impolite and culturally unspeakable to the center of the conversation. -- Hauser Wirth & Schimmel
I asked Iwan Wirth, of the hybrid LA art gallery/museum if Jason Rhoades (1965-2006) did such sprawling installations because he grew up on a farm near Sacramento. No, he said, it's just that the studios in LA, his adopted city, were always bigger than those in other cities where artists typically live and work.
But you still get a sense, at the 6-installation retrospective of the late artist's work -- which takes up 28,000 square feet -- of being in a big pole barn on a farm, where everything that makes up a life is kept ... and all the things you find there give clues to the owner's interior life. So, bongs, a stuffed snake riding an electric train, an entire room laid out like an Ikea showroom, a mosque-like space overhung with neon that spells out nicknames for the vulva, orange extension cords, restaurant shelving.
It's political, it's personal, it's challenging, and it's immersive. And besides, what other art space has live chickens?
Mat Gleason, of Coagula Curatorial and a frequent Off-Ramp guest, goes the other way on Rhoades in his review for The Huffington Post, in a piece headlined "Is Installation Art the Whitest Privilege?"
But what was good for 1994-2006, the years covered in this survey, may not be good for 2017. Of the six major installations that comprise the show, three feature conglomerations of neon signage spelling out slang terms for women’s genitalia. Little is more ubiquitous to American white male artists born in a certain era than narcissistic relativism, that sentiment that the freedom to do whatever one wants should carry no moral responsibility, allow for any confrontations nor engender any consequences.
Decide for yourself by going to HWS and checking back with us in the comments section. And use the handy audio player above to hear me sample the installations, Paul Schimmel explain Rhoades the artist, Iwan Wirth explain Rhoades the person, and Off-Ramp's Marc Haefele give us Pro-Tips on going to Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. And check out our Facebook page for a few videos of the installations.
Off-Ramp Recommends treating your sweet tooth
Large scale conventions aren’t just for comic book aficionados… this one is for all you who recently finished your last piece of Valentine’s Day chocolate, but are still feeling a sweet tooth.
Cookie Con & Sweet Show returns to Los Angeles this weekend. This is the largest baking and pastry expo on the West Coast. Whether you love to eat or bake, you will be able to enjoy samples from over 275 different shops and brands. And celebrity pastry chef Duff Goldman will treat fans who attend on Saturday to cake that will be featured on an upcoming episode of “Cake Masters.”
Sweet bites for everyone: traditional, sweet, savory, salty, and – of course, because this is L.A. plenty of vegan and gluten-free treats too.
This is the perfect place to sharpen your baking skills with workshops on traditional baking, paleo baking, cake decorating, and cookie decorating. Make sure to come with an empty tummy, so you can leave in need of some serious belly rubs.
This convention will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center on February 18 & 19. Tickets for the convention start at $25. Visit the website for more information.
Drink at home at a new Hollywood bar, Girl at the White Horse
The space that once housed the famed LA dive bar The White Horse Inn is about to have its homey debut-- literally. The new bar inhabiting the space is reminiscent of a 1950's living room, urging customers to get close and connect in the space's many nooks and crannies. So, how tough is it to capture the essence of a Cold War-era platonic American home? New owner Reza Fahim has built, destroyed, and rebuilt the interior space four times delaying the grand opening from December to the new date February 27th, 2017.
Reza dreamt up the concept for "Girl at the White Horse" when he realized his friends were staying in, more than going out. He says drinking at home is so enticing because of its ease. "What we wanted to do was make it as simplified as possible," says Reza, "You can call your spirit and we’ll probably have one mixer with it. Almost the way you’d come home from work and just pour something."
Girl at the White Horse is Reza's second Los Angeles bar. His first space, Tenants of the Trees in Silverlake, took on a life of its own as a nightclub destination as more figures from young Hollywood began to frequent the establishment. It has also been the locus of a date rape drugging controversy. Reza is hoping for a departure at the new bar, "I thought to myself, 'Is this a place where people are going to intimately connect or is it just a space where they are going to walk in, have a drink, and interact in a crowd?'"
The White Horse had a long history of being a community staple in the Hollywood and Western neighborhood. Reza bought the space from the bar's owner Victoria, who'd owned/tended bar/acted as a mom for regulars for nearly 30 years. He says:
She was sort of a den mother. You know, every night she’d give away free hot dogs and free popcorn. Part of something that I really wanted to reflect here was to show people how deeply close this space is to me and I wanted to sort of carry that tradition.
The bar was also a stopping point for LA musicians. Reza says, "Billy Idol-- it was one of the first places he performed on the Eastside when it was called the Black Horse."*
His love of parties and nightlife has historical roots. Fahim's father was the social secretary to the last Shah of Iran. From a young age Reza remembers running around extravagant parties and meeting international figures:
We lived quite an extravagant life when we were in Iran... And now today when I think about what I do, it’s sort of carrying his torch... I don’t want to give it the same weight and gravitas that my dad had...My dad was lucky enough to host diplomats to the likes of Kissenger and when Ted Kennedy came to Iran my dad put together that dinner party.
*We could not independently verify this claim.
REVIEW: LA Opera's 'Abduction from the Seraglio' more fun than it needs to be
Marc Haefele, who edited Philip K. Dick, was the dean of the LA City Hall reporters, and covers culture for Off-Ramp. This time with a capital C, when he reviews Mozart's "Abduction from the Seraglio," performed by the LA Opera.
At the end, you felt good, satisfied, whole. The train had pulled into Paris’ Gare del Este and the tricolor-waving chorus was reprising Mozart’s resplendent mock-Ottoman first-act production number, “Hail Pasha Selim.” Mozart’s own idealized 18th Century humanism had prevailed: the captives were set free, the four young lovers, portrayed by incredibly talented young singers, reunited. The Islamic potentate, so recently their captor, turned out to be one peach of a guy.
The audience for LA Opera’s “Abduction from the Seraglio’’ had been treated to a perfect, yet not-overly-familiar, necklace of Mozart arias and ensembles, each of them of the highest-quality music ever written.
It was a great night for our local opera company. And yet…
But first, let’s credit the good.
“Abduction” is one of Mozart’s least pretentious operatic works. In its time, its spoken dialogue made it the precise equivalent of a Broadway musical. But it's dauntingly difficult to perform. The cast, chorus and orchestra rose to the occasion and beyond.
Massively challenging arias come along, one after the other. Sometimes in pairs; Konstanze, sung by soprano Sally Matthews in her LA Opera debut, gets the challenging “Welcher Wechsel” almost back to back with “Martern Aller Arten,” one of the hair-raisingest and ruggedest arias in the entire repertory. I could not believe how well Matthews negotiated it, and with what wrenching sincerity and feeling she sang her vow that she would gladly prefer to die under torture than endure the embrace of a man she did not love. It’s a serious peak in a more or less lighthearted opera. But the astounding aria, with its beautifully involved concerto-grosso-style orchestral accompaniment, underlines Konstanze’s grim choice that is the heart of the story: agonized death or a life of sexual servitude.
The problem, of course, is the harsh dissonance of the staging conceit of this particular production: instead of being set in the usual 16th Century Turkish palace, the producers put it on the Orient Express in the 1920s. So instead of occurring in the potentate’ s stronghold in a hostile land, Selim’s threats are made on a public conveyance that Konstanze is free to hop off at the next stop. Thus the threats ring absurd, and so does the scene: instead of waving hot tongs, Selim is reduced to showering the heroine with expensive presents, and the most central and wonderful music in the entire opera feels like it’s snuck in from some other show. This happens elsewhere, when the actions and locations in the singing and dialogue simply don’t match the staging.
And the narrative ... runs off the rails.
But back to the good stuff.
As in many Mozart operas, there are two couples in “Abduction,’’ respectively high and low class. Joe Prieto, a stylish tenor with a rich, full voice and a stage presence unmitigated even by his geeky brown windowpane-check suit, is superb as the errant Spanish aristocrat Belmonte, Konstanza’s lost love. Brenton Ryan was an agile and physical Pedrillo, whose servant character is foil to the rather dreamy Belmonte. Soprano So Young Park was an astonishing Blondchen, Konstanza’s maid, who has most of the smarts in the story. Although partnered with Pedrillo, she struck true sparks off her antagonist, the horny Haremmeister Osman, sung by imposing basso Morris Robinson, a very large man with the grace of a gymnast and an agile, wide-ranging voice (give or take a couple of low “D”s).
A good time was had by everyone, even when that was not the point. The music shines over all.