Los Angeles was at one time home to the largest population of Japanese outside of Japan and the contributions of Japanese-Angelenos to history and culture are many. It was in Los Angeles that Hollywood created the first Asian-American film star. It was also in Los Angeles that a legal challenge in the Supreme Court re-shaped … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Japanese Los Angeles
INTRODUCTION On 1 June of last year, I visited Japan. Despite my sister having lived off and on (currently on) in Japan for many years, it was my first visit to the country. I’m always excited to travel to any new country, but with Japan, my impending trip seemed to produce a great deal of … Continue reading Where Fools Fear to Tread — A Snapshot of Japan
The Japan Film Festival Los Angeles gets underway today with screenings in Hollywood, Irvine and Little Tokyo and goes until April 17th. Directors Kinshiro Ogino, Katsuhito Kobayashi, Kenji Kobayashi, Lisa Takeba, Hidetaka Inazuka and producer Shoichi Kawahara are scheduled to appear at various events. Click here to check out the website for scheduling, tickets … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Japan Film Festival Los Angeles
Los Angeles and Southern California‘s mountains have been in the spotlight as of late. The mountains are always there, of course, but a seemingly endless barrage of drizzle, rain, freezing rain, hail, graupel, sleet, and snow have painted our semi-arid landscape with brilliant strokes of green and swathes of blinding white. The unexpected precipitation has … Continue reading Mist & Iron — The Mountains and Hills of Metro Los Angeles
Happy Twin Peaks Day! It was on this date, 24 February, back in 1989 that FBI Agent Dale Cooper first rolled into Twin Peaks, a fictional Washington town located “”five miles south of the Canadian border, and twelve miles west of the [Idaho] state line.” The time was 11:30 am. Twin Peaks, of course, is … Continue reading Happy Twin Peaks Day
INTRODUCTION The other day, I thought it might be nice to submit a story for the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council newsletter for Black History Month. I figured I’d flesh it out and publish it here — a story about three culturally and historically significant black residents of the neighborhood. Silver Lake, in its early years, … Continue reading Black Pioneers of Silver Lake
In early January, Una and I headed north over to San Francisco to visit my sister, who was in town for a conference. I figured it might be a nice opportunity to share some thoughts about “the City.” Since first visiting in 1998, I’ve been to San Francisco many times — and yet, for some … Continue reading Where Fools Fear To Tread — A Snapshot of San Francisco
INTRODUCTION Today, on 13 December (St. Lucy’s Day), Argentina and Croatia will face off in the World Cup semi-finals. It’s safe to say, most Angelenos who care at all about association football (aka “soccer”) will be rooting for Argentina. Los Angeles is also home to the nation’s second-largest Argentine community — although it is smaller … Continue reading No Enclave — Croatian Los Angeles
I was recently contacted by Dave Stoelk from Spectrum News. He originally wanted to do a segment on the Silver Lake Croquet League for his segment, “That’s So L.A.” After talking for a few minutes, though, he thought it might be fun to instead do a segment about my maps that I make, as Pendersleigh … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Dayton Heights
INTRODUCTION There are no reliable figures of how many Oaxacans live in Los Angeles but, suffice to say, it is almost certainly a larger community than in any other US city and one of, and perhaps the, largest outside of Mexico. There have been efforts for at least ten years to get the city to … Continue reading No Enclave — Oaxacan Los Angeles
Eric Brightwell 