A walk through artificial light

 C.2012

If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. 

 Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.  

~Raymond Inmon

Now, where was I...

I'd be lying if I said I haven't realized I strayed away from my favorite things. Things like walking for pleasure, taking pictures, and visting the occasional gallery for inspiration. Sure, I can blame a million things why I let the lapse happen. But at this point I'd rather be proactive and simply pick up where I left off.  

Over the weekend I decided to take a walk over to Samy's camera on Fairfax and drool over equipment that I will own one day...then I walked to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)...then to The Grove... then back to LACMA. A consecutive zigzag but it felt great, mentally and physically. I suppose you can say I greased up the wheels. It was exciting to play around with a new camera after what seemed like an eternal wait. I also couldn't help but smile at all of the different people during their various photography sessions at the famous lightposts outside of the museum. I definitely plan on returning there in the very near future.

I've missed it all dearly and I look forward to capturing more this year. I think it'll be a good year. I'll make sure of it.

Tracing grandma's footsteps #2

Address: 3305 Pasadena Ave Los Angeles (Lincoln Heights)

Year: 1976

Former Name: Leval of California, Inc

Current Name: Leval

This past Saturday, I woke up early in order to get a head start on the long weekend and quickly get some errands out of the way. I drove down to the huge Goodwill donation center on San Fernando rd. to drop off an entire car load of junk clothes and other things. The center is near my old old neighborhood in Lincoln Heights, which is why I'm somewhat familiar with it. Anyhow, as I drove down Pasadena Ave, I realized one of my grandma's workplaces from the '76 stack was located close by.

After I unloaded the car and collected my receipt, I drove back on Pasadena Ave looking for this place. Unlike Downtown L.A., I wasn't too familiar with the area since my family moved away when I was 5 years old. I had no idea what type of building I was looking for. It was a bit strange to drive past the old church where my teenaged parents met. It was even stranger to discover my grandma worked just one block down from that church. I parked and walked up to the one story building where I heard the buzz of sewing machines hard at work. But that wasn't 3305. I walked over about half a block and I was very surprised to see the name on the 1976 document still matched name on the door. The door was closed so it may also have been shut down fairly recently.

According to the document, my grandma's time there was very short. Although, it doesn't matter to me whether she was at a specific place for a few weeks or a few years. It's still a part of her past and a part of the trail that I'm trying to piece together and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what's next.

Tracing grandma's footsteps: #1

Grandma's Footsteps c.2011

Address : 808 S. Broadway Downtown Los Angeles

Year: 1976

Former Name : Ideal Fashions

Current Name: Anjac Fashion 

I was very excited to visit the first location of my grandma's former workplaces. To be honest, I was thinking about how to approach this project throughout the day. Instead of walking to all of the locations in one go, I decided to visit one location in a given day and in chronological order.

I should mention my grandma was a seamstress her entire life, which will give everyone a better idea of the type of buildings she was at. She loved to sew outside of work too. She'd make some clothes for me when she had the extra time and resources. My favorite handmade item was a purple dress she made especially for my 2nd grade picture day. But I digress...

After I got out of work and ate a quick dinner out, I looked at the stapled 1976 W2 forms and selected one address. With a full stomach and renewed energy, I walked from Flower down to Broadway along 7th street. As I was looking for the street numbers, I noticed I wasn't too far from the location. I was at 710 and needed to find 808. The majority of the street numbers on that side of Broadway are hard to find. Most are missing or just hand painted. It was a different feeling to walk while looking up for the numbers. The shops and stands along Broadway are so overwhelmingly "in your face" that it's easy to miss some of the architectural designs that are directly above everyone's heads over second floor.

 Grandma's Footsteps c.2011

As I approached 806, I saw two unnumbered spaces then 810. I asked a vendor next door which one was 808, and she pointed at the chained gate. She went on to tell me it's out of business and completely empty. I was surprised since it didn't look abandoned. There was a security camera and the decals on the doors were completely in tact, so it looked like it was just closed for the day. I asked the vendor how long had it been closed and she said it's been about 6 months.

Grandma's Footsteps c.2011

Based on the tax form, my grandma wasn't there for too long. She never went into detail about why she  left her jobs. All I know is that she simply moved onto the next place. It was the only way she knew how to survive. She had to, for herself and for her two daughters. I'll always be thankful for that and I'll continue to thank her by retracing these steps.

The Purple Dress

f*ck yeah side ponytail!

A walk through my grandmother's past

Pursuing the American dream

I love my family (God rest their souls) but I grew up with a couple of hoarders. I've always known that to some extent but now that I'm in charge of deciding what to toss and what is worth keeping, it has really hit me. I'll never fully understand why they kept so much, although I can try understand the possibility of the stuff simply sneaking up on them over the years.

I'm having a good time finding some interesting items and I've come up with a new idea for a photo series. It came to me while I was purging my grandmother's W2 forms from the 1970s (yes, you read that correctly). I noticed she had several jobs in Downtown L.A. between 1976-81.  I wrote down a few addresses and I plan to visit each building over the next few days and take a snapshot. I'm sure I've walked past these specific places a million times before, completely unaware of the personal link. I can't wait to see what these specific addresses look like and I can't wait to share the images.

A walk through the park

Otherside of the tracks c.2009

“Always remember to slow down in life; live, breathe, and learn; take a look around you whenever you have time and never forget everything and every person that has the least place within your heart.”

Blink

Civic Center c.2011

"A hundredth of a second here, a hundredth of a second there - even if you put them end to end, they still only add up to one, two, perhaps three seconds, snatched from eternity.”~ Robert Doisneau

Walking with baskets & carts

Mobile pic 2011

I stayed home from work recently. It isn’t often that I take full advantage of a sick day because 9 times out of 10, I’m actually sick. But I needed to clear my head, badly. In an effort to be practical before embarking on my own version of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, I decided to go to the laundry mat.

Doing laundry probably isn’t the most therapeutic activity for most. Actually, I think most people hate it. I remember somewhat hating it as a kid too. My mom would often let the laundry pile up until we were forced to make these trips to the laundry mat an all day event. She’d rarely give me quarters for video games, which didn’t make it any more fun for me. But I also remember the good things that came along with those trips. It was one of the few times we’d eat donuts from the Chinese food/Donut shop next door, tacos from the taco truck on Hicks Ave, or a ¼ lb burger with the fat fries from Jim’s burgers a block away on Rowan Ave. I’d be in charge of a few loads while she managed another set of loads. I'd be the lookout person for an empty machine, folding table or basket. Although she was slightly (very) obsessive over the way our laundry was separated and washed, she didn’t make me hate it. If anything, I couldn’t wait to do laundry MY way one day.

So I started my day off by going to the laundry mat. I rarely see this place completely empty since I usually go on weekends. I have to say it was nice. Just me, my thoughts, and scattered memories.