THE BOYLE HEIGHTS PROJECT EXPLORES THE RICH CULTURAL HISTORY OF THIS SIGNIFICANT LOS ANGELES NEIGHBORHOOD THROUGH EXHIBITIONS, MUSIC AND PUBLIC PROGRAMMING

LOS ANGELES, CA—A major project exploring issues of multiculturalism and community building, in one of the most significant neighborhoods in the history of Los Angeles, culminates with the opening of a major new exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum on September 8, 2002. The Boyle Heights Project is a multi-year collaboration that has researched and documented the diverse histories and experiences of a community that has been described as the Ellis Island of the West Coast. The project is spearheaded by the Japanese American National Museum and includes the International Institute of Los Angeles (IILA), the Jewish Historical Society of Southern California, Self-Help Graphics & Art, Inc., and Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The Boyle Heights Project features two exhibitions—including Boyle Heights: The Power of Place on view at the Japanese American National Museum—a major free outdoor concert, and a broad array of public programming that will examine the changing social landscape of this dynamic Los Angeles neighborhood.

"Today, when social commentators point out the new racial configuration of many of our urban and suburban areas, I am reminded of places like Boyle Heights which speak to the longstanding presence of these types of communities all over the United States,” says George Sanchez, Ph.D., Director of the Program of American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. “Rather than simply being 'communities in transition,' neighborhoods like Boyle Heights have always represented the norm of American urban life, streets full of vibrancy and diversity in which individuals learn to 'be American' from others often as new to their surroundings as oneself. The Boyle Heights Project is an important public presentation of this multi-ethnic history, which allows us the opportunity to learn about how those in our past cooperated and were in conflict with each other—lessons that will serve us well into the next century."

Los Angeles is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world and Boyle Heights—as a microcosm of Jewish, Japanese, Mexican, Italian and African American families—has been an instrumental community in establishing the City’s cultural and religious identities and shaping its cultural landscape.

The Boyle Heights Project represents a new multidisciplinary approach to exploring the American multicultural experience. A manifestation of a collaborative process of research and documentation of community histories and experiences, the project was collaborative and engaged organizational partners and the community itself in an integral role in the project’s development and creation, and has provided a foundation for future community engagement and partnerships.

“The community of Boyle Heights holds a unique place in the history of Los Angeles and is integral to the story of many Japanese Americans in our community,” says Irene Hirano, Executive Director of the Japanese American National Museum. “The Museum is committed to engaging with the rich cultural communities of Los Angeles and The Boyle Heights Project has been a perfect embodiment of our mission. The project can serve as an example of how organizations and individuals can work together to create opportunities and develop projects that benefit the entire community. We look forward to sharing the results of these collaborative efforts and sharing stories from Boyle Heights in the National Museum’s exhibition, Boyle Heights: The Power of Place.”

EXHIBITIONS

Boyle Heights: The Power of Place
At the Japanese American National Museum
September 8, 2002 – February 23, 2003

Boyle Heights: The Power of Place is an exhibition of photographs, artifacts, artwork, moving images and oral histories collected over the past two years in community forums, collection days, and through oral history interviews. Boyle Heights is, and continues to be, home to people from many different cultures, cities, states and countries—people of different beliefs, traditions and languages. The exhibition highlights events, themes and places that demonstrate how these people's lives intersect in Boyle Heights—itself a Los Angeles intersection and a place of infinite possibilities. Through the stories of past and present neighborhood residents, Boyle Heights: The Power of Place explores how the experiences and memories of many generations of Angelenos intersect in this powerful place.

Avenida Cesar E. Chavez, formerly Brooklyn Avenue, is the conceptual backbone of the exhibition, connecting different stories about the neighborhood's history and community life. The street is a local landmark and a vital artery connecting Boyle Heights to its past and to the greater region. Stretching two miles through the neighborhood, Avenida Chavez links Boyle Heights to the site of Los Angeles' original pueblo and to the greater East L.A. area.

A survey of photographs showing the entire length of this street winds its way through the exhibition gallery connecting key junctions and their stories, highlighting significant themes, events and neighborhood sites. Throughout the entire exhibition, past and present stories, images, and artifacts are juxtaposed to demonstrate how the lives of many different people have directly and indirectly intersected in the neighborhood.

The exhibition includes items such as a collection of letters written by the teen-aged Nisei girlfriends of African American Boyle Heights resident Mollie Wilson. The letters were written while Ms. Wilson’s friends were being incarcerated during World War II. One letter from the collection is from Ms. Wilson’s friend, Sandie Saito, who describes the living conditions at the Santa Anita Assembly Center where her family was being detained. In the letter, Ms. Saito describes the sporadic schedule of classes and laments over the possibility of being unable to attend college. She describes the daily life at the center and concludes the letter by sketching a diagram of the prison-like conditions.

Other items in the exhibition include a scrapbook of newspaper clippings from June 1943 about the “Zoot Suit Riots” collected by 14-year-old Ralph Heraldez; a series of school photographs throughout the decades, starting with the 1900s, show the diversity of the community over time; a shoe-shine box used at Soto and First streets that was purchased by Alvaro Rodriguez from an Italian-American friend; photographs by Diane Gamboa from the 1970s and 80s of the thriving eastside punk scene; and a collection of guitars from the Candelas Store, which is now run by the third generation of the Delgado family.

As part of the exhibition, a rotating installation entitled A Place Called Home will be dedicated to highlighting different traditions celebrated in the Boyle Heights neighborhood including Sukkot, the Jewish Harvest Festival (September), Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead (November), Mexican American Naciemento or Nativity displays (December), and Oshogatsu, the Japanese New Year (January).

The title of the exhibition is inspired by the work of architect and professor, Dolores Hayden (Yale University) whose important book, The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History, explores new perspectives on gender, race and ethnicity to broaden the practice of public history and public art. Her work provides dozens of models for creative urban history projects in cities and towns across the country.

“Boyle Heights: The Power of Place teaches us about an important time in our city’s history,” says California Congressman Henry A. Waxman. “Residents of Boyle Heights learned the value of living in an ethnically diverse community where people of many cultures shared a common experience. This sense of community was best illustrated during WWII, when Jewish Americans and Japanese Americans in the neighborhood developed a genuine kinship in the face of discrimination. I am particularly proud that my uncle Al Waxman was one of a few—if not the only—newspaper editor who publicly objected to relocating Japanese Americans during the war. I am pleased that the Japanese American National Museum is highlighting the diversity and strong sense of community that was Boyle Heights.”

About, By, From: Boyle Heights
Expressions, Impressions and Memories of a historic neighborhood in East Los Angeles
At Self-Help Graphics
September 8 – October 13, 2002

From September 8 through October 13, 2002, Self-Help Graphics & Art, Inc. will present an exhibition of art and photography about, by and from Boyle Heights that explores the diversity and rich cultural history of this Los Angeles neighborhood. The exhibition is free. For more information, call 323.881.6444.

MUSIC

The Eastside Revue: 1932-2002
A Musical Homage to Boyle Heights
On the Japanese American National Museum Plaza
October 12, 2002

A free outdoor concert entitled The Eastside Revue will celebrate over half a century of musical history with legendary artists of the past and present that have placed their community and their music onto the world’s musical map. The rich and glorious tradition of Boyle Heights’ music is a metaphor and microcosm of the elusive American dream for an autonomous and harmonious multicultural society. Mexican, African, Asian, Jewish, Anglo, and Cuban American music organically took root and meshed in the fertile multiethnic community creating a rich musical and cultural legacy that continues to inspire and flourish.

The Eastside Revue will feature internationally acclaimed artists such as the Godfather of Chicano music, Lalo Guerrero, 60’s icons Cannibal & The Headhunters, and premiere Latin R&B pioneers, Tierra. The Eastside Revue will also include performances by Los Illegals, Las Tres with Marisela Norte, East L.A. Taiko with George Yoshida, Skip Heller Ensemble, Gus Avina, Rodarte Brothers, East L.A. Revue All-Stars and Cuauhtémoc Danza Azteca.

The concert will take place from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 12 in the plaza outside the Japanese American National Museum. The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Museum at 213-625-0414.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

A variety of public programs will be offered at the Japanese American National Museum, as well as at partner sites in Boyle Heights. Programs will range from arts performances and discussions to multiethnic walking tours led by the Jewish Historical Society and the Latino Urban Forum. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about, see and experience a part of the community’s history that is no longer visible or accessible in the contemporary neighborhood landscape.

PROJECT WEBSITE

A website centralizing information about The Boyle Heights Project will launch on September 5, 2002. The website will amplify the community partnership process by providing information about the neighborhood, its resources, and the project process. It will also offer supplemental resources that enhance the understanding of the Boyle Heights historical community through documents, images, and direct interactive links, including information on community documentation, oral history collection, and outreach and community forums. The website will serve as a flagship site for models and methods applicable for other U.S. cultural and community institutions looking to document and celebrate their communities.

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

An extensive teacher activity guide for instructors in grades four through twelve has been developed to provide resources, information, and suggested activities to help integrate the exploration of local and community history into the classroom. The guide features sample pre- and post-visit activities designed to enhance a visit to the Japanese American National Museum, as well as to help students make connections between the exhibition and their own neighborhoods. The Boyle Heights teacher activity guide was developed in consultation with Shari Davis of Creative Ways and produced in partnership with the Boyle Heights Community Advisory Group, which includes educators, librarians, community activists, and local historians who are both past and present residents of Boyle Heights.

BOYLE HEIGHTS HISTORY

Located just east of downtown between the Los Angeles River and the city boundary is Boyle Heights, a distinct Los Angeles neighborhood. Developed as an affluent suburb in the late 1800s, it was one of the first residential areas outside of the old pueblo. By the 1930s, Boyle Heights had become a working-class neighborhood whose population included Jewish, Japanese, Mexican, Italian, Russian, Armenian and African American families.

Boyle Heights has been recognized for many years by journalists and scholars. It has been described as “one of the city’s first truly multi-ethnic areas….” and “a gateway for newcomers to America for almost one hundred years.” In a 1955 article in the publication Frontier, the writer portrays the neighborhood:

“Two miles east of City Hall, across the river, lies Boyle Heights. Los Angeles’ most colorful neighborhood and a vivid slice of America. In this multi-ethnic area, amazing progress in human relations has been made. Working against great obstacles, the rank-and-file leadership has led a successful long-range battle for ethnic harmony which as impressed reformers grown cynical by endless defeats.”

Japanese Americans have a unique and rich tie to the Boyle Heights of the period 1930-1960. WWII marked a dramatic change for the cultural landscape of Boyle Heights and Los Angeles as a majority of Japanese American residents from Boyle Heights were removed from their homes and taken to domestic concentration camps. Stories about the relationships among Japanese American and their Latino, Black and Jewish neighbors illustrate the devastating nature of the incarceration, while also celebrating the human bonds among various cultures within the community.

Today Boyle Heights is still a focal point for immigrant communities and home to many major figures in the history of Los Angeles. People such as Edward Royal, Fred Okrand, Harold Williams, Antonio Villaraigosa, Bruce Kaji and Zev Yaroslavsky have stories to tell about how their experiences in the community impacted their lives and careers.

The Boyle Heights Project is funded in part by members and supporters of the Japanese American National Museum; the California Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, in partnership with the James Irvine Foundation; University of Southern California SC/W Exposition; The John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation; the Institute for Museum and Library Services; the National Endowment for the Humanities; The Nathan Cummings Foundation; Nissan Foundation and the Bank of America Foundation.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Japanese American National Museum is located at 369 East First Street in the historic Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles. For more information, call (213) 625-0414.

Self-Help Graphics & Art, Inc. is located in the heart of East Los Angeles at 3802 Cesar Chavez Avenue, at the corner of Gage and Cesar Chavez. For more information, call (323) 881-6444. Gallery and studio hours are Tuesday through Saturday: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. There is no charge for admission and free parking is available in an adjacent lot.