A new panel series highlights Black and Japanese American history in East Hollywood, historic policies against home and property ownership for non-white communities in the area, and their relation to current policies impacting Black and immigrant communities in the neighborhood.
The series, which brings together life-long elders of East Hollywood with local journalists, concludes by highlighting current efforts against evictions in East Hollywood, growing homelessness in the area, and city planning with increased community participation.
Leading up to the panel series, a coalition of groups collaborating with Jimbo Timesand “This Side of Hoover” will launch an arts and education campaign for the event, inviting residents and small business owners in East Hollywood — including Filipinx, Armenian, Latinx and Thai businesses — to engage with the series’ topics and RSVP for each panel event.
The coalition’s art and education campaign will also focus attention on the previously “redlined” areas in both the Silver Lake and East Hollywood neighborhoods. The coalition is currently fundraising online to support this portion of the project.
The panel series, scheduled to take place from March 4 through 18, will feature a range of different community members, from former and long-time multiethnic neighbors to current residents, community groups, and local leaders for immigrants’ rights, including Chanchanit (Chancee) Martorell of the Thai Community Development Center.
The first panel, scheduled for March 4, will focus on the historic redlining policies by the federal and municipal governments that affected areas like East Hollywood, the internment of Japanese Americans, and the solidarity between Black and Japanese Americans in the area formerly called “J Flats.”
Panelists:
? Jimmy Recinos: Representing Jimbo Times: The L.A. Storyteller, which has published critical essays, short stories, poetry, and more for L.A. since 2014.
? Karen Burch: A former resident of East Hollywood whose family settled in the area in 1892 and became close friends with their Japanese American neighbors.
? Takashi Hoshizaki: A resident of East Hollywood since the 1930s whose family was helped by Burch’s maternal grandparents, the Marshalls, during the Japanese American incarceration in WWII.
? Samanta Helou Hernandez (moderator): A multimedia journalist and photographer covering culture, identity, and social issues. Her visual archive “This Side of Hoover” documents gentrification and resilience along the East Hollywood/Silverlake border.
The second panel, scheduled for March 11, will highlight gentrification of the Virgil Village area, and will focus on the importance of documentation as a tool for preserving the community’s history.
The third and final panel, scheduled for March 18, will center on the future of housing and planning in East Hollywood, particularly as it relates to the L.A. City Planning Commission’s recently proposed updates for the Hollywood Community Plan.
Panels will take place on March 4, 11, and 18 at 6 p.m. and will be available in both English and Spanish. Participants are invited to ask questions, find resources, and learn more about the past, present, and future of the community to gain a deeper understanding of the place they call home and to connect further with their neighborhood.
Event registration can be found at: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/east-hollywood-past-present-future-panel-series-32364588277. Visit https://fundly.com/redlining-gentrification-and-housing-in-east-hollywood to support fundraising efforts for this series’ outreach materials, designed to ensure language accessibility for Thai, Latinx, Armenian, and Filipinx community members in East Hollywood.