Los Angeles Downtown News 06.13.22

June 13, 2022 I VOL. 51 I #24

Kid Moxie shines on fifth studio album

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New farmers market

Women in Business Issue

June 20, 2022

July 12, 2021 I VOL. 50 I #28

Girl & the Goat

Restaurant offers Windy City whimsy

Class of 2021-22

13 community leaders awarded sabbaticals

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Huntington’s Disease Society’s LA Virtual Team Hope Walk

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Today’s news is tomorrow’s history

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By Ellen Snortland LA Downtown News Columnist oday’s news is tomorrow’s history. Duh, right?

But whose history is it? I’m proud that I’ve been writing columns for 30 years; I provide a unique voice and point of view. When considering where you get your news, ask yourself, “What’s missing?” Are women represented? Whose points of view are missing? Check out the U.K. Guardian or Al Jazeera for a different take on current events.

The organization Fairness and Accurac y in Reporting (FAIR) used to publish statistics about female pundits. They no longer have current numbers, but women only comprised about 20% of all published opinion pieces in the recent past, equally split between conservative and progressive.

The bottom line is that female-identified folks are simply not covered in the media like male-identified (usually cis white) people.

That shocking stat results from the unconscious — and sometimes deliberate — belief by male editors that women are not newsworthy or even interesting.

Down the line, fewer women’s voices will be heard, which hinders the public from understanding — exemplified by opinion pieces like mine — that women are not a monolithic group. I know it’s shocking, but women are all different and, just like men, do not think alike. Our approaches to covering significant news events can also be different from men’s.

I have an example from my own journalistic life.

I was the only woman from Southern California covering the 1995 United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing. The coverage from major outlets was almost zilch, except for CNN’s Judy Woodruff and her excellent series on what happened there. I had to attend on my own dime, aided by a few small grants. Judy’s and my reports were utterly different from what little coverage there was from the male reporters.

I saw all-male camera crews prowling the fairgrounds where the conference was held, “looking” for news. Aha! One news crew found a demonstration. In no time, other crews would arrive to cover the event, as demonstrations make “good TV;” they often have action, loud noise, and conflict.

Peaceful negotiating, talking about solutions, and networking make “bad TV;” they usually have little or no action, soft talking, and conflict resolution.

Many news teams get their start by covering sports and wars, so-called “masculine” activities. Allmale news crews don’t know how to cover women’s activities: they often don’t know the issues, don’t know the questions, and don’t have the data.

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SMITH’S OPINION

Imagine if I were assigned to cover an American football game. I know nothing about football! But I want the job, so I’d rely on things I did know about. My football piece would have interviews with cheerleaders, other women who are clueless about football, the mothers, wives and sisters of football players, and perhaps a discussion about the design of the stadium.

I would do my best, but it would give short-shrift to football Ellen Snortland aficionados, who would feel frustrated or bored by my coverage.

If I had to cover the actual game with no preparation, I’d probably say something like, “They ran out onto the grass, circled up, grunted, yelled, and then lined up. One guy heaved the ball between his legs and another caught it, then threw it. Sometimes a guy kicked the ball, and they all ran like crazy, knocking each other over. And when it was over, everybody on one side cheered, while the others weren’t happy. Then they all went home.”

That is what it’s like to send people out to cover stories about women’s issues who couldn’t care less or know nothing about the topic. They don’t know the lingo, they don’t know what the “news” is, and they don’t know the connections with other issues. On an international level, some male crews are, by custom, not even allowed to speak to women. How could they possibly get an objective, informed story even if the desire to do so existed?

I was standing on a walkway in Beijing when a woman from Southeast Asia approached me.

“You are press?” she asked. “Yes, I am,” I replied.

She grabbed my hand and said, “Follow me, please.”

I asked her why. She said that her group was having a demonstration for the press. I asked her if her delegation had planned on demonstrating before they came to China.

“No,” she said, “We demonstrate because that’s what American journalists like.”

That is why the coverage of the U.N. Conference on Women was, and continues to be, either sophomoric or non-existent. Even years later, it’s an important event to have the world. The news that came in from the Beijing

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Participation is easy. Go to downtownnews.com, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the “Letter to the Editor” link. For guest opinion proposals, please email christina@timespublications.com.

conference was more or less about the weather, how some groups didn’t get along and who was demonstrating about what. “And when it was over, everybody on one side cheered, while the others weren’t happy. Then they all EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Christina Fuoco-Karasinski went home.”STAFF WRITERS: Andrew Checchia, Andres De Ocampo, Julia Shapero It takes media literacy to notice what’s missing.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Sara Edwards, Kamala Kirk If it’s missing, how can you ART DIRECTORS: Arman Olivares, Torres notice it? Once you become aware Stephanie of the paucity of intersectional voices, you Luis Chavez can’t unsee STAFF it. I’mPHOTOGRAPHER: so grateful my voice has been present as long as it has..

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Myriam Santos ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Catherine Holloway, Michael Lamb Snortland has writtenSue this column for decades and FOUNDER EMERITUS: Laris

Ellen also teaches creative writing. She can be reached at: ellen@beautybitesbeast.com. Her award-winning film “Beauty Bites Beast” is available for download or streaming at https://vimeo. com/ondemand/beautybitesbeast

EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Christina Fuoco-Karasinski DEPUTY EDITOR: Luke Netzley

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Since 2011, Karen Bass has served as the U.S. representative for California’s 37th congressional district.

Karen Bass/Submitted

Caruso, Bass headed for November runoff

By Sara Edwards LA Downtown News Contributing Writer emocratic nominees Rick Caruso and Rep. Karen Bass are headed for a runoff election for L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti’s spot this November, according to county results data. The two candidates addressed supporters the night the results were announced.

“Tonight, we’re seeing the voters make a clear choice,” Bass said in a speech during her victory party.

“They want leadership that is battle-tested, mission-driven and always fights for LA’s values. Tonight, the city will see that it’s hard to defeat a people power campaign.”

Bass represents the 37th Congressional District and was on President Joe Biden’s shortlist as a possible vice president. She has campaigned that she wants to focus on equatorial issues in the city.

Rick Caruso is a Republican-turned-Democrat billionaire businessman who made his fortune investing in high-end shopping centers and resorts. His campaign has focused especially on crime and homelessness, spending millions on TV and web ads.

“My fellow Angelenos, we can make this the city of our dreams,” he said in a written statement. “We can solve homelessness. We can curb crime. We can put city hall back in service of the people. Let’s do it together. We can make our dreams come true.”

Caruso brought in just over 133,000 votes, or 41%, of an early tally of mail-in ballots while Bass was right behind at almost 117,000 (38%), according to the data. Neither candidate earned 50% of the overall votes, which would have secured that candidate the winning spot; the two will face off at the runoff election on Nov. 8.

Kevin de Leon, the third-place candidate secured just over 7% of primary votes but has not announced which candidate he will endorse, if any.

“My entire career, I’ve been fighting for the working people of Los Angeles — protecting their right to be treated with dignity and respect. Our primary campaign was no different,” he said in a statement. “The results of this election are certainly not what we hoped, but I will continue fighting on the city council for the people who make this city go.”

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Max and Iggor Cavalera share passion for music

By Alex Gallagher LA Downtown News Contributing Writer lood and their last name are not the only ties that bind brothers Iggor and Max Cavalera.

Since they were kids, they have shared a love of music. That will be on display when the duo plays The Belasco on Saturday, June 18.

“It’s cool to tour with him because we do the things we used to do when we were young as adults, like go to record stores together, eat at restaurants and we share music and movies that we like with each other,” Max said. “The thing that keeps us together is the passion that we have for all things music.”

Music is a frequent topic of conversation between the two. However, an interesting area arises when they ponder what bodies of work to shred on tour.

The plan was to tour Sepultura’s 1989 record “Beneath the Remains” and the 1991 collection “Arise,” as they offer a similar sound.

“Iggor came up with the idea of making a hybrid of the two records together because these really are brother records,” said Max, who elders Iggor by 13 months. “They could have come out as a double LP since they have similar riffs

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and offer that death/thrash mix.”

They are also records that Iggor says he felt deserved a second round on stage.

“Those are two very important records and, of course, not everyone had a chance to see those tours when we originally had those albums out,” Iggor said.

“It’s a chance for new people to see it and for some people who also saw back in the days to revisit those gigs. So, I think it’s a good combination of both.”

To recapture the essence of the late ’80s and early ’90s metal scene, the Cavalera brothers recruited Possessed guitar strummer Daniel Gonzalez and Soulfly string slapper Mike Leon to stand at their sides as Max bellows his guttural vocals in unison with his heavy-handed riffs. Iggor will keep the tempo on drums.

“Were super proud of this, these two records, and we wanted to make sure that we do it with a proper team behind us,” Iggor said.

Even with familiar faces at their sides, the Cavaleras are excited to put their chemistry on display while on stage as they speed through iconic tracks like “Desperate Cry,” “Arise,” “Beneath The Remains” and “Inner Self.”

“Every time I hit the stage with my brother, it brings me back to those memo-

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The iconic Cavalera brothers will tour the US this summer to celebrate two classic Sepultura albums.

Submitted photo

ries of us starting up,” Iggor said. “Because we do have a very strong connection and very strong chemistry when we hit the stage it’s something that’s timeless.”

Although the hits are bound to energize the audience, Max is looking forward to unearthing deep cuts.

“I’m excited to play some of the hidden gems that we’ve never played before, like ‘Subtraction’ ‘Under Siege,’ ‘Lobotomy,’ and ‘Sarcastic Existence,’” Max said.

“If you’re a fan of metal, the cool thing about metal is that fans like the whole record. They’ll like songs off of side B of records that never got any videos and that’s what we’re playing so I think fans are going to like it.”

Max and Iggor will not be the only Cavaleras gracing the stage. Max’s son Igor, or Iggy as he is nicknamed, will open each show on vocals and guitar with his stoner-metal band Healing Magic.

Max and Iggor Cavalera WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday, June 18 WHERE: The Belasco, 1050 S. Hill Street, Los Angeles COST: Check website for pricing INFO: livenation.com

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All-blind cast takes on musical about creator of Braille

By Bridgette M. Redman LA Downtown News Contributing Writer heatre by the Blind, the nation’s only blind theater company, could not have been a more perfect fit for the French musical written by Sebastien Lancrenon and Jean-Baptiste Saudray.

It’s why the show’s producer contacted their artistic director, Greg Shane, and asked if he would produce a version with all-blind actors.

“The Braille Legacy” tells the story of Louis Braille, the inventor of the system now used internationally by blind people to read. It premiered at Charing Cross Theatre in London, but there were no blind actors in the cast — the characters of the blind children wore blindfolds. The show at ArtsUP! LA will be different, running Friday, June 24, and Saturday, June 25, at The Miracle Theatre.

First, everyone in the cast will be blind, even those who are playing sighted characters, something Shane said he does with all his shows.

“I always have blind actors play sighted characters,” Shane said. “I think it is important for them to memorize the stage, to move independently through space. I think the fact that they’re playing sighted characters allows for that.”

Even the musicians in the pit orchestra have diverse abilities from blindness to autism. Rex & Friends is led by keyboardist Rex Lewis-Clack, a blind musician who was born with brain damage. When he was 15, he played at then-Vice President Joe Biden’s inauguration and was featured in a “60 Minutes” segment.

“He can literally hear a song one time and play it perfectly,” Shane said.

It is this sort of commitment to include artists of all abilities that had Martine Melloul reach out to Shane.

“She asked me if I would take a look at directing a production using blind actors since this is a story of Louis Braille and it is a great fit,” Shane said. “I listened to the music one time and said absolutely, and the rest is history.”

A week after the show went into production, the pandemic hit, and it was put on hold. Fundraising was challenging and they were concerned about funding the show.

Eventually, a Kickstarter program, “Save the Braille Legacy,” raised the rest of the money needed.

Even then, the first scheduled production was again delayed because of the omicron variant of COVID-19 and rising case numbers.

Now, though, 14 actors and 10 musicians have gathered and are ready to stage the show.

“The story is Louis Braille and his invention and how it changed the world and the fight against the people who were trying to oppress the blind community,” Shane said. “What is so interesting about the musical is that it really gives an insight into the world through Louis’ eyes and it also gives insight into the history of what was happening at the time. It is an educational piece with a theatrical, dramatic element to it.”

Shane said many people are unaware of Louis Braille. He started when he was a preteen and had it mostly complete by the time he was 15.

“He was playing around with dice and noticed the indentations of the dice,” Shane said. “From feeling those dots, he created a numerical system of braille that has never changed since its creation.”

He hopes audiences understand the origin of Braille because of the effect on the blind community.

“I think understanding history and understanding other people is important,” Shane said. “I hope this show really raises awareness to the fact that when I sing, I see, to the idea that I see so much more than people think I can see. That is the message of the show.”

This is the first time the Theatre by the Blind has performed a show with this

T Actors rehearse “The Braille Legacy” before the onset of the pandemic.

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Keyboardist Rex Lewis-Clack, a musical savant, leads the cast of “The Braille Legacy” in a musical rehearsal.

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Blind actors learn to move with confidence across a stage during rehearsals for “The Braille Legacy.”

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The all-blind cast of “The Braille Legacy” includes adults and children.

Submitted photo

much choreography. Shane puts textured pads on the stage that allows the actors to feel with their feet and move gracefully on the stage.

Shane and a volunteer choreographer have ways to communicate with the actors what they need to do as they dance.

“I’m very proud of how they are learning the movements to get around the stage and find each other in different positions,” Shane said. “The choreography is complicated. It’s not simple stuff that we’re coming up with.”

The show begins with a partner dance, and the two performers were already dancers, so they picked things up quickly. Others, Shane said, have picked up quickly on directions.

“The actors have a good sense of space,” Shane said. “It is easy to communicate what needs to be done. It’s really about setting up the spatial elements. It is more about describing movement to the actors—put your hands in the air like reaching for the stars and then move your hands as if you are giving a big hug.”

Shane said he does a lot of work with tableaus and ensures his actors understand the imagery of the piece.

“I really believe that in a good performance you should be able to stop the performance at any moment and look on stage and it should look like a painting,” Shane said. “The play should be a moving painting. Imagery is really important, especially in this production.”

One of the two nights will offer audio description for blind audience members.

While the delays have been frustrating, Shane said he appreciates the actors’ commitment.

“It is pretty hard to stay committed that long and they have,” Shane said. “It shows the integrity and level of professionalism of everyone.”

As a director, the delays have given him a lot more time to digest the script and envision the show in more detail.

“I’m one of those directors who think in pictures, not words,” said Shane, who is also blind. “I play the movie out in my head of what the musical looks like.”

He also gathered a team to work on it from the volunteer choreographer to an assistant director.

While he praised his actors’ ability to move through the space, he said it is also important that audiences know they are watching people who are blind and appreciating what they can do and what might be challenging for them.

“I think it is important that they notice during a transition that it is harder to get off stage,” Shane said. “Seeing them in real time and sometimes struggle to find a door, that is an important element. It is just as important that they see that and then on the flip side, see how outstanding they are on stage and the way they do move.”

The Braille Legacy by the Theatre for the Blind WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday, June 24, and Saturday, June 25 WHERE: The Miracle Theater, 226 S. Market Street, Inglewood COST: Check website for pricing INFO: artsupla.org

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Kid Moxie ‘shines’ on her fifth studio album

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski LA Downtown News Executive Editor erforming under the moniker Kid Moxie, Elena Charbila loves ’80s music.

The Arts District resident’s fifth studio album, “Better Than Electric,” aptly showcases with a modern twist of synths and sensuality, she said.

“A friend of mine said something about the album that just hit it,” she said.

“He said it sounds like something from the ’80s, yet it alludes to another time — but nothing like it existed at the time. It pulls from the ’80s, but nothing that would have been written in the ’80s. I couldn’t have said it better. I call it ‘retro futuristic.’ It combines elements of the past and future.”

Her cinematic pop music creations flourish on the dark “Shine,” co-written and produced by electro artist Faderhead.

Most of the songs were written in her Downtown home during the pandem-

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Elena Charbila is a Greek-born musician whose work has been featured in numerous TV shows commercials and indie films.

George Tripodakis/Submitted

ic. The lead single, “Better Than Electric,” was inspired by Depeche Mode’s hit “Behind the Wheel.” It’s a collaboration with British producer MAPS. “It carries a weird mixture of warmth and cold,” she said.

“Synthesizers are manmade instruments. It’s not a naturally grounding instrument. I find it can have a warm impact. It carries a warm fuzzy feeling.

I gravitate toward synth wave music.

Kraftwerk, for me, for one, was a little too cold and a little too technical almost. Don’t get me wrong. I love the German music scene. It’s just a little too clinical, but I admired it.”

She was a “huge” fan of Vangelis, who performed the “Chariots of Fire” theme and who died recently.

“He’s one of my main influences, when it comes to synth music,” she said. “He was the master of creating warmth and emotion from synthesizers. I definitely aspire to doing that.”

Charbila doesn’t feel, however, like she’s filling a void.

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“I am filling my own void more than anything else,” she said.

“I don’t know what the market or the people need. I know what I need. If it happens to be what others gravitate toward, that’s great. I don’t go for trends.

“Big artists like Dua Lipa and the Weeknd have futuristic stuff in their music. We, as Europeans, have way more Euro trash and disco in our blood. I feel American culture has not been into synth wave until recently.”

Hailing from Athens, Greece, Charbila moved to Los Angeles more than 10 years ago. She moved to California to attend school in San Francisco, earned her degree and moved to LA to “figure out what the hell I want to do.”

“I’m still figuring out who I want to be,” she said with a laugh. “But I feel like, as time goes by, we become more of who we actually are.”

Her accomplishments go beyond producing her own albums. She collaborat-

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ed with composer Angelo Badalamenti on a cover of “Mysteries Of Love,” which was featured in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet and she’s written soundtracks for films like “Not To Be Unpleasant But We Need To Have A Serious Talk,” television commercials such as for Victoria’s Secret and most recently video games with several cuts on “Cyberpunk 2077.”

In the meantime, she’s enjoying living in DTLA, but, at the same time, calls it “insane.”

“I go to a lot of places around the Arts District,” she said.

“I love videogames. I love EightyTwo, the arcade place. I’m a big foodie. The best restaurants in Downtown LA are on my street, like Bavel is one of my favorites. I go to a lot of dinners with friends and playing video games and cocktails at Death & Co., which is one of my favorite bars. Since I’m in Downtown LA, I try to take it all in and take advantage of it.”

Kid Moxie Instagram: @kid.moxie Band Camp: kidmoxie.bandcamp.com Facebook: facebook.com/kidmoxie

Kid Moxie, otherwise known as Elena Charbila, spends time dining and playing videogames in DTLA. George Tripodakis/Submitted

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The cast of “Interstate” at East West Players, featuring Jupiter Lê, center.

The cast of “Interstate” at East West Players. Jaya Joshi stars as Henry Ahuja.

Grant Lee/Submitted

Grant Lee/Submitted

East West to premiere ‘Interstate’

By Bridgette M. Redman LA Downtown News Contributing Writer elissa Li and Kit Yan didn’t know what per forming at a queer Asian cabaret in Boston would lead to.

Nearly 15 years after they crossed paths in school and were performing at the cabaret together the two artists have found their way to Los Angeles where the East West Players are producing the musical they wrote based on their experiences.

“One day, Kit came up to me in the green room and was like, ‘What do you think about quitting our jobs and going on tour?’” Li recounted.

“I was like, ‘I don’t know you that well, but sure. Sounds great.’ We were both in our early 20s. So, we did that. And a lot of things happened on tour which made its way into the musical, but, basically, we became the best of friends and the worst of enemies, and we ended up just hating each other for two years.”

During those two years, they reflect-

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ed on their friendship and wrote about it to heal themselves and their relationship. Li is a singer-songwriter and Yan is a slam poet.

“When we finally got back together as friends, Kit brought me a bunch of poems,” Li said. “He was like, ‘What do you think about this being a musical?’ That was 10 years ago and here we are now.”

The musical, “Interstate,” tells two stories. One is of Dash, a transgender spoken word artist, and his lesbian best friend Adrian, as they decide to travel across America to meet with their fans.

The second story is of Henry, a transgender teenage boy living in smalltown middle America who finds solace in Dash and Adrian’s art and sets out to meet them.

Yan said “semi-autobiographical” isn’t quite the right word, but the musical was definitely inspired by the road trip that they took. Both set out to find community and more people who were like them. Now it is their full-time job to write plays, musicals and share their art.

“It’s so important to us to write from our own experiences and knowledge and what really matters and means something to us,” Yan said. “No matter what you’re writing about, as long as you are doing that, then that is something incredibly human and universal.

We often write about family, friendship, community. ‘Interstate’ is certainly about all of those things. It’s about being young, going on a journey. It’s about artists who are trying their best.

It’s about friends who try their best to love each other and fail in some ways and succeed in others.”

The role of Henry came out of one of their workshops. A blogger who spends a lot of time on the internet, he is amalgamation of all the young folks that Li and Yan met when they were traveling, mostly in smaller towns.

“Younger kids would come up to us and say, ‘I’ve never met another trans person before. You’re like me, right? This means so much to me to see you exist and perform and speak what I feel.’” Li

said.

“Henry is sort of a surrogate for that in our show. It’s really important not only to show Henry’s journey as someone who’s isolated, who’s struggling, who’s figuring things out, because that’s an important story. It’s also important to have Dash, which is the older trans character who has gone through things like figuring out his identity, but is still figuring out love and friendship and what it means to be a man. So, it’s really about those parallel journeys.”

Yan said Henry also represents the two of them as well, when they were younger and trying to figure out being queer and trans and what that meant for their relationships to their families, their communities and their towns.

The show is set in 2008, the year they went on tour. At that point, the internet was an exciting place to meet people like them for the first time.

“I was going to college in Wellesley, Massachusetts,” Yan said. “I was trying to figure out being trans and there was no-

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Jupiter Lê and Kristian Espiritu star as Dash Koi and Adrian Ton, respectively, in “Interstate.”

Grant Lee/Submitted

body else like me in my school and not very many people in the town. I would go online to learn about how to navigate the medical system and feelings and trying to see if there were other people with the same feelings as me.”

Even though the show is set in 2008, Yan said it continues to be incredibly relevant.

“Trans kids can’t go to the bathroom or hear our stories in schools or play sports with each other,” Yan said. “Asian Americans are getting harassed daily.

With increasing violence, it’s just really been time for us to examine the things that this musical shows and to ask the tough questions the show is asking.”

The show has stayed thematically true to its original intent, the musical has changed drastically over the past 10 years, they said. Originally it was purely about the two of them and it paralleled real life.

“As it started to shape, we realized actually we can say more about these top-

ics if we change some of the facts, we can get more to the truth,” Li said. “It’s evolved quite a lot.”

The first time they tried to mount the show was at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis. It was due to open March 2020 — and was cut short by the pandemic. Yan said they learned a lot about the show but didn’t get to do everything that they wanted to do.

“Now, here in LA, we finally get the chance to do a full production of the show,” Yan said. “It’s very exciting to be in conversation with the Asian American community here, the queer community here, the West Coast community here. I think a lot of our communities really intersect here and hearing the response from folks here in LA will be really valuable for the development of the show.

East West Players is the perfect place for us to do this because of its long-standing history as a pioneer of and champion of these stories.”

“Interstate” WHEN: Various times through Sunday, June 26 WHERE: East West Players, 120 Judge John Aiso Street, Los Angeles COST: Tickets start at $36 INFO: eastwestplayers.org

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JUNE 13, 2022

Covered ARTS & California CULTURE will help

New art exhibit takes viewers on world tour

By Luke Netzley LA Downtown News Deputy Editor ome to a thriving art scene, Los Angeles has long been a hotspot for artists whose work has both hung in grand museum galleries and coated the walls of the city’s underground.

To help elevate the voices of this city’s artistic talents, Downtown event center Magic Box LA has partnered with Grande Experiences, a global leader in multisensory art and culture experiences, to launch the world premiere of “Street Art Alive.”

With the approval and endorsement of more than 200 street artists from around the globe, Street Art Alive has transformed one of the city’s new digital art galleries, The Lume Los Angeles, into an unforgettable journey through the streets and alleys of more than 20 iconic cities, including New York City, London, São Paulo, Melbourne and Berlin.

“When (the founders) saw what was happening around the world and all that work that’s out on the streets in these different cities, there was a vision to use that incredible art with the same technology that they use with the van Gogh art to create an immersive, multisensory experience there,” event director Paul Bonet said.

The experience includes interactive installations, along with eight original fullsized sections of the Berlin Wall, which artists from across the globe used as a canvas for their political statements and powerful social commentary.

Two of the three original sections of the wall, including the columns at the exhibit’s entrance, were painted by Kelly “RISK” Graval, one of the founders of the West Coast Graffiti movement. His work, titled “Anarch to Monarchy,” portrays the Buddha and a butterfly as symbols of hope and positivity.

“It’s quite a powerful moment when you stand in front of them,” Bonet said. “The division of a community through political powers is tragic. It’s outrageous. With things like the war going on in Ukraine, with things in Myanmar…There’s still the wall in Israel and Palestine. This is sort of symbolizing that and to make a statement on it…The Berlin Walls were pivotal in representing outrage and political dissent.”

Throughout the exhibit’s run, the Lume LA will invite local street artists to add their voices to the iconic concrete walls.

When visitors enter the space, they’re immediately transported back in time to a

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With the endorsement of more than 200 street artists from around the globe, Street Art Alive has brought its immersive art experience to the Lume Los Angeles.

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SOUTH PARK BID BEST BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT The exhibit is displayed over 25,000 square feet space and features a 360-degree, multisensory gallery.

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New York subway in the 1980s. The exhibit invited local artists to build pieces and paint graffiti-style artwork to mimic the appearance of one of the defining ages in street art history, when New York City graffiti artists had begun to capture the imagination of the rest of the world.

“What we’re trying to do there is bring you back to that point, so when people visit that space they get a sense of what it was like and where it all sort of began in a sense,” Bonet said. “In this entrance, we were trying to take people through a bit of the history and give them a real tactile sense of the work before they enter the digital gallery. Once they come through there, then they find themselves in this world of projected pieces, some that are animated.”

Street Art Alive has over 25,000 square feet of gallery space and more than 65 projectors. From a curated soundtrack with music from genre-defining legends of glam rock, post-punk and hip-hop to a geometrical design made of duct tape by artist Darel Carey, the exhibit showcases a breadth of work that spans borders, generations and media forms.

“It’s not so much statement work, but it’s fine art,” Bonet explained. “In our exhibit, we bring to light the fact that street art has moved from being graffiti. The artists who are doing this work are as valid as the artists that are hanging at The Broad. In fact, a lot of the artists hanging at The Broad were street artists.”

Though the loop of the exhibit runs or 45 minutes, Bonet explained that visitors often find themselves wandering through the exhibit for over two hours. With no set beginning and end to Street Art Alive, visitors can enter and exit at any point as they not only explore the work of local artists, but also worldwide creatives as well.

“LA is an incredible place for street art,” Bonet said. “LA is an art city as far as I’m concerned, and the people resonate with that. Angelinos are well versed on it, they respect it and appreciate it. Bringing this exhibit here, we weren’t taking the LA street art and bringing in indoors. We were bringing the rest of the world here so they could encourage people to take on street art, even more so if it’s in their own backyard.”

In the same way that the Berlin Wall had been used as a canvas for raw expressions of emotion, Street Art Alive stands as a home for street artists across LA to imprint their messages, sentiments and stories for the entire world to see.

“Every child is born an artist,” Bonet said. “The most incredible thing is that this art form can really shed light on incredibly important issues. It can bring hope to people, it can bring communities together, and we’re really proud to be able to be part of that message.”

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LA River Farmers Market Photos by Chris Mortenson os Angeles State Historic Park introduced the LA River farmers market, which is described as a “gathering place for a diverse community to

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engage in healthy eating, sustainable living and cultural heritage,” according to its website. Set for 3 to 7 p.m. on Thursdays, the market is near the south entrance to the park in Chinatown.

Bach Nguyễn and mother, Tri Nguyen, specialize in cookies.

Members of the East Wind Foundation perform a Lion Dance.

Aapbel Soto and Andrea Rico show off their fresh produce from Murray Family Farms.

Alondra Alonso, Erika Garcia, and Liz Gama pose for a portrait at the La Troka booth, which offered craft activities for attendees.

Sandee Hong and sister Zinah Hong man their Go Go Ma Bakes booth. They specialize in homemade dog treats.

Oscar Ochoa and Ian Martinez serve fresh salsa at their El Machete booth.

Miriam Bar-Zemer, Yuval Bar-Zemer, Laura Velkei and Kathy Alston pose for a portrait.

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