Fighting for Educational Justice
Ronni Solman moved to Los Angeles in 1970, for work and to chase the sun. At the time, she was involved with the New York chapter of the Committee to Defend the Black Panthers, working to raise money for legal defense for the Black Panther Party. The group needed a representative to work with the…
Read MoreWhere The Grass Isn’t Always Greener
One of Joe Linton’s earliest formative memories involved a river and a bike. “I used to bike along the Santa Ana River to get to the beach. It took an hour, and it was one of the most freeing things as a young preteen since I didn’t have to beg my mom to take me.…
Read MoreMourning a Neighborhood
Since she was born, Lili Sanchez has lived on the same street in Elysian Valley, a few houses down from the Elysian Valley Recreation Center. Almost like a second home to her, this park space has been foundational to her upbringing. She remembers spending many hours of the day there throughout her childhood, playing and…
Read MoreThe Rule Breaker
Charly Hinojosa is an active community member in Northeast LA, where he has served on the Cypress Park Neighborhood Council, led kayak tours for BIPOC individuals on the LA River, and coached gymnastics and parkour for at-risk youth in the community. Spending his youth immersed in countercultures like skating, punk rock, and graffiti helped set…
Read MoreThe City as Teacher
Charly Hinojosa is an active community member in Northeast LA, where he has served on the Cypress Park Neighborhood Council, led kayak tours for BIPOC individuals on the LA River, and coached at-risk youth in the community. However, Charly spent his “active, outdoor childhood” immersed in youth countercultures. A punk rocker, he was against playing…
Read MoreSilent Killer
Dayana Molina is no stranger to gentrification. As a longtime resident of and advocate for Northeast LA, she has seen her community change drastically. It is part of the double-edged sword that comes with fighting to improve one’s neighborhood. Dayana has engaged with community activism since her youth. As a teenager playing in Anahuak Youth…
Read MoreFinding the Right Path
Daniel Paredes recalls a childhood typical to Frogtown in the ‘90s — a tight knit community where everybody knew each other and neighborhood kids would hang out in the streets. “I was forbidden to go to the river when I was a kid. That didn’t stop me from going to the river. I used to…
Read MoreThe Coastal Conservancy
In the late eighties, while in graduate school at UC Berkeley, Christopher Kroll began a part-time job at a relatively new and small state agency: the Coastal Conservancy. Established in 1976, “the Coastal Conservancy was set up to be a project agency to actually work with local governments, and nonprofits, on issues that could not…
Read MoreLA River Fishing
It’s a common practice for fishers or anglers to keep their best fishing spots a secret, as part of the appeal of recreational fishing is researching and discovering your own spot and keeping that good spot hidden. For newcomers, this practice might be daunting, but when Karen Barnett was first learning to fish, she didn’t…
Read MoreProposition 12
In 2000, California residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Safe Neighborhood Parks, Clean Water, Clean Air, and Coastal Protection Bond Act, known as Proposition 12, which allocated $2.1 billion to California State Parks to address hundreds of critical State Park System needs across California, particularly for high-density, park-poor areas. As the former Los Angeles…
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