Down on Fourth (45 images)

Every city has its gritty artists' colony. Los Angeles had one east of Little Tokyo between Alameda Street and that concrete trough they say is the Los Angeles River – old industrial buildings that became hidden studios for experimental art of all sorts. Now it's the "Arts District" – full of urban hipsters – and the art is on the outside. One of the first of the "outside" art pieces was "Undiscovered America" – a mural planned and...
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Every city has its gritty artists' colony. Los Angeles had one east of Little Tokyo between Alameda Street and that concrete trough they say is the Los Angeles River – old industrial buildings that became hidden studios for experimental art of all sorts. Now it's the "Arts District" – full of urban hipsters – and the art is on the outside. One of the first of the "outside" art pieces was "Undiscovered America" – a mural planned and completed by Earth Crew 2000 – back in 1992 – all about the indigenous people here before the Europeans – the Inca, Mayan, Aztec, Tongva, Lakota, Chumash, Mohawk and Iroquois people. Columbus had arrived exactly five hundred years earlier. This was an act of defiance and resistance, and the mural, at 843 East 4th Street, has just been restored. But now there are murals everywhere on this street. The place is flashy. There's no defiance and resistance. The grit is gone. But the place is hip. ~ Thursday, December 13, 2018
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