the irony and the ecstasy

by urquiza!
Posts Tagged ‘califas’

gentrification avenue

images are from approximately four months, starting in the spring of 2015 as highland park sleeps through the impending upheaval. its business as usual. analysing the situation in retrospect, it appears the collective consciousness of a group of land owners can see the changes and are starting to visualise the profit potentials in their minds. by early the following year many properties are up for sale. and, by the end of 2015 the landscape will be extraordinarily different.

we start on york boulevard across the street from cafe de leche where the first visible sign of gentrification arrived around 2009. its opening is a major event and can be qualified as revitalisation for sometime. it is the first new retail to open with a complete makeover, cafe de leche’s owners envisioned it as a multi-cultural and multi-racial hub. the aesthetic was decidedly contemporary and had more in common with an industrial upscale swork in eagle rock than a cafe antigua on figueroa. today it is fairly multi-cultural in some respects showing art from avenue 50 studio’s chicano artists, while the racial diversity of its customers is limited to their economic diversity, that is wealthy white and assimilated people of colour.

other businesses such as the restaurant “the wild hare” that displaced the chinese karaoke bar and restaurant may have opened and closed its doors before cafe de leche opened or, clare graham and the mor/york gallery that has been there since the 90s. neither operated traditional hours, so their presence went largely unnoticed. however, in around 2006, mor/york painted their name on the building exterior in a modern sans serif typeface and it was quickly tagged the next day. that low level resistance did not last long when johnny’s bar and the investor driven york opened up. the artist brian malman also contributed fuel to the change by staking claim for the art and creative class by appropriating the empty gas station lot signage. malman, an eagle rock resident replaced the old mobile station’s with his art statement, “form, line, here, art gallery,” in what appeared to be a support of the kristi engle gallery that relocated from downtown. in a coffee driven exercise i performed traffic counts from the corner of cafe de leche. in 2009 it was fair to say you could see an obvious 15-20 people of colour per hour coming and going from the bus stops to retail and the residential. today in 2016 it has become a destination street for consumers from around the city. its traffic is easily 50-60 people per hour mostly from their own vehicles or walking from residential.

figueroa street runs north and south. it is seemingly similar to an outsider’s eye. however, it has a stronger economic base that many of the businesses on york. the architectural scale is grander, the boulevard wider, lot sizes have more square footage and has institutional businesses. york developed as a tributary of figueroa. at one time figueroa had a rail line shuffling materials from eagle rock to los angeles. it is the elder of the two streets with the first church being built here in 1900 and with several other destinations such as the highland theatre, the ebell club, the mason’s lodge and many more local restaurants. york’s historic destination hubs share a similarity with the current spaces. mor/york gallery was formerly an open air style safeway store, while café de leche was a mid-century diner.

the greyhound becomes the epicenter of the figueroa gentrification wave. it displaces a sleepy, but cavernous pupuseria that served 99 cent pupusas and aguas frescas. a self-employed gardener could feed his family for twenty to thirty dollars. in contrast the new greyhound serves $11 draft beers and primarily serves a local and exclusive audience of assimilated latinos and wealthy whites from the hills. its presence was preceded by future studio by many years. however, the home of chicken boy as it is also known had deep community roots and accessible art despite being associated with the creative class that dominated york boulevard. the fitness gym pop physique opens shortly after the greyhound and foreshadows the future of figueroa with a clash of aesthetics and lifestyles.

because the previously mentioned scale and proliferation of figueroa’s “latino urbanism” it has not folded as quickly. highland park developed as a sub-economy of the surrounding wealthy enclaves of pasadena and glendale providing them with a domestic labour force. the gardeners and street vendors are highly visible on the streets and at the panederias and mercados of highland park, but we speculate they are undercounted in statistical data because of their cash economy. the population imported their native value system which is what we are now calling “latino urbanism” as a means to meet its own community needs. food service and entertainment make up 10%, manufacturing another 10%, but the largest workforce in highland park is clearly the health, education and social workers at twenty one percent. all these working class segments are being destabilised by the shifting wealth in the economy. unfortunately, unless they are land owners, they will be locked out of any benefits that will result from this economic shift. the same scenario awaits the core businesses of inexpensive restaurants, clothing stores, pharmacies, hair salons and dollar stores that anchor the vibrant street life. they will come under threat in the following year when values increase even further.

(see image captions for more info)

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after the grand canyon

part two in the continuing series in the study of my nephew arturo. these are photographed almost to the day a year later from the first sitting. yeah, homie is still wearing the same hat and a similar sweatshirt… in this trip he leads his wife and two kids, as well as his mom who wanted to join us through the experiences he shared with my mother.

see part one in the series “mr churro” (here).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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mr. churro

mr. churro is a work in progress. it is an exploration into my nephew arturo urquiza’s world. in this set arturo returns to his childhood memories by visiting olvera street. he came here often with his grandmother who passed away of cancer more than twenty years ago. i remember him as  a goofy teenage boy with an overbite and a choppy haircut. he is now a man complete with tattoos and his own children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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los polaroidos gigantes

(“los polaroidos gigantes” is twenty-six giclee’ prints from “perdido en califas” exhibited in the council chamber of the city of buena park september 15 — november 6, 2009)    

 

The City of Buena Park’s Cultural and Fine Arts Division presents “Los Polaroido Gigantes”, Images from Perdido en Califas: A Photography Exhibition by John Tapia Urquiza. “Los Polaroidos Gigantes” are large scale prints of images from the series Perdido in Califas, a body of work eighteen years in the making. This personal and emotional journey through the eyes of artist John Urquiza utilizes photography to connect memories with emotions, inviting the viewer to develop their own relationship with similar experiences of physical and emotional loss, family triumphs, and the present culture of our generation. With the demise of Polaroid film and the rise of digital photography, Perdido en Califas becomes a misty reminder of our histories and opens up a new dialogue regarding the quest for the Mexican-American dream.

 

“another graveyard” 1996 catalog no. 17
23×28″ unmounted giclee’
california city outside of the airplane graveyard with jessie huang from the series “running through the desert with scissors” 5 of 7

 

 

epilogue.

 

aside from all the hard work it takes to create an exhibition i was reacquainted with the images from another perspective or another scale.  in my assessment post exhibition i feel the story remained, but each image struggled with the other for dominance. the images become more powerful as individuals at this scale. the texture that the polaroid gave the narrative was lost and they became more vivid icons. each image wandered off on its own and away. i like them immensely at this scale. they are fun pop like pieces that create a stir. the city of buena park was extremely generous and supportive. one of the city caretakers gave me a box of polaroid after the reception from the little used city’s stock!

 

 

other images from the exhibition

“untitled” 1996 catalog no. 01

“cafe” 1989 catalog no. 03

“the wood shed no.1” 2001 catalog no. 04

“the journey home” 1997 catalog no. 06

“untitled” 1997 catalog no. 07

“beat 64” 1990 catalog no. 08

“old pachuco” 1990 catalog no. 09

“gold plated ride” 1990 catalog no. 10

“the escape artist” 1996 catalog no. 14

“another graveyard” 1996 catalog no. 17

“untitled” 1996 catalog no. 19

“untitled” 1996 catalog no. 21

“untitled” 2000 catalog no. 22

“desert peacocks”1998 catalog no. 25

“untitled” 1998 catalog no. 26

“tapas” 2005 catalog no. 32

“untitled” 2004 catalog no. 34

“church of the silver sun” 2006 catalog no. 39

“evergreen no. 1” 2006 catalog no. 47

“untitled” 2005 catalog no. 49

“untitled” 2006 catalog no. 53

“untitled” 2005 catalog no. 56

“untitled” 2005 catalog no. 57

“untitled” 1992 catalog no. 58

“untitled” 2000 catalog no. 59

“pearblossom highway” 1989 catalog no. 60

 

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east of the river

(exhibited at avenue 50 studio september 12 — october 4  2009)

“east of the river” is collection of images from “perdido en calfas” that includes several recent polaroids. it is less about the loss in ‘perdido’ and more about the experiences with the landscapes and objects that shaped my desires of the world. the accompanying narrative are the memories, regrets and hopes that polaroid images seem to evoke. some are shared experiences and some are uniquely mine. “perdido en califas” were pieces of memory—broken glass that i  put back together for myself. “east of the river” becomes the path in the desert that my ancestors took and many others from mexico to east of the river, and to los angeles. after swimming  through the murky polaroid mist i made it back here, made it back home.

 

i met this river first from the back seat of my father’s chrysler. i met it with wonderment that in a city of concrete there would be a river only to discover that it too was made of concrete. the older i grew the more i explored it. eventually i found myself at one of its many sources. the irony that it was filled with stones.

this river is a mystery and a barrier. it is a snake in the midst of my home. i fear it for what it hides. i exalt it for its defiance when it rages. i pity it for what we have done to it as it trickles through the city. yet have walked its parts and found peace.

 

 

 

(the remaining catalog of images can also be found in perdido en califas

“roys” 1989 catalog no. 02

“cafe” 1989 catalog no. 03

“beat 64” 1990 catalog no. 08

“old pachuco” 1990 catalog no. 09

“gold plated ride” 1990 catalog no. 10

“untitled” 1997 catalog no. 13

“the escape artist” 1996 catalog no. 14

“the furnace” 1996 catalog no. 16

“jesse disappears” 1996 catalog no. 18

“untitled” 1996 catalog no. 19

“untitled” 1996 catalog no. 20

“untitled” 1996 catalog no. 21

“untitled” 2000 catalog no. 22

“time” 2000 catalog no. 24

“desert peacocks”1998 catalog no. 25

“untitled” 1998 catalog no. 26

“nogales” 1997 catalog no. 30

“tapas” 2005 catalog no. 32

“cafe social” 2005 catalog no. 33

“untitled” 2005 catalog no. 37

“the earth is brown” 2006 catalog no. 40

“untitled” 2006 catalog no. 43

“1948” 2006 catalog no. 45

“evergreen no. 1” 2006 catalog no. 47

“untitled” 2005 catalog no. 49

“untitled” 2003 catalog no. 51

“window no.1” 2006 catalog no. 52

“untitled” 2006 catalog no. 53

“tree study no.1” 2005 catalog no. 55

“untitled” 2005 catalog no. 56

“untitled” 2005 catalog no. 57

“untitled” 1992 catalog no. 58

“untitled” 2000 catalog no. 59

“pearblossom highway” 1989 catalog no. 60

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perdido en califas

(lost in the californias)

(this is the original artist’s statement used from the exhibition 09.13.07. the images below have been edited down from the original 60 in the catalog. all images are available as a numbered edition with pigments on hahnemuehle bamboo paper.)

my tribe is from the desert mountains of mexico. the tarahumara indian land is where they say, “the moon is the day of the night”. we came through texas and arizona like thousands of others escaping the past. our ancestors from spain lived amoung a similar land and escaped their past through mexico. our parents escaped to california and i was left here in this new world.

shooting polaroids in the digital camera era seems so provincial now, but this project started when few even had an e.mail address. the polaroid fell into my hands as a tool for documentation at the design office i was employed. after studying and working for several years with traditional film i still considered the polaroid a toy. my first instant images of intellectual depth provoked a crucial emotion that swelled as the image formed on the surface. my photographs until that moment had only been exercises in light, concepts or a forced reality that explored traditional film’s technical limitations.

polaroids eventually allowed me to shed my technical encumbrances. i began to see form and colour. these images became my personal sketch pad of things i could never use. they were for me and no one else except for those maybe sharing the same moment. these and other polaroids now represent the emotional possibilities of the world i walked through. the beginning of my dreams mixing with my reality.

i always traveled through california chasing friends, chasing seasons or escaping the killing jar of los angeles. at first it was coincidence that i traveled to all the places of my youth. then it became a deliberate search for something that i remembered, my youth, my family. i visited these broad landscapes of my youth while trying to comprehend the narrow path of the present. the echo of these images were forms that i could slightly recall from the storage boxes of polaroids, super 8 film and kodak prints of my inheritance. the records of our time as a family contained people whom i recognised, but seemed restrained and afraid while others were invincible. they are nothing like the people i know today.

with these same people i traveled the road trips of my youth. they were sometimes clichéd and painful situation comedies, albeit in spanish. others i could not catch my breath from all the fun. my mother always watched the road from the passenger’s seat concerned and ready to use her imaginary brakes; my sister, the teenager and all that encompasses, rode in the back seat; sometimes our grandmother—dressed in black complete with a shawl for covering her head ready for any church we should encounter along the way—and myself would share naranjas in the rest of the back seat. when it all became too much i would fall asleep in my father’s extra large chrysler while it hushed through the desert to palm springs or even the boulevards of east los angeles.

my mother passed away in 1987. the grief that event carried began the first of my many journeys. i looked for signs to the future, signs of joy and the understanding of sadness. traveling became an act of escape, and with that an act of memory recall, just like my mothers short trips and voyages she took us on. memory is a collection of associations based on feelings, experiences and knowledge. of all the things i forgot about my youth, these images are things i could remember and not let go. this collection of images became associations to a distant memory of trying to heal a grief. in the end, the journey and these images became my own history. as much as my parents’ journeys and ancestors’ journeys were theirs. these images belong to my journey home.

 

 

 

find a lo res version of the entire catalog including those edit out here

press releases and pictures from different shows of the polaroids here

 

 

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