Making Our Neighborhood: Redlining, Gentrification, and Housing in East Hollywood was a multimedia project about what it means to make a neighborhood created and produced by Samanta Helou Hernandez (This Side of Hoover) and Jimmy Recinos (J.T. the L.A. Storyteller). It included three panels about the past, present, and future of East Hollywood, a public art project on redlining, an education campaign featuring redlining & gentrification 101 pamphlets translated into 5 languages, and a 100-page magazine. The project was featured on NPR, Grand Park LA, and The LA Podcast. The entire project took eight months to complete and was funded by grassroots fundraising. Collaborators include professor and neighbor Ali Rachel Pearl, Caroline Calderon of The Little Tokyo Service Center, The East Hollywood Neighborhood Council, The Thai Community Development Center, and The Anti-Eviction Mapping project. 

PANELS:

Making Our Neighborhood: Redlining, Gentrification, and Housing in East Hollywood, a panel series, bringing together life-long elders of East Hollywood with local journalists Jimmy Recinos (J.T. the L.A. Storyteller) and Samanta Helou Hernandez (This Side of Hoover): The 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 concludes by highlighting current efforts against evictions in East Hollywood, growing homelessness in the area, and city planning with increased community participation. 

Recordings of the three panels (available in English & Spanish) attended by over 500 people across various streaming platforms:

PUBLIC ART PROJECT

A public art project featuring street signs stating “This Neighborhood Was Redlined.” The signs highlighted East Hollywood’s history of redlining and utilized QR codes directing community members to the panel series. The sign design was inspired by the “We Buy Houses Cash” posters seen around gentrifying neighborhoods. They were posted in the formerly redlined areas of East Hollywood & Silverlake. During our installation of these materials, we came across a diverse range of fellow community members who wanted to learn more about redlining and about how they could get involved with our project. This project was designed and executed by Ali Rachel Pearl with guidance from Samanta Helou Hernandez and J.T. the L.A. Storyteller. 

EDUCATION CAMPAIGN

Redlining and Gentrification 101 pamphlets designed by The Anti-Eviction Mapping project with guidance from Samanta Helou Hernandez and J.T. the L.A. Storyteller. These pamphlets were translated into the neighborhood’s five core languages: Spanish, English, Armenian, Tagalog, and Thai. They were distributed to legacy businesses and longtime residents. 

THE MAGAZINE

Samanta Helou Hernandez and J.T. the L.A. Storyteller turned the many stories, essays, and photographs they gathered for the panel series into a 100-page magazine called Making Our Neighborhood, of which they’ve since sold 300 copies. The magazine sold out at Printed Matter in New York City and is currently available at the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation’s online store. It was designed by Chynna Monforte and written & photographed by Samanta Helou Hernandez and Jimmy Recinos. 

PRESS & EXHIBITIONS