Tracy (high and inebriated): Mistah, you shouldn’t be down there. The cops are gonna come.
No response.
Tracy: Hey pal, get outta there…you’re gonna get killed!
Man (infuriated): WHY DO YOU THINK I’M DOWN HERE!!!
Tracy: Sir, you shouldn’t try to kill yourself.
Man (high on meth): I know.
Photos by Shawn Nee/discarted
Photo by Shawn Nee/discarted
Yesterday within a span of 30 minutes a deadly shooting and three vehicular injuries occurred all within a one block radius from one another.
Near the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and St. Andrews Place, an unidentified 20-year old man was shot to death by an unknown assailant who fled on foot. As two LAPD officers responded to the call, they were stuck by another vehicle, sending the officers to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Then, a short while later, a bicyclist traveling north on Western Boulevard and only one block east of where the shooting took place, was struck by a vehicle as he crossed Virginia Avenue. The unknown cyclist sustained a head injury, a large laceration to his knee, and was transported to an area hospital by the Los Angeles Fire Department. The driver of the vehicle remained on scene, and according to one man who witnessed the accident, the cyclist was at fault. And finally, as I made my way home to process the photos and get them to my editor, I saw a man wielding a tire iron chase another man down the street. I love this neighborhood.
According to a Los Angeles Times article regarding yesterday’s fatal shooting, there has been at least 63 homicides in my neighborhood since 2007.
For more photos of the accident and a write up by Zach Behrens check out LAist.
Woman walks up…asks me to take her picture…shows me her vagina.
The above video was recorded on February 21, 2010 in Hollywood, CA. As you will see from the footage, the officer’s behavior is deeply disturbing and should cause alarm within the Los Angeles Police Department.
And despite what the officer claims in the video, it is completely legal to photograph and videotape anybody, including police officers, when an expectation of privacy does not exist. It is the public’s right to photograph and record police activity that occurs on our streets and in our neighborhoods, and we should not be subjected to verbal assaults, illegal detainment, or threatened with an unlawful arrest if we choose to do so.
This encounter could have been a non-issue.
To voice your concerns regarding this officer’s behavior, contact the following individuals and offices:
Internal Affairs – Los Angeles Police Department
304 South Broadway, Suite 215
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Office: 213-485-1486
Fax: 213-473-6420
Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles
Email: mayor@lacity.org
Eric Garcetti, City Council President
5500 Hollywood Blvd., 4th Floor
Hollywood, CA 90028
Phone: 323-957-4500
Email: councilmember.garcetti@lacity.org
Tom LaBonge, Councilmember, District 4
Hollywood Field Office
6501 Fountain Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Phone: (323) 957-6415
Email: councilmember.labonge@lacity.org
Photo by discarted
Last week I wrote about a confrontation between myself and the LAPD while legally photographing a crime scene where a man had been killed. During the encounter LAPD officers berated, bullied and threatened me with unlawful arrest for supposedly obstructing their investigation. At no point did I encroach on the crime scene, or cross police tape to photograph the incident. I was well within my legal rights granted to me by the US Constitution and LAPD’s Media Relations Handbook.
Generally, the streets of Los Angeles are navigated via car, but if you ever find yourself walking up Highland Avenue toward Los Angeles’ famous Hollywood Boulevard where you’ll find thousands of dirty stars engraved with celebrity names and the icons depicting their craft, you might come across another symbol or two along the way. Just north of the Highland and Sunset intersection there’s a stretch of sidewalk adjacent to Hollywood High. Here you will not find the names of Hollywood’s past and present, but rather two swastikas carved into the pavement with lesser known symbols and names.
It’s unknown how long these symbols of hate have defaced the public sidewalk, but it’s amazing that they have gone undetected by city officials and have been allowed to permeate a belief that’s been dead for over 60 years.
To voice your concerns regarding this issue contact Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti via email or through the information below:
5500 Hollywood Blvd., 4th Floor
Hollywood, CA 90028
Phone: 323-957-4500
http://www.lacity.org/council/cd13/
With this post, we diverge from our central theme of photography and photographers’ rights to just peoples’ rights — that is to say, our rights as people to have our tax dollars well-spent and our city employees follow the very laws they enforce.
Case in point: this video, taken this past week in East Hollywood, where our dogged local parking enforcement officer uses the loading zone as a parking spot for her lunch break. This is the same parking officer who tirelessly drives up and down our neighborhood blocks all day long, looking for cars on the wrong side of the street on street cleaning days and in red zones and with expired meters.
Somewhere we missed it in the Los Angeles city code where parking enforcement officers don’t need to obey the law. Wow, what a job perk! If someone has a copy of that, please send it our way.
*Shot with the Vievu wearable recording device.
Photo by discarted
If you live in Los Angeles, you know there is woefully little green space. But Griffith Park remains a last refuge, an oasis of trails, wildlife and woodland in the middle of one of the densest cities in the country.
Sadly, but inevitably, certain city officials and developers would like to be able to develop it. Parking structures, amusement parks and restaurants all seem reasonable propositions to them. (Because it’s not enough to have digitized advertisements in grocery store checkout lines and billboards and strip malls as far as the eye can see. We must not stop until every last patch of green is covered!)
In response, there is a movement to designate the park — in its entirety — as a historic cultural monument. That designation would prevent any commercial development within its borders. If you believe in this cause and are sick of city officials who prize maximum density (and the money it brings) above all else, then write to Councilman Tom LaBonge and the Cultural Heritage Commission and tell them so. The Commission’s next meeting to discuss the matter will be October 30 at City Hall.
Photo by discarted
Councilman LaBonge in particular is a troubling case. As a man who’s never met a camera he didn’t like, especially when it comes to touting his love and affection for the park, it’s downright scary that he told the LA Times, “This is a park, not a preserve,” and:
“I’m all for designation of buildings and spots of significance in the park, but right here?” LaBonge asked, circling his finger over the dirt trail path one Friday morning, “Would it be something to designate? I’m not sure.”
For more info:
Read the LA Times article about the issue.
Go to the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council page.
In the alternate universe that is Hollywood Boulevard, Marilyn Monroe has a restraining order against Chewbacca, the same guy plays Darth Vader, Barney and Mickey Mouse, and multiple Spideys vie for the title of baggiest costume. For years, photographer James Knoblauch has been photographing the characters who populate the few blocks around Graumann’s Chinese Theatre, and earlier this year his collection of portraits was published in a book called Imposters.
Here, we talked to him about what it’s like to go back to SpongeBob’s place for drinks, among other things.
You called Roger Gastman, the founder of Swindle magazine, the “instigator” of the book. How is that?
I did not use the words “instigator” to describe Roger Gastman, who was a business contributor to the project. Someone at the publisher thought it was a cute way to describe his function in the book project. I had sent Roger “imposter” photos with the hope of having some printed in his magazine and he suggested creating a book with 30 or so images of different characters. He then found a publisher to release the book.
boywithgrenade.org 