DOWNTOWN W THE SPIRIT OF DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES
WWW.DTLAWEEKLY.COM VOL 16. NO. 06 FEB 24TH MAR 4TH, 2022
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THIS BL ACK HISTORY MONTH...
BL AC K FA CT S YOU MAY OR
MAY NOT KNOW
MODEL MAFIA
MARDI GRAS9
AT THE GLOBE
THE RETURN OF ABERNETHY'S AMAZING EMERGING CHEFS
THE SOUL MUSIC OF DOWNTOWN WEEKLY
VOL 16 NO 06 - FEBRUARY 24TH - MARCH 4TH, 2021 DTLAWEEKLY.COM
ON THE COVER THIS BLACK HISTORY MONTH
location: DOWNTOWN LA ARTWORK by :
KERI FREEMAN
THE DARKER ORIGINS OF DTLA ...4 THE RETURN OF ABERNETHY'S ....6 MODEL MAFIA MARDI GRAS AT THE GLOBE...8 LEGEND OF BIDDY MASON...9 10 BLACK FACTS YOU MAY NOT KNOW....10 GET2DTLA EVENT CALENDAR...11 <<
THE BACK UP SINGERS
DTLA WEEKLY
editor and chief KERI FREEMAN
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
KERI FREEMAN christopher floch jackson roberts abel weiss jaime herrera
photography GARY LEONARD ERIC EPPERSON
VIDEO Production
@kerieatsdtla design and layout @kerieatsdtla
social media
@kerieatsdtla
Special thanks to... MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES & council district 14 THE CITY OF LA ARTS DISTRICT CHINATOWN CIVIC DISTRICT BUNKER HILL EXPO/USC HISTORIC CORE LITTLE TOKYO FASHION DISTRICT FINANCIAL DISTRICT SKID ROW SOUTH PARK WAREHOUSE DISTRICT THEGRAWN ARTWALK NEWS
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4 MONUMENTS IN TIME: by Keri Freeman
VOL 16 NO 06 - FEBRUARY 24TH - MARCH 4TH, 2021 DTLAWEEKLY.COM
The Darker Origins of Downtown LA
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os Angeles was founded just five years after the American Revolution when the French held most of the continent and California still belonged to Spain.
PIO DE JESUS PICO Pico as in Pico Boulevard Pico owned the Mission San Fernando Rey de España, Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores (now part of Camp Pendleton), and several other ranches for a total of over 500,000 acres. Unfortunately for Pio de Jesus Pico, invert business dealings with follow politician and fellow entrepreneur Barnard Cohn set Pico on a path to die penniless in 1894.
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lthough the Spanish had long claimed the land on the edge of the Pacific Coast in 1542 with the arrival of Juan Carrillo and his merry shipmates, it would take Spain over 200 years to fully establish the land they called Alta California or The New Spain.
Before he died, however, he became the last Mayor of Mexico in 1841 when Mexico regained the region with its independence from Spain.
Up and down the serine Californian coast could be found acres of rolling hills, lush mountain tops, clear blue skies, pristine waters, the beach, timber, and the most desirable weather in the world. Also, up and down the Californian coast, Native Americans who didn’t take too kindly to having their lives ripped apart, enslaved or slaughtered, and forced to convert to Catholicism. Yet, there could be no conquest of California without a plan, and the Spanish pretty much had theirs down. Send military to build a fort, send clergymen to make a mission, and send settlers to carve out roads and work the fields. Facing discrimination and an uncertain future, 44 darker-skinned, curly-haired, Native-African Americans living the Spanish Territory of Sonoma, Mexico excepted the challenge to lay stake to one of the last areas still left unsettled by the Spaniards. The year was 1781; they were called Pobladoros, and they traveled with assigned military and clergy settling an area known today as Los Angeles. The exact location where they built the first permanent shelter was Olvera Street.
Pico de Jesus Pico left Downtown with a historic Pico House, a 33-room hotel constructed in 1868 located steps away across Los Angeles Plaza where the first-ever Pueblo was a belt to house the Pablodores.
Settling the land was dangerous but lucrative. Out of the next generation born to these black settlers would come a man Pico’s ethnicity and accomplishments named Pio de Jesus Pico, born 1801 at the are often abandoned by the San Gabriel Mission. mainstream media. Still, his legacy can be seen in the numerous places named The prestigious Pico Family of after him, such as Pico Boulevard, Pio California was a mix of African, Native Pico State Historical Park, the City of Pico and Spanish who grew rich with land, Rivera, and on numerous schools and money, and power. monuments throughout the Southland.
DTLA FUN BLACK FACT:
THE WOODEN CROSS MARKING THE ENTRANCE TO OLVERA STREET IS A REPLICA OF THE ORGINAL, AND WAS HANDCARVED BY A CARPENTER WHO STILL WORKS ONSITE NAMED
JACKIE HADNOT
VOL 16 NO 03 - JAN 13TH - JAN 19TH, 2021 DTLAWEEKLY.COM
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DTLA MAKEOVER BY KERI FREEMAN
VOL 16 NO 05 - FEBRUARY 10TH - FEBRUARY 16TH, 2021 DTLAWEEKLY.COM
DTLA APPETITE: Courtesy Abernethy’s Bunker HIll
VOL 16 NO 06 - FEBRUARY 24TH - MARCH 4TH, 2021 DTLAWEEKLY.COM
THE RETURN OF ABERNETHY'S AMAZING EMERGING CHEFS
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f this past two years in Downtown has felt like a leg that’s fallen asleep tingling desperately to get back in action than prepare to experience the heart pumping sensation of the reopening of Abernethy’s on BunkerHill.
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ocated on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center, Abernethy’s is welcoming back diners to eats emasculate culinary arena along with the highly popular rotation of its Emerging Chefs Showcase.
Abernethy’s has been described as “a unique culinary incubator”, with each LA Chef selected by the restaurant’s owners who make up a culinary committee of L.A.’s most legendary chefs and tastemakers.
Debuting with a Mediterranean Island menu, is Italian Chef Ryan Costanza of Freedman’s, Post & Beam.
Abernethy’s Master Chefs/co-owners include Downtown’s own Chef Susan Feniger (Border Grill) along with Ray Garcia (Broken Spanish), Niki Nakayama (n/naka), Govind Armstrong (Top Chef), and Aussie Curtis Stone (Georgie). Tastemakers include Producer Phil Rosenthal (Somebody Feed Phil) and Russ Parsons (former Los Angeles Times food editor) also make up members of the team.
The menu is Chef Costanza’s interpretation of the culinary offerings in the Italian islands of the Mediterranean, and features paired selections of wine and cocktails. All details are thoughtfully curated by Costanza, including the playlist, natural wine selection, and the artwork. Costanza tapped muralist Maxwell Sykes, to provide the artwork.
What are you willing to bet that the food is really, really good?
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8 DTLA MAKEOVER By Jackson Roberts
MODEL MAFIA MARDI
VOL 16 NO 06 - FEBRUARY 24TH - MARCH 4TH, 2021 DTLAWEEKLY.COM
GRAS at the GLOBE THEATER
Hosted by Comedian Omar Gooding
F.A.M.E. is the acronym for Fashion, Art, Music, and Entertainment!
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his weekend brings the Return of Model Mafia, DTLA's most fashionable industry mixer, to the Historic Globe Theater with a Mardi Gras Masqueradethemed production of their monthly event, LA F.A.M.E Live. Doors open from 7pm to 12am Sunday, February 27th, for this industry showcase hosted by Comedian Omar Gooding and reality TV star Amina Buddafly. The event features a rotating list of emerging talent, celebrity artists, established designers, and the lovely ladies and gents that make up the Model Mafia Family.
Model Mafia family hosts several fashion show events worldwide, industry showcases, and workshops, including Model Mafia Bootcamp, where models train for the runaway. Teamed with, Next Level Entertainment, and The RTP Group, Model Mafia has combined a family of industry professionals who offer small group workshops and hands-on experience through their FAME Academy. Toi Hardy, Joe Exclusive, Arnold Shoots, Jeff Blue, Billy Moss, Sheldon Bailey, Markice Moore, and Trae Ireland all offer an array of entertainment-focused industry courses taking place pre-show. This Sunday afternoon, celebrity artist John Born recently joined the pre-show activities with art/design classes for kids. Hours later, he's committed to body paintings, a musical performance, and the public launch of his first NFT.
Celebrity designers Bold Black Dresses Model Mafia, newly re-discovering DTLA, showcase designs along with celebrity has been a premier force behind casting assistant to Kanye West, Jazmine Holden. music videos and assisting promoters in bringing in desirable crowds in the Also scheduled to perform, Debanaire Hollywood nightclub scene. Tre Cinco, Armani Jay, Angel B, and international artist Naomi Achu along During Super Bowl weekend, the with live Burlesque. The Globe is located "Family" recently touched down to at 740 S. Broadway. enhance a party hosted by rap mogul 50Cent.
MONUMENTS IN TIME: By Keri Freeman
VOL 16 NO 06 - FEBRUARY 24TH - MARCH 4TH, 2021 DTLAWEEKLY.COMCOM
THE LEGEND OF BIDDY MASON
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19TH CENTURY FRONTLINE WORKER WHO USED SLAVE REMEDIES DOWNTOWN TO HEAL THE SICK DURING THE SMALLPOX PANDEMIC
round the same time as PIo de Jesus Pico, living parallel timelines in slave country is a young enslaved girl named Biddy Mason.
There really was little hope for Biddy as cases in 1856 with slaves fighting for freedom mainly went unresolved. Biddy was not allowed to testify against her former owner as well. But Smith never showed up in court, allowing Biddy to win her freedom by default.
After becoming free, Biddy worked in Los Angeles as a nurse and midwife, delivering Bernardino, California, as part hundreds of babies during of his Mormon group’s steady Biddy, like many enslaved her career. Her knowledge of move west. people, was sold from herbal remedies put her on the plantation to plantation and, as frontline during the smallpox she matures, becomes a strong When Smith realized Biddy and epidemic and made her a hero her two young children would black woman, known for her in Los Angeles. be free men in California, he knowledge of medicine, child care, livestock, and becomes a wanted to take Biddy to Texas, She amassed a relatively large notable midwife. And when we but Biddy had already formed fortune as a businesswoman, a solid relationship with two say strong, we mean there are which she shared generously reports she harnessed amazing free black men in Los Angeles, with charities and school Charles Owens and Manuel physical strength. children. Pepper, who fought to win Saving carefully, she became her freedom using the newly Yet, with all enslaved people, one of the first African formed laws in the state of Biddy’s religion was dictated American women to own land California. by her owner Robert Smith. in Downtown. Biddy’s home In 1848, she arrived in San
GLADYS PARK TO BE RENAMED AS GENERAL JEFF PAGE PARK Council Member Kevin De Leon has submitted an official motion to rename Gladys Park in Skid Row as General Jeff Memorial Park. General Jeff, who fought admirably to improve the conditions of the Skid Row community died October 23 rd due to congenial heart complications.
A fighter for equality and the betterment of the human condition, General Jeff was not alone, but he was outstanding. A man of integrity and character who steadfast in his beliefs. The entire time Jeff spent researching the law and seeking federal resources aimed at supporting the disadvantaged, including gaining access to Section 8 vouchers for people living in SROs and hotels so they can move to other places in the city. Jeff also advocated for local hiring in CRA-funded projects and kept in close
was at 333 N. Spring in the Historic Core. In 1872, Biddy donated the land for the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles (First A.M.E. or FAME) and reserved the land she owned in Little Tokyo for the First Pentecostal Church in existence, the Azusa Street Revival, along with houses for black families creating the first all-black street in Los Angeles. Surprisingly, plenty of unknowing commuters walk the ground locations of Biddy’s churches each day. These places are no longer used for revivals, and crowds no longer visit for Salvation, yet the Biddy Mason Memorial Park at the Broadway Spring Center is a shaded stretch of concrete and civic art spanning from Spring to Broadway. The Azusa Street Revival location was torn down and redeveloped; however, there’s a tree from the era that still bears fruit that remains. Here’s the exciting part, Biddy spoke fluent Spanish and found out that Biddy and Pio de Jesus Pico were best of friends. However, Biddy Mason who died a woman of means in 1891, is buried in Boyle Heights.
contact with like-minded officials and federal judges. Jeff’s work moves forward within the newly existing Skid Row Park Advisory Board, a City-recognized advisory panel covering Skid Row parks, one of which will soon bare his name.
10 10GREAT PLACES BY KERI FREEMAN
VOL 16 NO 06 - FEBRUARY 24TH - MARCH 4TH, 2021 DTLAWEEKLY.COM
BLACK FACTS ABOUT DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES YOU MAY OR MAY NOT KNOW
1. The birthplace of Los Angeles is at Olvera Street. Few know however, it was settled in part by a group of Pobladores, of mixed Native American, Spanish and African Decent. 2. Historical Pico House, a 33-room historical monument at 430 North Main Street, was built in 1875 by Pio de Jesus Pico, former Governor of California when Mexico took its independence back from Spain. Few know, however, that Pico was born to a family with bloodlines of Native American, Spanish and African Descent.
One hundred years after the founding of Los Angeles, African Americans developed their district along Central Street from 2nd Street down to 20th. Here, the African American Firefighter Museum stands, open for tours each Sunday. The Museum is a time vault of stories, photographs, uniforms, equipment, and other artifacts, preserved for all to see. Few know, however, the museum honors Sam Haskins, a formerly enslaved person who was the first black Los Angeles Fireman and the first black fireman killed while responding to a fire in 1895.
Downtown is well-loved for its historic buildings of Art Deco Designs and Spanish Baroque architecture. Seeking out high arches and elaborate stone carvings, one may quickly identify these buildings. Some of which include the Spring Arcade Building, The Tower Theater, and the Shrine Auditorium. Few know, however, that these concrete giants stand as testimony of African-Moor influence in architecture brought to Spain during the Moor's conquest of Europe from 711 AD until 1492. Georgia Ann Robinson became the first African American woman to be appointed a police officer at the Los Angeles Police Department
(LAPD); she was also one of the first Black policewomen to be hired in the country. Robertson was also an activist who founded the Sojourner Truth Home, a shelter for women and girls. However, few would know that Robinson was also a member of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, attending meetings with some of the most notable black women of the time, including Francis E. W. Harper, Victoria E. Matthews, and Harriet Tubman. Her career ended when she permanently lost sight after being injured by a prisoner.
By now, the world has heard the piano played by Ray Charles in celebration. As an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer Charles pioneered soul music, bringing it to the mainstream in the 1950s. Charles combined soul, blues, and jazz upon keys to a piano he would never get to see due to being blinded in childhood. Few know, however, that Charles worked out of his studio on Washington Blvd. Another Black Fact, his funeral was held at the church Biddy Mason helped form one hundred years prior, the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles. SOURCES: LA TIMES ARCHIVE & LA CONSERVATORY
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Mayor Thomas Bradley became the 38th Mayor of Los Angeles and held that position for 20 years. He was the first black mayor of Los Angeles and the second black mayor of a major U.S. city. However, few know that Bradley's memorial service was held on the floor inside the main entrance of the LA Convention Center with an open casket for all to view. Photo by Gary Leonard.
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Nipsey had made his way onto the mainstream charts as a prolific rapper. After his televised murder, the City of Los Angeles held a memorial parade for Hussle starting at Staples Center ending in South Central. However, few know that Nipsey Hussle was a valued member of the Historic Los Angeles Athletic Club at the time of his passing.
Photo courtesy @laurenlondon (Instagram)
Many remember the killing of HipHop artist and business leader Nipsey Hussle. Set to buy properties centered around Crenshaw Blvd, while at the same time creating the "Marathon" and "Crenshaw" Brand,
Public transportation is invaluable to our infrastructure, and Metro has a long list of solid plans in the works to ensure our commuters travel safely and get to where they need to be. Metro buses, trains, bikes, and scooters run regularly throughout our City's Core. However, few know that Metro Chief Executive Officer is a black woman named Stephanie Wiggins. Few may know, While Wiggins may be the first Black woman to serve in this role at Metro, she has been on the tracks for a while, formally serving as the CEO of Metrolink before changing routes to head Metro. Keri Freeman is the publisher of Downtown Weekly and the second African American female publisher of a newsprint publication downtown since Charlotta Bass' California Eagle first hit the stands at Grand Central Market. However, few would know that Freeman's first name means "black" in Celtic and her motto is, "Where There is a Will, There is a Way"… Happy Black History Month DTLA.
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