Category Archives: Jim Smith
The Fire Next Time
By Jim Smith Christine Burrill’s stunning exhibit of photo collages of the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising has an impact and immediacy that few other art forms can convey. Three of the large collages were printed on brushed aluminum sheets by … Continue reading
Filed under Civil Rights, Crime/Police, Jim Smith
Tenants Reclaim Lincoln Place
Six years after they were booted out of their homes by corporate landlord AIMCO, happy tenants began returning to newly refurbished apartments on April 15. Evictees and their union, the Lincoln Place Tenant Association, plus a large number of Venice … Continue reading
Filed under Jim Smith, Tenants/Lincoln Place
How Peter Douglas Saved Venice and the California Coast
By Jim Smith Peter Douglas, who was the chief guardian of the California coast for the past 40 years, died April 1. It would have been much better for Venice if this were a sick April Fools joke, but it … Continue reading
Filed under Development/Gentrification, Environment, Jim Smith, Venice
Scene of the Crime: Marker Unveiled Where Japanese-Americans Were Taken to Camps
It was 70 years later, to the day, that more than 100 Venetians gathered in support of a handful of Japanese-American survivors of the Manzanar Concentration Camp. In 1942, they had been taken away from the very spot of the … Continue reading
Filed under Civil Rights, Japanese-Americans, Jim Smith
No one ever said it would be easy: Saving the Venice Post Office
By Jim Smith In spite of a lawsuit brought by the Coalition to Save the Venice Post Office, the Postal Service has plowed ahead with efforts to sell the historic building and substitute a “hole-in-the-wall” facility in the old Safeway … Continue reading
Filed under Jim Smith, Post Office
Where’s the Transparency? – L.A. Confidential
By Jim Smith When City Controller Candidate Cary Brazeman expressed shock that the city of Los Angeles was corrupt, I was reminded of the scene in the film, Casablanca, when Inspector Renault discovers gambling at Rick’s as he is handed … Continue reading
The Coverup continues – Book Review: Watergate – A Novel
By Jim Smith We live in a world shaped by history. It is hard to escape our personal history – parents, aunts, uncles – and others who want to shape us in their molde. One means of escape that has … Continue reading
Filed under Book Review, History, International, Jim Smith, Politics
Fighting back against a faceless bureaucracy
By Jim Smith Nancy Williamson lives a few blocks from the Venice Post Office. For the past 10 years she has visited the building several times a week. “I’ve never gone into that building without looking up at the mural … Continue reading
Filed under Jim Smith, Post Office
Do we have Women’s Equality now?
Women’s Earnings as a Percentage of Men’s in 2009: 77% (down from 77.8% in 2007) Percentage of women in each group: U.S. Population (2010 Census): 50.8% U.S. Senate: 17% House of Representatives: 16.6% California Legislature: 28.3% Los Angeles City Council: … Continue reading
The Other Brother: “Salt of the Earth,” The Film They Tried To Kill, Lives On Thanks to Technology
By Jim Smith A lot of people in Venice know that Edward Biberman was the artist who painted the Post Office mural, The Story of Venice. But few probably know that his older brother, Herbert, directed Salt of the Earth, … Continue reading
Filed under Film Review, History, Jim Smith, Labor, Women
