Dr. Linda Lopez-HOW LA’S CHIEF OF IMMIGRANT AFFAIRS IS FIGHTING TO PROTECT OUR IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES
“My parents are great examples of two individuals that came to the city in search of a better life and were able to accomplish quite a bit. We [the children] are the ones that get to benefit. I am a child of immigrants. I always keep that in who I am and a lot of the work that I do now as the Chief of the Office of Immigrant Affairs is very linked to the experience of being raised in a family with parents that migrated here. That's shaped my perspective also in the work that I do on a day to day basis to assist immigrant and refugee populations here in the city and it gives me great perspective and the way that I approach things as well.”
MANUEL PASTOR-HOW CALIFORNIA GOT IT RIGHT AND WHAT AMERICA CAN LEARN FROM IT
"My dad came to the United States in the 1930's. He came from Cuba on a tourist visa and overstayed. I was thinking about what the conditions must have been like in Cuba to look at the United States and go, 'only a quarter of the people are out of work out there. Maybe I can find a job.' He got citizenship during World War II when he was offered the choice between being deported or joining the US army. The story is that he literally couldn't figure out what to do so he gave a penny to my cousin Carlitos and flipped it. That's how the decision was made. Many benefits then flowed from him being able to find a legal path to citizenship. A GI bill for returning veterans had made it possible for him to go to LA Trade Tech, acquire some technical skills and go from being a janitor to being an air conditioner repairman."
DESA'S DISCOVERIES IN PURSUIT OF OPPORTUNITIES
"You can experience all of the world in Los Angeles. That is an amazing thing when you think about it. I've got friends who are from everywhere and so I'm just so proud of that, that I continuously step out of my box and try to see what else is out there. It’s the reason why I live in the neighborhood I live in. It's the reason why I've been here in LA for so long. It’s the reason why I'm reluctant to leave. So I love that. You can experience the world in one city. It's great. And it’s authentic. People come from around the world and can be their authentic selves here."
building LA and finding Love
Tet Takii is an LA based architect who has worked twenty two years at the prominent architecture firm Gensler. Originally from Japan, Tet decided to leave in order to pursue the "new world" that had artistically inspired him. Los Angeles wasn't his initial destination but after a ten day stay in Little Tokyo and a life changing ESL class, he decided to make it his home. Not only has he built a life here, but as an architect he's designed buildings that are part of LA's blueprint. I spoke to him about coming to America, finding love, and his favorite architecture projects.
Narciso’s Last Night in L.A.
Eating at a restaurant, it’s easy to overlook the people who make your food.
Working in a restaurant can often be the same. It’s a social environment in which customer service comes before any interaction with your coworkers. Conversations with co-workers are often interrupted by orders, so by the end of your shift all of the words you exchanged essentially amount to small talk.
Fernando
There are 800,000 DACA recipients in the US with 28% residing in California. Trump’s decision to rescind DACA not only means it could potentially erase $433 billion from the US GDP, but more importantly it puts so many people at risk of being displaced from the country they know as their only home.
One of the DACA recipients is Fernando Navarrete, a 29 year old Los Angeles resident and college graduate.