Zoos Myth and Reality in Nice Letters Art Letters

"Vida" was meant to exist a TV show ripped from the headlines of L.A., portraying the battles over gentrification that have gripped Boyle Heights in recent years.

Aiming for a realistic expect, the producers Th dark fix one scene on 1st Street in the predominantly Mexican American neighborhood, transforming a building into a rental listing office consummate with graffiti decrying "Rental Crimes" and "Eviction Notice: Gentry get the ... out."

But what was supposed to be dramatization about the furnishings of gentrification is now generating its ain protests, with some activists accusing the evidence of being part of the problem.

The activist group Defend Boyle Heights sent a call-out — or "HOOD ALERT!!!"— for a demonstration during the filming, claiming the production was taking advantage of the neighborhood. The group slammed the show, maxim that it "tastelessly exploits the anti-gentrification struggles of Boyle Heights" and that it stole images from activists.

It's the latest in a series of battles over the future of Boyle Heights, the barrio east of downtown L.A. that in contempo years has seen an influx of artists, hipster retailers and new development moving in. Some residents have welcomed the changes, specially homeowners who have seen real manor prices rise and the shopping multifariousness improve.

But others fright the immigrant working-course residents who for generations called Boyle Heights home will be pushed out, along with the Mexican American culture for which the commune is famous. Activists have protested the opening of art galleries and even an independent coffeehouse, saying they are doing harm to the customs. The protests themselves take been polarizing, with some residents saying the activists go too far and fifty-fifty demonize white people. In late 2016, the L.A. Police Department investigated three acts of vandalism targeting art galleries, including graffiti at one gallery that read "(Expletive) white fine art," equally possible detest crimes.

The protests over the filming mark a new ironic twist, because producers of the Starz show said they were simply trying to honestly portray the debate most gentrification.

The activists said they have long been concerned about the show, now in its second flavour, and the how information technology portrays the community. Their biggest complaint is that those involved are profiting off the struggles of those trying to stay in their homes. They also say the bear witness pokes fun at them and stole the image of the Ovarian Psycos Cycle Brigade, a grass-roots grouping of female activists who lead bike rides in Boyle Heights to combat gentrification and other social issues.

But Defend Boyle Heights' planned demonstration didn't quite work out as desired. The group told members to evidence up at 6 p.m. Simply by then, the film crew was packing upwards and no major protest materialized.

Every bit crew members trickled into the Evergreen Cemetery and filled its roads with production trailers and trucks, two young women — one wearing a T-shirt with an anti-gentrification phrase and the other who identified herself as a Defend Boyle Heights fellow member — sat at a bus station across the street from the original filming location, actualization to monitor the scene.

A Defend Boyle Heights member, who would not give her proper name, declined to comment on the group's future plans, maxim a reporter should bank check the group's social media feed.

"We have a longstanding boycott against the L.A. Times," she said.

The group later posted blurry photos on Instagram showing members of the film crew eating during an apparent suspension. The post too mentioned "Vida's" showrunner, Tanya Saracho. "Don't residual like shooting fish in a barrel, nosotros got eyes on ya."

A Starz publicist declined to comment on the protests Friday and said Saracho would not be speaking on the affair.

After an earlier protestation while "Vida" was filming at Mariachi Plaza, Saracho and the crew left the expanse out of respect for the protesters.

In a May interview with The Times, Saracho said she works with a customs liaison to aid ease any tension. She said the person reached out to several community organizations, including Defend Boyle Heights, to create an open dialogue.

"I'g building this world with a lot of respect, with a lot of admiration," Saracho said. "We endeavour for the images, the sounds to exist true to life as much as Tv tin can go true to life."

A production crew for the Starz show "Vida" cleans a shooting location along East 1st Sreet in Boyle Heights.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Saracho was relatively unfamiliar with L.A. — she was born in Mexico and started her career in Chicago — only she jumped at the adventure to depict the intersection of Latino culture, sexuality and politics in Boyle Heights, a part of boondocks that isn't often represented on TV or film. "Vida" focuses on 2 estranged sisters who return to their hometown of Boyle heights after their mother dies, and discover themselves becoming targets of local anti-gentrification activists.

In ane scene, a young Latina activist glares into the camera, revealing her acrimony and determination to fight a gentrification movement she fears has invaded her Eastside neighborhood.

"If they recollect we're going to take this occupation, this recolonization, lying downward, they got another thing coming, mi gente," she declares.

The words mirror the ethos of the anti-gentrification activists, whose tactics have been praised by activists in other parts of the U.S. where rapid modify in some working-course neighborhoods is seen as an existential threat.

But the aggressive strategy has likewise generated controversy.

Boyle Heights Alliance Against Artwashing and Displacement, a group affiliated with Defend Boyle Heights, has chased out fine art galleries that have moved in that location in recent years, and intimidated businesses, such equally the Weird Waves coffee shop and Asher Caffé & Lounge. In July, Defend Boyle Heights disrupted the grand opening effect for Asher Caffé later on it found anti-immigrant social media posts by its possessor, Asher Shalom. In an interview soon afterward, Shalom said he would non have fix shop in the neighborhood had he been aware of the gentrification battle.

Many local leaders did not want to comment publicly on the matter for fear of being targeted. One city official who declined to exist named said many of the community leaders he has spoken with have reservations about Defend Boyle Heights' decision to focus on "Vida" because the show's producers have generally tried to be sensitive to the community's concerns. Privately, the official said, some people wondered whether the activists always planned to physically protest or whether the call-out had been a form of psychological warfare.

On the activist group's Facebook page, some people criticized targeting the Boob tube show.

"It's hard for me to sympathize with your cause when you resort to stalking and bullying beliefs, intent on creating fear and intimidation," ane Instagram user wrote, referencing Defend Boyle Heights' strategy of monitoring the film crew throughout the nighttime. "There are many people, including Latinos, making an honest living on this testify … As a Latino living in Boyle Heights, you don't speak for me."

Though Saracho, similar the activists, would not comment, it was hard not to wonder whether an Instagram video story she posted Friday afternoon was a reference to Defend Boyle Heights' campaign.

"How practice you heal and protect yourself and deal with the toxic meanness and also listen?" Saracho said. "Information technology makes me sad when we fight. I don't desire to exist venereal in a bucket."

alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com

Twitter: @r_valejandra

striplingstimplus.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-boyle-heights-tv-show-protests-20180901-story.html

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