Walk the Talk Exhibition

May 18th – July 31st 2016
The exhibition features portraits, interviews, transcripts and performance scripts and videos of 52 people who have lived and worked in Skid Row and have been instrumental in creating a neighborhood in which the interests of its low income residents are prioritized and their voices heard.

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About the Project

At a time when Angelinos are living homeless throughout LA County, and government is looking to adequately respond, this archive is an important resource. It features groundbreaking initiatives that have proven transformative because they recognize and employ the humanity, wisdom and creativity of Skid Row residents to solve problems and build community.

The exhibition features people who have been recognized in Los Angeles Poverty Department’s biennial Walk the Talk parade. This year’s parade takes place Saturday May 28 and begins at noon at 800 E. 6th Street.

The show is curated by LAPD and designed by LAPD in collaboration with Robert M Ochshorn. Ochshorn is a researcher at the Communications Design Group (San Francisco), where he designs media interfaces for extending human perceptive and expressive capabilities. Ochshorn is an on-going collaborator with the Skid Row Museum & Archive, having designed the museum’s inaugural exhibition “Blue Book / Silver Book” in 2015. Ochshorn will build on the architecture developed for the “WALK THE TALK” exhibition to organize and make accessible the entire collection of the Skid Row History Museum.

For the “WALK THE TALK” exhibition, Ochshorn has written software that allows instant and parallel navigation of hour-long interviews from transcript to video and back again of these 52 historically significant Skid Row figures. This archive will also be searchable by subject (e.g., “Gladys Park”, “Jan Perry”, “Department of Social Services”, “Skid Row musicians” etc.). The “WALK THE TALK” exhibition allows for non-linear, digitally reconfigured navigation through the content — activated by each visitor — a mechanism for each visitor to experience the exhibition uniquely.

The important people included in the “WALK THE TALK” exhibition are:

2012: Alice Callaghan (founder Las Familias Del Pueblo and Skid Row Housing Trust), Tanya Tull (founder Para Los Ninos), Andy Raubeson (first executive director of SRO Housing inc.), SS Jones (founder Skid Row Musicians Network), Nan­cy Mintie (founder Inner City Law), Flo Hawkins (Skid Row muralist), Mark Holzinger (first director of the Los Angeles Mission), Pete White (founder Los Angeles Community Action Network), Mollie Lowery (founder LAMP Community), Manuel Compito (founder OG’s In Service and the Skid Row 3 on 3 Basketball League), Jeff Dietrich & Catherine Morris (The Catholic Worker), Clyde Casey (artist and founder of Another Planet), Ted Hayes (founder of Justiceville and Dome Village), Mike Neely (founder Homeless Outreach Program), Adam Bennion (one of the leaders of Love Camp), Pastor William Campbell (Project Open Door), Robert Chambers (former president of the Homeless Writers Coalition), Harry Rodgers (organizer Homeless Organizing Team, 1983-5), Officer Rich (LA County Police of­ficer at D.P.S.S. office from 1970 to 2010), Rosa Arzola & Jill Halverson (inspired and founded the Downtown Women Center), Lillian Calamari (founded pioneer­ing art studio workshop while working at SRO Housing), Wendell Blassingame (started Movies on the Nickle), Darlene Berry (SRO’s first female hotel manager, ran Cocaine Anonymous Marathon), Mr. & Mrs. Lee (owners of the D & D DELI), Walter “Redd” Moore (drug counsellor at the VOA Rotary House), Dr. Dennis Bleak­ley (physician JWCH Clinic), Orlando Ward (former director of public relations Midnite Mission), Pastor Tony & Lucy Stallworth (co- founders Karaoke Coffee Club Central City Communty Church of the Nazarene), Scott Chamberlain (founding Pastor Church of the Nazarene), Robert Sundance & Judge Harry Hupp (plaintiff and Judge in the Sundance Case), Richard Fulton (founder 5th Street Dick’s Coffee Company).

2014: Joan Sotiros (long time director of St. Vincent DePaul Cen­ter), Clancy Imislund (former director of the Midnite Mission), Dr. Mongo (poet), General Jeff (Skid Row advocate, Issues and Solutions), Zelenne Carnedas and Charles Porter (United Coalition East Prevention Project), Michael Blaze (founder Skid Row Photography Club and Unified Fathers for Life), Captain Duffy (captain of Skid Row Firehouse 9).

2016: Carol Sobel (civil rights attorney), Becky Dennison (former co-director Los Angeles Community Network and currently director Venice Community Housing), General Dogon (organizer Los Angeles Community Network), A. J. Martin (volunteer responsible for maintaining community access to Gladys Park and volunteer for The Drifters recovery meetings in Gladys Park), Hayk Makhmuryan (director LAMP Arts Program) Christopher Mack (outreach work­er at the JWCH Center for Community Health Downtown), Katherine McNenny (co-founder Industrial District Green), KevinMichael Key (Community organizer).

Project Funders

LAPD’s Skid Row History Museum and Archive project is supported with funding from The Surdna Foundation, The Mike Kelley Foundation, The Doris Duke Charitable Trust, The LA County Arts Commission, City of LA Department of Cultural Affairs, and individual donors.