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Transcript of Strawberry Gazette, Issue 4
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8/9/2019 Strawberry Gazette, Issue 4
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ITS NOT JUST THEWATER! LAND, LOSANGELES, AND THE
OWENS VALLEYBY CHRIS LANGLEY
In the early twentieth century,
agents for the City of Los Ange-
les began surreptitiously buy-
ing property in the Owens Valley.
The plan was to capture control
of specific parcels of land that
would lead to the city controlling
the water of the valley. The trium-
virate of Lippincott, Eaton, and
Mulholland were frozen in time
together in a famous photograph
that appeared in the Los Angeles
Times on August 6, 1906, looking
more like engineers than land
bandits. In part, appealing to the
greed of the valleys farmers and
ranchers, they basically secured
the water rights to the Owens Val-
ley. In a few years, work would
begin on the L. A. Aqueduct, which
would take the Owens River to the
young city to secure its explosive
growth.
The economic and social rela-
tions between the city and the val-
ley have shaped the land of the
Owens Valley. These relations are
reflected today in the allotment
of space, business, and the aes-
thetics of the landscape in which
the lives of local residents are
embedded. It also left the Los
Angeles Department of Water
and Power (LADWP) landlords of
Continued on page 11
BY TERENCE LYONS
Every Sunday afternoon for more
than two years, a handful of veter-
ans have gathered at the intersec-
tion of Wilshire and San Vicente
Boulevards, just outside a corner
of the West Los Angeles VA prop-
erty. Calling themselves the Old
Veterans Guard, they are vigor-
ously protesting the abuse and
misuse of this sacred land that
was deeded 122 years ago for vet-erans use only, says Robert Rose-
brock, a leader of the group, who
objects to certain non-veteran
uses on the property.
The basic 1888 deed by which the
owners of Rancho San Vicente y
Santa Monica transferred 300 acres
to the National Home for Disabled
Volunteer Soldiers simply specified
that it was land on which to locate,
establish, construct, and perma-
nently maintain such branch [West
of the Rocky Mountains] of said
National Home Over the years
since then, the VA property has
grown (as with the nineteenth cen-
tury grant of 200 acres from a man
who had pledged a cash donation he
was later unable to pay) and shrunk
(as in the cases of the twentieth
century takings for the San Diego
FreewayInterstate 405and the
Westwood Federal Building).
Also over the years since 1888, the
VA property has been put to uses
for the benefit of the public gener-
ally, as well as veterans in particu-
larin 1904 it became a stop on
a 100-mile daylong streetcar out-
ing for tourists, and in 1911 sev-
eral thousand civilians joined twothousand vets to watch hair-rais-
ing aerial stunts over the prop-
erty. Most recently, the VA property
in March of this year joined in the
new Stadium to the Sea route
of the Los Angeles Marathon, as
thousands of runners struggled
up Bonsall Avenue in the make-or-
break last uphill segment of the
race before coasting down San
Vicente Boulevard to the finish
line in Santa Monica.
But today, the VA land is also used
for longer-term, non-veterans-
related purposes, from vehicle
parking for offsite enterprises to
a mineral rights agreement con-
trolled by the Department of theInterior. Two of those uses involve
VA agreements with Brentwood
School and the Veterans Park
Conservancy.
Brentwood School
The VA provides twenty-two acres
in the northwest corner of the
property to the private Brentwood
School under a sharing agree-
ment, on which land the school
has constructed a modern athletic
complex, which includes playing
fields, tennis courts, a track, and
an aquatic center. The ten-year
agreement begun in 2000 (cur-
rently at $375,000 per year) is now
up for a ten-year renewal option,
and Head of School Michael Pratt
told The Strawberry Gazette when
we spoke in May that the school
had submitted for VA approval its
election to proceed with the option.
The agreement provides that the
VA shall have the right to sched-
ule uses of the Athletic Complex or
portions thereof at mutually con-
venient times, and Pratt told the
Gazette that the school has offered
the VA the use of its track, for exam-
ple, when it is not required by the
school. Moreover, the school hashosted the Golden Age Olympics, a
national athletic event for veterans,
and supported the building of the
VA Fisher House and offered tuto-
rial services for the veterans chil-
dren staying there.
Continued on page 2
* * * * Serving the 300,000 veterans living in greater Los Angeles * * * *
Strawberry GazetteVOLUME I LAND USE ISSUE 4 JUNE, 2010
The Future ofVeterans Land
The veterans home and hospital areas are both located west of Interstate 405. The LOS ANGELES CEMETERY
between Sepulveda Boulevard and Veterans Avenue contains the remains of some 85,000 veterans and family
members from the MEXICAN WAR to the present. The Wilshire FEDERAL BUILDING lies east of the Interstate.
Cinny Kennard (CK): Were talk-
ing now with Matt Coolidge, the
founder and director of the Center
for Land Use Interpretation of Los
Angeles. You are a leading expert
on how property is used in the
United States. From what youve
seen here today, what about Straw-
berry Flagand how this property is
being used now?
Matt Coolidge (MC): Im still get-
ting my mind around it. Frankly,
this is the first time Ive been this
deep into the VA here in L.A., and
so just initially, as a project to
draw people to this place, for me
its already achieved something.
I guess in a way the people who
are here, whoever they are, are
sort of filling in kind of a crack
thats forming in the VA, a social
kind of crack in the frozen sort of
politics of this place. I guess all
of us, for better or worse, are like
little droplets of water, freezing
and expanding in the crack as we
come in to find out what this place
is, what it means, what it could be,
what it isnt, what it should be. I
guess its still an open question
but the question I think has been,
for me, raised, which is a question
I never thought to even ask.
CK: This is over 300 acres if you
calculate the land across Wilshire
Boulevard in Los Angeles, and
then you come across Wilshire to
this quad, where we are, between
Building 205, 208, 209. Whats
your thought of the whole notion
that these two buildings are aban-
doned? This one is partially used.
Many other buildings around
this campus are abandoned over
the course of years. As a land use
expert, do you see a gold mine
here? Do you see old buildings
that just need to be knocked
down: lets start over? Im putting
you on the spot I realize because
youve just been here a little bit.
Continued on page 11
An Interview with Matt Coolidge,
Founder and Director of the Center for
Land Use Interpretation of Los Angeles
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THE FUTURE OF VETERANSLAND CONTINUED...
Pratt also spoke of a senior-level
ethics course he taught in which
he took students to the VA and
met with World War II prisoner of
war veterans as part of the classs
study of just war theory. This sort
of healthy interaction between
the VA and the outside commu-
nity incidental to property use
seems to benefit everyone. The
Brentwood School agreement also
provides that the school shall
make every effort to increase pub-
lic awareness of the [VAs] role in
making the premises available
to the school, although Pratt
could not say what had been done
in that regard except that it is widely known in the community
that Brentwood School does not
own the land.
Veterans Park Conservancy
Another VA sharing agreement
is with the Veterans Park Conser-
vancy, a Brentwood-based nonprofit
group that has been recognized by
the Los Angeles County Board of
Supervisors for its work since 1986
in, among other things, dedicat-
ing the Veterans Parkway portion
of Wilshire Boulevard as it passes
through the VA, and restoring the
Bob Hope Veterans Chapel on the
cemetery grounds.
The 2007 twenty-year sharing
agreement (with a mutual option
provision for another ten years)
concerns the sixteen acres behind
the fence at Wilshire and San
Vicente Boulevards, in front of
which Rosebrock and his group
conduct their protests. The agree
ment provides for the develop-
ment of a park to be used for
benefit of veterans and the gen-
eral public, and this seems to be
the focus of the protests, notwith-
standing that VA Network Direc-
tor Ronald B. Norby told a forumof Westside leaders in September
2009 that the VA intended no use
of the campus not related to veter-
ans, and that the land would be
used exclusively at all times for
service and care of veterans.
TheGazette spoke with Sue Young,
executive director of the Conser-
vancy, who said that the purpose
of the park was to honor, heal,
educate, and unite. Although she
said that the Conservancy was
not ready to talk about the park
because it was not there yet, she
did say that it foresaw a gazebo/
bandstand, the restoration of a
rose garden and fountains behind
Building 220, and the return of
birds to the area.
Whether the 1888 deed requires
the property to be used only for
veteransand whether isolating
veterans from the community is
even a good ideaare questions
that beg to be addressed in a com-
prehensive way.
The Master Plan
From 2004 through 2007, the
VA undertook the Capital Asset
Realignment for Enhanced Ser-
vices (CARES) study on the national
level. In a September 2007 news
release, the VA said that facilitymodernizations along with the
agreement with the Veterans Park
Conservancy to designate 16 acres
of land for the Veterans Memo-
rial Park, the Fisher House, and
the buildings designated for tran-
sitional housing for the homeless
[Buildings 205, 208, and 209] repre-
sent a major portion of the Master
Plan for the VA campus.
In September 2009, Norby told the
forum of Westside leaders that the
VA was pulling together a master
plan for the property, of which a
preliminary draft was then com-
plete, but he did not give a timeta-
ble for the plans completion.
Such a plan would not only be use-
ful, but the process of developing
the planespecially if it included
input from all those with a stake
in the property, especially veter-
answould be a valuable tool for
determining the proper and most
beneficial uses to be made of this
wonderful property.
TheGazette received no response to
requests to interview Norby for this
article, and we were among those
barred from a May 18 invitation-only VA Quarterly Stakeholders
Meeting that may have addressed
the state of a master plan (as prior
such meetings have done).
Land use is a subject of enormous
importance, not only at the VA, but
in the community at large. And it
is a subject that is most profit-
ably addressed in frank and open
forums rather than street-corner
protests or closed-door meetings.
BY TERENCE LYONS
The local winners of the 2010 Vet-
erans Creative Arts Festival are now
being judged at the national level ofcompetition for a trip to La Crosse,
Wisconsin, in October, and partici-
pation in a stage show (in the per-
formance categories) and arts show
(in the visual arts categories) that
will celebrate the national winners.
The local competition in the annual
festival was held in Building 500 on
March 11 and was open to all vet-
erans who receive services at the
West Los Angeles VA. The veterans
response to the call for entries was
enthusiastic, said Erin Rule, rec-
reation therapist at the Domicili-
ary, who organized the local event.
Besides viewing the many works of
art and the crafts on display, those
who attended the March 11 festival
competition were treated to more
than two hours of musical perfor-
mances and dramatic readings.
Recreational therapist Bruce Gar-
rett introduced dozens of acts,
ranging from Yolanda Harriss dra-
matic and thoughtful recitation of
A Veterans Dream to Philip Scotts
entertaining and humorous Did
You Know God Was Black to the
Men of Faith groups rousing vocal
finale.
The competition was organized in
many categories. Local winners in
the various visual arts categories
had their works photographed, andthe photos were sent in for national
judging. Videos of the local win-
ners in the performance categories
were forwarded for the national
selections.
The winners of the local West Los
Angeles Creative Arts Festival in the
musical performance categories
were as follows: Troy Newsome in
pop solo for Purple Rain; Stanley
Salce in Broadway solo for Some-
where Over the Rainbow; Wood-
stock in folk solo for It Aint Me
Babe; Ray Rodgers in religious solo
for Walk with Me; and Men of
Faith in religious group for Jesus,
He Will Fix It. Rodgers has been
a contributing writer to The Straw-
berry Gazette.
In the spoken performance cat-
egories, the winners were as
follows: Yolanda Harris in inter-
pretive performance for A Vet-
erans Dream; Napoleon Jackson
in dramatic prose for A Touch of
the Masters Hand; Willie Smith
in inspirational poetry for The
Lord Jesus Christ; Ethan Lucas in
other poetry for Born Alive, Die
Cold and New Life; and Mark
Balmforth in humorous short story
for The Rainmaker.
In the visual arts categories, the winners included the following:
Lance Scott in acrylic painting for
Little Girl; Phyllis Miller in oil paint-
ing forMans Eternal; Charles Beatie
in sculpture for The Clown; Arturo
Pea and Lance Scott tied in mono-
chrome drawing for Peas eagle
entitled Freedom and Scotts other
Little Girl; Haven Robinson in both
colored drawing and pottery for
Blue Heaven Cathedraland Com-
munion, respectively; Eric Kaylor
in color photography for Nature vs.
Man; and Pea also in mixed media
fine art for The Lord Is My Shepherd.
Pea has been a contributing car-
toonist to The Strawberry Gazette.
Also winning in visual arts were
the following: Bernard Johnson in
glazed ceramics for Vase; Kenny
Ondo in painted ceramics for
Ondos Piece; Julia Garrett in col-
lage for Surroundings Around Barack
Obama; Jake Stephens in bead-
work for his untitled beaded work;
Ronte Foster in applied art for The
Queen Bee; Nicole Ortiz in leather
kit for Starry Moccasins; Glen Ayala
in wood-building kit for Birds Para-
dise; and Gerald Procella in plastic
model kit for his Harley model.
2
Creative Arts WinnersCompete at National Level
I dont feel we did wrong in taking this g reat country
away from them. There were great numbers of
people who needed new land, and the Indians were
selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.
John Wayne
Tip the world over on its side and everything loose
will land in Los Angeles.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Under the direction of print studio manager Rich Nielsen the veterans print studio produced this etching for a
mulberry/strawberry limited edition of veterans preserves in honor of Zev Yaroslavskys visit to Strawberry Flag.
Zev Yaroslavsky is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, representing the western part of
Los Angeles County and a constituency of two million people.
Paul Crowley recording the Tin Mans voice in the filmSilver and Water
that aims to reconnect Los Angeles with the source of its water.
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Thoughts about Living
Monuments, Private and Public
BY JANET OWEN DRIGGS
Unknown Day, 1875
J. C. Gobrecht, writing in Ohio
The maimed and crippled sol-
dieris no longer without a local
habitation and a nameThe
ample provision which a humane
and generous government has
made for his present and future
earthly comfort, is to him of far
more importance than the inscrip-
tion of his name upon the lofti-
est memorial pile.The Soldiers
Home is a living monument; oneupon which the war-worn veteran
may gaze with pleasurable emo-
tion as he proudly contemplates it
and exclaims I live in the hearts of
my countrymen!
April 28, 2010
Parker Road, Hastings, UK
Closing up our parents house, my
sister and I gather objects that
briefly anchor passing time: a small
brass lion, a measuring cup, two
pairs of plastic baby shoes. These
tangible things assure us that the
past really happened. They let us
ponder it in ways we cannot if all we
have is fleeting memory. They repre-
sent memories our parents chose to
keep, and those that we take home
will shape the memories that our
descendents have of these beloved
people.
April 29 + 30, 2010
University of the Arts, L ondon, UK
Attending Afterlives of Monuments
symposium on key markers in
the colonial and post-colonial his-
tories and spaces of South Asia.1
Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Stu-
dio are reinventing the monument
with such works as theAnabolic
Monument and Strawberry Flag.
Im here because I want to better
understand how scholars are think-
ing about the subject and tell them
about this work.
Wondering what the word afterlife
means in relation to a monument,
I listen to Dr. Clare Harris discuss
Tibets Potala Palace. Once home
to the Dalai Lama, since his 1959
flight from Tibet, the Chinese gov-
ernment has turned Potala into a
museum. Although this act seemsto evidence regard for a subject
culture, it also drains power from
indigenous opposition by position-
ing its culture as a relic. As novelist
and critic Raymond Williams wrote,
A culture can never be reduced to
its artifacts while it is being lived.2
If a monument allows its visitors
to reclaim the past, then Potala is
a kind of organized forgetting. Im
reminded of Pierre Noras asser-
tion of the terrorism of histori-
cized memory and his distinction:
Memory is life, borne by living
societies... Historyis the recon-
struction, always problematic and
incomplete, of what is no longer.3
Curator Sona Datta then presents
Durga: creating an image of the god-
dess. At the British Museum, it
enacted an annual Hindu tradition
of sculpting Durga from mud and
straw. Because generations of Hin-
dus define themselves in relation to
their past in this way, the festival is
offered as an example of intangi-
ble cultural heritage, a living mon-
ument.4 (Thinking of Nora, isnt a
festival in a museum rendered life-
less, or at least zombie?)
This is what the conference means
by afterlife: revivification after
death. Perhaps it occurs through
the monuments instrumentaliza-
tion as a tool of power, or perhaps
via ritualized enactment, but this
notion of afterlife always supposes
that the tangible object of a monu-
ment, with apologies to Dickens, is
as dead as a coffin-nail.5
May 6, 2010
Santa Fe Art Colony, Los Angeles
Unpacking. Here is Dads campaign
poster and the bonnet Mum knit-ted from a dolls pattern. Here is
the dye-stained measuring cup. For
the rest of my life I will be creating a
reconstruction problematic and
incomplete, of what is no longer.6
Wanting to inspire my son with
his grandfathers courage and his
grandmothers sense of fun, I will
undoubtedly exaggerate.
May 7, 2010
Anabolic Monument(Lauren Bon,
2006ongoing), Los Angeles
State Historic Park, USA
Standing in the middle of the Ana-
bolic Monuments circle of corn
bales. Suggesting a different defi-
nition of afterlife, they are made
from corn stover that was grown
by the artists Not A Cornfield
(20052006). A regular site of cere-
mony and ritual, the rotting bales
host plants that attract insects,
which appeal to small birds and
rodents, which in turn draw larger
avian hunters; and so the cycles of
life go on.
Because monuments are intended
to keep the values of a culture
conspicuous to posterity, they
Continued on page 4
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity
belonging to us. When we see land as a community
to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love
and respect.
Aldo Leopold
Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes.
Bertolt Brecht3
The Anabolic Monument as an artwork redefines monumentality as a working process rather than a commemo-
rative one. It replaces the Neo-Classical monuments herculean effort to erect a permanent form with the
herculean effort to support life, which will always seek to rebuild itself and create form around that process.
June 20 American Legion Post#322 is having a Fine Art
& Garage Sale in Building 500 starting at 9am.
BY TERENCE LYONS
The 396-bed Veterans Home of
California West Los Angeles will
be dedicated with all appropriate
pageantry on June 14, Flag Day, on
the grounds of the West L.A. VA.
The 10:00 a.m. public ceremonies
and ribbon-cutting will include
the U.S. Marine Corps march-
ing band from Miramar, the New
Directions choir, and a flyover
of vintage World War II aircraft,according to Jeanne Bonfilio of
the California Department of Vet-
erans Af fairs (CalVet).
CalVet will operate the facility,
which will be its sixth Veterans
Home in the state, on 17 acres of
VA campus land deeded to the
State of California for the pur-
pose, said Louis Koff, administra-
tor of the new home. The VA will
provide the veteran residents with
medical care, medical supplies,
laundry and food services, and
prescription medications.
Three levels of care will be pro-
vided. The 84-bed Residential
Care Facility for the Elderly (age
62, or younger if disabled) will
begin accepting patients this
summer. Sometime next year, the
252-bed Skilled Nursing Facility,
and a 60-bed Alzheimers/demen-
tia (or memory care) unit will
open. Admission to the veteranshome is a state (rather than fed-
eral) decision, said Koff, and 117
applications had been received
by CalVet as of mid May, when
The Strawberry Gazette toured the
building with him.
The $187 million project (financed
by federal as well as state money)
has been under construction on
the VA north campus since
July 2007, when Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger called veter-
ans the true action heroes at
the groundbreaking. At the time
of the Gazettes tour, the build-
ing had been cleared by the fire
marshal, and the building inspec-
tors were in the process of finish-
ing their business. Koff said that
he then expected the licensing
authorities from the Department
of Social Services (for residential
care) and the Department of Pub-
lic Health (for nursing care) to
conduct their examinations.
A wing that will be part of the
Residential Care Facility for the
Elderly was virtually complete
at the time of our tour, although
not all of the furniture had been
moved in. Both the rooms and the
common areas are light and airy,
with large windows, views of the
landscaped grounds, wide halls,
and outdoor patios off the lobbies
and dining areas. There are no
dark hallways or cramped envi-ronments that people sometimes
associate with nursing or retire-
ment homes.
The rooms we saw were built in
suites, with two individual bed-
rooms, a closet, and a bathroom
opening off a large foyer. The foyer
was big enough to contribute to
the roomy feel of the place, but
not large enough to be anything
morea resident would have to
do all his living in the bedroom.
Each bedroom featured a hand-
some wall of built-in drawers and
shelving that will include a flat-
screen TV.
The beds are new hospital beds
certainly more expensive than
conventional bedsand surely
practical in case a resident
becomes ill or otherwise requires
more intensive medical attention.
But the appearance of the hos-
pital bed, especially when com-bined with the fact that the foyer/
bedroom doorways have cur-
tains rather than doors, create an
atmosphere that almost screams
hospital rather than home. Per-
haps the addition of an uphol-
stered chair and a bedside table,
which had not yet been delivered
to the rooms, will soften this.
CalVet currently operates five Vet-
erans Homes of California from
Napa County to San Diego County,
and is now working with contrac-
tors to build two more in Fresno
and Redding. Its mission is to
promote and deliver the benefits
provided by the grateful State of
California to its deserving Veter-
ans and their familieswith a
vision for Californias veterans to
live the highest quality of life with
dignity and honor.
For more information, please visit
www.calvet.ca.gov.
California State
Home for Veteransto Open June 14
The $187 million project (financed by federal as well as state
money) has been under construction on the VA north campus
since July 2007, when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called
veterans the true action heroes at the groundbreaking.
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Aerial View of Westwood circa 1972 with the Veterans Administration marked.
Some people talk of morality, and some of religion,
but give me a little snug property.
Maria Edgeworth
They made us many promises, more than I can
remember, but they kept only one; they promised to
take our land, and they did.
Red Cloud
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STR
AWB
ERRYFLA
G
!
METABOLIC STU
DIO
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In spite of the centuries that sepa-
rate the people in Wild River(set in
the 1930s) andAvatar(set in 2156),
we still relate to the characters as
real. Yet Hollywood stars dressed
in Appalachian garb are as far
from real people as the stretched,
lanky Navi tribespeople are from
us moviegoers. But neither Kazan
nor Cameron is taking primary
aim at the development of their
characters: what is being altered
in both films is t he land itself.
A half century ago, reshaping
landscapes with large civic and
industrial processes was common
and omnipresent; fifty years later,
that shaping of space is making
continued life on earth a question,
and that question is of course en-
meshed inextricably with cultural
practice in our moment. Land use
is indeed a storyif not the story
of our time. Avatar is a palpable
and believable artwork that tells
this story well, and does it with
such subtlety that the audience of-
ten doesnt even feel its presence.
8I think nobody owns the land until their dead are
in it.
Joan Didion
Maka le wakan the land is sacred. These words
are at the core of our being. The land is our mother,
the rivers our blood. Take away our land and we
die. That is, the Indian in us dies. Wed become just
suntanned white men, the jetsam and floatsam of
your great melting pot.
Mary Brave Bird
BY LAURA SANDERSON HEALY
The Veterans Garden at the VA
used to be worked by veterans
who had come through rehabili-
tation programs and who tilled
the land, growing crops and flow-
ers for the VA to sell to restaurants
and florists. That program has
ceased, and the land that the gar-
dens occupied will now be man-
aged in conjunction with the VA by
the Claremont, Californiabased
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gar-
den, the largest garden in the state
solely dedicated to Californias
native plants.
Rancho Santa Ana was foundedin 1927 by Susanna Bixby Bryant, a
daughter of one of Californias pio-
neer families, who dedicated 200
acres of her ranch (in what is now
Orange Countys Yorba Linda) to
grow and study native California
flora in perpetuity. We consider
her quite visionary, said the gar-
dens executive director, Patrick
Larkin, recently, because she was
upset that native plants were dis-
appearing because of development,
and she wanted to do something.
Trustees decided it was in the gar-
dens best interests to move in the
1950s to Claremont and be associ-
ated with Pomona Colleges under-
graduate programs; Claremont
Graduate University now has mas-
ters and doctoral studies in system-
atic and evolutionary botany. By
growing California native plants on
the gardens eighty-six acres, we
are trying to encourage their use,
and are also conserving the rareand threatened plants, said Larkin
as he sat at a booth representing
the garden at the Westwood Farm-
ers Market on the old Veterans Gar-
den site. With the water crisis and
everything else in California, the
ones that are adapted to Southern
California are perfectly good in the
landscape, use two-thirds less water
than their exotic relatives, and
theyve adapted to living in a Medi-
terranean climate, which is what we
are in here in Southern California
we are not in a desert. They will go
dormant during the summer, and
many of them will actually drop
their leaves [then] rather than dur-
ing the winter months. Some of our
natives will actually die during the
summer months if you water them;
thats how well adapted they are to
the conditions here.
Theres any number of challenges
that we encounter in terms of try-ing to convince people to use the
plants and to adopt them more
readily in the landscape, Larkin
said. One is this whole percep-
tion of what a California native
plant is, and the misconception of
what a native iseveryone thinks
they are the brown things on the
hillside that burn. They dont real-
ize that native plants come in all
sorts of beautiful colors and are
just as worthy for use in the land-
scape as non-natives. We even
have a native rose.
Larkin said the garden has been
working out an agreement with
the VA to co-manage the old Vet-
erans Garden area for a very
long time, though they have been
present at the property since Jan-
uary of this year. They are cur-
rently looking for a manager,
Larkin said, and promised they
were going to be working with
the Veterans Administration totrain veterans on the propagation,
care, and maintenance of Califor-
nia native plants to basically cre-
ate this workforce who can help
get these plants in wider use and
really help with Californias water
situationjust train them so they
can go out, whether its indepen-
dently or working with somebody
else. The garden is always get-
ting calls, he said, from contrac-
tors and land owners wanting to
hire someone who actually care
for this stuff, but they didnt know
where to find anyone, because
nobody knows how to do it. There
just arent the professionals out
there, people in the field, who are
used to working with t hese plants.
When a homeowner is looking to
transform their landscape, if the
person on the other end of the line
doesnt know about these plants,
they are not going to be able to tell
them about them. There are very
few schools that are actually deal-
ing with these plants. I am most
excited about getting a workforceout there that can help proselytize
about these plants.
The garden is working on land-
scaping plans for the entire Veter-
ans Garden property, but Larkin
says there are a couple of theories
on how those will manifest them-
selves. Hopefully we will have
pretty pictures and everything
sometime soon, he said. We
want to make a garden-esque dis-
play space to show people how a
landscape can be converted into
something much more water effi-
cient so people can look at it and
think, Oh, I can do that in my
own yard. We wont be using all of
the property immediately, but as
interest and business grows, and
we are working on getting con-
tracts, well keep progressing back
into the propertyit is phenome-
nal back there.
Larkin said he believed the adja-cent neighborhood to be poten-
tially receptive. I think this is
a great location; weve got folks
who are very interested in doing
the right thing, looking for native
California plants and things that
are water efficient, he said. You
cant find these plants in just any
old garden center or nursery out
there. And we hope it helps raise
the visibility of the VA and also
some of the work that we are doing
with California natives. The gar-
den uses volunteers to make flo-
ral ar rangements using the plants,
and by looking at them initially
you would never guess that there
was anything different about
them, he noted.
And the vets? We will be working
with the Compensated Work Ther-
apy veterans, as far as the training
program is concerned, and will
certainly continue to have the
Integrated Therapy veterans who
are still working here watering
and pruning. Whereas the gateto the Veterans Garden has only
been open for the Farmers Market
on Thursdays, they plan to keep it
open during the week. We will be
here five days a week, said Larkin.
We want it to be a place where, in
addition to whatever sales might
be going on, folks will come down
just to get away from it all.
THE FUTURE OF VETERANS GARDENS
One thousand cots were made by veteran volunteers for Tax Day High Tea
Six theme, Beds on Heads.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 5 PMLaunch of Strawberry Gazette Issue
Five at the DWP IOU Garden,Lone Pine, CA.
You cant find these plants in just any old garden center or nursery out there. And we
hope it helps raise the visibility of the VA and also some of the work that we are doing
with California natives.
STRAWBERRY SUNDAYS
Beginning June 6 and
running throughout the
summer, Strawberry Flag
will be the place to be
for live music and perfor-
mance at 5pm at the blue
section of the flag. Bring
a picnic, a friend or come
and just relax to the talent
of veterans.
BY LAUREN BON
Many have declared that Avatar,
written and directed by James
Cameron, is a dumb filmthat
it has no story but has great visu-
als. I disagree. Avatar has the
story of our timethe inability
to resolve land use disputes, and
how that shapes our environment
and lives. Pandora, Avatars cin-
ematic location meaning hav-
ing gold everywhere in ancient
Greek, is like Los Angeles, where
mining metal (silver) and turning
it into the silver screen created the
material that built the Hollywood
film industry. That was done at
the cost of the Owens River Valley
ecosystem. A much earlier film,
Wild River(1960), takes aim at the
South and Southerners affected
by the Tennessee Valley Author-
ity in the early 1930s, and how the
redirection of the wild Tennessee
River changes forever the life of
the people there.
Both directors Elia Kazan and
James Cameron distract the viewer
with a romance that shares impor-
tance with the social and economic
upheaval that unquestionably is
closest to the heart of both mov-
ies. The land use corporations in
both films are the perpetrators of
decisions that change forever the
culture of place and its rootedness
in nature.
In Avatar, fictional ore called
unobtanium is mined at the cost
of the Navi primordial landscape
in which knowledge flows neu-
rally through all living things. In
Wild River, the decision to flood
the island to direct the river to
electricity-generating plants and
to provide flood control comes up
against a powerful exponent of
basic human rights and American
values in the form of a matriarch
who has always lived and worked
the land in question. The bad
guys in both films are the expo-
nents of changethe conquista-
dores of other timeswho form
romantic relationships with the
locals.
Two Land Use Films, Fifty Years Apart:Avatarand Wild River
NEW DIRECTIONSCHOIR MAKESIT BIG!BY KELLI QUINONES
New Directions Choir appeared
on Americas Got Talenton June
1, 2010. Choir Director and U.S.
Marine Corps veteran George Hill
told the judges and audiences that
the purpose of the choir singing
was to let people know, all of the
other veterans, and especially the
active duty armed forces, that its
okay for a warrior to seek help.
One of the veterans in the choir,
Carlton Griffin, told the judges
that he had been homeless formore than 25 years. He walked 28
miles to New Directions and got
my life together. Both Hill and
Griffin credited New Directions
Choir with keeping them alive.
The choir consists of ten veterans,
all of whom had once been home-
less. The choirs rendition of Old
Man River earned them a spot
in the next level of competition,
and judge Piers Morgans praise:
[This performance] was one of the
most powerful, emotional, and
inspiring things weve ever seen
onAmericas Got Talent.
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MATT COOLIDGE CONTINUED...
MC: Well, a gold mine is one
land use here that I would have
doubts aboutyoud have more
luck with that in northern Nevada
and places like that! But, seriously,
first and foremost, this place
does belong to the federal govern-
ment and the veterans, and this is
their place. Whether theyve been
using it to the utmost of its capac-
ity and abilities is a question, and
a question we have some role in
getting involved in as people who
pay taxes to the federal govern-
ment. I wouldnt want to see pri-
vate enterprise come streaming
in here because I think that would
dislodge the role this place should
serve, and could serve, perhaps,
more efficiently for its constitu-
ency: the veterans. Its their place,
its their decision. I dont know. I
wouldnt want to presume what
should go on here. Its not really
my place in that way. In a dense
urban environment, to have this
kind of scale of disuse is unusual,
at least in a place like thisthe
west side of Los Angeles. In some
ways I find that really refresh-
ing. It gives you a sense of space,
of landscape, of aspiration and
imagination, even a sense of hope,
of possibility. People come here
and sort of fantasize about what
could go on in all this underuti-
lized space, and that in itself is a
great exercise and is a refreshing
proposition in this overbuilt city.
CK:I dont think weve ever thought
of it that way. Thats really interest-
ing. It is extraordinary that were
sitting at the corner of San Vicente
Boulevard and Wilshire Boule-
vard in the heart of Westside Los
Angeles, a very affluent area, and it
hasnt succumbed to huge sprawl-
ing development.
MC: Abandoned and under-pro-
grammed space is a resource too. It
stimulates discussion and brings
energy. Energy often flows into
where it seems to be lacking. This
relative void in the urban fabric
enables things like this, the cre-
ative investigative project Straw-
berry Flag, to occur. This project
has been attracted to this place for
many reasons, clearly, but couldnt
really occur if this underutilized
space didnt exist.
CK: What can a sculpture like
Strawberry Flag do for this space?
For this land?
MC: It can energize it, fragment
it, shake it up, turn it upside down,
contrast it, or just go splat. I think
it has done all those things, for
some people, already. Like I say, it
has brought people herewho
knows who?to see and consider
this remarkable overlooked place.
The Flag project has made many
of us wonder many things. I imag-
ine its causing a lot of people to
scratch their heads: thats a good
start. Its bringing people from dis-
parate points of view together to
talk, which is always a good thing.
What the full range of its effects are
have yet to be seen, and could take
years, and be impossible to really
track, as it will merge with the rest
of the sites evolving dialog with the
public and itself over time. TheFlag
project has irrevocably occurred,
and it is a point of dialog that I
doubt anybody could have seen
coming. This kind of perspectival
diversity is critical to broadminded
thinking. We are certainly outside
the usual boxes here!
CK:Matt Coolidge, thanks so much
for joining us on Strawberry Flag
Radio.
MC:Sure. My pleasure.
ITS NOT JUST THE WATER...CONTINUED...
nearly 240,000 acres of land. This
ownership of land has had effects
on the valley in some drastic ways
that are often overlooked in dis-
cussions about the water being
sent south.
Postmodern insights about our
lives focus on space more than
time, and using this perspective
helps us better understand the
relationships between the Owens
Valley and Los Angeles, and the
identity of each.
Reading the arguments of Edward
Soja and Fredrick Jameson led Jea-
nette Malkin in her book MemoryTheater and Postmodern Drama
to write that it has now become
a commonplace to speak of mod-
ernism as privileging time, while
postmodernism privileges space.
In 1986s Of Other Spaces, philoso-
pher Michel Foucault stated, The
present epoch will perhaps be
above all the epoch of space. We
are in the epoch of simultaneity:
we are in the epoch of juxtaposi-
tion, the epoch of the near and
far, of the side by side, of the dis-
persed. We are at a moment, I
believe, when our experience of
the world is less that of a long life
developing through time than that
of a network that connects points
and intersects with its own skein.
Rather than study the history
of the water wars, Los Angeles
domination of the Owens Valley
farmers, and the incessant litiga-
tion, the land in the valley and in
the city seen together is enlight-
ening. In his treatise Postmod-
ern Geographies: The Reassertion
of Space in Critical Social Theory,
Edward W. Soja explores the chal-
lenges of examining space and
place occurring simultaneously
with a language that is linearand sequential. We must simply
at this point accept those imita-
tions, although some artists and
writers are exploring overcoming
these limitations of language in
their work. It does suggest that art-
ists like Lauren Bon, focusing on
11California is home to the oldest, largest and tallest
living things. The bristlecone pines of the eastern
Sierras are 4,600 years old, General Sherman
Tree in Sequoia National Park is t he largest and
California coastal redwoods are the tallest.
California Facts, State Geography
Land area: 155,973 sq mi. (403,970 sq km)
Water area: 7,734 sq mi
Coastline: 840 mi
Highest point: Mt. Whitney 14,494 ft
Lowest point: Death Valley 282 ft below sea level
Geographic center of state: In Madera Co., 35 mi. NE
of Madera
July 3, 69pm
Independence Eve Electric
Parade atStrawberry Flag.
Bring your own marching
band and declare your
independenceno musical
instruments required. BBQ and
dancing and a special visit
from the Strawberry Queen.
site-specific installation and per-
formance (as happened recently
during Pipeline: A Three Day
Shoot Out) open up new doorways
through work that brings a new
postmodern understanding to our
examination of land, Los Angeles,
and the Owens Valley.
Near the end of his book, Soja,
who was located at UCLA, makes
a very important discovery about
Los Angeles. In a chapter enti-
tled Taking Los Angeles Apart:
Towards a Postmodern Geog-
raphy, he writes, What is this
place? Even knowing where to
focus, to find a starting point, is
not easy, for, perhaps more than
any other place, Los Angeles is
everywhere. It is global in the full-est sense of the word. Nowhere
is this more evident than in its
cultural projection and ideologi-
cal reach, its almost ubiquitous
screening of itself as a rectangular
dream machine for the world. Los
Angeles broadcasts its self-imag-
ery so widely that probably more
people have seen this placeor
at least fragments of itthan any
other on the planet. As a result, the
seers of Los Angeles have become
countless, even more so as the pro-
gressive Globalization of its urban
political economy flows along sim-
ilar channels, making Los Ange-
les perhaps the epitomizing world
city, une ville devenue monde.
Many local residents feel they
know L.A. First, as you look about
Lone Pine, and southern Inyo, not
to mention all of the Owens Val-
ley, it is silently there in the land it
owns and controls. Here we take
the LADWP for granted, but when
I used the term yesterday, some
folks from Tecopa and the Ama-
rgosa Valley (still in the county)
had no idea at first what I was
referencing.
The electricity (power) divisionof the Lone Pine offices is begin-
ning to dominate the south end
of Lone Pine, with large ware-
houses, equipment, and the many
white trucks and vehicles seen all
about the land. Turn on the televi-
sion and watch the news, the cop
shows, and most other episodic
programs; they were shot in L.A. If
our flat-screen TVs are windows
on the neighborhood (like our real
windows), then we are neighbors
to this digital L.A. place. Again,
much attention is paid to the eco-
nomic benefits of having Holly-
wood come to our streets and hills
and mountain roads to film com-
mercials, feature films, or televi-
sion. The images we carry of the
Old West, the new or old Middle
East, Afghanistan, India, or even
China are all composed of our land
by Hollywood technicians. Land
and landscapes, owned by L.A. or
the People of the United States
(the Bureau of Land Management
and the U.S. Forest Service) are
manipulated by Hollywood to tellstories. I havent seen many critics
actually argue this fact, but place
and space in our films is much
more important than the actual
use or misuse of history in these
products of Los Angeles city.
Ironically, much of the land
owned by L.A. is leased out to
ranchers, a shadow of the mythi-
cal screen cowboy. They become
beholden to the city, so when once
they captured the Alabama Gates
in November 1924 to protest L.A.
land policies (read: water policies),
Tom Mix sent in the mariachis he
was using to filmRiders of the Pur-
ple Sage to entertain these rebels.
When I wrote under a pen name
about the victory of local groups
after several years of litigation
forcing L.A. to return the water to
the lower Owens River, a promi-
nent rancher castigated me in a
letter for defaming L.A. Beholden
for the use of LADWP land and
water, he was forced or felt right
in championing his landlords,
regardless of the negative environ-
mental effect they have had on the
land.
The relationship of Los Angeles,the Owens Valley, and the land
owned by the city is a very complex
and at times ambiguous matter.
Regardless of historical process,
at the same time today, the land
is torn in conflict, but the claim
to good stewardship is embraced
by both sides and used to benefit
each side in negotiation and sub-
tle power politics.
In part two of this series, we will
look at anecdotal evidence to see
facets of this complex land use
and misuse, and the complex
social and economic issues that
swirl around the LADWP-owned
land in the Owens Valley.
June 19, 711pm
Save the Historic Spring
Street Bridge and Cele-brate Dorians Bons 18th
Birthday at The Metabolic
Studio, 1745 North Spring
Street, Open mic.
Gyblet adopts a strawberry and celebrates his 2nd birthday atStrawberry
Flag.
Calliopes routine rounds at the quad 205,208 and 209.
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Mrs. Pam Murphy receives Purple Heart pin from VA lead volunteer Julie Stranges, NYSSCAR State Presidents
Project, in honor of her husband Audie Murphy.
12
The Metabolic biodiesel trolly running between the VA and LACMA all
summer long.
gambling, bad investments, and
yes, other women. Even with the
adultery and desertion at the end,
he always remained my hero, Pam
told me.
She went from a comfortable ranch-
style home in Van Nuys where she
raised two sons to a small apart-
ment taking a clerks job at the
nearby VA to support herself and
start paying off her faded movie
star husbands debts.
At first, no one knew who she was.
Soon, though, word spread through
the VA that the nice woman with
the clipboard was Audie Murphys
widow. It was like saying Patton had
just walked in the front door. Men
with tears in their eyes walked upto her and gave her a hug. Thank
you, they said, over and over.
The first couple of years, I think the
hugs were more for Audies mem-
ory as a war hero. The last 30 years,
they were for Pam.
She hated the spotlight. One year
I asked her to be the focus of a Vet-
erans Day column for all the work
she had done. Pam just shook her
head no.
Honor them, not me, she said,
pointing to a group of veterans
down the hallway. Theyre the
ones who deserve it.
The vets disagreed. Mrs. Murphy
deserved the accolades, they said.
Incredibly, in 2002, Pams job was
going to be eliminated in budget
cuts. She was considered excess
staff.
I dont think helping cut down on
veterans complaints and show-
ing them the respect they deserve,should be considered excess staff,
she told me. Neither did the veter-
ans. They went ballistic, holding
a rally for her outside the VA gates.
Pretty soon, word came down from
the top of the VA. Pam Murphy
was no longer considered excess
staff. She remained working full
time at the VA until 2007 when
she was 87.
The last time she was here was a
couple of years ago for the con-
ference we had for homeless
veterans, said Becky James, coor-
dinator of the VAs Veterans His-
tory Project. Pam wanted to see if
there was anything she could do
to help some more of her boys.
Pam Murphy, VA Hero, Dies at 90
THESTRAWBERRY GAZETTE
Produced in conjunction withStrawberry
Flagand the Metabolic Studio, Los
Angeles. The Metabolic Studio is a direct
charitable activity of the Annenberg
Foundation.
Veterans correspondent: Terence Lyons
Contributers: Lauren Bon, Matt Coolidge,
Paul Crowley, Janet Owen Driggs, Laura
Sanderson Healy, Chris Langley, Rich Nielsen,
Gabriella Salomon, Sharon Sekhon, Chris
Tallon, Kelli Quinones
Gazette Manager: Kelli Quinones
Photographer: Joshua White
Designer: Brian Roettinger
Gopher Plan: Lauren Bon
Edition of 2000
Strawberry Flag
Teas
MonFri, 3PM
Boot Camp
Tu, 12PM
Jam Sessions
Wed, 14PM
Print Studio
Workshops
Thurs, 5:307:30PM
Brentwood Theatre
No performances for
March 2010
Barber of Dreamers
Open daily,
9AM7PM
Parrot Sanctuary
Thurs, 7AM-dusk
Vets Garden
Thurs, 7AM-dusk
Japanese Garden,
Golf Course
Closed
Raw Food Lunch
Tu, 1PM
Landscape
Painting Class
Sat, 15PM
Strawberry
Sundays
Sun, 57PM
!
METABOLIC S
TUD
IO
STR
AWB
ERRYFLA
G
HOURS OF OPERATIONANNOUNCEMENTSAPRIL CROSSWORD PUZZLE ANSWERS
Land really is the best art.
Andy Warhol
This land is your land and this land is my land, sure,
but the world is run by those that never listen to
music anyway.
Bob Dylan
DENNIS MCCARTHY
DAILY NEWS OF LOS ANGELES
After Audie died, they all became
her boys. Every last one of them.
Any soldier or Marine who walked
into the Sepulveda VA hospital
and care center in the last 35 years
got the VIP treatment from Pam
Murphy.
The widow of Audie Murphythe
most decorated soldier in World
War IIwould walk the hallways
with her clipboard in hand making
sure her boys got to see a special-
ist or doctorSTAT. If they didnt,
watch out.
Her boys werent Medal of Honor
recipients or movie stars like Audie,
but that didnt matter to Pam. Theyhad served their country. That was
good enough for her. She never
called a veteran by his first name. It
was always Mister. Respect came
with the job.
Nobody could cut through VA red
tape faster than Mrs. Murphy, said
veteran Stephen Sherman, speak-
ing for thousands of veterans she
befriended over the years. Many
times I watched her march a vet-
eran who had been waiting more
than an hour right into the doctors
office. She was even reprimanded
a few times, but it didnt matter to
Mrs. Murphy. Only her boys mat-
tered. She was our angel.
[In April], Sepulveda VAs angel for
the last 35 years died peacefully in
her sleep at age 90.
She was in bed watching the Laker
game, took one last breath, and
that was it, said Diane Ruiz, who
also worked at the VA and cared for
Pam in the last years of her life in
her Canoga Park apartment. It wasthe same apartment Pam moved
into soon after Audie died in a
plane crash on Memorial Day week-
end in 1971.
Audie Murphy died broke, squan-
dering millions of dollars on
Ray Rodgers and Sheila Lowe were
married on May 15.
On the Third of July, to celebrate Inde-
pendence Day,Strawberry Flagwill be
throwing a huge event with food and
a parade. Everyone is invited!
June 14 marks the ribbon-cutting cere-
mony at the West Los Angeles State
Veterans Home at 10:00AM.
Wadsworth Theatre is hosting The Songs
of Our Lives, Volume III, which will
benefit the Fulfillment Fund on June 14.
ACROSS
1. Bankruptcy
5. Bull
6. Rev
7. Pyramidschem e
11. Heartofgold
12. Stampact
16. Return
17. Wallstreet
20. Fifteenth
23. Credit
25. Offshore
26. Switzerland
28. Penny
29. Cash
30. Golddigger
32. Pay
33. Pealty
35. Count
38. Treasure
39. Receipt
42. Banca
46. IOU
47. Green
48. Dollar
49. Duty
51. Evade
53. Trust
54. Net
DOWN
2. The Color of
Money
3. Gross
4. APR
5. Bills
8. Accountants
9. Euro
10. Taxes
13. Millions
14. Deductible
15. Bear
18. Interest
19. Extensions
21. Refunds
22. Tarp
24. Taxman
27. Li ability
31. Deposit
34. Shelter
36. Tyranny
37. Capital
40. Capone
41. Money
43. Audit
44. File
45. Cost
50. Buck
52. Debt
Shuttle from LACMA to
VAWLA in connection with
Lauren Bons Bldg: 209Garden Folly (Indexical ofStrawberry Flag)
Bldg: 209 Garden Folly (Indexical
of Strawberry Flag) is a sculpture
by Lauren Bon that will be at
LACMA as part of the exhibition
EatLACMA, June 27Nov 11, 2010.
The sculpture is constructed
from salvaged building parts
and includes the strawberries
from the intensive care unit at
Strawberry Flag.
Strawberry Flag is a revisionist
view of the American flag as a self-
sustaining system that has been at
the VA for a year.
The Metabolic Studio will run a
free shuttle between LACMA to
the VAWLA on weekends from
Strawberry Flag starting at 2pm
and running through 6pm. The
Metabolic Studio and the veterans
with whom we work have organized
an historic tour that will operate
throughout the summer along the
historic Wilshire corridor.
The shuttle will be coordinated
with live music at the blue section
of the flag each Sunday through the
summer months.