The narrative in this film follows the ‘Godmother’ of MacArthur Park during the early ‘80s and her campaign to clean up the neighborhood -  to the visionary Latino turned youth-activist who brought hip-hop to the West Coast. 

MacArthur Park is a place where long-standing negative perceptions about the community persist, where afflictions of the inner city crisis seem never to go away — 

How do you go up against all of that? How do you turn things around?

This film marks out the struggles of tenacious leaders, lives laced with tension, interwoven between persistent cycles of crime, despair, and violence. 

In a neighborhood where too many from the wider community are likely convinced there are no voices qualified to make the changes, to institute a brighter future, this is proof -positive true leadership flourishes. It’s very cool and a revelation.

The intention for this film is to foster a positive, informed shift in perception about MacArthur Park where the vitality and humanity of its citizens can be embraced for whom full entitlement as residents in Los Angeles is justly deserved.

CONCEPTUAL OVERVIEW

MacArthur Park is a unique documentary film project that explores the vibrant diversity of life in the Westlake/MacArthur Park neighborhood. The most important concern confronts the challenges facing the community. Solutions as how best to craft a better future for those living in the area will are examined as the story unfolds.

First off, the film highlights the fact that the place is very much about people struggling to surmount the forces that created the present realities of life, and question whether there are forces at play that will bring positive change, or whether there are forces afoot that would, in the end, threaten the community. A marking out of history will show how the situation evolved to the current state. Overcrowding and lack housing, stagnant reinvestment in the infrastructure, poverty, poor education, crime and gang activity — added together will be cast as an entrenched reality. The question to ask becomes: can there be a positive future, can things change for the better?

"Hip-Hop is not about gangsterism, but about hip-consciousness and hop-movement."

— Carmelo Alvarez

"Not all people are revolutionaries."

 — Elena Popp

"We know this about immigrants in general: when they come to a new country their diets change — for the worse."

  — Dr. Rodney Samaan

"My fear is a lot of people see street vendors as undesirable, dirty, like we are an invading army."

— Rosa Miranda

"A lot of times people have the impression the police come in as an occupying army, and our only goal is to arrest somebody without really caring about them personally."

— Officer Robert Solorio

"When we were walking through the park, everybody was so freely doing illegal activities … so  to turn it around we had to create a special street district, it was so hard with the long-time stigma of the gangs, and the drugs and the killings and the drownings in the park. We had to collaborate - everybody had a seat at the table."

— 'Mama' Sandra Romero

"People think food doesn’t make a difference in their bodies, they think they control it with pills; sometimes it’s dangerous, dangerous for our bodies." 

— Laura Gonzalez

"Our zip code determines our health, our zip code determines how long we will live, and our likelihood of developing diabetes or heart disease. Beause of that we have to change neighborhood conditions, we have to change what options are available to residents to improve their health on a fundamental level."

— Clare Fox

"As much as we appreciate the Lakers and the Dodgers,  real estate speculation is just as an important a sport in this city. So I don't start the conversation talking about gentrification, I start by talking about displacement."

— José Gardea

"It's time people wake up and realize that having a creative place is a big process for the youth; there is a big difference between societies that don't have that sort of creative outlet for kids - and one that does."

— Nicholas Villalobos

“Creative placemaking is something that is really layered and complex, and so Levitt Pavilion Los Angeles also takes into account creative placekeeping . People do see us as sort of like a hub or a place where people from many different walks of life can gather somewhat harmoniously and really enjoy each other‘s company and see each other as an asset.”

— Allegra Padilla

"At lot of people told me, you’re crazy. Someone could throw a bottle of gasoline through your window – I don’t think so. I’m not crazy. And I’m not afraid, because you know what, I’m not going anything bad, I’m doing good, and I’m doing it by the law, I’m not breaking the law."

— Bertha Wooldridge, "Godmother' of MacArthur Park