Downtown Los Angeles is in the midst of a rebirth that is rapidly transforming its varied districts. One of those neighborhoods is Bunker Hill, which today is associated with banks, office towers, and the landmarks and institutions that line Grand Avenue, including the Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall and Center Theatre Group, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), the Colburn School of Music, and the soon to open Broad Art Museum. Those with a long memory or who choose to look back, however, know that Bunker Hill was once a very different place.
One person who knows this history well is LA based architectural historian Nathan Marsak, who will present the cultural and visual record of Bunker Hill using rare images and film clips. This presentation, co-sponsored by the American Cinematheque and the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles, will pay special attention to the neighborhood’s built environment, which according to Marsak “…once included a breathtaking concentration of first-rate structures by top-shelf architects, disposed of en masse in the greatest urban cleansing in American history.”
Following the talk the American Cinematheque will screen Angel’s Flight (1965, 77 min, USA, Dir: Raymond Nassour, Ken Richardson), a long-lost, locally made feature. “This oddball noir-horror-crime hybrid concerns a psychically scarred stripper (Indus Arthur) who turns homicidal whenever she gets aroused. The real attraction is the seedy splendor of pre-development Bunker Hill and the focus on the famed funicular trolley that gives the film its title. Starring and produced by the original “Marlboro Man,” William Thourlby.”
DETAILS
When: Sunday, March 15, 2015 at 3:00pm
Where: The Egyptian Theatre, located at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard
Tickets: Available online
More Information About This Program: Visit the American Cinematheque’s web site.
Other Bunker Hill Resources:
Rediscovering Downtown L.A.’s Lost Neighborhood of Bunker Hill
Laws that Shaped LA
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