home page     metro juxtaposition     off the wall    rancho    industry     bus station    mannequins


  Off the Wall  
 

 

L.A.'s old industrial district lies to the east of Little Tokyo and drifts south of the 101 Freeway.  It is an area in transition.

The industrial district is rapidly being gentrified, especially in its northernmost blocks. The dozens of loft structures that are currently being built signal the emergence of a vibrant arts district.

Transitions take awhile.  For the present, the area still functions as a thriving industrial district. What's more, it is a district whose many warehouse and factory walls create space for outsider art.  There is an impressive number of politically-radical posters, stickers,  and murals. By far, the stencil artist king of the industrial district is RTH. His work is all over the place. As one observer notes, RTH's work "multiplies over night, overrunning the city and sending old ladies flying through their roofs...with their automatic stair-climber seat things."

Commercial artists, some of whom should undoubtedly be regarded as "outsiders," paint odd images in odd places.  Homeless residents scrawl messages.

 

 

 
   
 
Grafitti


L.A. on fire
 
   
 
Fenced, peeling posters




Smear (RTH)



 
   
  Message from Popeye



Wholesale outlet wall


 
   
 
Devil


Cat eyes

 
   
 
RTH poster


Anarchy in Hollywood

 
   
 
Homeless


Industrial district cow

 
   
 
Industrial wall


Food only

 
 
Industrial flora


Geometric figures

 
   
 
666


Cage door

 
   
 
Twin radicals


Chinese restaurant wholesale outlet

 
   
 
Grafitti, 2


Cracking wall

 
   
 
Directional sign

 
   
 
Two-panel graffiti


Bird

 
   
 
200 mg


Gun slinger

 
   
 
Gang signs


$2 sheet sign

Detail, industrial building

 
   
 
Warned


We buy and sell

Che

 
   
 
Standpipe


Grafitti alley

Spray-painted door

 
   
 
Industrial wall

Chavez

Peeling political poster

 
   
 
Trotsky


Duke Ellington

Dred (RTH)

 
     
 
Character assassin

Subhumanoid
Grafitti on purple wall