About

 

EDITORS:

Hillel Aron – Hillel@thenativeangeleno.com
Richard Rushfield – richard@thenativeangeleno.com

CONTRIBUTORS:

Jim Gibson
Stacey Grenrock Woods
Margaret Wapper

They are Native Angelenos.

The Natives Are Restless
A MANIFESTO

So we were sitting around the other day in the Native Angeleno bunker when someone plopped a question down on our formica: who was it that broke the back of the camel of our once great city?


After all, we are not slumming visitors from the East come to turn our nose up at rabble out West.  Los Angeles is the only home we have ever known and we will live and die in this city. But because we love it, it is our duty to report that the camel’s back was broken or at least suffering from some kind of fracture.

After objecting that, technically speaking Los Angeles was really more of a llama than a dromedary, we puzzled over the question.  There were plenty of suspects.

Was it the politicians, the contractors and the public employees unions who bankrupted the state? The media who were too absorbed with their own demise to notice?  The entertainment industry who ran their business in a manner that made Wall Street blush with envy (All the while playing our big cool friend in jeans)?  The intellectual and artistic communities, who were determined to make the culture of Los Angeles as remote and hostile to the general public as they possibly could?  Our young people who turned turned their back on everything but tributes to their own preciousness?  Our absentee business community?

Was it Angelyne? Antonio? David Geffen? Nikki Finke?  Ludo? The LA Times? Colonel Mustard in The Smell with a guava cerviche?

We hashed the question out and three hours, a few broken bones, many hurt feelings, two shattered egos and a divorce or two later, we realized that with a line-up of suspects like this, we might never know who killed LA, but, we also realized that there was work to be done.

We know the rules. A website about Los Angeles is supposed to be about the search for the cutest artisanal tamale stand made of sustainable vegan bamboo. Or it can be a website devoted to kissing up to talent agents, deputy editors, chefs, curators, hoteliers and dead buildings.

This is not one of those.


We come to point fingers and poke eyes, to name names and call names and dig up dirt.



But we need your help.  Anyone who has a story to tell about their workplace, their boss, the way they’ve seen this city run:  tips@nativeangeleno.comis your friend.  Confidentiality protected upon pain of death.  Bring us your memos, your horror stories, your daily nightmares. We want to share.   The Truth will find its way to the light of day after all.Unlike the rest of you, Native Angeleno has no home to go back to. When this city falls into the Ocean, we fall with it.   Until then, happy reading.

  • BoHan

    Please sirs, an RSS feed.

  • RSSme
  • http://twitter.com/militantangleno Militant Angeleno

    Uh, hope you’re all aware that none of our native Tongva people looked *at all* like the Cherokee you have pictured in your banner picture.