By Jim Berg
During the Depression, large numbers of migrants would gather in squatter camps on the outskirts of cities and towns throughout California. In the camps, the people found solace in each other’s company, and, being very poor, they would combine their meager resources for survival. One family might have some potatoes, another tomatoes, another some meat, and they would gather round an open fire and assemble a stew from the combined ingredients, finding sustenance for another day. After the meal, brother would produce a guitar, cousin a fiddle, and they would play forlorn songs that reminded them of their long deserted homes somewhere on the Great Plains—homes that turned to dust and blew away in the wind. Of the music played in these squatter camps, folksinger Woodie Guthrie said, “It cleared your head up, that’s what it done—caused you to fall back and let your draggy bones rest and your muscles go limber like a cat’s.” Continue reading →
By Jim Berg
He makes no friends who never made a foe.
Tennyson
A director, in a fit of anger about a bad review that squarely placed responsibility on his shoulders, promised to withdraw all support for the publication that ran the review, and do everything within his power to get others to withdraw their support for the publication, i.e., dissuade potential advertisers. Continue reading →
By Jim Berg
A slice of Los Angeles life that is rarely seen in mainstream media is being brought to the Valley by the Aztlan Playwrights Collective, under the umbrella of Actor’s Alley (which is best known as the company that is restoring the El Portal Theater). Led by Danny De La Paz, the Collective promises to portray the breadth and depth of the Chicano/Latino experience. “There’s a lot of theaters here, but none of them cater to that community — none of them offer anything that that community can identify with,” says De La Paz. Continue reading →
Illustration by John Howarth
by Jim Berg
Howard Smalley had a bad habit
he fell on the spike nightly
He danced with angels
and swung with demons
He knew the truth, and it set him free
on the spike
Sally Swanson was filled with the spirit
she sucked up a hot spoon
Blissful contentment and divine intervention
were hers to be had
at the top of a candle
in the hot spoon
They come to God’s table
spike and spoon in hand
to drink of the blood and
eat of the flesh
so that tomorrow they will be pure
to commit their crimes anew
JAB Continue reading →
The first issue of NoHo News (later to be NoHo Magazine) , featuring a story about the planned renovation of the El Portal Theater.
The following article was originally published in January, 1993 in NoHo News, which would later become NoHo Magazine.
The El Portal Theatre, located at Lankershim and Weddington in the NoHo Arts District, is creating as much a stir today as it did on opening night in 1926. The center of the current controversy is $250,000 (ironically the same amount as the original construction cost) of public funding slated to finance the renovation the theatre. Continue reading →
The following is the Publisher’s Note that opens the first issue of NoHo News. I wrote twelve Publisher’s Notes in the 20-issue run of NoHo Magazine, which I used variously to set up the theme of a particular issue, or discuss my other activities in the NoHo Arts District, or share some of my personal experience and views that came from publishing the magazine.
In this first Publisher’s Note, we get a glimpse of my motivation and hope for the magazine. Continue reading →
Published in the first issue of NoHo Magazine, Steven Lee Stinnett’s cartoon captures the moment of creation of the NoHo Arts District.
Anyone who has dealt with Chambers of Commerce anywhere in America will recognize the characters in Steven Lee Stinnett’s cartoon entitled “Behind Closed Doors at the Chamber of Commerce” which appeared in the first issue of NoHo Magazine in January, 1993. Continue reading →
