MacArthur Park Media tells stories set in and around the immigrant portal that is the MacArthur Park neighborhood in Los Angeles. This is the first America many new immigrants see, the place where they begin to assimilate or not. The way that the immigrants shape America is in many ways determined by how neighborhoods like this one first shape them.
The news stories we report explore the institutions, economies, cultures, and subcultures that define this particular point of welcome: fake IDs and the men who make them, mobile dental clinics, storefront churches, slumlords, tamaleros on the run and the future of bilingual education in California.
We live in the neighborhood we report on with a family from Mexico, in their entryway. We pay rent and they help us with our Spanish; we also eat tostadas together, watch telenovelas, go on sundays to Pentecostal church under a tarp with fluorescent lighting and a full band. We live life together. Our own personal narrative about this experience is posted at The Entryway. They are separate from our news stories which will publish on Spot.Us in coming months or for our editorial partners. We do not receive grants or foundation support. All contributions are much appreciated!
