Recent Projects & Initiatives
Transnational Suburbanism
Since 2022, I’ve been part of a group of transnational scholars collectively studying suburbs and urban perpheries in the US and EU — with scholars from the Czech Republic, France, German, and U.S. We meet regularly to share our work and insights across disciplines and borders. We will be hosting a capstone conference at Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic, on May 13-14, 2024 — all invited!
LA County Demographic Data Project, 1950-2010
With support from the NEH, I’m working with a team from the USC Libraries to make publicly available a large dataset on L.A. County municipalities from 1950-2010.
Public History projects
Over the past dozen years, I’ve been involved in a number of public history projects, from SurveyLA for the City of Los Angeles, to most recently a “trail” on Mail Order Homes I mapped out for FortLA. You can see my cv for a full listing, and click here to see the “Mail Order Homes” trail (sign up for FortLA’s email list, to gain access to the tour - it’s a great organization, Friends of Residential Treasures: LA)
Reparative Justice Projects
In recent year, I’ve been involved in public history projects focused on reparative justice in the L.A. region. They include an in-depth report on housing and land use discrimination in L.A. City, and the indigenous roots of the land under and around All Saints Church, Pasadena.
The Suburb Toolkit
Many suburbs are reckoning with their past histories of exclusion and injustice. This toolkit helps communities promote an inclusive, welcoming environment for all residents. I am working with a group of advisors to help develop and disseminate this Toolkit.
Research access - equity for all
Over the past few years, I've been advocating to create a more even playing field for historians who do research and scholarship outside of academia. For all scholars, access to a decent university library can make or break their prospects as scholars. It is our intellectual lifeblood.
1915 map by the Automobile Club. http://www.bigmapblog.com/maps/map01/LGLZtfpmGVJGunrq.jpg
LA History & Metro Studies Group
Since 2011, I've been serving as co-coordinator of the LA History & Metro Studies Group, a group I've been involved with since its inception in 1991. This group is an important hub of the community of scholars and historians working on Los Angeles history and urban/metro history more broadly. Our roster and past programs read like a who's who of LA history scholarship.
You can find out more about our group here, and follow us on Facebook.
L.A. Mayor’s Office Civic Memory Working Group, 2019-21
In 2019, Mayor Eric Garcetti convened a working groups of historians, indigenous elders and scholars, architects, artists, curators, designers, and other civic and cultural leaders to collectively brainstorm on the idea of civic memory in Los Angeles. I was part of that group, and co-chaired the subcommittee on “Sites and Themes.” To read our committee’s report, click here. The working group’s final report, Past Due, summarizes our efforts.