Episode 05

Lisa Teasley is a writer and an artist, a graduate of UCLA and Los Angeles native. Her critically acclaimed debut story collection, GLOW IN THE DARK, won numerous awards. Her novels HEAT SIGNATURE and DIVE have been praised in publications such as the New York Times Book Review, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Her new story collection FLUID is forthcoming, September 2023.

Lisa Teasley’s last solo retrospective exhibition, Paintrospective, was at the Marie Baldwin Gallery in Spring 2019; her last group show was LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design’s Every.Thing.Changes, Summer 2020.

Lisa was a member of the former art collective HOWDOYOUSAYYAMINAFRICAN, who debuted the opera “Good Stock on the Dimension Floor” at the Whitney Biennial 2014. She was also the writer and host of the BBC Television documentary “High School Prom.” Lisa is an editor-at-large for Los Angeles Review of Books.

Show notes and Lisa’s five places:

This interview was recorded on December 02, 2020

  1. Adams district and the Golden State Life Insurance Building by Paul R. Williams, who was also featured in Episode 01 with Carolina Miranda

  2. Laurel Canyon and its music history

  3. Venice and the Venice Canals

  4. Baldwin Hills with its scenic overlook and steps and Kenneth Hahn State Park, adjacent to the Crenshaw District and Leimert Park

  5. Downtown LA, with Chinatown, Union Station, The Flower Market, and adjacent Silverlake/Echo Park

Also mentioned in this episode:

Canter’s Deli on Fairfax

Gorky’s – now closed

Hank’s bar – now closed

Musso and Frank’s – still open!

The Frolic Room – temporarily closed

Books mentioned in this episode:

available through Eso Won bookstore: Instagram @esowonbooks / Email to place orders: esowonbooks@yahoo.com

City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles, by Mike Davis

After/Image: Los Angeles Outside the Frame, by Lynell George

Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the sixties, by Mike Davis and Jon Weiner

Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era, by Alison Rose Jefferson

Glow in the Dark, by Lisa Teasley

Dive, by Lisa Teasley

Heat Signature, by Lisa Teasley

Related links:

A Place at the Table in Echo Park, Alta Journal, September 29, 2022. Author and artist Lisa Teasley looks at Natalia Molina’s A Place at the Nayarit, through her own experience of Echo Park over the years.

Glossolalia, by Lisa Teasley, Kweli Journal, August 30, 2022.

The Only Black Person in the Room, by Lisa Teasley, Parabola Journal, July 28, 2022.

The Castle in the Trees, August 2020, for the La Forums’ Every.Thing.Changes exhibition.

Credits:

This podcast is produced by a small team of volunteers at the LA Forum. To keep us going and growing, we’d greatly appreciate your support! Please subscribe, rate and review wherever you listen, and share with friends and colleagues. Or, make a donation at www.fiveplaces.la. Thank you for listening.

All images © Lisa Teasley 2022

Opening video © Emmanuelle Bourlier 2022

Logo design: still room (www.still-room.com)

Animated logo: Bee Murphy (@supadoopabee on Instagram)

Music: Guido Parisi, www.pond5.com

Produced by: Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design

Production team: Emmanuelle Bourlier, Anali Gharakhani, Quynh Nguyen

Host: Emmanuelle Bourlier

Special thanks to: Nina Briggs, Anne Predock

This podcast was recorded on Chumash, Kizh, Tongva and Micqanaqa’n land.

© 2022 Los Angeles Forum AUD, and FIVE PLACES

www.laforum.org