The Boyle Heights community has been in the news all this year for the push and pull between locals and various developers (including Metro) looking to make big changes within its borders. BH is a traditionally working class, immigrant neighborhood, and incredibly diverse throughout its long history (it's sometimes referred to as the city's Ellis Island). A new documentary, East LA Interchange, shines a light on the way Boyle Heights's multicultural community morphed through the years as it weathered "racially restrictive housing covenants, Japanese-American Internment, Federal redlining policies, lack of political representation, and the building of the largest and busiest freeway interchange system in the nation," and takes a look at the now-pressing issue of gentrification in the neighborhood.
The documentary is narrated by actor Danny Trejo and features interviews with Homeboy Industries' Father Greg Boyle, and will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas, who grew up in the neighborhood, and maybe features at least a cameo by the late Manuel of the legendary Manuel's El Tepeyac. The grand premiere of the film is this coming weekend at Downtown's Regent Theater, as a part of the Downtown Film Festival. The trailer can be seen here:
· East L.A. Interchange [Official site]
· Boyle Heights is Winning Its War Against Gentrification [Curbed LA]