J.T. the L.A. Storyteller

In January of this year, City National Bank (CNB) was fined $31 million by the U.S. Justice Department, which successfully argued that from 2017 to at least 2020, CNB consistently denied Black and immigrant applicants in Los Angeles County for home loans at a significantly higher rate than white applicants. Additionally, according to the Department’s briefing:

“City National only opened one branch in a majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhood in the past twenty years, despite having opened or acquired 11 branches during that time period. And unlike at its branches in majority-white areas, City National did not assign any employee to generate mortgage loan applications at that branch.”

The event underscores how important it is for communities to assess the enduring legacy of redlining in our cities so that more people like those Black and Latino applicants can account for their part of those $31 million. To this end, it’s my pleasure to announce the return of Making Our Neighborhood, by Samanta Helou-Hernandez and J.T. the L.A. Storyteller.

In March 2021, we published Making Our Neighborhood: Redlining, Gentrification and Housing in East Hollywood, making nearly 300 copies available for order online and selling out in a little over two months. Today, we’re thrilled to announce at least 50 new copies of this labor of love. Like before, copies of Making Our Neighborhood will be available on a first-come, first serve basis through jimbotimes.com.

Why bring back the magazine now?

Since the magazine is not handled or owned by a major publication company, copies of it are not easy to come by, so over the last two and a half years we’ve had to gently turn away folks interested in purchasing a copy. This second run is for those folks, as well as for others who’d like to take a peek into the rich stories that make our neighborhood.

Our surprise second-run is owed to the generosity of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, which recently held the first official exhibit honoring the stories of the Albright-Marshall family and their Japanese American neighbors in the J-Flats neighborhood adjacent to Virgil Village. The magazine will be available at the same price it was during our first run at $35.

Whose stories are featured in the magazine?

The magazine features original reporting by both of us, including articles on some of our first encounters with gentrification along Virgil avenue, as well as with terms such as “redlining.” It also features photography from This Side of Hoover and Jimbo Times, and a 4,000 word essay from J.T. on future efforts for housing in East Hollywood.

What is gentrification? And is it still affecting neighborhoods today?

According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC): “The term ‘gentrification’ was first coined in the 1960s by British sociologist Ruth Glass (1964) to describe the displacement of the working-class residents of London neighborhoods by middle-class newcomers. From its inception, gentrification has been understood as a form of neighborhood change, resulting in the displacement of incumbent residents of one social class and culture by another more affluent class, linked with an increase in property values.

Today, neighborhoods across L.A. continue facing gentrification as extremely low-income–and much less–public housing remains out of reach for the vast majority of residents, thus leading mostly to new, market-rate housing, especially in formerly redlined areas, that is entirely unaffordable for working-class people and thus ultimately another instrument in pushing them outwards.

Who is the publisher behind Making Our Neighborhood?

Our magazine is independently published by Samanta Helou-Hernandez and Jimmy Recinos, also known as J.T. the L.A. Storyteller. All funds go towards supporting our ongoing work as journalists. 

J.T.