FIVE PLACES L.A. is a living documentary of the city. In each episode we ask one inhabitant of Los Angeles about the five places that define the city for them. Each interviewee in turn chooses someone to interview about their five places. Through these interviews and plus-ones the project grows; as the city evolves, its past and present, real and remembered places are mapped.
FIVE PLACES L.A.
Claim This Podcastby Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, Emmanuelle Bourlier
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19 episodes
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Podcast Overview
FIVE PLACES L.A. is a living documentary of the city. In each episode we ask one inhabitant of Los Angeles about the five places that define the city for them. Each interviewee in turn chooses someone to interview about their five places. Through these interviews and plus-ones the project grows; as the city evolves, its past and present, real and remembered places are mapped.
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Publishing Since
6/29/2022
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Recent Episodes
April 14, 2026
16: Barbara Bestor
Barbara Bestor, FAIA is the principal and founder of Bestor Architecture, recognized for the inventive integration of architecture, urbanism, infrastructure and landscape at multiple scales. Bestor Architecture has designed a number of award-winning projects —homes, restaurants, technology and fashion headquarters, and community arts buildings, such as the Silverlake Conservatory of Music and Ashes & Diamonds Winery. Recent projects include the upcoming Summaeverythang Community Center, re-envisioning the ICA LA, and a number of custom residences in Southern California, Seattle, and beyond. Bestor Architecture is also one of ten of Los Angeles’ leading architecture firms joining the Case Study: Adapt initiative to develop build-ready, stylish, and sustainable residential designs that merge timeless design with climate resilience. The program is a response to the January 2025 wildfires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades. Barbara received her undergraduate degree at Harvard University, studied at the Architectural Association in London England and earned a Master of Architecture at SCI-Arc. She is the author of Bohemian Modern, Living in Silver Lake. Though this episode was recorded in February of 2024, Barbara’s viewpoint on the city is timeless. Show notes, below, are extensive and in many cases provide updates on the people and places discussed.
April 25, 2024
15: J. Yolande Daniels
<p>Learn more about J. Yolande Daniels' work at <a href="https://architecture.mit.edu/people/yolande-daniels" target="_blank">MIT</a>, <a href="https://studiosumo.com/" target="_blank">StudioSumo</a>, and <a href="https://theblkcity.com/" target="_blank">The Black City</a>. Follow The Black City on<a href="https://www.instagram.com/theblkcity/" target="_blank"> instagram here</a>. </p><p><strong>Show notes and Yolande’s Five Places:</strong></p><p><strong>1.</strong> <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Biddy+Mason+Memorial+Park/@34.0498766,-118.250724,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x80c2c64bc13463a1:0x6e785f7e6e7d650f!8m2!3d34.0498722!4d-118.2481437!16s%2Fg%2F11clsw9j2v?authuser=0&entry=ttu">Biddy Mason Place</a> (in today’s Downtown LA): more on <a href="https://www.nps.gov/people/biddymason.htm">Biddy Mason here</a>.</p><p><strong>2.</strong> <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/ucla-library-blackbusinesses/a-brief-history" target="_blank">Brick Block</a> (in today’s Downtown LA)</p><p><strong>3.</strong> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Street">Los Angeles Street</a> (formerly Calle de Los Negros, <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/N+Los+Angeles+St,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90012/@34.0540808,-118.2427897,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x80c2c645e42c43b7:0xc4d1d75206e954fb!8m2!3d34.0540764!4d-118.2402094!16s%2Fm%2F027v7cq?authuser=0&entry=ttu">near today’s Union Station</a>)</p><p><strong>4.</strong> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azusa_Street_Revival">Azusa Street Mission</a> (in today’s Little Tokyo)</p><p><strong>5.</strong> Bronzeville (in today’s Little Tokyo): <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/02/19/516064700/how-little-tokyo-of-los-angeles-changed-into-bronzeville-and-back-again">How 'Little Tokyo' Of Los Angeles Changed Into 'Bronzeville' And Back Again (NPR)</a>; and <a href="https://www.pbssocal.org/history-society/azusa-street-to-bronzeville-the-black-history-of-little-tokyo">Azusa Street to Bronzeville: The Black History of Little Tokyo (PBS SoCal)</a></p><p><strong>Honorable Mention: </strong><a href="https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/el-prieto-loop">El Prieto Canyon</a>—<a href="https://lowelifesrcc.org/2021/08/23/robert-owens-and-el-prieto-canyon/">named after Robert Owens</a></p><p><strong>Whom would you choose to ask about their Five Places? </strong><a href="https://arch.usc.edu/people/amy-murphy">Amy Murphy</a>, <a href="https://cinema.usc.edu/news/article.cfm?id=9796">Akira Mizuta Lippit </a></p><p>Interview Date: 02-24-21</p><p> </p><p><strong>Related Links / Also Mentioned in this episode:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/312/4040"><i>J. Yolande Daniels, Black City: the Los Angeles Edition</i></a>, The Museum of Modern Art (2020).</p><p><a href="https://www.moma.org/d/pdfs/W1siZiIsIjIwMjEvMDIvMjMvNGsycml5NmRla19Nb01BX1JlY29uc3RydWN0aW9uc19QUkVWSUVXLnBkZiJdXQ/MoMA_Reconstructions_PREVIEW.pdf?sha=658a29044a48951a"><i>Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America</i></a><i>, </i>The Museum of Modern Art (2020), </p><p>Totem House by studioSUMO + Histories of Negation by J. Yolande Daniels, Architecture at Home, <a href="https://crystalbridges.org/calendar/architecture-at-home/">Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art</a> <br /><a href="https://arts.mit.edu/projects/black-city/">MIT Center for Art Media and Technology</a></p><p><a href="https://www.archpaper.com/2022/08/crystal-bridges-museum-five-house-prototypes-northwest-arkansass-housing-crisis/"><i>Crystal Bridges Museum debuts five house prototypes that take on Northwest Arkansas’s housing crisis</i></a> (The Architect’s Newspaper)</p><p><a href="https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/09/418616/open-hand-conversation-descendants-biddy-mason">The Open Hand: A Conversation with the Descendants of Biddy Mason</a></p><p><a href="https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/calle-de-los-negros">What’s in a street name? LA’s forgotten Calle de los Negros (KCRW)</a> – refers to the 1871 anti-Chinese massacre in downtown Los Angeles and the forthcoming memorial designed by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nicolasleong_judychung/">Sze Tsung Nicolás Leong and Judy Chui-Hua Chung. </a></p><p><a href="https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/525">How Can We Create Communities of Care? Projects by architect Sekou Cooke and designer J. Yolande Daniels explore how architecture can nurture people and communities.</a></p><p><a href="https://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/journey_3/p_9.html">A Glimpse of the Kingdom of Heaven: the Azusa Street Revival (PBS)</a></p><p> </p><p><strong>Credits:</strong></p><p>Logo design: still room (<a href="https://www.still-room.com/">www.still-room.com</a>)</p><p>Animated logo: Bee Murphy (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/supadoopabee/?hl=en" target="_blank"><i>@supadoopabee</i></a> on Instagram)</p><p>Music: Guido Parisi, www.pond5.com</p><p>Produced by: Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design</p><p>Production team: Emmanuelle Bourlier, Monica Lamela, Quynh Nguyen</p><p>Creator, Executive Producer, and Host: Emmanuelle Bourlier</p><p>This podcast was recorded on unceded Chumash and Tongva land.</p><p>© 2024 Los Angeles Forum AUD, and FIVE PLACES</p><p><a href="http://laforum.org/">www.laforum.org</a></p>
February 29, 2024
BONUS: Mike the PoeT reads Los Angeles A to Z
<p>Discover more of Mike’s work via his <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mikethepoetla/"><strong>instagram</strong></a>, and <a href="https://linktr.ee/mikethepoetla"><strong>Linktree</strong></a>, and find other relevant links in the <a href="https://fiveplaces.la/episode-14-2-mike-the-poet">show notes for his original interview with art critic Shana Nys Dambrot (E14)</a>. For Shana’s bio and her Five Places L.A. interview, check out <a href="https://fiveplaces.la/episode-12-1-shana-nys-dambrot">Episode 12, here</a>. “Los Angeles A to Z” is a poem included in Mike Sonksen’s beautiful tribute to Los Angeles, “Letters to My City”, <a href="https://www.writlargeprojects.com/shop/p/letters-to-my-city-2nd-edition">the second edition of which was just published by Writ Large Press</a> in 2023. “The poems and essays in <i>Letters to My City</i> combine two decades of field experience, research, personal observations, and stories told to the author, Mike Sonksen, a third-generation Los Angeles native, by his grandfather and other family members, to interrogate all sides of Los Angeles, its streets, its people, its neighborhoods, as a means to examine the postmodern metropolis.”</p>
19 total episodes available
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