Description

Carribean Fragoza is a fiction writer and journalist from South El Monte, CA. Her collection of stories Eat the Mouth That Feeds You was published in 2021 by City Lights and was a finalist for a 2022 PEN Award. Her co-edited compilation of essays, East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte was published by Rutgers University Press and her forthcoming collection of essays Writing Home: New Terrains of California will be published by Angel City Press in 2023. She has published in Harper's Bazaar, The New York Times, Zyzzyva, Alta, BOMB, Huizache, KCET, the Los Angeles Review of Books, ArtNews, and Aperture Magazine. She is the Prose Editor at Huizache Magazine and Creative Nonfiction and Poetry Editor at Boom California, a journal of UC Press. Fragoza is the founder and co-director of South El Monte Arts Posse, an interdisciplinary arts collective. She lives in the San Gabriel Valley in Greater Los Angeles.

Carribean’s five places

1. The Starlite swap meet (reached via Rush Street in El Monte)
2. Legg lake in Whittier Narrows Park. A hike and a fishing guide.
3. Los Callejones and Santee Alley
4. Car wash taco eateries. We were unable to find links to the El Monte place referenced by Carribean, but here are Deliciosas Pupusas in El Sereno, and other car wash tacos are discussed by L.A. Taco (Macho’s tacos), and LA eater.
5. The warehouse district, now known as the (ahem) Arts District. More here, by the L.A. conservancy. 

Also Mentioned in this episode

Designer Miguel Barragan

Carolina Miranda’s LA Times piece on Rafa Esparsa’s callejones performance

Carribean’s books:

Eat the Mouth That Feeds You 

East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte

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.

Opening video © Emmanuelle Bourlier 2022

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

Animated logo: Bee Murphy (@supadupabee 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

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