Bunker Hill Refrain: Resurrecting a Lost Community

Bunker Hill looms large in the collective memory of Los Angeles. Once a tony enclave of Victorian homes, the downtown neighborhood became a vibrant and diverse community before being razed in the urban renewal/removal of the 1950s. Much has been made of the architectural loss. But who were, and what came of, the thousands and thousands of people displaced? A very cool USC project called Bunker Hill Refrain seeks to find out. High tech meets low tech in a vast effort to capture, map, and analyze data from a trove of 1930s WPA census cards. Coupled with oral histories, the data can help illuminate the social cost of urban renewal, inform more thoughtful planning going forward, perhaps even reconnect the community. Hear from students, faculty, and staff about how the project came about, how it works, and how you can get involved.

Podcast Breakdown

• • • [3:18] Intro to Bunker Hill and Bunker Hill Refrain
    • [6:49] The WPA census card collection
    • [14:46] Low tech meets high tech
    • [18:11] Student perspectives and oral history
    • [30:05] Data visualization
    • [34:38] What’s next and how to get involved

This slideshow showcases a few of the items included in the Bunker Hill Refrain project.

Want to know more about some of the ideas and places mentioned in this episode? Check out:

Bunker Hill Refrain Zooniverse site

Follow the project on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube

USC Digital Library WPA household census cards and employee records

Los Angeles Times Timeline: How Bunker Hill transformed Los Angeles and Grand Avenue

USC Master of Heritage Conservation program

Episode Guests

	Dr. Meredith Drake Reitan is an Associate Dean in the Graduate School at the University of Southern California. She also serves as an adjunct professor in USC’s Price School of Public Policy and School of Architecture where she teaches classes on planning history, urban design, and heritage conservation. Dr. Drake Reitan is currently a board member of El Pueblo Park Association, an organization dedicated to supporting El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument.
	Suzi Noruschat is Southern California Studies Specialist in Special Collections at the University of Southern California Libraries, where she oversees the Regional History Collection comprising books and archives related to Los Angeles, California, and the American West.
	Andy Rutkowski is a Visualization Specialist at USC Libraries. He helps support scholarship and research using visualization methods and practices. He teaches a course in USC’s Dornsife School, Images of Los Angeles: Visualizing Data, that explores Los Angeles through data and hands-on visualization practices and methods and a course on Big Data for Planning and Development in USC’s Price Executive Master of Urban Planning Program.
	Jessica Rivas Acuña is an M.A. Candidate in the Heritage Conservation program. Her academic and professional background lies in California history, with an emphasis on the late 19th century. Her other research interests include domestic architecture and the promotion of interdisciplinary perspectives when studying the built environment.
	Brannon Smithwick is a dual-degree masters student currently studying Heritage Conservation in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning: Design of the Built Environment in the Sol Price School of Public Policy. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Brannon has a background in production design and art direction for the film industry.
	Podcast co-host Cindy Olnick recently interviewed the Bunker Hill Refrain team. Cindy is a communications pro who loves L.A. and thinks historic places are magic.

Credits on About page