BRICK AND MORTAR : STARS AND STRIPES
PART 4: PARKER CENTER

For X-TRA Online, Pau S. Pescador has produced a four-part video essay in which they examine four Los Angeles government buildings: Union Station, the Department of Water and Power John Ferraro Building, City Hall, and the former Los Angeles Police Department Parker Center Headquarters. Through an idiosyncratic mix of interviews, live action, and hand-drawn animation, Pescador delves into these buildings as sites of public use, examining both their history and their continued operation. These videos are portraits of what each building symbolizes—what they were built to represent, and what they represent today.

Brick and Mortar : Stars and Stripes concludes at the former Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters, named after Chief William H. Parker. The so-called Parker Center remained active from 1954–2009. During that time, the building became infamous as a site of unrest during the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising, following the acquittal of the four police officers involved in the beating of Rodney King. The building is currently in the process of being dismantled. It is no coincidence, as Pescador notes, that the relationship between Los Angeles, its public, and its police force has been as fraught as the Parker Center’s history.

Pau S. Pescador is an artist, filmmaker, performer and writer. They graduated with an MFA from University of California, Irvine and a BA from the University of Southern California. Select exhibitions and screenings include: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); The Pit, Glendale; 18th Street Art Center, Santa Monica; UV Estudios, Buenos Aires; gallery1993, Los Angeles; Coastal/Borders, Getty Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA at Angels Gate Cultural Center; Ashes/Ashes, Park View, The Main Museum, and gallery1993, all Los Angeles. Their first collection of writing, CRUSHES: A NOVELLA, was published by Econo Textual Objects in Spring 2017.

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Part 4: Parker Center

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