Jonathan Tolliver

In October classes at Machine Project

These Classes Let You Get Crafty In Ways You Never Thought Of

Jonathan Tolliver
Choosing a Halloween costume isn't fun. Hand-wringing, poring over pop culture, picking something race-appropriate — only to be outdone by someone wearing a Netflix T-shirt and arriving with a bag of ice. Who has the time? Simple solution: Wear a non–gender-specific, multiuse jumpsuit. Then, when the holiday is over, keep......
The Watts Rebellion; Credit: Wikimedia Commons

A Guide to Re-experiencing the Watts Rebellion

Jonathan Tolliver
Furious protesters and overzealous military men battered large swaths of the small South L.A. neighborhood of Watts into a bloody-ashen pulp almost 50 years ago this week during the 1965 Watts Rebellion. The six-day protest spread destruction through 50 square miles of Los Angeles and wreaked $40 million in property damage......
Isis Hernandez smiles in her front yard

Is it Time for Angelenos to Break Free of Their Window Bars?

Jonathan Tolliver
The Jordan Downs housing project in Watts looks like it was built to bum everyone out. The pallid yellow exterior, the unadorned grass, the cracked structure, the dying trees — instant day-ruiners. Iron "burglar" bars — wrought-iron sticks that cover windows and doors in L.A. bungalow and apartment neighborhoods —......
An intimate moment at Bait Sundays.; Credit: Jonathan Tolliver

Do We Need Black Gay Bars Anymore?

Jonathan Tolliver
Gay black men in L.A. might soon have to take love into their own hands. That’s because Jewel’s Catch One, a.k.a. the Catch, the city’s only black gay bar, is closing at the end of summer. The bar’s closure comes only a few years after the demise of the Study,......