Ben Fong
Departures is KCET's hyper-local web documentary, community engagement tool and digital literacy program about the cultural history of Los Angeles' neighborhoods.
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Ben Fong was born in Sacramento in 1921 and moved with his family to the East Adams District a decade later. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Ben decided to join the United States Marine Corps but was refused due to the color of the skin. Ben was later drafted in the Army and stubborn and persistent as he was, became a Military Intelligence expert. For Fong, as well as for many other Chinese Americans, the war was indispensable in solidifying the inclusion of Chinese into the larger American narrative. Now retired, Ben Fong has moved back to Chinatown after getting tired of driving back and forth from the San Gabriel Valley to visit the newly opened Chinatown Public Library, which hosts one of the largest collections of books in Chinese in the country.
Return To The Mural
Funders and Partners
Support for the Departures' Chinatown installment is provided through these funders and local community partners, as well as from viewers like you.
Click here to see all funders and community partners for Departures.
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THE NEXT CHAPTER FOR THE GREAT WALL OF LOS ANGELES
The Great Wall of Los Angeles has been a work in progress since its inception, and plans for its growth include extending the story from the 1950s into the 1990s.
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THROUGH THE COMMUNITY'S EYES: PERCEPTIONS OF THE GREAT WALL
The value of the mural is evident through the eyes of the growingly diverse local community. Neighbors have a personal connection to a particular panel's story or have grown up with it, learning and sharing the lessons the mural has to offer.
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NEW VOICES: NEW FACES IN LOS ANGELES MURALISM
Today, young artists inspired by SPARC and other pioneering muralists are continuing the legacy of muralism in Los Angeles with new avenues of approach.
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RESTORATION OF THE GREAT WALL OF LOS ANGELES
More than 25 years later, Judith Baca and SPARC returned to the Great Wall, to restore its luster after years of fading in the summer and beaten by the waters of the Tujunga Wash.
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