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Editors' Picks 2017

editors' picks 2017
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2017 was an astounding year of cultural shifts, artistic explorations, and environmental challenges in the United States — and California was no exception. The editors, writers, and producers at KCET worked hard to capture these pivotal moments and nurture conversations about our changing landscape in the West. Follow the links below to our editors' picks for 2017.

"Adornment" Exhibit Highlights Beauty and Traditions of Women of Color

"Dea and Nai" | Amanda Lopez and Tanya Melendez Adornment

Amanda Lopez and Tanya Melendez capture the beauty and dignity of brown and black women through elaborate hairstyles adorned with gold jewelry and beautifully composed photography. 

City Rising: Full Episode

City Rising: Ch. 6

This multi-platform documentary shows how gentrification is deeply rooted in a history of discriminatory laws and practices in the United States. 

Ecology of a Riot: The Deserts of Rodney King and Mike Davis

Rodney King

Rodney King and Mike Davis are existential neighbors, both subjects and critics of succeeding Western regimes of boom and bust and busted heads, of magical and haunted encounters with the land.

Forgotten Black Women of Early Hollywood Take Center Stage at CAAM

Iris Hall as Eve Mason in The Symbol of the Unconquered, 1920. USA. Directed by Oscar Micheaux | Courtesy of the California African American Museum

In the first half of the 20th century, black women were largely relegated to playing mammy and jezebel roles. A new exhibition reveals how as early as 100 years ago, independent black filmmakers presented complex portrayals of women of color. 

How Mexican-Themed Bar La Cita Bridges L.A.'s Diverse Communities

Scene from inside La Cita with men in hats and festive lighting. | Samanta Helou
Samanta Helou Hernandez

For more than 60 years, La Cita bar has wrapped its arms around a diverse set of the city’s residents — from recent Central American immigrants to second generation Chicanx feminists — making people feel at home amid its red tiles and sparkling lights.

The Past, Present, And Future of Chinatown's Changing Culinary Landscape

Kim Chuy, Chinatown

In four years, over a dozen eateries have sprouted in Chinatown’s Far East Plaza and its surrounding area, bringing in tow a new vibe, clientele, and cultural and housing changes — both good and bad, depending on whom you speak to — to the community.

Inside One of the Country's Busiest Fire Stations That Serves the City of Los Angeles

LAFD Station 9 Skid Row

Station 9 is one of the nation’s busiest stations. But a blaze isn’t breaking out on every corner of the station’s 0.75-square mile territory, in fact, hardly at all. Station 9 serves Skid Row, a 54-block area of L.A. that somehow got left behind.

We All Live Downstream: At Risk From the Dakota Access Pipeline

It's not just the Dakota Access Pipeline: here's an oil pad perilously close to the Little Missouri River. | Photo: NPCA

All pipelines leak eventually. When they do, living things downstream are in trouble.

The Fascinating History of the Massive Pyramid and Granite Monuments in the California Desert

Mr. and Mrs. Istel

The drive from California to the Arizona border on Interstate 8 can be an uneventful one, until you reach a 21-foot, pink-granite pyramid curiously erected in the Sonoran Desert that marks the “Center of the World.”

The Honey Man of El Sereno Continues a 300-Year-old Family Legacy of Beekeeping

Victor Jaramillo Soriano Bee Keeping | Oliver Wang

Victor Jaramillo Soriano started raising bees in El Sereno in 1948, but his honey business is a family legacy that goes back hundreds of years. 

Pachucos: Not Just Mexican-American Males or Juvenile Delinquents

Alba Barrios, Francis Silva, and Lorena Encinas, held in prison in connection with slaying during the Zoot suit period, 1942.

Participants of pachuco culture were not just male, youth or Mexican-American. The history of the culture includes a number of complexities.

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Two people look at something in the distance in horror.

Mystery Comedy 'Wicked Little Letters' Stars Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley: Early Screening at the PBS SoCal Cinema Series

The film screens March 19, with a pre-recorded Q&A with director Thea Sharrock shown immediately after the screening.
A person wearing glasses flips through a book at a desk.

'One Life' Portrays the Heroic Deeds of Nicholas Winton: Early Screening at the PBS SoCal Cinema Series

The film screens March 12, with an in-person Q&A with KCRW host and THR editor Kim Masters, whose mother was one of the children rescued by Nicholas Winton.
'American Dreamer' Promo Image

'American Dreamer' Q&A with Director and Producer Paul Dektor at the PBS SoCal Cinema Series

The film screened March 5 at the Landmark Westwood Theatre, with an in-person Q&A with director/producer Paul Dektor.