Occluded perspectives, parallel journeys, and the dream logic of history
This audio series is the project of Alex MacInnis: Downey-born, Orange County-raised, Los Angeles-based. The child of proud Maritime Canadians who had separately emigrated as far from their homeland as the roads of the English-speaking portion of the continent allowed, and so made a brief home here, in a Swiss chalet style ranch house with a pool, in this snowless land often wearying, but that never gets old.
This is for all they witnessed, and all the many things they did not see.
The first history of Los Angeles I happened to read, which completely changed how I looked at the city, claimed the original European name given to the region was "Valley of Smoke". While most would translate Bahia de los Fumos more along the lines of "Bay of Smokes", and/or argue that the region visible from the Pacific is a costal plain, or perhaps an alluvial basin, but certainly not a valley, the half-imagined name still feels appropriate, especially because of its lack of precision.
