COLLAGES BY LESLIE CALDERA
The Vanished Built Environment
Bunker Hill, Los Angeles
Bunker Hill is an elevated region on the west side of downtown Los Angeles. It was first developed in the 1870’s as a residential neighborhood for the wealthy. Time and economics altered the district over the next eighty years into an area of cheap hotels and rooming houses. Starting in the late 1950’s, the entire hill was condemned and redeveloped into the gleaming soulless skyscrapers which dominate it today.
These 35 collages are my reflection on what Bunker Hill is now and what it used to be. No doubt the shiny tall buildings modernized the hill, but I cannot forget the unique character of the aged but grand original residences. Nearly seventy years later, I still grieve the wholesale demolition of the many historic and architecturally significant edifices of yesterday’s original Bunker Hill.
Leslie Caldera has exhibited his art in numerous American cities since 1976. His work has been included in several survey exhibitions of California assemblage art, many group exhibitions, and ten solo shows.
He has also organized more than ten mail art exhibitions since 1982. He continues to correspond with other artists from around the world via the postal system.
Caldera is a long-time resident of Southern California.