In Our Path, approximately 1982-1995

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Summary

Creators:
Gates, Jeff, 1949-
Abstract:
In Our Path contains two series of black-and-white photographs by Jeff Gates that chronicle the construction and impact of the I-105 Century Freeway in Los Angeles, California, between 1982 and 1983 and later from 1990 and 1995. Each set of photographs is accompanied by a letterpress title page, introduction, and numbered descriptive notes by the photographer.
Extent:
46 photographs : gelatin silver prints ; images 11 x 14 in., mounts 16 x 20 in.
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

In Our Path contains two series of black-and-white photographs by Jeff Gates that chronicle the construction and impact of the I-105 Century Freeway in Los Angeles, California, between 1982 and 1983 and later from 1990 and 1995. The first set of 19 images focus primarily on the initial condemnation and relocation of houses and property in the proposed path of the freeway in the early 1980s. The later set of 27 images document the continued construction in the early 1990s and the opening of the freeway.

Each set of photographs is accompanied by a letterpress title page, introduction, and numbered descriptive notes by the photographer.

Biographical / historical:

Jeff Gates (born 1949) began photographing the construction and community impact of the Century Freeway in Los Angeles, California, in 1982 and 1983. The 18-mile freeway (also known as Interstate 105 and the Glenn Anderson Freeway) runs east-west from near El Segundo and the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Norwalk, and bisects the communities of Hawthorne, Willowbrook, Lynwood, and Downey.

Planning for the freeway began in the late 1950s, but was stalled when homeowners in the path of the proposed route and other plaintiffs sued the State in 1972. The plaintiffs won an injunction against further development that lasted until 1981, when the Final Consent Decree was issued. Construction began in 1982, and the freeway opened on October 14, 1993.

Gates's initial set of 19 photographs, entitled In Our Path, was exhibited in the Downey Museum of Art in 1983. In 1984, Gates received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for the series. In the early 1990s, the law firm of Hall & Associates commissioned a second set of photographs of the construction area from Gates. The two sets of photographs were exhibited together at the Downey Museum of Art and El Camino College in 1995. A photograph from the series was included in This Side of Paradise: Body and Landscape in L.A., an exhibit at the Huntington Library in June 2008.

Acquisition information:
Acquired from Jeff Gates in 2007.
Arrangement:

The photographs are arranged numerically in the two series according to the original image numbers assigned by the photographer.

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Note:

Finding aid last updated on May 29, 2014.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2129
reference@huntington.org
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