In Our Path: Finding Aid
Finding aid prepared by Diann Benti.
Photo Archives
© 2014
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
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Title: In Our Path
Dates (inclusive): approximately 1982-1995
Collection Number: photCL 480
Creator:
Gates, Jeff, 1949-
Extent:
46 photographs : gelatin silver prints ; images 11 x 14 in., mounts 16 x 20 in.
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Photo Archives
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
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.
Language: English.
Note:
Finding aid last updated on May 29, 2014.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
In Our Path. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Acquired from Jeff Gates in 2007.
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.
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.
The photographs are arranged numerically in the two series according to the original image numbers assigned by the photographer.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Wilson, Pete, 1933- -- Photographs.
California. Dept. of Transportation -- Photographs.
Abandoned houses -- Photographs.
Construction workers -- Photographs.
Dwellings -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Express highways -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Express highways -- Social aspects -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Relocation (Housing) -- California -- California Century Freeway -- Photographs.
Roads -- California -- Los Angeles -- Design and construction -- Photographs.
Swimming pools -- Photographs.
Vacant lands -- Photographs.
Transportation -- California -- Los Angeles -- Design and construction -- Photographs.
California Century Freeway (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Downey (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Hawthorne (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Norwalk (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Documentary photographs.
Photographs.
Box 1
photCL 480 Part I, 1982-1983
Physical Description:
19 photographs in 1 box
This set of 19 loose prints documents the Century Freeway project from 1982 to 1983. The images consist primarily of the exteriors
of condemned buildings with boarded-up windows, vacant yards, and relocated houses on flat-bed trucks.
Image 19 includes a dog corpse in a yard. The photographs are accompanied by a letterpress title page, introduction, and numbered
descriptive notes by the photographer.
Image titles transcribed from the accompanying "Notes on Photographs."
- (1) Downey, California
- (2) Norwalk, California (Aerial photograph)
- (3) Downey, California
- (4) Downey, California (Aerial photograph)
- (5-8) Downey, California
- (9) Downey, California (Vacant field with foundation remnants)
- (10) Downey, California
- (11) Hawthorne, California
- (12) Downey, California (Backyard swimming pool with painted palm trees)
- (13) Hawthorne, California (Boundary of the Century Freeway right-of-way)
- (14-18) Los Angeles, California
- (19) Downey, California
Box 2
photCL 480 Part II, 1990-1995
Physical Description:
27 photographs in 1 box
This set of 27 loose prints documents the Century Freeway project from 1990 to 1995. The images consist of views of vacant
lots,
construction workers, the unfinished freeway, runners on the highway participating in the "Run of the Century" race, and
the October 14, 1983, Opening Day Festivities, including a photograph of California Governor Pete Wilson and officials during
the
pledge of allegiance. The photographs are accompanied by a letterpress title page, introduction, and numbered descriptive
notes for images 1-11 by the photographer.
Image titles for 1-11 are transcribed from the accompanying "Notes on Photographs."