Finding Aid for the Ulises Diaz Adobe LA Archive, 1939-2002 93

Arranged by CSRC. Processed by Doug Johnson.

Chicano Studies Research Center Library

May 2019

144 Haines Hall

Box 951544

Los Angeles, California 90095-1544

librarian@chicano.ucla.edu

URL: http://chicano.ucla.edu

Language of Material: English

Contributing Institution: Chicano Studies Research Center Library

Title: Ulises Diaz Adobe LA Archive

Creator: Diaz, Ulises, 1960-

Identifier/Call Number: 93

Physical Description: 4.8 linear feet (9 boxes; 3 flat boxes)

Date (inclusive): 1939-2002

Abstract: This collection of papers represents the creative thought and writing of Adobe LA. Since its founding in 1992 as an activist collaboration of architects, artists and designers, ADOBE LA took the cultural landscape of Los Angeles, particularly that of the Latin American community as the point of departure for projects that addressed the values of Los Angeles' evolving multicultural population. The mission of ADOBE LA was to create and produce public art and architecture, create a discourse that responds to the social and cultural needs of the Latino communities in Los Angeles, to document that landscape through diverse media (film, photography, art), and finally to critically analyze issues of representation, vernacular architecture and popular culture through exhibitions, writing, teaching, publications and community activism.

Language of Material: Collection materials are in English, Japanese, and Spanish.

Physical Location: COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Library and Archive for paging information.

Access

Open for research.

Acquisition Information

Donated to the CSRC in 2006.

Arrangement

The files are arranged in the order determined by the initial archivist, and presumably has an approximate relationship to the original order. The collection is divided into the following series, most of which correspond to a project undertaken by ADOBE LA:

Series 1. Common Ground files
Series 2. Ciudad Hibrida = Hybrid City files
Series 3. Mixed Feelings files
Series 4. More than a Game files
Series 5. Mariposa Art Center files
Series 6. Boyle Heights Project files
Series 7. Revelatory Landscapes files
Series 8. Minor projects
Series 9. Personal files

Biography

Ulises de Jesus Diaz is a community/urban activist, artist and architect who works to strengthen the voice of an expanding and diverse community in Los Angeles. Works include urban design, architecture, design projects, publications and artworks where he addresses how diverse cultures influence public open space, art and the urban fabric. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Wexner Center for the Visual Arts in Columbus, Ohio, the Gamel Dok Architecture Museum in Copenhagen, and at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Following a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, he gave a lecture entitled "Seeing America: Mexican Popular Culture in Los Angeles as a Paradigm for American Cities?" in Bielefeld, Germany at the ZIF - Center for Interdisciplinary Research.

ADOBE LA (Architects, Artists and Designers Opening the Border Edge of Los Angeles) was founded in 1992 as an activist collaboration of architects, artists and designers. Founded by Ulises Diaz and others, it takes the cultural landscape of Los Angeles as the point of departure for projects that address the values of Los Angeles's evolving multicultural population. The mission of ADOBE LA is: to create and produce public art and architecture, create a discourse that responds to the social and cultural needs of the communities in Los Angeles, to document that landscape through diverse media (film, photography, art), to critically analyze issues of representation, vernacular architecture and popular culture through exhibitions, writing, teaching, publications and community activism.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Ulises Diaz Adobe LA Archive, 93, Chicano Studies Research Center, University of California, Los Angeles.

Processing History

Arranged by CSRC, circa March 2011. Processed by Doug Johnson, May 2019.

Scope and Content

This collection consists primarily of material relating to different projects undertaken by ADOBE LA. Several of these were in collaboration with the Japanese American National Museum, for which ADOBE designed the exhibition spaces. In addition to material on the design aspects of their work, there is also much material on the content of the exhibitions, and therefore on Japanese American history. Materials include design sketches and plans, photographs, correspondence, and financial material. There are also several essays for the book edited by ADOBE LA, Ciudad Hibrida. There is also some personal material for Ulises Diaz, including photographs, maps, artwork, and periodicals.

Conditions Governing Use

These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of materials, including but not limited to infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The original authors may retain copyright to the materials.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Architecture

Los Angeles (Calif.)

Public Art

Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Mexican American artists

Museum exhibits

Series 1. Common Ground files

Scope and Contents

This series contains material relating to the exhibition Common Ground: The Heart of Community at the Japanese American National Museum that opened on January 23, 1999.

Box 1, Folder 1

Design sketches 1998

Box 1, Folder 2

Design sketches and research 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes War Relocation Authority maps of the following concentration camps: Rowher; Poston; Tule Lake; Heart Mountain.

Box 1, Folders 3-5

Design sketches 1998-1999

Box 1, Folder 6

Design sketches 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes photographs of the museum exterior.

Box 1, Folder 7

Narrative 1991-1998

Scope and Contents

Includes: correspondence; article "What Is a Community-Based Museum?" by James A. Hirabayashi; transcript of "Identity and Access: Asian American Artists in Los Angeles, Part I"; script drafts.

Box 1, Folder 8

Exhibition design proposals 1998-1999

Scope and Contents

Also includes invoices for design work completed.

Box 1, Folder 9

Correspondence 1998-1999

Scope and Contents

Includes schedules.

Box 1, Folder 10

Miscellaneous 1999

Scope and Contents

Includes: notes; font samples; brochures.

Box 6, Folder 5

Photographs 1939-1994

Scope and Contents

Includes mostly group photographs of Japanese Americans, circa 1941; some photos are taken at concentration camps; there are several photos of soldiers.

Box 6, Folder 6

Photocopies 1997

Scope and Contents

Mostly photographs from 1890-1974, but with some anti-Japanese ephemera, 1906-1920.

Box 6, Folder 7

Photocopies 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes thumbnail photographs, sometimes with accession information.

Box 7, Folder 6

Design sketches and plans 1998

Box 8, Folder 2

Photographs of artifacts undated

Box 10, Folder 1

List of artifacts 1998

Box 10, Folder 2

Photographs 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes: photocopies of exhibition items; negatives and prints of museum exterior.

Box 10, Folder 3

Publications 1998

Language of Material: Material is in English, Japanese, and Korean.

Scope and Contents

Includes brochures; gift catalog; maps of Little Tokyo; art booklet "How to Make Kimchee" by Mary Lum and Jay Barclay.

Box 10, Folder 4

Script draft 1998-10-12

Series 2. Ciudad Hibrida = Hybrid City files

Scope and Contents

This series contains material relating to the book Ciudad Hibrida = Hybrid City: The Production of Art in "Alien Territory" edited by Ulises Diaz and Gustavo Leclerc (Los Angeles: Adobe LA, 1998). At times the project is referred to as +urbarte.

Box 2, folder 1

Page proofs 1998

Box 2, folder 2

Correspondence 1998

Biographical / Historical

This material seems to come from en earlier stage of the project, when the book was to be called Latino LA: The Cultures of Everyday Urban Life, and was to be published by Sage Publicationas.

Box 2, Folder 3

Final page proofs 1998

Box 2, Folder 4

Miscellaneous 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes: essays; photographic negatives; information on Humble Graphics.

Box 2, Folder 5

Correspondence 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes page proofs.

Box 2, Folders 6-9

Latino LA 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes: proposal; table of contents; sample layouts; some of this material would be repurposed for Ciudad Hibrida.

Box 11, Folder 1

Alcaraz, Lalo 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes: "LA Cucaracha Urban Sketch Journal, 1992-1998"; Pocho Magazine no. 3 [photocopy].

Box 11, Folder 2

Alfaro, Luis 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes essay "My Opera Shrine."

Box 11, Folder 3

Alvarez, Gloria Enedina 1996-1997

Scope and Contents

Includes poems.

Box 11, Folder 4

Alvarez, Laura 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes poems, drawings, and slides.

Box 11, Folder 5

Artist invoices 1997-2000

Scope and Contents

Includes slides of Ruben Ortiz Torres's work.

Box 11, Folder 6

Cabral, Rojelio 1997-1998

Scope and Contents

Includes photocopies of mixed media artworks.

Box 11, Folder 7

Castillo, Rolo 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes slides of artworks.

Box 11, Folder 8

Chornesky, Jessica 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes: invoices; photographs.

Box 11, folder 9

Correspondence 1997-1998

Box 11, Folder 10

Design notes 1998

Box 11, Folder 11

Distribution / sales 1999-2000

Box 11, Folder 12

Fernandez, Ignacio 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes slides.

Box 11, Folder 13

Fernandez, Maria Elena 1997

Scope and Contents

Includes essay "Rock en Espanol."

Box 11, Folder 14

Flores, Consuelo 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes essay "The March."

Box 11, Folder 15

Gastelum, Victor undated

Box 11, Folder 16

Gonzalez, Rita and Ramon Garcia 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes text and photographs for "L.A. Lupe."

Box 12, Folder 1

Haley, Lindsay 1997

Scope and Contents

Includes: essay "East LA Is El Paso"; manuscript "Poems de una Chicana/Irish, Chuca Veterana que Piensa que es Sirena Turned Activist y Poeta para Acarbla de Chingar."

Box 12, Folder 2

Hernandez, Maria Elena 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes essay "Hair, Lips, and Hips: How to Work It, Cha-Cha Style."

Box 12, folder 3

Humble Graphics cover 1997-1998

Box 12, Folder 4

Introduction 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes: drafts of introduction by Gustavo Leclerc; front matter; contributer biographies; 3.5" floppy disk.

Box 12, Folder 5

Isais, Geraldine Forbes 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes abstract "Mestizo Baroque as Cultural Identity in East Los Angeles."

Box 12, Folder 6

Leclerc, Gustavo 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes essay "Stories about Buildings."

Box 12, Folder 7

Lopez, Alma 1997-1998

Scope and Contents

Includes essay "Las Four"; photographs; Zip disk..

Box 12, Folder 8

Mexopolis 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes slides.

Box 12, Folder 9

Miscellaneous 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes: publication outline; financial notes.

Box 12, Folder 10

Ortiz Torres, Ruben 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes: essay; graphics; slide; brochure for exhibit Alien Toyz at Track 16 Gallery.

Box 12, Folder 11

Quarterly reports 1997

Box 12, Folder 12

Ray, Mary-Ann undated

Scope and Contents

Includes booklet "Baggy Shelters for Broadway and Other Claddings."

Box 12, Folder 13

Reyes, Jessie 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes story "Ana"; 3.5" floppy disk.

Box 12, Folder 14

Rivera, Reynaldo undated

Box 12, Folder 15

SCI-Arc invoices and receipts 1998

Box 12, Folder 16

Slides +UrbArte 1998

Scope and Contents

Slides of laundromats and murals.

Box 12, Folder 17

Spare +UrbArte articles 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes "Ruta 35, Zamora, Michoacan" by Ruben Martinez; "LA Cucaracha Urban Sketch Journal, 1992-1998" by Lalo Alcaraz.

Box 12, Folder 18

Studio 2 and 3 - Patios Pocho undated

Box 12, Folder 19

Teen Angel 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes: correspondence with Teen Angel; photographs; drawings; Teen Angels no. 146; essay "Baby I'm for Real" by Jesse Lerner.

Box 12, Folder 20

Villareal, Rogelio undated

Scope and Contents

Includes essays "Apuntes para el fin de la ciudad mas grande del mundo" and "Todo tiempo pasadeo fue mejor."

Box 12, Folder 21

Wiro [Juan Carlos Ruiz] 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes: essay "Low and Slow"; photographs.

Series 3. Mixed Feelings files

Scope and Contents

This series contains material for the exhibition Mixed Feelings: Art and Culture in the Postborder Metropolis, at the Fisher Gallery at the University of Southern California.

Box 2, Folder 10

Catalog 2002

Language of Material: Essays are in English and Spanish.

Scope and Contents

Includes: page proofs; director's note by Selma Holo; "Hitting Soft and Looking South" by Gustavo Leclerc and Michael Dear.

Box 3, Folder 1

Artists' statments 2002

Language of Material: Statements are in Spanish and English.

Scope and Contents

Includes statements from: Laura Alvarez; Mark Bradford; Mariana Botey; the De la Torre Brothers; Barbara Jones; Jesse Lerner and Rita Gonzalez; Joe Lewis; Daniel Joseph Martinez; Amala Mesa-Bains; Milena Muzquiz; Ruben Ortiz Torres; Marcos Ramirez; Norman Yonemoto.

Box 3, Folder 2

Artists' biographies 2002

Box 3, Folder 3

Design plans and sketches 2002

Box 3, Folder 4

Brochure design 2002

Box 3, Folder 5

Miscellaneous 2002

Scope and Contents

Includes: schedules; catalog material; budgets.

Box 3, Folders 6-7

Artists' budgets 2001-2002

Scope and Contents

Includes the artists' estimates of how much it will cost to create and install their works.

Box 3, Folder 8

Ortiz, Ruben 2002

Scope and Contents

Includes: photographs; fabric swatches.

Box 3, Folder 9

Essays 2001

Scope and Contents

Includes: "Peopling Southern Caifornia" by Phoebe Kropp and Michael Dear; "Peopling Baja California" by Hector Manuel Lucero.

Box 3, Folder 10

Correspondence 2002

Scope and Contents

Includes Ulises Diaz's contracts to design the exhibit.

Box 3, Folder 11

Miscellaneous 2001-2002

Scope and Contents

Includes: planning materials; notes.

Series 4. More than a Game files

Scope and Contents

This series contains material on the exhibition More than a Game: Sport in the Japanese American Community at the Japanese American National Museum, March 4, 2000-February 18, 2001.

Box 3, Folder 12

Design sketches 2000

Box 3, Folder 13

Design plans 2000

Box 3, Folder 14

Invoices 1999-2000

Box 3, Folder 15

Miscellaneous 1999-2000

Scope and Contents

Includes: slide identification register; timelines.

Box 3, Folder 16

Design proposal 1999

Series 5. Mariposa Art Center files

Scope and Contents

This series contains material on Mariposa Academia de Arte y Centro Internacional de las Artes, a proposed art center in Tijuana.

Box 4, Folder 1

Project notebook 1999

Language of Material: Material is in Spanish and English.

Box 4, Folder 2

Correspondence 1999

Series 6. Boyle Heights Project files

Scope and Contents

This series contains material relating to Boyle Heights Project: Power of Place, a collaboration between the Japanese American National Museum and the Jewish Historical Society of Southern California.

Box 4, Folders 3-5

Collection sheets 2000

Scope and Contents

Includes accession information and suggested captions for photographs and other items donated by members of the community.

Box 4, Folders 6-8

Thumbnail images 2000

Scope and Contents

Photocopies of donated photographs.

Box 4, Folder 9

Photographs circa 2002

Box 4, Folder 10

ASCO Instant Mural [photocopy of photograph] undated

Box 4, Folder 11

Design plans 2002

Box 4, Folder 12

Collage undated

Box 4, Folder 13

Miscellaneous 2002

Scope and Contents

Includes: text panel outline; invitations; Los Angeles Railway images.

Box 4, Folder 14

"A Collage of a Community" by Suzanne Muchnic 2002

Box 4, Folder 15

Prodisplays 2001

Box 4, Folder 16

Sketches and maps undated

Box 4, Folder 17

JonSons Market photocopy images undated

Box 4, Folder 18

Diary pages [photocopy] 1942

Scope and Contents

Much of the diary concerns events at Utah Street School during the construction of Aliso Village.

Box 4, Folder 19

Walkthroughs 2001-2002

Box 4, Folder 20

Miscellaneous 2000-2002

Scope and Contents

Includes: photocopies of photographs; articles on design; brochures for other exhibitions; design plans.

Box 6, folder 1

Miscellaneous 2002

Scope and Contents

Includes: design plans; photocopies of exhibition materials.

Box 6, folder 2

Planning notebook 2000-2002

Scope and Contents

Includes: correspondence; item collection procedures; grant material; design plans; agreements; brochures; 3 CD-R with images.

Box 6, folder 3

Design sketches and plans 2002

Series 7. Revelatory Landscapes files

Scope and Contents

This series contains material on the exhibition Revelatory Landscapes at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, May 5-October 14, 2001.

Box 5, Folder 1

Design sketches 2000

Box 5, Folder 2

Maps 1978-2000

Box 5, Folder 3

Sketches / plans / photographs 1978-2000

Box 5, Folder 4

Administrative papers 2000-2001

Scope and Contents

Includes: timeline; agreements; building permits.

Box 5, Folder 5

Budgets and invoices 2000-2001

Box 5, Folder 6

Research 1987-2001

Scope and Contents

Includes articles on landscape art and salt marshes; preliminary proposals under the name Hybrid Eden; programs.

Box 5, Folder 7

Research 1971-1999

Scope and Contents

Includes: excerpts from City Planning and Aerial Information by Melville C. Branch; material on San Francisco Bay; 1996 Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design Jury's Report [photocopy]; exhibit proposals.

Box 5, Folder 8

Correspondence 2000-2001

Box 5, Folder 9

Miscellaneous 1991-2001

Scope and Contents

Includes: maps; notes; fabricator information.

Series 8. Minor projects

Scope and Contents

This series includes material for projects that have only one folder of material.

Box 6, Folder 4

Lincoln Heights signage project 1999

Scope and Contents

Includes: proposal; maps; photographs.

Box 8, Folder 1

From Bento to Mixed Plate 1998-1999

Scope and Contents

Includes: programs for exhibition From Bento to Mixed Plate: Americans of Japanese Ancestry in Multicultural Hawai'i at the Japanese American National Museum; design sketches; maps of Los Angeles and Rohwer concentration camp.

Box 8, Folder 4

Baldwin Park Commuter Rail Station blueprints 1992

Box 9, Folder 6

Miscellaneous design sketches and plans 1995-1998

Scope and Contents

Includes material for Harbor Hills Community Center and several unidentified projects.

Box 9, Folder 7

Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies 1994-1997

Scope and Contents

Includes: brochures; calendars; sketches of the facade.

Box 10, Folder 5

AULA: Architecture and Urbanism in Las Americas poster mock-up undated

Box 10, Folder 6

Casa Refugio Posada undated

Scope and Contents

Includes: project description; images.

Box 10, Folder 7

Centro Internacional de las Artes proposals 1999

Box 10, Folder 8

Freeway installation photographs 1996

Box 10, Folder 9

Heterotopias 1998

Scope and Contents

Includes: essay "Heterotopias of Latino Culture in Los Angeles"; photographs.

Box 10, Folder 10

Urban Revisions photographs 1994

Series 9. Personal files

Box 7, Folder 1

Miscellaneous 1990-1991

Scope and Contents

Includes: snapshots of the intersection of Santa Monica Blvd. and Westwood Blvd.; design sketches; ephemera.

Box 7, Folder 2

Miscellaneous 1997

Scope and Contents

Includes: plan for unidentified park; translucent maps of Los Angeles; collage incorporating New York Daily News headline "Actress Shoots Andy Warhol"; photcopies of art works.

Box 7, Folder 3

Maps of Los Angeles [photocopies] 1950-1991

Box 7, Folders 4-5

Maps of downtown Los Angeles undated

Scope and Contents

Maps are mounted on foam core and colored.

Box 8, Folder 3

Periodicals and brochures 1997-2001

Scope and Contents

Includes: Metropolis reprint, October 1997 [article on SCI-Arc]; Pasajes: Arquitectura y Critica, nos. 10, 12, 17, 18, 19; brochure for MOCA, March-May 2001.

Box 8

Model undated

Scope and Contents

Disassembled model, possibly related to Casa Refugio Posada.

Box 9, Folder 1

Photographs circa 1995

Box 9, Folder 2

Design sketches undated

Box 9, Folder 3

Sketches undated

Box 9, Folder 4

Exhibition brochures and flyers 1988-2002

Box 9, Folder 5

Artwork and cityscapes undated

Scope and Contents

Includes: photographs; photocopies; print of a painting of the Eiffel Tower; sumi-e drawing of bamboo leaves.

Box 10, Folder 11

Artwork undated

Scope and Contents

Several drawings in the style of prison or tattoo art.

Box 10, Folder 12

Boyle Heights neighborhood plan undated

Box 10, Folder 13

"Los Angeles into the Future: Two Hills One Vision" by Elpidio Rocha undated

Box 10, Folder 14

Personal photographs undated

Box 10, Folder 15

Project portfolio 1996

Scope and Contents

Binder with mission statement, organizational history, and clippings.

Box 10, Folder 16

"Ulises notes" 1995-2002

Scope and Contents

Includes: timeline of Japanese American history; "Las Mil Mascaras of L.A. Land" by ADOBE LA; sketches; CD-R from Kell Munoz Architects; Woodbury University course evaluations.

Box 10, Folder 17

Uxmal ruins photographs undated