You Can Get There From Here

WE'VE BEEN talking a lot about how much of Los Angeles is really determined by one's perspective -- figuratively and literally.

Last year, KCET launched a project that asked an interesting question: How would you map your own Los Angeles? The responses -- essays,  superimposed grids, quick-sketch compass points -- all attempt to in some way  reel a particular "version" of L.A. in focus.

Here is a snip from an essay on the site by D.J. Waldie, who wrote the wonderful memoir, Holy Land, about growing up in Lakewood:

1. Finding Fiction

"Window Map of Anchorage" by Scott Griffith feat in Hand Drawn Map Association's Collection
As D.J. Waldie put it, "Like a good story, a map is fiction;" they draw from the imagination of perspective and edit relevancy in relation to space. With this in mind you can create maps of fictitious places as found in the Hand Drawn Map Association's collection, featured right, or you can warp what already physically exists to want your mind desires. Imagine East L.A. Bungalows along the shorelines of Venice, or a circus in the heart of Richland Farms, Compton, for instance. You can build a world with the possibilities.

Check out the rest here:

How would you map your Los Angeles?

-- L.G.
map via kcet departures