Los Angeles
24 Hours in L.A.
Bonfire of the Vanities meets South Central
By
Normski Anderson
When London photographer Normski Anderson visited Los Angeles to shoot life in gangland, and a performance by gangsta rapper Ice-T, he borrowed a great vintage car from a friend in Malibu.
“It just so happened to be an old 1960s gold Cadillac, with a wonderful cream and velour interior…. I don’t realize it’s a gangbangers’ car.”
He tears down the freeway late at night, eager to get home, and accidentally exits into some dicey neighborhood.
“It’s completely dark everywhere; I can just about see movement in the shadows.”
Relieved to spot an LAPD car, he leans on his horn.
The cops jump out and run over to him, waving big guns.
“Is this your vehicle?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Whose is it?”
He explains.
“See those guys over there?”
And I see like a patch of black guys, hard core gang members.
“Those guys are about ready to kill you for your car. This is a carjacking, gangbanging car. That is the prize car. And you will die in this vehicle if you carry on driving in this area.”
See Normski’s video: 4.18 minutes
See more of Normski Anderson’s work
What's your view?
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November 25th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Excellent Mary! Good story telling..
November 25th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Thank Normski! Isn’t he amazing?
November 26th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Very unusual presentation …. captivating storytelling
enjoyed the video….
- Shobha
November 27th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
intriguing flash video insight into gang violence, great editing for quick flavor, sad as it is. one person’s normal is another’s fright…
February 9th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
This is an honour to share my work with you all.
Thanks Normski
May 26th, 2012 at 7:59 pm
I still have trouble with the word “like” dropped in…it was borrowed from the hip musicians’ world, adapted by the teens and college crowd, and now has become a pointless verbal punctuation mark! It smacks of a weak spot in the education of the speaker. It is also difficult to explain to people who are learning to speak English! It’s a shame such a useless interruption has to break the flow of a usually decent sentence. (OK…end of, like, rant. )