For many travelers who are flying in or out of Los Angeles International Airport, the land surrounding the runways is little more than a blur from an airplane window. A forgotten history of vibrant neighborhoods lies hidden beneath those empty fields and barricaded roads. A place where families once built homes, children played outside until dawn and surfers walked down to the coast.<\/p>\n
Filmmaker Kevin K. Williamson\u2019s documentary, \u201cThe Price of Progress, LAX and Its Neighbors,\u201d centers on this history. Hosted by the Westchester\/Playa Historical Society, the film will be screened on Aug. 15 at Cinemark Playa Vista.<\/p>\n
Decades before Williamson ever decided to pick up a camera, the groundwork for this project was already beginning to take shape.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first moved to Los Angeles, I used to ride my bike through Playa del Rey every morning,\u201d Williamson said. \u201cI\u2019d see the Surfridge neighborhood stretched out along Vista Del Mar, and it always fascinated me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williamson\u2019s curiosity only deepened after moving to Westchester in 1999, where he ended up discovering abandoned streets, sidewalks and the remains of residential communities that used to exist right outside the airport\u2019s boundaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started finding these little ghost towns all over the place,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n
The suspension of his television series during the COVID-19 pandemic provided Williamson with the unexpected opportunity to explore the mystery that had long captivated his attention. What started as informal research gradually transformed into a three year documentary project.<\/p>\n
By gathering archival photos, aerial views, television broadcasts, and interviews with former residents, Williamson reconstructed the history of communities like Surfridge and East Westchester neighborhoods that vanished as LAX grew into one of the country\u2019s busiest airports.<\/p>\n
One discovery that surprised Williamson more than any other.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe scale of time,\u201d Williamson said. \u201cSome of these people built their dream homes overlooking the ocean and lived in them for only about 10 years before they were told they had to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having grown up in a South Hadley, Massachusetts home that is now more than 280 years old, Williamson found it difficult to grasp how an entire community in Southern California could be established and demolished within the span of a single generation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t imagine building your dream house and then, 10 years later, being told you have to get out,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n
This film also highlights the memories of the residents whose childhoods unfolded beneath the flight paths of an evolving airport.<\/p>\n
Many families still recall a time when children would surf after school, hunt for rabbits in neighboring fields and roam the streets until the streetlights came on. They would even race down the massive local sand dunes known as \u201cThrill Hill\u201d on makeshift cardboard sleds.<\/p>\n
These individual narratives, according to Williamson, formed the emotional core of the documentary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey described what sounded like paradise,\u201d he said. \u201cFive minutes in one direction and they were surfing. Five minutes the other direction and they were hunting rabbits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although some viewers might expect the documentary to cast LAX as the villain, Williamson explained that the situation is actually far more complex.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe title is \u2018The Price of Progress,\u2019\u201d Williamson said. \u201cIt really wasn\u2019t anybody\u2019s fault.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, Williamson sees the story as a consequence of Los Angeles\u2019 rapid growth, advances in aviation and the difficult choices cities face as they evolve.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt comes back to people\u2019s need to assign a villain,\u201d Williamson said. \u201cSometimes something\u2019s just got to give.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to recording what was lost, Williamson hopes his documentary will inspire viewers to value the frequently ignored history of Southern California.<\/p>\n
\u201cLos Angeles has always shocked me in how things just get wiped out and you have no idea they were ever there,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n
Williamson points to examples like Pacific Ocean Park, formerly one of the most renowned amusement parks in Southern California, which vanished leaving virtually no physical trace behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I could do one thing,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019d go around town putting up plaques that say, \u2018On this spot it is meaningful\u2026\u2019 because there are so many incredible stories people don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the end, Williamson\u2019s hope is that the audience takes away something far deeper than just a respect for local history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI say at the end of the movie, \u2018This could happen to you,\u2019\u201d Williamson said. \u201cThe city will continue to grow and evolve. At some point, you may be asked to get up and get out because that space is needed for something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
A screening of \u201cThe Price of Progress, LAX and Its Neighbors\u201d followed by a Q&A session with Williamson will take place at Cinemark Playa Vista (12746 W. Jefferson Boulevard, Suite 3190) on Saturday, Aug. 15 from 6 to 8 p.m.<\/p>\n
Although tickets for this event are currently sold out, plans for a second screening date are actively underway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For many travelers who are flying in or out of Los Angeles International Airport, the land surrounding the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[3057,3056,48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-422483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-arts_and_entertainment","tag-features","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}