Curator: Tom Grode

Recognizing Skid Row As A Neighborhood is how DTLA 2040 (Department of City Planning) formally presented Skid Row this year to City Hall as part of updating the Downtown Community Plan. Skid Row is a dynamic, primarily African American, residential neighborhood – not a problem to be fixed. The brutal heat waves of September 2020 created Skid Row Cooling Resources, a collaborative planning effort and think tank to ensure the summer of 2021 and beyond was better for Skid Row residents. Skid Row is a unique Urban Heat Island in the larger Heat Island of Downtown Los Angeles.

Tom Grode

Tom moved from Santa Monica to 5th and Main in May 2012, not realizing he was a block from Skid Row. Since then, he’s focused on advocacy around Skid Row as a Community. Tom is an original member of the Skid Row Cooling Resources coalition, the Skid Row Now and 2040 coalition, the Skid Row Community Improvement Coalition, and the Skid Row Arts Alliance. He is heavily engaged with Skid Row as a powerful arts community, in particular a part of the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD) and Urban Voices Project.