Vanished L.A.: The Exiles

A FRIEND of mine tugged my coat about this one. The Exiles is a 1960 documentary profiling a Native American community that sprouted up in Bunker Hill in the late 50s early 60s in downtown Los Angeles. The film was a project put together by a USC student and was "lost" for many years until some footage showed up in a sprawling documentary about the region that screened around town a few years ago -- Los Angeles Plays Itself, directed by Thom Anderson. The Exiles, made by Kent Mackenzie, was never released theatrically and by most accounts was never seen in its entirety. Anderson's film led to a search for what was else the Mackenzie family might have had stored away. This was part of the bundle of lost L.A. jewels. Last night you saw Mackenzie's USC thesis film, "Bunker Hill 1956." What follows is the trailer for The Exiles. For any of you curious about the nuances of what L.A. used to be should go out and rent if not own this. A beautiful pause on a moment that was about to pass.

-- L.G.

-- L.G.