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Developed on an empty lot which was later bought by the City of Los Angeles under eminent domain and mitigated to the community after the Rodney King riots, the South Central Farm was a community venture with 350 farmers growing their own organic crops for food or for sale at the weekly farmer’s market on the land. But the lot’s previous owner, developer Ralph Horowitz claimed the city had violated a clause in the sale, and sued to get the property back. Three courts threw out his suit, but in 2004 Horowitz prevailed and bought back the property for $5 million, and claimed he had a buyer willing to pay $16.3 millions.
Horowitz claimed the buyer would build a warehouse that would create jobs in South Central. The farmers filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the sale of the property, which they lost. Horowitz began eviction procedures as celebrities and politicians took up the farmers’ cause. The Annenberg foundation put up $10 million towards the purchase of the land, and the farmers and their supporters raised the additional funds to meet Horowitz’s asking price of $16.3 million. Horowitz turned them down, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s began the eviction, arresting 40 people.
Kuehnert and his crew capture the action and angst of the farmers and their supporters, including actor Darryl Hannah and activists Julia Butterfly Hill and John Quigley, as helicopters swoop down and the sheriffs begin to drag off protestors. Bulldozers raze the crops and mature fruit trees.
It has been five years to the month since the farmers were evicted. The property is now up for sale again. For $16.3 million.
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Hello Michael– welcome to Firedoglake Movie Night. Thank you for being here tonight!
Hi Michael! Thanks so much for being here. And thanks for bringing attention to the sad situation at the site of former farm
Happy to be here, thanks for inviting Save The Farm!
yes, it is sad, the 5th anniversary of the eviction is June 13th. and we need urban farms now more than ever
You got some astounding footage, very dramatic. How many days were you at the farm?
How do we hear this live interview? thanks!
i was there every other day, about 12 days, from the time the tree sit started til the evictions, and then many more days to follow, the bulldozing, which lasted 2 days, the trial, and many events that didn’t make it into the film
SOme of our local media here in LA is covering the farm’s story and how Horowitz hasn;t sold the land and that is still a vacant lot.
He seems like a really unhappy, kinda mean guy. Do you have any idea why he turned down the $16.3 million the farmers raised to buy the property in 2006?
Tia Dobi,
This is a text chat interview.
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How large was your crew? Did you need permits? And also, please tell us about your unique release plans, screenings, etc.
i heard lots of different reasons but i never spoke to him so i would be speculating, in the end he wanted the land back and was quoted as saying he wouldn’t sell it to them if they paid $100 million…both sides were angry so in the end it was hard to reach a compromise.
Wow. So, it’s been 5 years…when was this film made?
Also, why did they bring in the bulldozers? What was that about?
I so love Joan Baez. Can’t say more until I get some perspective.
Thanks so much, Lisa.
And, one more thing, 14 acres is not alot of land for 350 farmers, I think.
There are some projects in the Valley, trying to make community farms. Heard about it from work. I’ll go google and get back to you here.
the crew was just me, camera and sound…no permits needed…the film is being released by Cinema Libre Studios digitally, please check the web site for more info, http://www.savethefarmmovie.com,
i will also be updating the FB page with the information, please “like” Save The Farm facebook page for updates.
These were small community patches, a few feet square. 14 acres is just under 61,000 sq ft.
Why did you not speak to him? If the land hasn’t been sold, what’s the deal with farmers not being able to farm? Sorry if I sound obtuse.
i waited to release the film until there was an ending, in this case the farm is for sale and the farmers are trying to buy it back. my guess is he bulldozed the land so that he could get it ready for sale, and also to keep people away, it was a real magnate for the area, a really peaceful place, and people had just gotten used to going there…
Thank Michael.
i tried to get an interview, he ahs already spoken to others and felt his comments were being taken out of context, so i was unable to get an interview.
he owns the land and he evicted the farmers, that’s why they cannot farm there, he does not want them on the land.
Since horowitz’s plan was to sell it to an alleged buyer who wanted ot open up a warehouse for the mall store Forever 21, bare land would be better than land with crops on it…
What is insane is that he has not been able to sell the property and has been paying taxes n it for 5 yrs…Had he sold it to the farmers he would have made well over $10 million dollars.
Wow. This is quite surreal to me. I vaguely recall this issue from back then, as I was following the Farm Bill that Mike Johanns was chiefing through 2007. Finance comment first:
To reject a $16.3M offer then, for no buyer for a same offer price 5 years later means the guy is willing to take a real loss (of 5 years time-cost of money) says the seller is a huge jerk.
Oh, okay. Didn’t look like that in the film. A few feet square you could put anywhere, don’t you think?
yes in the end the economics of the decision were hard to understand. Forever 21 was interested for awhile, ironically (or not), they contributed to the Mayor’s campaign. After he evicted the farmers, they sued on to stop any construction on basis of environmental impact, since the Alameda corridor is already so polluted, and from what i understand there are now stricter rules in place for whomever decides to develop the property.
The farm was the only green space in the Alameda Corridor, and the largest urban garden in the country. Most of the people who live in that area don’t have a few spare feet of yard to grow vegetables.
When you live in the projects or complexes surrounded by concrete and asphalt those few square feet combined with a lot of other few square feet can make a big difference in the life of a community.
It’s great to have kids and Joan Baez in a film, but the details of this deal are just not working for me. Again, I can be naive and obtuse.
Here’s the link to the community farm in Pacoima, which is near the Food Bank I volunteer at.
that’s correct. it also provided a valuable community space, a place for people to gather, teach each other, hang out…it also provided local organic produce in an area that has hardly any produce, and what they have is poor quality…these people are forced to eat fast food if they don’t have a garden..cheap calories = diabetes
It also helped create community, and drew people form all over the city to the weekly farmers’ market to buy food picked right then and there.
that’s right, it’s the only safe place to grow food
I guess I’m not compassionate enough to get this. But, thanks for trying to explain it to me.
Next time you go down into LA visit the site.
I loved seeing the medicinal plants being grown. I grow a variety myself as well as fruit. Vegetables, not so much. I can walk to a local farmer’s market luckily.
so that no food went to waste…food security is a HUGE issue here, for EVERYONE…as prices rise, weather patterns change, etc…the closer you are to your food source the safer it is, so this is a model for what we can be doing EVERYWHERE!
What I say? What I do? You know I care. Break, dude.
The Farm looked like a beautiful place from the aerial shot and a happy place from the other video clips. Destroying a 14 acre inner city micro-climate seems pretty anti-environmental and anti-social.
they had over 150 medicinal plants, since they couldn’t afford health insurance, they did it themselves, plus they could pass that info onto their kids…something we in the west have mostly lost (these immigrants where all from mezo America)…not to mention the tax money saved as a result of lower need for health care…
I remember the day of the eviction going past in the Blue Line train, but the city had blocked the view on purpose by parking a train in the way. I thought it was bizarre that they’d gone to that trouble. It was almost as though the city was ashamed of what it was doing.
it was a totally happy place, when i was there I felt a real sense of community, which LA is not exactly known for…it felt like a rural village where everyone actually cared for one another
Any chance the city can once again seize the property under imminent domain, pay Horowitz off with an iron-clad contract and return it to the farmers?
Tezo knew they were going to do that, they blocked the entrance strategically, it was all very well planned, teh helicopters buzzed overhead for weeks before the eviction checking everything out
I was just sayin’ the next time you go into LA go see the site. Look at what surrounds it. It’ll give you an idea of where the farmers are comin’ from. Wasn’t meant as a slight. Chill.
The city should be ashamed. I can;t figure why Hororwitz was so mad…he got paid for the site. But he sat there and worked ot find the loophole–which was that the city was supposed to build on the site since it was eminent domain
there does not seem to be any political will, even if the farmers had the money in cash right now they would not be able to buy it back because Jan Perry must agree to it and apparently she does not want them there.
I followed this very closely at the time.
its a really rough area, and now that the farm is weeds, it feel dangerous and dirty
Yeah, there’s always one. I lived in Tujunga in the mid 70s.
The other comment I’ll make is cultural; just about every time a family farm/garden community plot gets broken up, it ain’t a bunch of rich yuppies yer hurting.
Is the money form Anneberg Foundation still willing? The other pledges? Sadly the economy has changed a lot since 2006…
What happens if folks try to squat farm on it?
they tried to build an incinerator on the site early on, but the community voted it down. He sued to get the land back 3 times and lost, but the city sold it back to him anyway. Wouldn’t have happened in Santa Monica
The farmers were ecstatic and the things they grew were vibrant and beautiful. Seems to me there is a investigative report waiting to be written about the 2004 court case and Horowitz’ claims (wouldn’t that have been in writing?) of a buyer.
yes, these people really needed the land, it wasn’t a hobby…the question is, if the city politicians work for us, and it’s our land, why can’t we do what we want with it?
Scott Kennedy’s movie THE GARDEN covers the politics really well, I suggest viewing it for more info about the politics…SAVE THE FARM focuses on the farmers and activists and asked, “Why are these people willing to get arrested to save this space?”
they’d probably get evicted, but who knows???
Like everywhere else we, the unwashed masses, sorta kinda get to choose who we want to represent the monied elites.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Yeah, I’m always wantin’ to start somethin’.
the farmers are trying to raise the money now, check out http://www.southcentralfarmers.com for more info…
it would be sad if they did not get it back, it’s just what America needs now, urban farms everywhere, and by the way it is happening so many places-Brooklyn, Detroit, Indianapolis, Vancouver, etc…this is an example of what we should be duplicating not eradicating!!!
I volunteer in an area that looks like Hell. I’m there 3 days a week for 6 hours a day, dealing with the homeless. You know that. I’ll go chill now. Thanks.
The Garden was one of our first movies discussed on Movie Night. You can read the chat here.
South Central LA is like nothing I’ve ever seen in the US before and it’s been almost 40 years since I’ve been there. I can’t imagine how bad it’s gotten.
Michael, what have the farmers done since over the past 5 yrs? do they have new places to grow?
giving people a chance to help them selves is I think what they want, the farmers were not sitting around waiting for handouts, they worked hard to make it happen…the reason people are asking for handouts is that they have forgotten how to help themselves because the farming skills have been lost, replaced with menial labor or factory jobs (that no longer exist)…
You know, people with no teeth. Freaked out on drugs. Hanging on the corners. That’s what I see.
They bought 85 acre farm in the Central Valley, they farm there and sell produce at farmers markets in LA…it’s working but very hard work and hard to get there from LA…some of the other farmers were given plots in Watts under some power lines, and I heard that others were given other plots…they also have a community center at 41st and Long Beach, and right now they are looking for volunteers to help them raise awareness….also, next Satur4day June 11th there is a anniversary celebration there.
I think so too.
like anywhere else there are pockets of sanity, people reaching out to make it a better place…
Please “like” SAVE THE FARM FAcebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/savethefarmmovie
One important thing about 14 acres compared to small plots is scale; what you CAN grow.
The varieties count, as in urban areas with how other buildings and shade works, the crop yield ends up limited.
We have a few community gardens popping up in East Hollywood area, but people are planting in their own yards as well as raising chickens. I wanted a goat, but technically farm animals are not allowed in my zoning area. Plus, I doubt I;d have my plants left!
Done
they had over 500 fruit trees, the variety was amazing, and they were also able to create an ecosystem, so bananas grew there and also many central and south american plants that you couldn’t find anywhere else…
and if your crop had just matured, you can bet one of your neighbors had what you needed
“Liked.”
We need more rooftop gardens on flat roofed residential buildings.
one of the keys to the urban farming movement is zoning laws, San Francisco just passed one making it ok for you to grow and sell veggies within the city…they are trying to do the same in Detroit…planting in your yard is super important, and it’s practical because with rising food prices, we’re all going to need a cheaper alternative…plus it’s something to talk to your neighbors about…
500?! Wow
So along with bananas and citrus trees (because this is LA after all and there HAD to be citrus), were there also stone fruit trees?
thanks, please share with your friends!!!
Were they orchard planted or plot planted–or variable?
that’s what’s happening in Brooklyn
So, this land owner has his property taken by eminent domain, so that they can assuage their guilt over the Rodney King beating, then the city screws him on the deal, and he sues to get the property back? I’d probably be ticked enough at government to decline to sell it back to them, too. At any price.
they were plot planted so seemingly random but they probably organized so that there would be cross-pollination…
Agreed, but flat-topped roofs, aside from downtown ‘scrapers in Denver are a bit rare in my neck of the woods!
What I also see here, aside from a jerk land-owner in principle, is that same jerk was speculating during the bubble time. 2006 was PRIME for that.
I wonder what the LA County Assessor tax value has valued that property from eviction till today, regardless of “sell price”.
he wasnt’ screwed on the deal, they bought the land at a fair market value but the plans didn’t go through..
land in LA is way down like everywhere else….rooftops work in Brooklyn cause that’s all they have, I would imagine lots of other places have park space that could be converted???
I’ll be happy to sell you my house, and come back to you many years later and sue you, and win.
Like that scenario? That’s what happened here.
please be sure to “like” the Facebook page!
http://www.facebook.com/savethefarmmovie
Yeah, flat roofs and deep snow don’t go well together. I lived there in the early 80s. Worked at the VA across from the UC School of Medicine. I got around in those days. *g*
Great trailer (and thank you, Lisa, for the pointer to the prior Movie Night). Looks to me that the farmers are up against the bank cartels and their preferred lines of business.
I did already. See my 71.
LA famous for shady real estate deals, ever see movie CHINATOWN? Developers and development rules here and in most of California. Politics as usual. The takeaway here is that these farmers created something that can work in every city in the world, and is a solution to every issue you consider today: climate change, food security, diabetes and obesity, lack of community, lack of organic food, GMO proliferation, etc……..
That’s my neighborhood! Mere blocks from the VA.
We have 3 fairly large, by urban standards here, say 1/2 acre lots, for shared gardening that dot around that Medical Campus today. They are many blocks from each other and nothing like a 14 acre area.
I just think that would be so cool here in DEN.
A goat for milk?
Same thing with Water Warz; it’s off your topic, but related. I’ll stop there.
thanks for the compliment on the trailer…
the farmers are up against lots considering most of them are immigrants who don’t speak English..but they figured out a way to eat well and provide health care for themselves with what they grow, a skill that has been lost by most people in the west since industrialization put us into small boxes with narrowly defined roles..
and cheese! and they’ll cut your grass and they’re fun to talk to if you’re into that sort of thing:)
According to the author, the city reneged on the deal and after a lengthy court battle, he won the right to buy his property back. I think THAT’S what happened here.
To use your analogy, it would be like me getting the government to force you to sell your property to me, then the city fails to live up to its part of the bargain.
I lived at the Portofino Apts in Aurora. Big apt complex.
yes, I love goat’s milk ice cream. But the reality of goat ownership is an barren yard…
Urban gardening is important. And it’s important to do it right: lots of composting, good dirt and earthworms.
I wonder kinda about the pollutants in the air hitting the plants, but thats why we’re supposed to wash before eating..
resource wars-how do we keep the HUGE companies that control our world from owning everything including our food supply, OR, if we can’t do anything about it, how do we circumvent the system that they have set up? urban farms.
the farm was also a great carbon sink,,,being down there for a few hours your clothes and hair smell like diesel fuel, the plants helped clear the air, another reason we need them throughout the city
that’s not what happened…it’s too complicated to explain here, please watch THE GARDEN, it will answer your questions
Fascinating discussion.
please “like” SAVE THE FARM Facebook page, i post lots of urban farming news, very interesting to see the trend going on all over America
http://www.facebook.com/savethefarmmovie
thank you!!!
Michael, what’s your next project?
Next week’s movie centers along the same lines: urban space for the community vs developers: Battle for Brooklyn
hopefully a feature film on the subject of micro lending, i think it’s important to build local economy (especially as the dollar continues to lose value), and to bring it all closer to home…that’s the theme for this decade…LOCAL.
Thank you Lisa and Bev!
The movie is available for downloads starting next week, check ww.savethefarmmovie.com
http://www.facebook.com/savethefarmmovie
:D
It’s explainable. Simply too.
Horowitz claims he sold for an incinerator project in ’92 when property prices were down. LA buys. Turns out, a higher and better use (actual principal of appraisals) was to let folks farm on it. Years pass at low property value.
Fast forward to the Real Estate Bubble Period. Horowitz says “Hey, that’s not what I sold it to you for; contract says so right here.”
Technically true, but said jerk has written off property, obligations including taxes for years. Smells opportunity to make 3x what he previously sold for.
Sues. Wins. Screws the 14 year efforts of more than 350 families.
Destroys value on the land, including current crop yields. Land lies fallow, no buyer arises, nothing happens for 5 years, price offer stays the same.
Pure punishment of the 350 families, not a rational economic decision.
Thanks Michael and firepups for a great Movie Night. If you like what we’re doing here and aren;t a member yet, consider joining using the handy butotn on the right.
And see you next week for Battle for Brooklyn!
Although the wool would be kewl to have, Mother Earth News notes that one can have milk sheep (they advise at least a female and one other) but it takes a “quarter-acre of grass, 750 pounds of hay and 100 pounds of grain yearly to support one sheep” (March/April 1970). This makes hemp, cashew milk ice creams and Coconut Bliss look good.
Great movie night and thank you all!
Actually, the city used the excuse of building an incinerator as a way to take his property under eminent domain. Then, they turned around and sold the land for purposes other than what were stated in the court order. I seem to recall that the owner had a right to repurchase the property in such a case and actually paid the city back more tha his original “selling price”.
I also seem to recall that he was going to donate some of the land for some sort ofublic park or ball field.
Abuse of eminent domain laws to enable cities to seize private land and then turn around and sell to developers to make profit is a huge problem in this country. In this case, a community farm was caught in the midle, but that does not make the process any more palatable or legal…
“Then, they turned around and sold the land for purposes other than what were stated in the court order.”
The city didn’t sell the land after buying it from Horowitz, which you actually acknowledge in your next sentence:
“I seem to recall that the owner had a right to repurchase the property in such a case and actually paid the city back more tha his original “selling price”.”
The city didn’t sell the land — they used it in a better way for the common good, which Horowitz used as an excuse to force the city to sell the land back to him when the real estate market improved.