Bunker Hill Refrain encourages new ways of thinking about community archives, cultural memory, and digital technologies to reimagine the future of marginalized communities.
The rise and fall of Bunker Hill is one of Los Angeles’ most oft-repeated tales. The hill was part of the traditional homeland of the Tongva peoples, and is located above the city’s original Spanish and Mexican pueblo. Prudent Beaudry subdivided the land in the late 19th century and because if its close proximity to Los Angeles’ commercial and civic hub, Bunker Hill became a booming residential district. As the city expanded to the south and west in the early 20th century, the area experienced a transition to middle and working-class housing with a diverse population of immigrants from Mexico, the Philippines, Japan, Korea, and China, as well as Dust Bowl migrants and Native Americans from the US Midwest. Despite the vibrancy of the neighborhood at this time, the hill was described by local planners and policymakers as a slum. In 1958, Bunker Hill was designated a redevelopment area, and the community was razed. According to official records, at least 8,000 individuals were displaced. This number is likely far greater.
“I’ve waited 50 years for someone to ask me about Bunker Hill. The hill wasn’t the slum they said it was. The buildings were never abandoned. They were occupied. [The planners] wishes turned into reality.”
— Gordon Pattison,
former Bunker Hill resident
Scholarship has linked the redevelopment of Bunker Hill to national housing policies, cold war politics, and the desire of local elites to shape the image of the city. However, less is known about the individuals and families who occupied the neighborhood before the bulldozers arrived. Since 2020, an interdisciplinary team at the University of Southern California has been working to create an immersive digital model of Bunker Hill. This model, linked to data from a 1939 survey prepared by the Los Angeles Housing Authority, as well as US census records, historical photographs, and other archival materials, will serve as the organizing frame for the Bunker Hill Refrain project. By weaving official records together with stories from individuals displaced by the redevelopment project, Bunker Hill Refrain shifts the usual narrative of mid-century demolition towards a more people-centered urban history.
While Bunker Hill’s original built environment has been lost, excavating its social history provides the public, planners, and policymakers with a valuable lesson. This is particularly significant when considering the ongoing redevelopment and gentrification of cities across America.
Engaging with these problematic histories of past and present-day disruptions, the Bunker Hill Refrain project allows the public, planners and policymakers to grapple with the legacy of displacement as it exists today.
Specifically, the project will…
Document History
Contribute to scholarship on Los Angeles history and urban planning by providing a more nuanced understanding of a diverse working-class community lost to redevelopment.
Build Digitally
Advance digital humanities and public history methods by developing an immersive and interactive 3D model incorporating archival data, oral histories, and other ephemera.
Co-Create Research
Promote community-engaged research by involving former residents, their descendants, students, and community organizations
Amplify Impact
Raise awareness about the social cost of urban renewal and displacement.
Our work in numbers
Bunker Hill Refrain
Official Records transcribed
5000+
students engaged
30+
interviews conducted
5
Hear from Our Student Team
Ashley Espinosa
2024 USC Undergraduate Student Researcher
“I’ve seen gentrification happen very rapidly in my community… A lot of the people I used to live with started moving out. The community that existed there disappeared. I see parallels with what happened on Bunker Hill.”
Carlos Garcia Lara
2025 BHR Zine Academy Participant
“Over the summer, I learned that history isn’t just words on a page but actual people and their actions that shaped it.”