Here, Pumpkin Patch Marsak makes use of the book, for it is nothing if not a comfy cat pillow. In fact, massive scientific research went into the production of Bunker Hill, Los Angeles to achieve that specific function. But ah! were that this blog just pictures of cats enjoying their new pillow. We could certainly do that, with grace and alacrity. But we must recognize the book’s supplementary purpose, and attend to that too.

You see, the book is also, it seems, full of all sorts of useful information about Bunker Hill. It’s the story of shifting cultural demographics: as the rich moved there and built grand homes, then moved away, moving west in their march to the sea, they were replaced by the elderly urban poor. The Hill has an architectural history of grand, florid Queen Anne homes and cool Beaux-Arts classicism, and handsome Mission Revival—all of which have been replaced by the museum of modernism we have today. There’s political history, as an underclass battled it out with social engineers, big government, and developers who sought to demolish their neighborhood. Ultimately, it’s a social and cultural history about the lives lived in this complex neighborhood, all of which were displaced off the Hill. All this and more, as revealed through more than 200 rarely-seen images.

This site will tell you more about the book, and keep you updated with news about the many forthcoming (virtual) events. And, because we’re the self-styled Institute for Advanced Bunker Hill Studies, we shall here investigate those bits of Bunker Hill minutiae too arcane to include in the book.

And, Pumpkin Patch having co-authored the book and designed much of the pillow science, demands more cat portraiture.