Former UCLA student Carlos Hernandez, the Young Warriors and Urban Regeneration, a project stemming from the grassroots org El Hormiguero, have been hard at work the past three years. They’ve been a part of a collaborative process that has amounted to a map and guide to the “good, bad and funky aspects of the northeast San Fernando Valley”

Carlos sees the “map to our side of the Valley” as more than just a PDF that highlights landmarks; this is a tool to document the people, places and stories at a point in time and will hopefully grow as the landscape changes. Here’s an excerpt from the map’s narrative:

“Not quite LA, not quite the Valley, that’s the sentiment in the North East Valle. LA will look over the mountains from time to time and make one or two stops in North Hollywood, then return home…The world recognizes ‘the Valley’ as a white suburban playground (which is partly true for the west side), but does not recognize the many working class cultures that live here. The northeast does not reflect Hollywood’s portrayal of airheads or modern cave men…By the way, we have a third of LA’s population. There are families here, there’s movement here, and gentrification will never creep its ugly spineless soul this far (we hope).”

Check out the map here. In the future, Carlos hopes to raise funds for print versions of the map. Check in on i am sf for future updates about this evolving project.