People of Atwater Village: Ed Flynn

I'm Ed Flynn. I have lived and worked as an artist in Atwater for 34 years. We're the proud owners of the American Legion Hall. We have seen some transitions, mostly for the good. It was a pretty blighted area when we first got here. There were no trees, no human amenities. The river has significantly changed, just watching it evolve from what used to be as kind of a dumpsite for all the businesses along the river, all the way up north. They were not sanctioned or mandated to stop dumping.

I live right here on the river and I've been walking up there for 34 years. It has fed my art in that I use the river as sort of a metaphor for L.A. in that it's constantly moving, and it has these barriers, meaning containment, limitations if you will. But then in inside of that it it's collecting things all the time and moving and changing. So for me that's the metaphor for my life.

I've met so many people. I don't know their name; I know their dogs name before I know them. You don't have to know what they do, unless you speak with. But you feel like you're uh in a community. It's a pretty wonderful feeling actually. It's pretty great.