Posted on by Alec Soth

Alec Soth/LBM needs your help

I’m headed out West next week for a project entitled ‘The California Sleepwalker’s Treasure Hunt.‘ I have a whole bunch of stuff I’m trying to track down and could use some help. If your tip leads to a picture, you’ll receive a reward. I’m looking for specific leads you might have in California (see my route on the map below) for the following:

-Condors
-Sleepwalkers (specific individuals would be best)
-Punk hangouts
-Self-mutilation/flagellation, scarring
-Horror film (in progress….otherwise horror makeup artist)
-Star Wars iconography / Star Wars collectors
-Dolores Huerta / United Farmworkers
-Bats
-Hare Krishnas
-Metal detector enthusiasts
-Hang Gliders
-Frankenstein
-Emo’s in Tijuana or Mexicali
-anything else that fits this stream of thinking

Please leave your tips in the comments section.

Many thanks,

75 Replies to “Alec Soth/LBM needs your help”

  1. The obvious Punk hangouts (or Crust Kids) of California are Venice Beach and Haight Street in San Francisco.

    There are Hare Krishnas chants every day at the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

    That’s all I got off the top of my head at the moment. Good luck Alec!

  7. For Star Wars stuff, try these people:

    http://www.501st.com/

    They have chapters all across the world, including California, apparently they’re pretty hardcore!!

    Also, I would guess the San Diego Comic Con would be a good place for Star Wars stuff, not on till July though.

    Any reason why you specifically want Star Wars collectors? Met a few interesting ones in my time..

  13. Hi Alec,

    I live in an area in the central valley with many bats. At night I can hear them, along with the owls, out of my open window.

    I live in a small town named Sutter, located at the base of the Sutter Buttes, which are the only points of elevation in the Central Valley north of the Grape Vine. Actually the remnants of an extinct volcano, the buttes are reputedly the smallest mountain range in the world. I know they were significant to Native Americans of the area.

    You can read an article from the March 2009 edition of the Mount Diablo Audobon Society, about a local biologist who leads bat research expeditions in the Buttes. The pdf quickview link is:

    http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:kN-8CuuZ6g8J:www.diabloaudubon.com/newsletter/Quail_Mar_09.pdf+sutter+county+bats&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjbK21WHL5bDIJX2Gjb2GbwS1JKfVQQrKFYxEw1dvduVnZl_sBIkunP7-3uR_7nTPaYmucsjfHOQDFpV7TyUDX7G0mO7h4BSQa0OSUoJxFbaFfhOKjkgtIoIo8Y7PWtzrqosJ7I&sig=AHIEtbSz9_5nlKgMLoFcIWpbWLeCjg4LRg

    Cheers,
    Nathan

  15. Not to knock your treasure hunt, but rolling Dolores Huerta into that list seems cynical at best. How exactly does she fit with the rest of your “stream of thinking”?

  19. My bad. I just assumed it was your list since you posted it.

    Including Dolores Huerta / United Farm Workers between Star Wars collectors and bats just seems cynical, but maybe its just poetry I don’t quite understand. I suppose everyone is fair game, but for me Dolores Huerta and the UFW occupy a very different cultural space than random metal detector enthusiasts, vultures and Frankenstein.

  20. Hi Alec,
    Wendy Helgeson told me about your trip. You can find handgliders at El Segundo beach (just south of LAX left off Imperial), also wind surfers at Seal Beach (south of Long Beach), there’s a huge drum circle on Venice beach every Sunday afternoon, punks aplenty down there too, like your friend said. That’s also might be the best place (Boardwalk) to find out about the self-mutilation cliques, etc. They’ll be down there.
    -Chris

  24. Matt, you haven’t explained why it is ‘cynical at best’ other than to say it ‘just seems cynical.’ I agree that it is a different cultural space, so just call it that. What seems cynical is assuming I have negative intentions when you have no idea what I’m up to.

    1. Whoa…sorry if I hit a nerve. All I saw was the list you posted and your map. Nothing more. It is completely fair to respond the way I did, and I explained why it seemed cynical TO ME. Since you brought it up, what are you up to?

  25. The club Bordello, downtown LA, has been doing these Star Wars burlesque shows. slideshow at LA Weekly here:

    http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/synthful/star-wars-burlesque-mos-eisley/

    also, probably unrelated to your needs but then you never know, the Center For Land Use Interpretation, which is located in Culver City very near the Krishna temple, and also has a lot of resources for general weirdness as it relates to the landscape. You’d want to talk with Matt Coolidge there.

  27. “-anything else that fits this stream of thinking”
    …i hear very distinguished and emotional sounds for almost all the items on the list…Let them guide you, at least as an experiment…maybe in each of these locations close your eyes for a few seconds, maybe a few minutes, breath in deep, long inhales and long exhales, increase your perception of the surroundings…let the sounds influence your next move to create a few photographs while in that frame of mind.
    I am not sure if i explained myself clearly but this was the first thing i though about when reading your list.
    I would not overthink it sleepwalker.
    Enjoy the ride.
    romain

  28. Alec,

    I know a political posse of folks who for years have diligently supported the United Farmworkers in protests and boycotts etc and some of them may have even known Chavez or have met him in the past and/or have worked with Dolores Huerta. They run a homeless shelter in East LA and a soup kitchen on skid row. If you want more info let me know. Good luck!

    Best,
    Jeff

  32. Alec-
    Love the association of the shipping/port cranes with the AT-AT walkers that you had on your bulletin board… you might enjoy going through the port areas of LA, especially the drive between San Pedro and Long Beach over the port on the Vincent Thomas bridge. San Pedro is also a quirky place with an unexpected collection of people.
    Someone mentioned this already, but in the peninsula area just between Long Beach and Seal Beach is where you can find a lot of windsurfers and parasailers.

    Just throwing this out there- I’m not sure the nature of your project, but if you want any voluntary labor/hunters-gatherers/ assistants while you’re around LA or Long Beach, I could offer you some of my best photo students (I teach at a university in LA… not sure if you remember me, but we met at the SPE conference in San Fran- I was one of your portfolio reviews, the fellow Minnesotan) In any case, I’m intrigued by this project and wish you the best with it! – Kurt

  33. Hi Alec,

    A friend of mine, Bart Mixon, is a top Hollywood special effects makeup artist (I just worked with him on in the last “A Nightmare on Elm Street” film (he applied Freddy Krueger’s makeup). I told him about your project – he’s interested and can be reached at the contact email on his website:
    http://www.bartmixon.com/

    Best – Alex

  36. Alec,

    There is a freeway between Davis and Sacramento that has thousands of bats living underneath it. http://daviswiki.org/bats

    Davis also has a frog tunnel and lots and lots of bicycles, not to mention the worlds first bicycle traffic light. (It’s the town where Avedon took the picture of the large bald guy covered in bees.)

    I live in near the Sutro baths in SF. Haven’t seen hang gliders yet, but lots of kite surfers.

    I like to scream at the ocean after work. If you find yourself in Ocean Beach with nothing better to do, let me know and you can come scream with me.

    burdens and blessings,

    p. earl

  37. I think this “put it out there” approach is catching on, and spreading:

    http://loulesko.com/2010/04/12/chasing-bambi/

    Also, I don’t know where North Shore, California is, but for damn sure, these people ought to be contacted. Mother and son who bought out the Banana Museum. With Alec’s posted list, there’s got to be some way to justify Banana Collectors as being worthwhile in this story.

    http://gawker.com/5514809/meet-the-guy-and-his-mom-who-saved-the-international-banana-museum

    It would be interesting to do a photo project, where you just draw on a map like Alec did, and post it, and then local people write in who live along the route, and tell you the interesting characters in the various towns. I got dibs on this idea.

  38. for self-flagellation check out kink.com – their studio is in an old armory in the mission. they might also know of horror movies and/or makeup artists.

  39. c/o my sister in LA:

    Punk Hangouts: Club Ding-a-ling at Hyperion Tavern on tuesdays is a good place to go, Don Boles of The Germs is the resident DJ that night, so a lot of punk kids come out. Also, if he could find a way in, at hollywood and cherokee in hollywood is where the old club The Masque is, it’s not open to go in but I almost broke in once, it’s the original punk hangout of all the LA punk bands like X, The Germs, The Screamers etc… Also, he may want to try a few places downtown, The Smell isn’t too great only because it’s an all ages venue, but dive-y places like R-Bar in korea town and The Redwood on 2nd st downtown could work…

    Hare Krishnas he can find at the temple in culver city on venice blvd, just down the way from the museum of jurassic technology (a fun place to visit). They are always walking all over the place around that are and there’s also a kick ass veggie buffet for $7.

    Olvera St downtown is a good place for emo latino kids

  43. Hi Alec
    You should look up artists Gonk and Harry Gamboa . These two are Los Angles natives born and rasied and started the performance group Asco during the late 70s and early 80s .They are both familiar and part of the cultural backdrop of Los Angeles, if needed i can introduce you .
    I know its a little played out but did you consider going through Salton City,The groups of Borrego Springs and The Palm Desert ? Those two places and communities never cease to intrigue me!!
    You may also want to speak with the music photographer and club promoter Piper Ferguson ..she is very insightful as well
    Good Luck
    Joe

  45. Alec,
    In Ojai, we have Condors, Sleepwalkers (my sisters daughter), Hangliders, bats and united farm workers about 20 min. away in Camarillo/oxnard. But the best thing we have is not only Hare Krisna dinner every week here in Ojai but the Krotona Institute, the KFA and the Theosophist society. All headquartered here. The KFA is the most interesting and George Lucas made a little movie about Krisnamurti but the Theosophists, they have the guy that wrote the Wizard of Oz

  46. -punk hangouts 924 gilman street berkley
    -condors at point reyes national seashore hike the sky walk trail, could fit in with the star wars? ;) I saw condors near the picnic area at the top of this trail…
    -i’m in sacramento,but a local filmmaker made a movie here last summer “dead exit” (http://www.deadexitmovie.com/) and knowing sacramento someone from the bay area was involved, you can contact someone there.
    -natural bridges beach, boardwalk beach in santa cruz for metal detector enthusiasts

    I’ve seen these things in these places. Good choice it’s a beautiful place to work.

  48. definitely 924 gilman or project infest (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Los-Angeles-CA/Project-Infest/136976678382?ref=ts#!/pages/Los-Angeles-CA/Project-Infest/136976678382?v=wall&ref=ts) for punks.

    not on your list, but interesting and maybe tangentially related: free vegan dinners friday nights at mission dolores (i think mission dolores, and i think they may be cooked by hare krishnas, but it’s been a while since i lived there); the pet cemetery in park presidio; thai temple brunch on sundays at the thai temple in berkeley, and the underground gardens in fresno.

    you can find metal detector enthusiasts at EVERY beach and EVERY natural hotsprings.

  49. Looks like you are headed to the Salton. Borrego Springs, right over there on the East side (beware of police checkpoints down south there if you have anything, um, illegal – county’s are bankrupt and looking to fine) has some cool desert sculptures, which fit into the stream of thinking:

    http://tiny.cc/wd9li

    Also, the Madonna Inn is good: http://www.madonnainn.com/accommodations.php

    I feel lame saying this, but be careful in in Mexico. It’s really hot now with the wars.

  50. Just come to Arcata, CA. I can’t fully explain why, it breaks the mold of what California is while at the same time is the epitome of California. Its not just because I am studying photography there at Humboldt State University…

  51. There is a Hare Krishna temple in Laguna Beach, CA (corner of Legion Street and Glenneyre Street). You can also have a vegetarian lunch inside on most days for a small donation.
    Good Luck!

  54. While in the San Diego are you can find a lot of glider’s all day everyday at the Torrey Pines Gliderport in La Jolla — http://flytorrey.com/cms/

    If you check that out you must do the walk down to Black’s Beach. Beautiful beach, but a rare nude beach in California. You may be able to find some great opportunities for some portraits. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black%27s_Beach

    The Hare Krishna are seen around town quite a bit, but I am not sure of specifics. You can find more info here – http://www.krishnasd.com/ . I know they serve food weekly on campus at UCSD in La Jolla on Wednesdays when school is in session and a lot of times they have events, chants, etc. on those days.

    I teach photo courses at UCSD so let me know if you need help when you are in town.

    best wishes!

  55. Hey Alec!

    Your project sounds exciting! All i can think of of new information for you is that my roommate is a sleepwalker. She’d definitely be open to helping you out if you need it.
    Oh! And if you do need help or assistance with anything-I am one of Kurt Simonson’s university students and we would love to help in any way possible!
    And I also applied for an internship with you over the summer. If you ever have time to take a breather, we could totally do an interview/have coffee sometime if you’re ever free and in the LA area. Just a thought.

    Good luck on your project!

    Lindsey

  56. Not sure if you’ve started already but I was in the Half moon Bay area this weekend, and ever since I read this post I’ve been looking and playing myself… “Dream Machines” coming to Moss Beach airport april 25, metal detector enthusiasts all around in Pacifica near the Taco Bell right on the beach.

    Of course knowing you’re going to be around spurs an alec soth treasure hunt so if you were already in the devil’s slide area bravo, if not, wear a orange road construction vest if you shoot off the side of road because people tend to be, well, distracted by the beauty even though it’s really the worst possible stretch to take your eye off the road.

  58. sorry for the slow response on this…. the california academy of sciences (san fran’s version of the museum of natural history) has some excellent bat experts who can fix you up. they also have a slew of stuffed bats if you like that kind of thing. let me know if you need a contact there. hope this helps!

  59. Hi!
    Seems like you have a lot of Krishna options but there is one great place near my house in South LA, Mr Wisdom
    Mr.Wisdom Enterprise
    3526 W Slauson Ave
    Los Angeles, CA 90043
    (323) 295 – 1517
    http://www.mrwisdomla.com/
    There is a spiritual class every Sunday where they serve free food (and recruit souls)

  60. on the subject of punk hangouts (specifically around the bay area):

    924 gilman may be iconic and all that, but has also been the subject of like a million photographers. try to check out the hazmat haus or burnt ramen as well. submission art space in sf may or may not work out also. if your down on the peninsula or in the south bay, you’ll probably want to check out the KFJC (foothill junior college radio) studios.

    i don’t know much about hanggliders, but shoreline in mountain view has an awesome kite flying field where people sometimes pull themselves around in go-kart like things with kites.

  62. Hello,
    I was actually born into the Hare Krishnas, from an arranged marriage, and the product of the last of three arranged children. We left when I was young, The story is bizarre and often left untold due to the large missunderstanding which goes along with the name…I remember being shot with my family for The New York Times feature story on the matter when I was ten. My sister and I both live out in Seattle. We’d be happy to share with you…And point you to some very bizarre areas, which others might not be familiar with. I do photography as well, which is how I found you, by complete chance do I happen to know a good deal about one of the items you seek…
    My contacts can be found on my website if you’d like more…
    http://www.LilaSchaffler.com
    I thank you for your time and wish you luck
    Best regards,
    LS

  63. dude, budget a bit of time north of san francisco. things get so much weirder. maybe irrelevant if you’re after the whole myth-cal thing but definitely should be in there – specifically the secret towns that oh so many folks have gone running off to. . .

  64. Pinnacles National Monument near Hollister, CA is ground zero for Condors. there are 26 Condors living there. The condors you see in Big Sur often fly there from The Pinnacles.

    Additionally, Pinnacles also plays home to 14 of the 23 species of bats living in California.

  68. So it’s not Hare Krsnas, but Yuba City (near Sutter mentioned by a previous poster) is CHOCK-FULL of Punjabis in turbans and saris. Yuba City is home to the largest population of Punjabis outside of India.

    If you so desire to cruise into this area, you can also check out our famous skunks – PBS did a special on the plethora of skunks in Marysville (about 5 minutes from Yuba City…)

    Drop me a line if you need more info…. and happy shooting!!

  69. There is a guy I know, who lives in Los Angeles. He is the biggest Star Wars fanatic I have ever met, complete with multiple tattoos and lots of paraphernalia. His name is Jacob Sirof, he is also a comedian. If you google him, you could probably get in touch with him.

  70. Oh i bet you are working with two of my favorite sisters!!
    That list sounds like some of there favorite things…. hmm haven’t really explored that path but will give it a think.
    Hope all is going well.
    So glad you all could join forces.
    xjennifer

  71. The Homely Soldier

    At the very bottom of the ocean
    is a sky of stars
    My blood runs inken
    The Night takes flight on wings
    unwrapped by beautiful disrobing women
    Every tree is a God
    Every state-raised convict cocked
    like a streel trap
    The trade winds blow
    sorrowful on the soldier Ocean
    This gladiator
    carries his retribution
    hot as hot wire

    T.Walden
    (how about reclusive poets)

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