Annotations for Geographic: Los Angeles

Well, as you said, I wasn't accepted as an American. I mean, I wasn't accepted as an American, having been brought up in the east of Los Angeles.

The film premiered recently in Los Angeles.

Nearly a decade after he came up with the idea for Bread and Roses, screenwriter Paul Laverty was back in Los Angeles for the film's opening party.

He'd just arrived from his state of Scotland in the early 90s when thousands of janitors, mostly from Mexico and Central America, were beginning to demand better pay and benefits.

I went along and I met the people. I met cleaners who were activists and trade union organizers.

And they were fantastic people. And there was a kind of a spark to them that really got to me, you know, the way they organized and a real depth of human experience.

You know, and there was a determination to organize and change their lives without making a fuss or playing victim.

The first time I met Paul, he sort of appeared and started asking a bunch of questions and I was totally suspicious about who this guy was, you know.

But over time he, you know, sort of wore on me. He said he was making a movie. I was like, yeah, right, everybody in L.A. is going to make a movie. You know, it's like this will end up in some trash can somewhere.

Zoot Suit told the story of racism against Pachucos in Los Angeles.

Pachucos were young Mexican-Americans who'd adopted the Zoot Suit style of dress during the time of the Second World War.

Four hundred thousand people saw the production of Zoot Suit at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, where it ran for 46 weeks, with actor Edward James Olmos in the lead role of El Pachuco.