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OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS:

Here’s its back story: In 2009, doing stories for the LA Times, I began taking occasional snapshots from my car of murals I'd encounter of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the walls of Los Angeles.

I’m not Catholic, but during my years in Mexico, I’d developed a soft spot in my heart for La Jefa and what she meant to poor and working-class people.

As I drove about L.A., I found dozens of her murals — far more than in any other town I knew, even Mexico City. In 2014, having left the Times, I began to spend more time with each mural I found.

I tried to be there when the light was right, then wait to capture people as they went about their daily lives under her quiet, patient, tender gaze.

The shots got better, I thought. It became more of a project. I began to see it as a photo exhibit of life in working-class L.A.

This went on for years, though very sporadically. Every so often, I'd travel the streets searching for her - San Pedro Avenue, down Avalon and Central, Florence, Normandie, Broadway, off Pico or Adams or Soto and along smaller streets, like Maple or Hooper.

From the Virgin of Chapala Bakery in Pasadena to the Virgin of Pancho’s Bakery on Florence. From the Virgin of Ramona Gardens to the Virgin of Joe’s Mini-Market on York.

[A huge thanks to ace columnista Gustavo Arellano, who wrote the book's foreword. And to Terry Accomazzo and the good folks at Angel City Press for their energy and excitement in producing the book so beautifully.}

She congregated mainly on the walls of immigrant businesses in the commercial corridors of East and South-Central Los Angeles.

To these intrepid business owners, she was protection and advertisement – protection against gang graffiti, and advertisement to customers, letting them know that she and the store owners were with them in the daily struggles of their lives.

I figure I shot more than 250 murals – some of which are gone, others repainted, some are new.

The best of them are in the book....Hope you like them as much as I loved finding them...