Interviews have been edited for clarity.

 Introduction

​My name’s Anahy.  I've actually been like volunteering more with [the Tenant Association] more recently. Actually, I just started like five or six months ago, but the fight has been for like three or four years. And actually my mom has been in it longer than I have. A lot of like the people that are in Hillside are elders, um, or, you know, just like, everyone's definitely like over 30 years old. And a lot of like, the majority are elders. Like my mom who's like in her, like early fifties. Yeah. So, we all kind of like got involved. Again like, four years ago, was when the Hillside Villa started. They started organizing together was when we were actually affected by an eviction here at Hillside. Um, and I was probably like 20 or 21 at the time. So it’s been like four years.

​On organizing with HSVTA as a member of the younger generation​

​I did research on tenant laws, tenant rights. And found out that cash for keys is illegal to do? Which [Botz] was trying to do with a lot of our neighbors here. He was doing cash for keys, and then he started trying to make deals with tenants as he was raising the prices. Like he offered to give tenants like a discount price for like a year or two. And then after that would be over and they would have to pay like the rent that he was asking for. And then after that, I think, um, slowly, um, that's when I kind of like backed away and stopped organizing as much. Um, and that's, I guess that's when like Hillside tenants association was formed. Yeah and for a while, I wasn't really involved. Until more recently, I started getting involved again. Again, I took it upon myself to make it a, like a priority and a responsibility to, to continue the fight. Not only for my mom, but like for my mom, for the tenants here and for families all over Los Angeles who struggle with housing and evictions and who are having to kind of fight against millionaire landlords, you know. Where most of us are like, you know, come from very low income families with a lot of our parents and grandparents have like very little education and have had to work like most of their lives and mostly live. It’s almost like survival mode for everyone. Everyone’s just trying to survive through working and earning minimum wage. That's everyone's life. And no one has had many opportunities to get educations. So the tenants association has definitely, I think, helped to, to provide like a sense of community. But also like a way for all of us to learn and to, to teach one another and to put all our power together, to fight against, against what is actually the oppressor, right? Landlords and politicians who sometimes work together. I mean, actually not sometimes, a lot of the times, landlords and developers, as we see now are working together to gentrify a lot of our communities. Politicians aren't worried about it, you know. They see it as like a way of beautification and progress from what used to be. 

"Whether we like it or not, like this is also politics. And this is very wrapped up with like our identities too, as you know, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). We don't choose this. The system chooses this for us and that's why we're standing up and fighting against it." 

On Gentrification in communities she grew up in 
For a lot of us that have been here for generations or most of our lives. We see our entire neighborhood's changing. A lot of our cultures like being erased. We see our neighbors leaving, and less and less of an opportunity for us to continue to live in the communities that we actually grew up in. And we know it's not right, you know? Um, but I think a lot of people don't bother to, to fight against this, this change and this gentrification. A lot of people, you know, fall into complacency. Yeah. A lot of people are already tired, you know? From capitalism [laughs] You know, work, family, like having to take care of your family, having to work, I think very little money to pursue anything that you might want to. I guess Hillside Villa has like empowered us to like come together. And to demand a change. And for myself, I'm like super grateful too, to have the volunteers that come here every week. And that had been coming here like every week for like three years. Sometimes I'm exhausted to like come to the meetings after work or on my day off, I'll like come to the meetings, but they've been doing that for three years and some of them are, a lot of them are like, studied to be lawyers. So we do have like a few lawyers here.

[The community I grew up in] is not really there anymore. And a lot of the people that like I did grow up with ended up having their own families at like a very young age. So we're just not really, not really interested in speaking out, like about the changes going on there. There wasn't any like mobilization for like the existing community to fight against the changes going on there. So it just happened. And now we're all left questioning and wondering, like what happened, you know. Our community isn't our community anymore. And I guess that's also what's been happening here in Chinatown and how it's like slowly progressing over here with developers who are trying to build apartments and studios that are over like three grand that, you know, families can't afford. Only young people that are like middle, upper class can afford. And then recently, like noticing that there's also, with CCED, that a lot of elders in Chinatown are being abused and neglected with, their, how do you say it? Like the quality of their housing [is] being neglected and like, they're not given, you know, safe or proper housing. Again, because there's tendency to abuse people who are older, don't know, and that they expect to not fight back. So I think with the work that CCED is doing. Which you're part of, you probably know more than me. [laughs] That they're like empowering tenants to continue to fight against all these scum landlords and bring it out to the surface and like talk about it and like, bring awareness. There you go. You bring awareness about what's going on here in Chinatown. And I was just talking about this the other day, how like Chinatown is almost like a little tourist community for like a lot of outside folks to come and like walk the strip on Broadway or one of these streets over here. How a lot of them come here and leave without knowing the struggles that we're fighting here in Chinatown as a community with the developers’ neglect and also with council members and politicians who are working to develop our communities in order to make profit and kind of leave everyone else to the curb, kick us to the curb. And, and it's not until now that we've gotten together to bring awareness and to, into the fight. That they’ve volunteered to make a change. 

On Family and Community

[My mom's] definitely a huge part of Hillside Villa. And like a lot of the organizers from CCED and the LA tenant’s union just love her. And she has such a strong motherly, like woman archetype, I guess? That everyone sees that from her. And it gives everyone like strength to understand, like, not only understand like the people, the very people that we're fighting for, but to also like encourage them to, to be strong-willed. And it's been amazing, like seeing her actually grow so much through her participation in Hillside Villa tenants' association. You can just tell, you know, since she started volunteering like three or four years ago, like how much she has learned and how she has gotten, even to know herself better. She's grown in like confidence too, in her ability to speak and to understand and to become an activist. Yeah so. And a lot of the reason why she also does it is to fight for. It's her way to like, show her love towards, towards the neighbors and the tenants. And, it's her like sacrifice to come here every week, whether she's tired, she's working, you know. A lot of people are tired and that's why they don't come. 🔊Or the people that do come are tired, but we know that, I guess that, with the fight, there’s going to be, like a bigger picture. You know? They all see that. And everyone that comes and participate has such a big heart that, that they show up for one another. And even for the tenants that live here that don't want to participate, you know. We're doing it every day, for them. Whether they come and show their appreciation or support or not. Which they don't. [laughs] But we're still doing it because that's what justice is. That’s what it’s gonna look like. At the end of the day, it’s fighting against the vulture landlords and uniting. I know this is like, the story of Hillside is very well known, not just locally. But apparently across the country, people are following the story and inspiring other people to, to make the same changes and fight these injustices that have to do with housing. That have to do with families and have to do with Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Whether we like it or not, like this is also politics. And this is very wrapped up with like our identities too, as you know, Black, Indigenous, and people of color. We don't choose this. The system chooses this for us and that's why we're standing up and fighting against it.🔊