Daniel Widener Profiled in San Diego Union-Tribune

Daniel Widener, author of Black Arts West: Culture and Struggle in Postwar Los Angeles, was profiled in yesterday's San Diego Union-Tribune. Widener is a professor of history at University of California, San Diego. Widener tells reporter Robert L. Pincus, "This topic also came out of my life." Widener grew up in Los Angeles's Echo Park.  Pincus writes that Widener's "parents’ lives intersected with those of black artists like Alonzo Davis, whose career is chronicled in the book. They frequented one of the pivotal showcases for black artists, Brockman Gallery, which Davis ran along with his brother, Dale Davis." The article also discusses Widener's interest in his current home of San Diego. “I think it’s pretty extraordinary what is happening here,” observes Widener. “This is a city on its way to becoming something else. It’s changing demographically. But I don’t think anyone has a handle yet on what it will be like in the future.”