Being and becoming in LA

A CITY THAT LOVES TO PLAY

Everyone has an idea of what LA is like.

Everyone has an idea of what LA is like. It’s a city of immigrants. You’ve got to drive everywhere. And then there’s Hollywood which brings the fake, the famous and the filthy rich together. But there is so much more to Los Angeles if you know where to look.

LA for us, feels fluid, multi-faceted and totally intriguing.

We visited LA to undertake some chaotic field research. Craft a playful conversational experiment that would give us a better sense of Los Angeles as a place.

To unpick the stereotypes, get under the skin of the city, and find out about the real Los Angeles from people we admired, before launching our newest home from home, a bricks-and-mortar store here in the summer. The idea was to create a podcast,

“Because everyone in LA has a podcast, right?” We joked.

But then we thought, why don’t we introduce another layer to make the context a bit more Miista?

Because it’s the way you do what you do.

So, we asked everyone to be interviewed standing on a podium:
“I always like to meet people whilst standing on a podium in imaginary shoes.”

We love the way a podium elevates a person. It’s our way of honouring the Miista crowd and their points of view. A physical representation of empowerment.

So, on a sunny, spring day in West Hollywood, with our host for the day, a British transplant and LA resident, journalist and documentary filmmaker, Billie JD Porter, we interviewed a group of nine creatively minded Angelenos.

All of whom stood tall, head and shoulders above us, on a podium in a pair of moulded Miista shoes,

in the middle of a minimal, manicured white cube space to tell us about their Los Angeles.

Host: Billie JD Porter @billiejdporter (she/her)
DOP: Chije Kang @chijekang (she/her)
Sound Operator: Gloria Hernandez @gloisblue (she/her)
Camera Assistant: Matt Westmoreland @matt_westmo (he/him)

Miista Crowd:
Remy Solomon (she/her) @remysolomon1
Merle Ginsberg (she/her) @merleginsberg
Isabelle Truman (she/her) @isabelletruman
Luna Li (Hannah (she/her) @lunalilunalilunali
Gabriela Ortega García (she/her) @bygabrielaortega
Cami Árboles (she/her) @camiarboles
Liv.e (she/her) @pronouncedliv.e
Ryan Simpkins (she/they) @ryan_the_ryan
Sissy Chacon (she/her) @sissychacon