This photographer has documented Southern California’s street gang culture for 40 years

On a rainy March evening, a group of roughly a hundred people huddled inside the Eastern Projects art gallery in Chinatown for the opening of “Un-Rehearsed,” the first solo show for photographer Merrick Morton, on display until May 18.

Adorning the walls of the space are more than 100 images spanning a 40-year trajectory— selections from his travels in Mexico and Cuba, and stills from various films where he worked as on-set photographer. The bulk of the art, however, focuses on a subject Morton has become deeply associated with: Southern California gang life.

Many of these stills also appear on “Clique: West Coast Portraits From the Hood, 1980-1996,” a glossy, 224-page monograph set to be released by independent publisher Hat & Beard Press later this spring.

One photograph features an older couple standing on the porch of their home as the lifeless body of a drive-by shooting victim lies on the sidewalk. Another shows a gang member from Barrio Logan Heights in San Diego awaiting treatment at an area hospital after being stabbed. Other prints showcase cliques of young Latino and Black men hanging out, or homegirls embracing each other.

“WS 18th Street,” Pico Union, 1982

(Merrick Morton)

Born in 1955 and raised in the suburbs of the San Fernando Valley, the soft-spoken Morton says his interest in chronicling street life began after a visit with John M. Valadez, the L.A.-based realist muralist and painter who was instrumental in the 1970s Chicanx art movement.

“I’m thinking, ‘I have to photograph [them]’,” he said of the cholos and cholas featured in Valadez’s artwork.

Morton, who is white, did not have a direct connection to these communities. He began calling probation officers after learning from a friend that they could be his way in. “I told them I was working on a documentary photography essay on Los Angeles street gangs,” he recalled. Eventually, he was assigned to Gerald Ivory, who introduced him to his parolees, mainly members of the Maravilla gang in East L.A. In 1981, Morton began photographing them at the Obregon Park recreation center, where he had set up a portable studio.

Morton says he and Ivory would “hit the streets,” recording interviews with various gangs throughout the ‘80s. Their work “was never sanctioned by the L.A. County Probation Department,” he said.

“My dad said this guy just showed up with a camera, wanting to document neighborhoods in L.A.,” said Breanna Quintero, who attended the show’s opening. Her father grew up in Carson and was photographed by Morton in the early ‘80s at Victoria Park.

“People have to realize that kids from the neighborhood, like my dad, didn’t have cameras because they couldn’t afford them. So, I’m thankful that Merrick got to photograph him; this is a piece of how I grew up,” added Quintero. “These pictures brought his stories to life.”

It didn’t take long for Morton to be known as “the guy” chronicling gang life, thanks in large part to his quiet demeanor and knowing when to not overstep.

“As an observer, I start on the outside and then wait until I’m granted access,” he said. “I’m not going aimlessly into somewhere trying to take over. I think to me, it’s about respect. If you show [it], they’ll respect you.”

In 1984, Morton began freelancing for L.A. Weekly, a gig that would change his life. His work at the alternative weekly caught the eye of Taylor Hackford and Luis Valdez, the producer and director-screenwriter of “La Bamba,” the iconic 1986 Chicanx film about the life and untimely death of musician Ritchie Valens.

“La Bamba, the 2 Bobs,” Bob Morales and Esai Morales, 1986

(Merrick Morton)

“[Hackford] liked the work that I was shooting in Mexico at the time, outside of the gangs, so I was hired on that,” said Morton. “And for me, at the time, I was working at a camera store and not earning that much there.”

Since then, Morton has worked as on-set still photographer for more than 90 different films and television shows, including “Colors,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Fight Club,” and “Blood In Blood Out” — his work on this latter film is prominently featured in a book (also printed by Hat & Beard Press) that chronicles the making of the East Los Angeles cult classic.

Morton would distance himself from street photography in the late 1990s to work solely in the entertainment industry, only to pick it up again in 2017— he began posting his old work on Instagram, where he’s amassed nearly 70,000 followers. He says using the social media platform has allowed him to reconnect with some of his past subjects—or if they were no longer alive, with their loved ones — who have added context to his images.

One popular social media post shows two photographs of a mother and her child taken 40 years apart.

“I wouldn’t know about many of their stories without Instagram,” he says. “It’s surreal hearing about them.”

Morton intends to continue posting his work in hopes that it reaches people unfamiliar with gang life. “I am trying to provoke some type of dialogue,” he says.

“When I first went into these neighborhoods, I was instilled with this perception of violence,” Morton added. “But I quickly learned that [it’s] such a small part of these neighborhoods. It’s really all about family, culture and heritage. Hopefully, these are the stories that come out of it.”

When asked if anyone had expressed concern that his work exploited or glorified gang violence, Morton says that “it’s a fine line,” explaining that “sometimes the images are an avenue to start talking about how do we stop the killing or why are people killing each other.”

For Marcos Cazarin, who posed for Morton in 1986, the photographer’s work is not exploitative — it’s recordatory.

“White Fence,” East Los Angeles, 1986

(Merrick Morton)

Cazarin, who was at the show opening, says the image of him posing with two friends in front of a mural of the crucifixion of Jesus is a reminder of the life he left behind— he’s in the middle in the image above, wearing the black tank top. The photograph also graces the cover of Morton’s book.

“I am a recovering addict,” he says. “Twenty-one years clean. It was a hard life for anyone growing up in that era. But I learned never to shut the backdoor. I always keep it open to remind myself where I don’t want to be again.”

— Sarah Quiñones Wolfson

Shape your L.A.

In October 2022, the L.A. Times launched “Shape Your L.A,” an incredibly handy tool that provides tons of useful information to Angelenos. Want to know how to throw a block party or where you can find the closest community garden? We’ve got you covered — all you have to do is go to this link, enter your address and voila!

But wait, there’s more! In February, the team behind “Shape Your L.A.” added several new features, including making the tool available in Spanish for the more than 3 million voting-age Angelenos who speak the language. So, if you have a tío or an abuelita who wants to be civically engaged but doesn’t know where to turn to for information, make sure you share this link with them

— Fidel Martinez

(Jackie Rivera / For The Times; Martina Ibáñez-Baldor / Los Angeles Times)

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