25
Apr
01
Dec
Occupy L.A. Protesters Arrested, Camp Razed
iPhone video footage I shot during the final hours of Occupy L.A. The night began with Occupy L.A. protesters singing, dancing and chanting. But the festive mood changed as the LAPD swooped down on the City Hall encampment. In the end, nearly 300 people were arrested and the grassy park was...
27
Feb
Ruben Salazar’s Suspicious Slaying
Ruben Salzar's Legacy Lives On from Robert Lopez on Vimeo.
To this day, questions still swirl around the death of L.A. Times columnist and KMEX news director Ruben Salazar, who was killed by a Sheriff's deputy on Aug. 29, 1970. I produced this Ruben Salazar video, pictured above, in 2008 after the U.S. Postal Service unveiled a stamp honoring the reporter's legacy. My Column One article was written in 1995 for the L.A. Times on the 25th anniversary of the newsman's slaying. I relied on a variety of sources, including friends and colleagues of Salazar, as well as documents from the FBI and LAPD, to reconstruct the final weeks before Salazar was killed by a sheriff's deputy while covering an anti-Vietnam War rally that exploded into violence. I also wrote a follow-up article in 1999, after waiting nearly six years for the FBI's Salazar file.
03
Jan
Mapping Traffic Problems
View Westside traffic -- some of the worst in the U.S. in a larger map Sometimes visualizations are the best way to convey information. I produced this interactive map as part of a news package about traffic on the Westside of Los Angeles -- some of the nation's worst. The map...
30
Dec
Affluence, Homelessness Collide In Venice
I produced this 2009 video and article while investigating a proposal to ban overnight parking in Venice, an affluent beach community in Los Angeles. The proposal, ultimately rejected by the state Coastal Commission, would have prevented people from sleeping in their vehicles. In recent years, Venice has become a magnet...
30
Dec
Boxing Keeps Youths Away From Gangs
This 2008 project was a great opportunity to shoot video footage in a classic boxing gym, as well as shine a light on a program that helps keep kids out of trouble. The place is a throwback to an era when cigar-chomping managers oversaw prizefighters who had little more than...
20:25 /
Web Video
30
Dec
Illegal Dumping Plagues L.A. Neighborhoods
This 2008 video, along with the article I wrote, shocked many of our viewers. Armed with my camera, I documented how alleys in some of the city's poorest neighborhoods were filled with trash, festering for up to six weeks before being cleaned by city crews. The refuse included household garbage and construction rubble, as well as dead dogs and roosters. I also produced an interactive map with embedded video content showing arrest locations, illegal-dumping hot stops and problem alleys.
30
Dec
LAPD Cracks Down On Illegal Dumping
L.A. city responded quickly to my illegal dumping investigation. The mayor ordered reforms in the Public Works Department, the main agency responsible for enforcing illegal dumping and keeping alleys clean. On top of that, the LAPD formed a task force to arrest violators caught dumping refuse in South Los Angeles....
19:24 /
Web Video
28
Dec
Venice Beach, Surfing Lifestyle
This was a fun 2008 video to produce. I got to surf and shoot footage in the water with a special housing for my camcorder. Shooting in the water poses an entirely different set of challenges, chief among those is that there is no stable footing. You have to hold...
08:24 /
Web Video