Walking Through “Death Alley”: Churches on Vermont Avenue and Narratives of Life

Abstract

This article explores the intersection between religion and the city as they appear on sidewalk life. According to the urban planner Jane Jacobs, the sidewalk becomes both the infrastructure that governs and influences city life, and a space that reflects the vibrancy of human life. This article takes as its focus a particular street in the Los Angeles area known as Vermont Avenue. This street was described in the LA Times (Cruz & Schwencke) by a detective in 2014 as “death alley” due to the high homicide rates that had taken place in it since 2007. Such a phrase is close to the biblical term “death valley,” which can be seen in expressions like: “the valley of the shadow of death” (Psa. 23:4, English Standard Version). At times, within such biblical passages that refer to death, there is also mentioned a passing through, or a transformation from death to life. On Vermont Avenue, or ‘death alley,’ its sidewalks and streets became spaces where death occurred. But is there a way to redefine these sidewalks and streets? To question such narratives of death this article uses walking methods and visual sociology—including photography and spatial semiotics as explored by Roman Jakobson—to explore religion on the streets and to consider how Vermont Avenue can be reframed as a street or road possessing narratives of life. The psalmist said: “I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” thus, the valley is meant to be passed through; death is a reality, but it is not a static narrative. Through the process of walking through this street, I consider how urban churches and religion on the streets embody what I term an urban gospel poetics, which reminds us of how such urban churches draw on Christian themes to fight against death and urban violence.