“Meet Me at the Swap Meet”: Asian American Commerce and the Emergence of West Coast Gangsta Rap - Alec R. Stewart, 2025 Marketplaces known as “swap meets” boomed in Greater Los Angeles during the 1980s and 1990s, serving as early sites for the production and distribution of a var...

I am excited to share my latest article in the Journal of Urban History. It details how Asian American swap meet vendors collaborated with early West Coast hip-hop artists to facilitate two forms of urban citizenship, rooted in property and cultural production. Read here:
doi.org/10.1177/0096...

If you stop at Grand Central Market, try a carnitas taco at Villa Moreliana. Iirc they do free samples. About as simple as a taco gets, but DELICIOUS.

American Studies Spring 2024 Conference – Twice Told Tales: May 3, 2024, at the Women’s Faculty Club, Lucy Ward Stebbins Lounge – American Studies

Looking forward to sharing my work on the role of Asian American swap meet vendors in West Coast Hip Hop’s emergence at UC Berkeley’s American Studies conference tomorrow (5/3). If you’re on campus, come by and say hello!