Founded by Nardeep Khurmi, Kacie Rogers and Kate Jopson, Aliso creates film and live performance experiences that celebrate the beauty in difference, question assumptions, and explore the gaps and silences in our society.
We advocate for colorful art, humans, and ideas. We use the new to delve into the old, experimenting with how history and physical space impact meaning. We embrace fruitful discomfort in order to promote self-reflection in ourselves, our artists and our audience. We don’t let the imperfect get in the way of the important. Our process suits the needs of the narrative we match the medium to the story.
History of “El Aliso”
“El Aliso” behind El Pueblo de Los Angeles
The First Photo of Los Angeles
"El Aliso," which means "the sycamore," in Spanish was a 60-ft tree by the Tongva village of Yangna. Tongva chiefs from smaller villages would travel to Yangna and meet under El Aliso. In 1769, Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola remarked on the tree on his way to “found” Alta California. In 1781, a band of Spanish settlers named the tree, took land from the tribes, and established Pueblo de Los Angeles nearby
The City Grows Up Around El Aliso
The land that El Aliso stood on was purchased in 1834 by French immigrant and vineyard owner Jean-Louis Vignes and by 1870 a brewery surrounded it. Finally, in 1892, the 400-year-old tree--that survived floods large enough to change the course of the LA River and droughts devastating enough to killed hundreds of cattle--died.
“El Aliso” in the courtyard of Vignes winery