Enthusiastically Los Angeles

How did Downtown Los Angeles go from a glorified office park to being the "coolest Downtown in America" (at least according to GQ Magazine)? Who made it happen? What makes them tick? What are their stories? Your favorite Amateur Enthusiast interviews the dreamers, makers, movers, and shakers who made it happen - and continue to move it forward. From the famous to the infamous, the well known to the unknown, we all have one thing in common: a passion for Los Angeles. And we have our share of laughs along the way, too.

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Enthusiastically Los Angeles

Gary Leonard

March 28, 2020 • Glenn Gritzner/Gary Leonard • Season 1 • Episode 3

Anybody who has been to almost any political, civic, charitable, or fundraising event in Downtown Los Angeles has probably had their picture taken by Gary Leonard. He's Los Angeles' unofficial civic photographer.

So, why interview a photographer - an artist of a fundamentally visual medium - on a podcast? Because I knew that Gary had a story - a story that hardly anybody knows. Because, before he was LA's unofficial civic photographer, he was LA's unofficial ... underground music scene photographer. And he has been collecting LA "ephemera", as he calls it: Concert tickets. Bobble heads. Photos. Convention passes. Almost anything you can think of. And he's been collecting it for decades.

This interview goes around in circles and loops around and back again ... but it's quite a ride. If anybody has lived 2 or 3 or 4 lives, it's Gary.