On Monday, it came to my attention that one of the most prominent journalists in Southern California, Gustavo Arellano, lifted the contents of the viral Reel I shared with you and thousands of other people last week.

My El Aliso Instagram Reel, viewed 23,000 times, with a total watch time of 127 hours, 526 shares, 193 saves, and 59 comments, “broke” the story (earth-shaking news, I know!) that the historic plaque for this sacred, little-known, long-dead tree was missing. Beyond that, in a brief and pithy little package, it unpacked some serious virtually unknown history that stunned and delighted thousands of viewers with its combination of humor, heaviness, and meaningful informational content.

On Monday, I was shocked to see dozens of messages coming at me from friends and strangers alerting me to the fact that the LA Times, and its star ‘reporter’ Gustavo Arellano, had traveled to the exact same site and reproduced the same shots as my Reel in their own wildly popular video posted to Instagram, YouTube, and the LA Times website. Their video even drew attention to the strip club behind the plaque’s location, as I did at the start of my video (to humorous effect), and of course pointed out the tragic, unacceptable fact that the one forlorn, miniscule memento this once sacred tree has been allowed (the plaque) is now gone. Stolen.

#stolen

Gustavo Arellano denies knowing of the existence of my Reel. He told me when I reached out to him that he had no idea of its existence. He said he had arrived at the location by the same means I did, “reporting.” He also said, “I always cite sources.”

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The LA Times has been expanding their reach and staying afloat through an increasing pivot to social media content creation under new billionaire ownership. It’s hard not to see Gustavo’s posting on the El Aliso just six days later, after my Reel had been seen tens of thousands of times, as mere coincidence. This was an opportunity for some great content to bolster the Lard King of The Los Angeles Times.

#coincidence

Of course, I don’t own the topic. It’s public knowledge. In some ways I’m flattered by this flagrant and obvious copy of my quality original content. This could have turned into a great opportunity.

Gustavo could have credited me in the first place, complimented the quality of my video, the writing that went into it, the time it took to produce, cut together, etc.

He also could have done none of that.

When approached, he could have said, “Man, what a coincidence!” He could have continued that line for some time, whether true or not. “What are the odds! Wow! I can’t believe! I’m so sorry! I had no idea! That’s so cool! You’re Reel is really great, man! Jeez. Again, what are the odds!?”

He could have acknowledged the extremely unlikely concurrence of our arrival at the same place to produce the same content—with him stumbling up a mere six days later. I would have accepted this, and bought him a beer, and we could have become friends. Perhaps this is still possible.

But his defensive tone and utter dismissal of my concerns felt immediately disingenuous, and I’m now persuaded it demonstrates a genuine lack of integrity. I have spoken to dozens of people on this matter, and as the unrelenting onslaught of critical comments posted on Instagram beneath his and the LA Times’s Reel shows, nobody is buying his “reporting” line.

The fact that the LA Times lifted and repackaged my work becomes even more preposterous when I ponder the fact that the publication has utterly ignored every pitch I’ve ever sent them, offered not one response, not a single sentence to the numerous requests for op-eds and articles I’ve sent, to say nothing of having ever reviewed or looked at my books which offer, possibly, serious and sustained value to our understanding of Los Angeles, Southern California, and the landscape and history of the West.

But sure, go ahead and allow one of your biggest reporters—one of the most visible media figures in Southern California—to lift the first piece of social media content I create that reaches a broad, general audience. Thanks a lot!

This is all pretty small potatoes, but it’s left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. I used to enjoy hearing Gustavo’s voice on the radio around SoCal. I’ve always appreciated his reporting and writing and sense of humor. But in this instance he has flopped, and people have taken notice.

Further, his trite take on the tree in the second half of his LA Times video represents a watered down, feel-good Disneyification of history that is very nearly offensive. His breezy, upbeat suggestion that El Aliso constitutes some universal symbol of resistance for all the oppressed of Los Angeles whitewashes that actual, grim reality at the root of this tree—a history of literal slavery in Los Angeles. To claim that El Aliso was a place of gathering for Spanish, Mexicans, and Native Americans is inaccurate and it cheapens and glosses over the history and is potentially insulting to the Native American community for whom this tree was literally the center of a world, a world that the Spanish, then Mexico, and later rapacious white landowners literally raped, enslaved, and erased. Such a claim, however, does fit his Gustavo’s blasé brand. But it does not fit the history.

And if there is anything I’ve learned this week, reviewing the history of the past few days, is that I should not be surprised if the LA Times refuses to publish me but happily steals from me.

But maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps it’s all coincidence! But I don’t believe so. If I am wrong, however, I will happily apologize and retract and buy Gustavo two beers!

If you want you can read a bit of the note I sent to the LA Times below, which speaks to the unlikelihood of the coincidence angle, the easiest thing for Gustavo to have countered with.

No doubt books are built out of other books. The world is an interconnected web of reference. We all steal and repurpose. But don’t steal from the little guy at Dumpster Fires. My two books rest upon a massive foundation of journalism and history, which I credit (at times in the end notes to excess). The LA Times should have credited my reporting—or at the very least waited more than 6 days, at which point my Reel would have burnt itself out and no one would have noticed their flagrant rip-off.

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See the comments below the Gustavo/LA Times’s Reel if you want to wade into the muck and fun.

latimes A post shared by @latimes

See the comments below the Reel I created in response to the LA Times plagiarism. The exchange with user sexington is illuminating.

Below is an excerpt of the letter I sent to the LA Times. Coincidentally, this was the first time I ever heard back from them. “Thank you, Mr. Baumgart, for this detailed message which I'm forwarding to Gustavo and editor. I appreciate your thoughtful outreach.”

Of course, the timing could just be coincidence. However, this seems unlikely as the site in question, the subject of the Reel (El Aliso), is not widely known at all. To illustrate, on Instagram and across social media and the blogosphere there are virtually no Reels or popular posts of any substance on the subject of the El Aliso tree (it remains totally hidden history, overlooked). Over Instagram’s ~15 year existence there seems to be one Reel that was made three years ago, and it is very generic, superficial info that does not approach the informative deep dive that my Reel attempts. Given the lack of general information, public knowledge, and total absence of anything viral, creative, entertaining, etc. on social media regarding this El Aliso tree...

I'm left with the impression that Gustavo and the LA Times simply saw a very well-crafted, entertaining, informative viral Reel produced by a small, largely unknown writer/creator (Myself) and then proceeded to travel to the exact same location, reproduce the same shots, lift the topic of tree entirely, and report its pertinent information as though it were their own, particularly the fact of the stolen historical plaque.

Is there anything that can be done about this?

Is there anything you can do? Reach out to the LA Times HERE and let them know you are concerned about the quality and integrity of their reporting.

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