Interview With Fannie Mayfield

Personal tragedy led Fannie Mayfield to the streets of Los Angeles’ Skid Row. After 25 years struggling with drug and alcohol abuse, Mayfield got sober and found a home at the Downtown Women’s Center. But she found a family in the Arts District, where she had gone to collect recyclables in the early 1990s. The artists she encountered there embraced her kindness, welcomed her into their community, and helped her through a battle with breast cancer. Mayfield is still an active part of that community, and has stayed sober while maintaining “the first apartment I ever had” at the Downtown Women’s Center. She was interviewed at the American Hotel in March 2014 for “Tales of the American,” a documentary feature about the Downtown L.A. Arts District, Al’s Bar and the American Hotel. Filmmakers Pamela Wilson and Stephen Seemayer interviewed more than a hundred artists, musicians, writers and others who lived, worked and partied in and around the American Hotel. They are periodically releasing (in alphabetical order) edited versions of these interviews on this channel. To watch "Tales of the American" on Amazon Prime, go to https://amzn.to/2MyARcA. For links to other streaming services and a message from “Bosch” creator Michael Connelly (executive producer of “Tales of the American”), go to https://www.talesoftheamerican.com.