Greg Hise, an urban historian at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, visited Berlin for the first time to speak at Zócalo’s panel. “You lecture a city, but it’s very different than actually seeing a city,” Hise, a native New Yorker, said. “There are of course parts that don’t appear in books.” Read more about Hise below.
Q. What music have you listened to today?
A. None.
Q. What is the last thing that inspired you?
A. I’ve been working at the Huntington Library with the papers of an African American attorney, Loren Miller, who spent his entire career fighting against discrimination in housing, restrictive covenants, and he inspires me every day that I read him.
Q. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A. Someone who didn’t work much.
Q. What is your greatest extravagance?
A. Having a chance to come to Berlin for a couple of days.
Q. If you could take only one more journey, where would you go?
A. Morocco.
Q. What is your favorite thing about Los Angeles?
A. The fact that it’s constantly changing, and also the diversity of people.
Q. What profession would you like to practice in your next life?
A. Anthropology.
Q. What is your most prized material possession?
A. The fact that I don’t have one.
Q. What promise do you make to yourself that you break the most often?
A. I tend not to make promises, I must admit.
Q. Who is the one person living or dead whom you would most like to meet for a drink?
A. Loren Miller.
To read more about Hise’s panel on Los Angeles and Berlin, click here.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.