East of the River: A Memoir of Los Angeles Girlhood

Guadalupe Rosales's East L.A. is full of delight and danger: backyard raves and boulevards made for cruising despite constant threats from gangs, crushes and cops. With evocative, intimate prose, Rosales captures the freedom and fear pulsing through her teenaged nights.

After losing a cousin to violence in 1996, Rosales moved across the country to New York City. That was the beginning of a journey that took her away from her beloved hometown and closer to herself. She came out. She became an artist. When she finally went back, her relationship to the city of angels had changed: still tender but much more clear-eyed.

While Rosales was in New York, a stack of starshots from her youth became a lifeline and eventually inspired her to create two digital archives that celebrated 90s East L.A.. Today, Rosales has 325,000 engaged followers across two IG accounts: Veteranas and Rucas celebrates 90s L.A. women, while Map Pointz focuses on the party crew scene of that era.

Now, this beloved artist deepens her project of collective memory by sharing her own story: adolescence in a treacherous time, finding herself far from home, and returning transformed, pulled back to connect IRL with the community she'd conjured on Instagram.

While the book is rooted in Rosales's own experience, it also includes voices of friends and family. Elegantly designed, the text is interspersed with photos, flyers and social media conversations.

Online, Rosales has built a vibrant, life-giving space; with this memoir, she tells her own story of the loss and healing that motivated her to build a living temple to women like her younger self. East of the River is an unforgettable offering from one of the most remarkable voices of her generation.