Interview With Dr. Mongo

In the 1980s, Dr. Mongo was an ex-con living on Skid Row in Downtown L.A. when he found his way to Al’s Bar and started selling poems to patrons entering the punk-rock haven. “I'd come down here and get people before they come in the place, recite a poem to them, and get some money,” he says. “I became a fixture at Al’s Bar.” His poems such as “Penitentiary” and “Jacks” riveted his audiences and endeared him to the artists that lived in the American Hotel and neighboring lofts.

When Dr. Mongo was wrongfully arrested in 1995, his friends showed up en masse to support their fellow artist, and he successfully avoided a “Three Strikes” conviction for possessing drug paraphernalia that he intended to use in an art installation. They “came to my rescue!” he says. Dr. Mongo was interviewed in February 2014 for “Tales of the American,” a documentary feature about the Arts District, Al’s Bar and the American Hotel. He passed away in 2019 at the age of 78.

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.