As rising rents and redevelopment continue to reshape one of Los Angeles County's most storied working-class neighborhoods, a Santa Monica native is fighting back with poetry, essays, and memory.
Raquel "Rocky" Perez, a social worker, poet, and lifelong advocate for immigrant and minority communities, has launched The Soul of Santa Monica: Voices from the Pico Neighborhood — a community-driven literary collection aimed at documenting the stories of the Black, Brown, and immigrant families who built the Pico neighborhood and are increasingly being forced to leave it.
"If we don't document who we are, others will define us or erase us," Perez said. "This project was born from that urgency to reclaim our story."
Perez, who grew up in a Mexican household in the Pico neighborhood and has published two books of poetry exploring identity and belonging, said the project has been years in the making. What finally moved it from idea to reality, she said, was the community itself.
"When I invited neighbors to contribute poems, essays, and reflections, the responses came in the form of heartfelt messages and expressions of pride," she said. "That enthusiasm made it clear that this project is needed now."
The collection will gather original writing from residents — current and former — in a range of creative forms. Perez was deliberate in that choice, saying literature captures what data and policy reports cannot.
"Poetry can capture what it feels like to pack up your childhood home," she said. "Essays give space to reflect. Short stories let memory breathe."
Perez described the toll of that displacement as far more than financial.
"Displacement doesn't just change where people live," she said. "It pulls them away from the relationships that made this place feel like home. Grandparents aren't within walking distance anymore. Neighbors who used to watch each other's kids are scattered across counties."
She added that the losses extend to culture as well — local businesses shuttered, gathering places gone, schools transformed by demographic shifts that quietly alter the character of the neighborhood.
The project also acknowledges the deeper history of the land, including the legacy of the Tongva people, the Indigenous inhabitants of the Los Angeles Basin.
Perez said she envisions The Soul of Santa Monica as more than a one-time anthology. She hopes the collection will find a home in local libraries, classrooms, and community spaces, and eventually serve as the foundation for public readings, youth writing workshops, and a permanent archive of Pico stories.
"There is the version of Santa Monica people see in brochures and along the beach," she said, "and then there is the Santa Monica that raised families, held immigrant stories, and built deep roots in neighborhoods like Pico."
She was equally clear that the project is not limited to experienced writers.
"This is not a project only for seasoned writers," Perez said. "Anyone can be a writer here. I want people to feel empowered to tell their story, no matter their background, experience, or skill."
For displaced former residents in particular, Perez said she hopes the finished collection offers something difficult to put a price on.
"I hope former residents who have been forced out can hold it and feel remembered," she said. "If this project creates even one space where someone feels seen, documented, and valued, it has already done its work."
Residents interested in contributing to The Soul of Santa Monica can submit their work at rockyperez.com/pico-neighborhood.