Fire on the Hill

Fire on the Hill

Tuesday, June 20, 2023 - 7:00pm to 8:30pm
  • Library Hall
Meet the cowboys of South Central L.A.

Five miles south of downtown Los Angeles is a place that was, until recent years, known as the murder capital of the world. For most, South Central L.A. is synonymous with gang violence, drug trafficking and high amounts of crime. Yet for much of the twentieth century South Central L.A. was an agricultural boomtown filled with ranchers, farmers and equestrians alike. Since the city’s establishment, Compton and the surrounding neighborhoods have always had a culture of cowboys. Once common to the dusty dirt roads, this culture has all but disappeared now in a wash of land-hungry developers, apathetic politicians and relentless gang activity.  Fire on the Hill tells the story of the South Central and Compton Cowboys and the last strongholds that they have; a horse stable known as the Hill that was mysteriously set on fire in 2012.  This is the story of three of those cowboys and their fight to live out their vision of the West.

Run Time: 

84 min.
Fire on the Hill isn’t about old-timers refusing to participate in a newfangled world; these cowboys are young men figuring out other ways to make sense of it, and drawing on the past to find their place in it.
Hollywood Reporter