A Guide to Ron Finley’s Community Gardening Activism

Ron Finley, also known as the “Gangster Gardener,” hails from South Central Los Angeles. This neighborhood is often portrayed in film and on television as a harsh landscape of poverty, gangs, and endless drive-through fast-food joints. Thanks to Ron, South Central is now also becoming known for its communally managed organic fruit and vegetable gardens.

In 2010, Ron made a narrow strip of soil that ran between the side-walk and the street in front of his house into a lush garden with tomatoes, melons, broccoli, kale, and more. Soon he has a large enough crop on his hands to feed himself but his neighbors. However, growing crops on these city-owned parkway strips turned out to be a punishable offense in Los Angeles. Ron was cited once for his banana trees and again for his garden, meaning that there would be a warrant for his arrest as a second-time offender. He chose to fight City Hall, and with a deluge of media attention, plus a little help from a sympathetic council member, he persuaded the powers that be to exempt vegetable gardens from parkway landscaping restrictions.

In 2013, a viral TED talk catapulted Ron onto the world stage. Suddenly folks like Alice Waters and Bette Midler were calling, and Ron found himself on TV. Corporations wanted in on his brand. Ron, a fashion designer by trade, even became the subject of a 2015 documentary, Can You Dig This, produced by chart-topping recording artist John Legend (and co-produced by Ron). Today, he runs The Ron Finley Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching children and adults about the fundamentals of urban gardening.

Ron has spread the word of urban gardening global and local communities through his speaking engagements, activism, and non-profit work. Here are three of Ron’s impactful projects.

1. 1. Ron Finley fighting City Hall: Ron Finley has had a powerful impact on the world of urban gardening. He beautified an area of his neighborhood, starting with a strip of land outside his home (originally reserved for trash) into an edible garden that could provide the community with good. When the city of Los Angeles tried to shut down Ron Finley’s garden strip in 2011, he fought back and won, starting a change for urban gardeners everywhere. His actions most significantly affected the Residential Parkway Landscaping Guidelines of Los Angeles, where gardeners can no longer be fined for growing food on the city’s property. This was a huge step in the effort to turn inner-city food deserts into accessible hubs of vegetable gardens and growing space for fresh foods.
2. 2. Ron Finley’s 2013 TED Talk: In 2013, Ron gave a TED talk on guerilla gardening, where he discussed trying to better his community by transforming it from a food desert to a food garden, where ‘drive-thrus didn’t kill more people than drive-bys,’ and children could have access to fresh produce. He discussed taking on Los Angeles City Hall to protect a community garden he established on a plot of land near his home. The talk went viral and catapulted Ron onto the world stage. Suddenly folks like Alice Waters and Bette Midler were calling, and Ron found himself on TV. Corporations wanted in on his brand.
3. 3. The Ron Finley Project: The Ron Finley Project in South Central LA is a non-profit gardening training facility that Ron created. Through his organization, Ron educates both children and adults on how to create urban gardens in their own backyard. The organization works on turning vacant lots, dirt parkways, and other usable areas into community gardens to deliver the fresh fruits and veggies many communities need. Ron’s non-profit organization aims to create a self-sufficient ecosystem where people can work together as members of the community and develop sustainable land that both feeds people and teaches them about topics like the environment, cooking, and business management.

As the guerilla gardener, Ron Finley is a notable expert who has appeared in many documentary films about urban farming. Here are some of the films that he has appeared in.

1. 1. Urban Fruit (2013): This film centers around Ron and three other LA residents who live in the city and start growing their own food, along with all the challenges and issues that they face.
2. 2. Plant This Movie (2014): Narrated by Darryl Hannah, this documentary film showcases different urban farmers around the world, along with their methods and beliefs on growing their own food.
3. 3. Food For Thought, Food For Life (2015): This documentary short featuring Ron discusses the problem of cheap and convenient fast food and how it affects both human health and the planet.
4. 4. Can You Dig This (2015): Starring Ron Finley and other gardeners, this documentary film explores the actions of these renegade gardeners and how they are working on transforming the food desert landscape of South L.A. into a thriving food forest. Ron also co-produced this film alongside recording artist John Legend.
5. 5. The Great Disconnect (2019): Ron appears as an expert in this documentary film that explores the human ramifications of technology on modern society.

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