Tucked away on a residential block, the Big House is the embodiment of Jorge Nuño’s huge heart for his native South LA neighborhood and a testament to his long-held motto, “Don’t Move, Improve.” The son of immigrant parents, Nuño has memories of his mom running a daycare center in his childhood home that always buzzed with people and activity. So when he purchased the 100- year-old craftsman-style home on East 35th Street in 2007, it seemed perfectly natural to use its 10 rooms, large kitchen, and extensive backyard as communal space.

Nuño, an entrepreneur and successful graphic designer, navigated his educational goals on his own, as many children of immigrants do. He graduated from Brooks College and UCLA, quickly worked his way up in advertising and at age 26, started his own design firm, NTS Communications. Having worked in the film industry, often being the only person of color in the room, he resisted the notion that he had to leave his neighborhood to continue to grow professionally. So he rooted his offices in the Big House and started offering services to his neighbors through food and toy drives, setting up skate ramps for neighborhood kids to have a safe recreational space and eventually creating Nuevo South, an organization that he ran for five years, offering free technology classes for youth. He also opened up the Big House as an incubator and base for like-minded entrepreneurs and social impact organizations.

Today, the Big House is an established community hub that champions the local neighborhood, and Nuño continues to dream up new businesses while staying civically engaged with an eye towards building power for his South LA community.