They say Los Angeles is a small town separated by freeways. But there's one street that links the westside with the eastside.

Santa Monica Boulevard got its name from the Spanish Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica. J. Michael Walker says St. Monica is best known as the mother of St. Augustine.

"People in college in philosophy class read his books, but when he was a teenager, he was every mother's worst nightmare: a rabblerouser and a carouser."

Artist Walker tells Monica's story in his new exhibit "All the Saints of the City of the Angels," currently on display at the Autry Museum. Walker says Monica spent the better part of 20 years praying that her son would straighten out his life. She became the patron saint of mothers of at-risk youth.

He says, "When I began working on the project, I learned of a group of mothers who meet each month on the east side in Boyle Heights. They're mothers with sons in prison."

The name of this group? Las Madres de Santa Monica: the mothers of St. Monica.

(Airdate: 3/23/2008)