Is South Gate safe? (Los Angeles, Long Beach: schools, incomes, to live in)

[SGXCrossCountry76]

Realize this a bit of an old thread.

Well, safe is a matter of degrees. Odds are heavily in your favor, if you visit in the daytime, especially in the early morning hours before 10 a.m. or so, you will be fine.

Getting into the late morning, early afternoon and beyond, I would be a little more cautious, but still not TOO concerned, depending where you are at...If you are on the South Gate Park side of Otis (east), and between Southern and Tenaya, I think you are MUCH safer than in the rest of the city.

This coming from a guy who grew up on Jackson, and whose family lived on that street from 1939 through 2002.

However, my mom was robbed -- strong-armed -- on the street twice within one year in that very area -- and more than once the police were chasing criminals through the backyard there on Jackson in the late 1990s through the early 2000s. Moved mom out of the area in 2002 because of the safety concerns.

I have been back several times and have walked the streets for a couple of hours at a time, but I do it from -- oh -- 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., never had any problem and there are a number of interesting characters roaming at that hours, including a variety "rag pickers" going through all the garbage cans if you happen to take the dawn patrol on garbage day...

I graduated from SGHS in 1976. It was a great city to grow up in. You could ride your bike, or bus, or hitchhike to the beach, or to downtown/Hollywood/Disneyland.

The mountains were close-by, summer at South Gate Park was a dream....anyone remember all the "big picnics" that used to take place there -- the "Oakies" picnic (for transplanted Oklahoma residents), the big company picnics, sneaking into said picnics for free food and drink....swimming at the pool at night.

Playing baseball, football, the bowling alleys (on Southern and another on Long Beach. The Allen and Vogue movies, Ernie's Taco House, Lucky Boys. Getting "lucky" in SG Park at age 14...Swimming at an oddly named friend's house -- Dusty Cloud...

But, the dark side had already started by the time I left. I was nearly stabbed to death twice in racially-charged incidents. Had a friend shot to death.

There was REAL racial tension at the junior high and high school -- pretty much three-way -- Latino, black and white.

I would say it started to sink about the time forced busing was started around 1971-72 or so.

But, man, a paradise between 1939-1969 -- as long as you were "white." Some of us were not, but we managed to pass (which now pisses me off, but at the time...)

[Voyageuse]

I'm petite, fair-skinned and I drive a nice car. I worked in South Gate straight out of college and I never felt uneasy. Granted, that was a while ago, but from what I understand, things are basically still the same. There are just A LOT more restaurant chains. You should be fine.

[caliguy92832]

Alot of gangs in South Gate!

South Gate, California – Hispanic gangs | StreetGangs.Com

[Count David]

Originally Posted by caliguy92832

Alot of gangs in South Gate!

South Gate, California – Hispanic gangs | StreetGangs.Com

Oh no! How scarey (sic)!

[RudyOD]

Heh. I like South Gate. It's a nice working class neighborhood and you can tell people are proud of their homes as they are well taken care of. Not all Latino communities are the same.

Just go to Huntington Park or parts of Santa Ana. In Santa Ana there are families that live in (what used to be) gorgeous Victorian homes that are practically rotting. I know lots of these families don't necessarily have the money to do some major uplifts on their home, but a little paint and basic maintenence goes a long way and makes a neighborhood look that much better. Again, this is not the case in South Gate, which feels very and up and coming, more second and third generation Mexican American nabe.

[SGXCrossCountry76]

There were gangs in the "Gate" in the 30s-40s-50s-60s.

Only diff was the "focus" of the gangs. Look up the "spook hunters" Spook Hunters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The black and Latino gangs were getting big in the '70s.

Again, a lot of honest hardworking people NOW live there. However, there is a strong criminal element that did not exist earlier...unless you count the "druggy hippies" who took over the baseball dugouts in South Gate Park in the late '60s. LOL!

[majoun]

I wonder if South Gate would have fared better if it wasn't part of LAUSD (how'd that happen, anyways?)
Downey next door has its own school district, and is in considerably better shape. (I don't think DUSD's that great but it's better than LAUSD)

[Pennychaser11]

LAUSD was excellent district until 70's(?). IMO it all started when good paying manufacturing jobs in these areas left. I recently found out there was a GM factory from 50's to early 80's in South Gate. It's surprising even in Maywood, it was not a bad area. Chrysler plant was there in the 40's or 50's(not sure when), then Ford factory in Pico Rivera. All shut down by 80's, then white flight happens and well you know the rest. Downey had aerospace industry until 2000 and it is still a good area and DUSD is MUCH better than LAUSD. When aerospace left Downey, middle/upper middle families left for OC and other new areas and what replaced them were middle class hispanics with comparable incomes. Now there is no more vacant land to expand, and people are realizing huge backyard isn't worth long commutes. Therefore people are now moving back to areas where their parents left, such as DTLA, culver city, ktown, Palms, Leimert Park and other previously 'bad' areas. And I believe most poor will eventually get kicked out of their homes and get replaced with people with money. I've been to SG many times myself and I do not feel endangered in anyway. I'm in ktown now and crime in Downey compared to some of these cities is still low.

[SGXCrossCountry76]

My feeling is that SG joined LA schools as a means of being able to fund public education back in the 1920s or so and then never really had the means or the "wants" to break away. Possibly, when GM and Firestone were going gangbusters in the mid-40s to early 60s, the city might have been able to afford to form their own district, but that would have been an expensive move -- and I would guess they would have had to reimburse the LAUSD for a lot of costs....anyway....

Manufacturing slowed just as I entered teenhood, which meant no "easy" job at the local plant.

As for school districts, joining Downey would have been out, as Downey always looked down on SG....

SG did drop their own fire department and went with LA County, back in the 1980s, I think, but has always had their own police (don't get me started about SG muni govt. in the past 20 years...).

There is a book that I read, some 10 years ago or so, right when it came out. "My Blue Heaven" that gave the history of SG or so it claims. I actually thought that it was not all that....and I seem to remember a lot of things differently and it seems to have a lot "PC" in it if you get my drift, but it can probably be found in most libraries in the SoCal area.

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Heaven-Wo.../dp/0226583015
Personally, I would not buy it, but...

[BeatAngMoh]

Originally Posted by Low Roller

Hello.

I am white, 64 and was born and raised in South Gate (1949 to 1971.)

I am now in Arizona, but am going to visit Disneyland soon, and am thinking of making a quick nostalgia side trip to visit South Gate and to see my old homestead and neighborhood, etc. (I used to live on Kauffman Avenue, two blocks from the park.)

I was wondering if it's safe to do so?

I don't intend to get out of my truck and wander around the park or the streets or anything like that, but am wondering if I may still be at risk just driving around. Is there a lot of gang activity, etc. to be concerned about? Anything like that?

Since concealed-carry is not allowed in CA, I would appreciate knowing if I should now avoid South Gate, or if it would be safe to drive around the park, see my old home, cruise Tweedy Blvd, etc?

Please know that I mean no offense to anyone, I am just trying to be cautious.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

South Gate is most famous for being the home of Pete Ellis Dodge which may have gone out of bizness.