Memories of the La Riots (Paradise: school, to live in, law)

[Bruin Rick]

Originally Posted by majoun

Well, in Echo Park there were snipers on top of buildings ready to shoot any potential looters. Some of the cholo guys protected the neighborhood and made sure nothing happened. Reportedly the owners of the liquor stores gave them free booze in exchange for effectively guarding the streets and the businesses and making sure troublemakers were kept out. Fortunately nobody attempted anything as the rioters got scared off - there could have been some very ugly racial incidents if they'd tried to loot and burn there.

Silver Lake had some incidents of vandalism but no looting and burning. IMO, the subsequent rises of Silver Lake and eventually Echo Park had a great deal to do with them being spared from the riots (unlike Hollywood, East Hollywood, Westlake, downtown, etc.)

I worked in West Hollywood at that time and people I worked with were freaked out because there was looting and burning in LAPD areas very close by like on La Brea and on Melrose. However, the Russian locals reassured everyone that there wouldn't be any trouble because the rioters were far more scared of the Russian mob than of any LE agency. (They also made some racist threats which are not appropriate for being repeated on this forum - I'll just say that if the Russians had been messed with like the Koreans had been messed with, things would've gotten even uglier than they were, which is saying A LOT. ) As it was Santa Monica Boulevard was left alone even when there was rioting in adjacent LAPD-patrolled areas. Perhaps it was the LASD, perhaps it was the rioters' fear of the Russians, perhaps it was both.

West L.A., where my parents lived: not affected at all except for minor vandalism. Outside of the curfew and some broken windows (and a fight in Bob's Market on Gateway that led to a fatal shooting), WLA and MV were barely affected. There was some looting and burning in South Robertson and Palms and in a shopping center in Del Rey, but otherwise real heavy rioting on the deeper Westside was confined to Venice (which got pretty nasty by all reports). BHPD, CCPD, and SMPD kept rioting out of their jurisdictions.

The whole thing really made one ashamed to be a human being and from Los Angeles, and no racial or ethnic group really came out looking that good. The LAPD failed on a massive level - withdrawing officers from the earliest disturbances was a horrible idea - but the other departments didn't come out looking as bad. The sheriffs and the departments in the westside independent cities did a better job. It took the National Guard for order to finally be restored. They were much more respectful to the people than the LAPD had ever been. In retrospect, that was the moment when all institutions in Los Angeles failed. It was the capper to a disastrous fifth term for Bradley in which he'd blown his legacy. Gates should have resigned instantly. There was a break in the continuity of the city which has never truly been restored during the city's ups and downs since. The only positive aspect was that property values and rents went down, so once the Clinton boom finally and belatedly hit L.A. in about 1997 it became quite a pleasant place to live for the last years of the century.

Just my 2 cents....

(BTW, I hope what I wrote has not offended anyone of any group. It's just pure opinion and not meant to reflect badly on any particular ethnic or racial group.)

Gates should have been fired years ago. If he had been and an OUTSIDER brought in to clean up the LAPD and fire rogue cops, the rebellion would have never happened. When in college at UCLA, one of my classes was Organizational Behavior. Basically every organization, whether it is the police department, a business or an international corporation, develops a "culture". It can be a good culture or a bad culture. The only way to change the culture of any organization is to change the leadership of it. And by bringing in new leadership FROM THE OUTSIDE because if you just promote leadership from within, you will still get the same culture.

[Bruin Rick]

Originally Posted by R-Tistic

I live on Harvard and Florence, which is like half a mile from Florence and Normandie. So yeah, too much to remember.

My friend who loves a block away from there remembers this one guy who used to buy her ice cream when she was seven. She said she was watching the news, and saw that he was one of the guys who pulled Reginald Denny out. He was a gang member, but wasn't really a "menace" in the hood like that...which could explain why he took out his anger on an innocent driver.

Reginald Denny just was in the wrong place at the wrong time. People in South Central were furious and any white or Korean they could find would do. I was at Parker Center and, being white, I did not feel any danger there at all except from the cops who might decide to re do Kent State again.

[ferretkona]

Originally Posted by Bruin Rick

Firemen and paramedics were viewed the same way as the LAPD was. They were "occupiers" not coming to the aid of the blacks and latinos but to the Koreans and others to put out the fires and save the property of the killers of Latasha Harkins. That is why they were shot at. I notice now that the LAFD hires blacks and latinos. I remember when they were virtually almost all white.

I lived in Downey at the time. I had friends in the Downey fire department. They were crossing the bridge to the riots whjen they caught a few bullets in the windshield. They put the trucks in reverse and returned to Downey.

Downey PD and Fire are both city companies not LA county.

[CA4Now]

"I've been waiting 20 years to write these words in these pages.
On a spring day in 1992, with sweet-smelling ash tickling my nose, I saw a man rolling a stolen car tire down Pico Boulevard in broad daylight...." In a sick and exhausted city, the Los Angeles riots couldn't be stopped - latimes.com

[West of Encino]

I remember my family was chased out of Torrance, but made it okay during the riots.

[matt345]

Originally Posted by Bruin Rick

I thought the rebellion was totally justified and necessary to let the LAPD know the end of the rope had been reached. Nobody likes seeing death and destruction but sometimes they are necessary for freedom.

How long until you have a massive rebellion against all those gangbangers shooting up the streets? And I mean real anger and protesting against gang violence - not those "rallies" and candlelight vigils that don't do anything.

[jaypee]

Originally Posted by Bruin Rick

So while I myself did not engage in acts of violence, I certainly did not discourage others from doing so. I thought the rebellion was totally justified and necessary to let the LAPD know the end of the rope had been reached. Nobody likes seeing death and destruction but sometimes they are necessary for freedom.

I fail to see what message was sent by beating innocent bystanders and looting and burning down businesses in your neighborhood.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by jaypee

I fail to see what message was sent by beating innocent bystanders and looting and burning down businesses in your neighborhood.

"We're really pissed!"

[Harrier]

Originally Posted by jaypee

i fail to see what message was sent by beating innocent bystanders and looting and burning down businesses in your neighborhood.

"we are mad as he** and aren't going to take it anymore!!!"

[Visit a Library]

Originally Posted by Harrier

"we are mad as he** and aren't going to take it anymore!!!"

But what we will take are your televisions, stereos, Air Jordans, etc.