On Race, Housing and Confronting History
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Thursday, July 11, 2019 Vol. 18 No. 14 PAGING DR. FRISCHER NEWS OBITUARIES NEWS Open-minded Moon landing’s Residents Donors give 1,700 about CBD 50th anniversary mourned blankets SEE PAGES 4 SEE PAGE 3 SEE PAGE 7 SEE PAGE 9 Downey Recent Fireworks blamed for 8 fires restaurant tremblors grades on Fourth of July Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill 12010 Lakewood Blvd. DOWNEY - Downey firefighters responded to 32 emergency incidents on July 4, including eight small Date Inspected: 7/8/19 fires suspected to have been caused by fireworks. a reminder Grade: A FridayWeekend88˚ The fires were minor in severity, said Fire Chief Mark Gillaspie. They ranged from a wood shake roof that ignited to dumpster and vegetation fires. Carinos at a 12036 Lakewood Blvd. Glance “The fire department also responded to similar type fires between July 2 to July 7,” said Gillaspie. to be Date Inspected: 7/8/19 “Fortunately, no fireworks-related injuries were reported.” Saturday 6888˚⁰ Grade: A Friday The Downey Police Department issued 54 citations for illegal fireworks between 7 p.m. and 1 a.m. on July 4. prepared Subway Eric Pierce, editor 9131 Imperial Hwy. Sunday 91˚70⁰ Date Inspected: 7/8/19 Saturday By Rakdy Khlok Grade: A Emergency Manager City of Downey Starbucks 9001 E Firestone Blvd. THINGS TO DO Date Inspected: 7/3/19 ecent earthquakes impacted a city more On Race, Housing and Grade: A than 150 miles from Downey, but it was a Rite Aid rude awakening for 7859 E Firestone Blvd. Rmany of our residents. If there’s Date Inspected: 7/3/19 an earthquake, don’t forget to do Confronting History the following: Grade: A • Drop down; take cover under In the first of a 7-part series, community in question. the homes, the streets and the Party City a desk/table and hold on during sidewalks—in ways unlike the Hazardous Waste Collection Stanford University graduate This is made easier by my 7171 Firestone Blvd. an earthquake. Stay away from surrounding suburbs. It is this last Date Inspected: 7/3/19 Saturday - Cerritos College, windows, bookcases and other Aron Ramirez examines second reason: the Mexican anomaly that I narrate in these American suburbanization in Grade: A 9 am to 3 pm furniture that can fall on you. the complicated narrative essays. Avoid doorways. Downey presents historical Safely dispose of unwanted electronic of Downey’s demographic anomalies that upend common Part of understanding Firestone Carwash and Lube and hazardous waste; limit of 15 • If outside, stay in an area change. conclusions about demographic this history, though, requires 7421 Firestone Blvd. gallons or 125 lbs. per trip. No tires or change in southeast Los Angeles. grappling with uncomfortable large appliances. that is clear from buildings, trees Date Inspected: 7/3/19 and powerlines. From the 1920s until the Watts topics. For all the victors in this By Aron Ramirez Riots of 1965, nearby suburbs history—as in most histories— Grade: A • If you are in a vehicle, pull Contributor like Compton, Huntington Park, there are the displaced, the over and stop. Set your parking and South Gate were home to divided, the discriminated. We Downey Liquor brake. In the span of 10 years, white working-and-middle-class often prefer to glide over these 7617 Firestone Blvd. Downey transformed from a residents. uncomfortable topics. Our • Before an earthquake, look Date Inspected: 7/3/19 white middle-class suburb into a histories, we think, should be around your house for items Mexican American middle-class Throughout southeast Los conversations safe for the dinner Grade: A that can fall over. Secure large suburb. Perhaps the more accurate Angeles, white residents ranged table. It is far easier to talk of furniture and appliances to the statement to make, though, would from 87 to 99 percent of census revolutions, presidents, and laws. El 7 Mares Express wall, or mount items that can be that between 1985 and 1995 the tract populations. After the Watts 12215 Paramount Blvd. break. South Bay Greek Festival demographic makeup shifted. Riots, white families with the Today, fewer are wont to opt Date Inspected: 6/27/19 financial means left in droves— for a sanitized history of what may All Weekend - St. Katherine’s Greek • Know how to turn off your Indeed, there was little what we now call “white flight”— otherwise seem like mundane Grade: A Orthodox Church in Redondo Beach gas and water to prevent a second that made Downey a Mexican changing the demographic historical relics; many now want emergency. Called the best Greek festival in American suburb—save for the and economic landscape of the to consider what a statue meant Old River Restaurant Southern California (besides Downey’s). Family and friends have asked residents’ surnames. Unlike suburbs they fled. White flight to many groups in post-Civil- 7395 Stewart and Gray Rd. Authentic Greek food, dance, culture me what they can do to prepare, most contemporary Latino/a/x- involved more than demographic War America, not only to some. Date Inspected: 6/27/19 and family fun. $2 admission majority communities throughout change, as these families Two weeks ago, we considered and I say-- you CAN start with a Grade: A CAN! metropolitan Los Angeles, there dramatically altered the tax multiple public meanings of Betsy were no panaderías, tortillerías, revenues collected by cities. Ross’s flag. I think historical Emergency preparedness or supermercados. English was inquiry would be remiss if it Stewart & Grub does not have to be an expensive spoken in public, even between Deindustrialization in the didn’t uncover and unravel these 7380 Stewart and Gray Rd. venture; pick up a can of soup, two Spanish-speaking individuals. 1970s then hit southeast Los difficult topics. By restoring the Date Inspected: 6/27/19 Angeles especially hard. Cities fruit, vegetable, or spam each histories of those who are seldom Grade: A time you grocery shop to build The demographic makeup that relied on manufacturing spoken of—and, therefore, by your emergency supply. had changed in the 1990s, but revenues to fund civic complicating those who are El 7 Mares the character remained the infrastructures found themselves revered—we can restore dignity to same. Middle-class Mexican 12215 Paramount Blvd. Your goal should be self- operating on anemic budgets. A the undignified. We can revive the Family Fair sufficiency for at least 2 weeks, Americans flocked to Downey in subsequent “War on Crime” led forgotten. We can give full justice Date Inspected: 6/27/19 Saturday- Lynwood Grace Church, but ideally a month. Here are the late 1980s and early 1990s to renewed conflicts between to the historical record. Grade: A some tips to consider. to access the reputable school police and suspected gang 12-7 pm district, responsive police and members. Compton, for example, I did not write this (at Berto’s Mexican Restaurant Live music, carnival games, jumpers, • Upcycle used backpacks and fire departments, and secure took an especially strong stance times uncomfortable) history free gifts for kids, vendor booths, and 11949 Paramount Blvd. tennis shoes for your emergency property investments. Indeed, and dedicated disproportionate out of hate or any agenda, but more. Free admission. kits. middle-class Mexican Americans percentages of city budgets toward rather out of love. To recognize Date Inspected: 6/26/19 moved to Downey for many of increased policing, which left the complexity of Downey’s • Shop at your local discount Grade: A the same reasons that white streets unmaintained, schools demographic transformation store for basic supplies such as residents did in the 1950s and underfunded, and other city is to move beyond a good-bad first aid kits, snacks, and water Mr. M’s Tacos 1960s. The demographic change functions un-serviced. reductionist oversimplification. bottles. 8642 E Imperial Hwy. would transform Downey from Doing so makes it possible— In truth, larger structural Date Inspected: 6/26/19 • One gallon of water, per a white middle-class suburb however uncomfortable—to love forces like deindustrialization, person, per day. to a city mentioned in 2015 by the city for all that it is, both its Grade: A the Los Angeles Times as the the end of the Cold War, a waning success stories and displacement • Car and office go-kit should “Mexican Beverly Hills.” It is that military-industrial complex, and narratives. Alberto’s Mexican Food tax base restructuring caused have 1-day supplies, and a history that I will present to the 12620 Paramount Blvd. community over the next seven much of the changing quality of This history differs from Classic Car Show go-luggage should have 7-day Date Inspected: 6/26/19 supplies if you need to evacuate weeks. life in the nearby suburbs. Capital most others about demographic Saturday- Los Alamitos Race Course, your home. flight accompanied white flight, change and displacement. The Grade: A 11 am to 3 pm (A note on terminology: In and by the 1980s, the white- principal displacers and displaced A military-inspired car show with these essays, I’ll use Latino/a/x • Some emergency food is majority working-to-middle-class are Mexican Americans. The Kaowok Chinese Kitchen military vehicles, classic cars, vendors, dryer than cardboard but can last a to refer to those descendant suburbs of southeast Los Angeles middle-class Mexican Americans 12022 Lakewood Blvd. live entertainment, and an American few years. Some canned water can of immigrants from Mexico, were minority-majority working- who formed the core of Downey’s Date Inspected: 6/25/19 heroes banner presentation. last decades. Caribbean, and Central and South poor cities. (admittedly diverse) community American countries.