| |
| City Secrets |
- Purple People Greeters
- To Save & Protect
- The Shoestring Corridor
- Tom Bradley - An LA Icon
- The WWII Battle of LA
|
|
| |
|
Purple People Greeters
The Downtown Center District of Los Angeles is an affiliation
of property owners and merchants who realized that to many people
'going Downtown' meant a highly unsavory if not outright dangerous
experience. To battle this image they hired a small army of
mostly young people to patrol the streets on foot, by bike or
in cars. The Purple People Greeters answer questions, provide
directions, make referrals or even call the LAPD when things
get rough.
It's easy to spot these welcoming folks: Traveling in pairs
like Mormon missionaries, they all wear purple T-shirts with
'District Safety' or 'Downtown Guide' emblazoned on the back.
You can also visit them at their Service Center (tel 213 624
2425) at 801 S Hill St.
|
top
|
|
To Save & Protect
She is beautiful, dark-skinned and wears an innocent smile and
flowing robes. She's also the most powerful woman in Latino-dominated
East LA. Revered and feared, she stops robberies, inspires people
to treat each other with respect, protects store owners and
keeps graffiti from defacing buildings. And she's just about
everywhere: you see her around every street corner, gracing
stores, apartment buildings and churches.
Who is she? She is the Virgen de Guadalupe and she's a strong
spiritual symbol among Mexican Catholics living in neighborhoods
where violence and destruction of property are as normal as
the sunrise. Her image acts as a deterrent to criminals, perhaps
more effectively than an entire battalion of cops. Shop owners
especially have discovered that having the image of her on
their facade will keep business out of harm's way. Gang bangers
and grandmothers cross themselves when walking by the paintings.
One tough guy in an interview with the LA Times said
'I don't really trip on her... but I respect her because she's
the mother of God. She was pregnant through the spirit'.
|
| top
|
|
The Shoestring Corridor
The most Interesting aspect of the shape of Los Angeles is the
long narrow strip known as the Shoestring Corridor, which was
annexed by the city in 1906. Sixteen miles long, but just half
a mile wide, this strip connects central LA to the city's harbor
in San Pedro, slicing through the cities of Gardena, Carson,
Torrance and Lomita. On any clearly demarcated map, it appears
that the City of Angels has the tail of a devil.
|
| top
|
|
Tom Bradley - An LA Icon
Tom Bradley (1917-1998) was Los Angeles' first African American
mayor and, by many accounts, also its most successful. He served
five successive terms from 1973 to 1993, during which the city
emerged as the most powerful on the West Coast. His unabashed
boosterism, quiet and dignified style and level-headed pragmatism
won him countless supporters from the political and racial spectrum:
Westside liberals to inner-city blacks, business leaders to
Latino farm workers and unionists. While in office, Bradley
opened up city government to minorities and women, expanded
social services to the poor and disadvantaged, helped reform
the LAPD and brought in major investment from domestic and international
corporations. During his tenure, LA's Downtown skyline grew
from that of a mid-size, Midwestern town to today's majestic
forest of steel and glass.
The son of Texas sharecroppers, Bradley came to LA with his
family in 1924 at age seven. An accomplished athlete, he attended
UCLA, then joined the police department in 1940 from which
he retired as lieutenant in 1961. That same year, he became
the first African American to be elected to the city council;
he served until 1969. Bradley's first mayoral run - against
long-time incumbent Sam Yorty - failed but he came back four
years later and the rest is history. The 1984 Olympic Games,
which went off without a hitch and were the first ever to
become financially profitable, are considered his crowning
achievement. The Rodney King Riots in 1992, though, marked
the low point of his career. He retired shortly thereafter
and died of a heart attack in 1998 at age 80.
|
| top
|
|
The WWII Battle of LA
Los Angeles old-timers can tell you that less than three months
after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a mysterious battle
took place in the skies over Los Angeles.
On February 23,1942, a Japanese submarine surfaced near Santa
Barbara and shot several rounds into a beachside oil field.
The entire West Coast tensed in anticipation of further attacks.
They didn't have to wait long.
Just two nights later, at 7pm, warning came of a possible
attack. By midnight, radar screens picked up an unidentified
flying object approaching Los Angeles. Three hours later,
an object resembling a balloon of some sort was sighted just
over Santa Monica. Antiaircraft guns opened fire. Tracers
lit up the sky. Reportedly some 1400 rounds were fired skyward,
but no bombs fell in retaliation. Whoever - whatever - it
was that 'attacked' Los Angeles that night disappeared into
thin air. At the war's end, Japanese military spokespeople
denied having had anything to do with it.
Oddly, the submarine attack that precipitated this paranoia
may have been a personal vendetta rather than a military assignment.
Legend has it that the submarine's commander, Kozo Nishino,
had sworn revenge on the oil field 10 years earlier when his
oil tanker visited Southern California. Apparently he accidentally
sat on a prickly pear cactus and some locals rudely laughed
at him.
|
| |
| top
|
|
| |
|
back
