Remembering the 1992 Los Angeles Riots April 29

[Sequoia]

Plumes of smoke rise from burning buildings in mid-town Los Angeles on April 30, 1992.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-la-riots-pg,0,6769810.photogallery

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/lapdaccount.html

[liberal N proud]

1. I remember driving though the area a few months later

I was in LA on vacation and sometimes we just get off the tourist path. This trip we did and inadvertently ended up in South Central area. I remember the devastation and burnt out building and thinking, "Is this America?"

[Javaman]

2. I drove through it the day of the riots. They same day that Regional Denny got beat up...

I was on a shoot when the riots broke out. Everyone on the set was really surprised at the verdict.

We were in antelope valley just north of the San Fernando valley. We could see the smoke rising out of L.A.

They called the shoot. We packed up and headed out. By the time I got back to North Hollywood, it was dark out. I got stopped by the National Guard for being out after the mandated curfew.

The next day, the riots were continuing. I had to return some equipment to a place called Truck Guts. They were located roughly at Western and Santa Monica. I remember seeing guys on the roof of a strip mall in the area with shot guns. People running in and out of the sears pulling out sofa's. Going past another strip mall, I saw people busting open the plate glass windows, running in and out with stuff. Huge gangs of people roving the street carrying various weapons. At the moment I reached Western and Santa Monica, a National Guard unit pulled up and blocked off the intersection. I had to take a few side streets to make it to my destination. I locked all my doors, put on my shades (to avoid eye contact) and never took my foot off the gas. I got to Truck Guts. They were surprised I made it. They had someone armed with a rifle at their barbed wire gate.

After taking care of my business. I got out of there as quickly as possible. I had to ride down hollywood blvd to get back to the production office. There were several stores either still smoldering or with small fires.

Trash in the form of debris left over from looting was everywhere.

It was a mess. I'll never forget it.

That was a hell of a time to live in LA. Riots, floods, earthquakes, mudslides, fires. I lived throught it all, it all sucked, I left.

[Sequoia]

6. Me too.

My sister was in the area earlier where the riots first broke out. I watched KTLA's news when they first showed Rodney King's beating. I used to work in Korea Town and saw buildings I knew up in flames. I had bookmarked Stan Chambers of KTLA's report on that day and when I clicked on it, it was gone so I googled it and low and behold my DU post from 1997 was right there!! Ah, technology. The article was very good; too bad it's no longer on-line.

[cherokeeprogressive]

3. I was watching a local TV station's helicopter feed when Denny got hit with the brick

thrown by the guy I think went by the name of Football. I was sitting in the middle of the floor in a beanbag chair with a cold beer, and a huge spliff burning in the ashtray next to me. I remember thinking that the world was coming to an end or something. The magnifying glass of the beers and the weed burned those images into my mind and I can see them like they were yesterday.

The LAPD made the decision to let fans go home from the Dodger game without telling them anything was wrong. Friends of mine were there and while coming home on the Hollywood freeway they were stopped by people running through traffic and there were palm trees on fire. They had no idea what was going on. They came by my house to show me how many beer cups they had accumulated, and I dragged them inside. Six of us sat in front of the TV all night long.

Bad days. Very bad days indeed.

And then: "C C Can't, can't we, can't we all just get along?" and it ended just as quickly as it began. Surreal.

[enid602]

4. And yet. . .

. . .South Central LA went from 45% Afro-American in '92 to 15% AA now, while the city remained at 10% AA. Many of the South Central neighborhoods which still have high proportions of AA are mostly middle class; Ladera Heights, Baldwin Hills, Hyde Park, SWLA, etc.

. . .City law was changed so that all $$ spent on image campaigns would now be spent in a way that shows a more multi-cultural city.

. . .City law was changed to allow for the replacement of rogue police chiefs.

. . .More miles of subway, light rail, elevated and commuter rail lines have been built in Los Angeles in the last twenty years than in any other city on the planet.

[truebrit71]

5. Ah yes the good old days...I was out there during that time...I finally left after the Northridge...

...quake...it was getting far too biblical for me...fires, floods, earthquakes, riots...

Interestingly I got to watch on of the shoe stores I used to manage getting looted on tv...