From my contribution to this week's "A Considerable Town" in the LA Weekly, on the scene at last week's "peace treaty" in Harbor Gateway:
None of this is new, of course, but the renewed focus on Harbor Gateway has resulted in a creeping sense that the old divisions in the neighborhood are always close to re-erupting. Up the block in front of the run-down Del Amo Market, LAPD cruisers are parked facing south, with officers in dark sunglasses leaning over their open doors. People who appeared to be recent immigrants hover across the street, and a few tough-looking guys, both black and brown, stop by to watch for a bit before moving on.
Does Thomas ever come to this store?
“Not at all,” he says flatly. “Came down here when I was a young boy, and they told me not to come back, and from then I ain’t never come back.”
Read more here.