On Christmas Eve, 1969, hundreds of Chicanos demonstrated the conservative, out-of-touch Diocese of Los Angeles, led by then-Cardinal James Francis McIntyre, outside the newly built St. Basil's Catholic Church on Wilshire in the heart of Koreatown. On a visit there, LATACO writer Rio Kvisto recalled Oscar Zeta Acosta -- aka the "Brown Buffalo," and perhaps Hunter S. Thompson's most recognizable gonzo cohort. Acosta famously opens his novel, "The Revolt of the Cockroach People," with a stirring description of that night. Here's the post. The Chicanos' siege of St. Basil's is one of those chapters of L.A. history that deserves a higher spot in the collective consciousness. Especially now, as LATACO notes:
True, the protests and demonstrations today are fewer and not quite as dramatic as those led by Acosta and his colleagues during the late 60s, but it just might be that our current reform strategies are more subtle and in some ways more effective. Whereas the LAPD planted undercover agent provocateurs in the Chicano Movement in Acosta’s day, Chicanos have in many ways infiltrated the establishment while busily creating facts on the ground. While almost any politician elected to office is unable to ascend to an influencial position without some degree of compromise and sacrifice to pragmatism, a mayor like Villaraigosa is still a milestone. An alcalde that was born in East LA and lead MEChA at UCLA as a student is evidence of a slow but steady progress on the path of change, a change perhaps more “evolutionary” than “revolutionary”.
The church itself is gorgeous. Soaring, momumental, modern in style but encompasing classical forms and materials. A friend and I went to mass there once last spring, driven merely by a curiosity for that specific church and by a fascination with the spectacle of Catholic ritual. (We were also looking for an excuse to wear a tie on a Sunday.) There had been an English mass, tending mostly to Filipino, Korean, and African American Catholics. We stuck around for the Spanish mass. They had a rock band.
* The Brown Buffalo, a true L.A. original -- attorney, writer, and one-time candidate for L.A. County Sheriff -- disappeared mysteriously in Mexico in 1974 and was never heard from again.