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Brownfields, not greenbelts, on L.A. ‘toxic tour’

Roberto Cabrales, an organizer with Communities for a Better Environment, briefs sightseers on a "toxic tour" starting in Huntington Park. The half-day excursions were begun in 1994 as a way to show government officials the consequences of their decisions on low-income and predominantly Latino communities.

Roberto Cabrales, an organizer with Communities for a Better Environment, briefs sightseers on a “toxic tour” starting in Huntington Park. The half-day excursions were begun in 1994 as a way to show government officials the consequences of their decisions on low-income and predominantly Latino communities.   (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

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A bus shuttles rubber-necking sightseers through Los Angeles, but you won’t find any homes of the stars on the itinerary. Scrap recyclers, rendering plants, rail yards and refineries are the staples of this “toxic tour” through low-income neighborhoods southeast of Los Angeles that are most burdened by pollution.
Read the story: The real dirt on a toxic tour of L.A.

On your port side, the Port of L.A.

A view of the Port of Los Angeles during the “toxic tour.” The excursion began in Huntington Park and ended in Wilmington.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Grim and gritty

The tour passes through the almost exclusively industrial city of Vernon. Scrap recyclers, rendering plants, rail yards and refineries are the staples of this “toxic tour” through low-income neighborhoods southeast of Los Angeles.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Where rail is a reality

The “toxic tour” passes a rail yard in Commerce, near the junction of the 60 and 710 freeways. Los Angeles is not alone in offering these kinds of excursions. Environment-themed reality tours exist across the country, including in the San Joaquin Valley.   (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Smoke in the sky

Plumes of white smoke billow from an oil refinery in Wilmington. At night, flaring bathes the neighborhood in an eerie orange glow.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

A closer look

The sightseers on the “toxic tour” step out of the bus to watch the trains rumbling through the Alameda Corridor, a below-ground trench through which shipping containers from the nation’s largest port complex in San Pedro and Long Beach head for a massive rail yard near the 710 and 60 freeways in Commerce.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Pointing out the sorry sites

Roberto Cabrales leads a “toxic tour.” “Under your seats there is a gas mask,” jokes the community organizer, who peppers his narrative with historical references, health statistics and jocular asides.   (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Taking it in

Dalia Palacios, 22, of Los Angeles absorbs information on the “toxic tour.” Increased demand for the tour from universities, school groups and families now has Communities for a Better Environment hosting hundreds of visitors on dozens of bus trips a year. Lately, curious residents have also been climbing aboard.   (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

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