Skid Row Toy Stores Hit : A Booming Business Feels Chill of Crime

When Kim Hua opened a toy store three months ago in the heart of Skid Row, the derelicts who congregated outside did not discourage him.

“We were aware that this area could be dangerous, but we selected the spot because this is the center of the toy business,” said Hua, who arrived here from Vietnam six years ago. “All our customers know about us and come directly here to shop. We don’t have to advertise, the customers come to you.”

But crime is booming along with business. Hua has installed a silent alarm system in his 4th Street shop and placed wrought-iron bars over the plate-glass windows. Even a 20-foot skylight is covered by a black metal grate.

Hua is one of dozens of retail and wholesale toy merchants, mostly newly arrived Taiwanese and Vietnamese immigrants of Chinese descent, who have moved their businesses into Skid Row storefronts in the past three years.

The first arrivals were attracted by the area’s relatively low rents--especially compared to rents in the garment district to the south. But soon the area became a center of commerce itself, and merchants are now branching out into accessory items such as sunglasses and umbrellas.

But the burgeoning merchant community, bordered by 3rd, 5th and Main streets and the Los Angeles River, is finding out that the area is not without risks.

The new business has attracted more than its share of crime, police say. The foreign merchants and their customers, many of them strangers to downtown, have become easy targets of crime.

“It wasn’t unusual during Christmas time to see a street person walking around here with a box full of toys. You know he didn’t buy them,” said Lt. Ted Oglesby of the Central Division.

An Increasing Threat

Crime in the neighborhood has been rising for three years, police say, especially business burglaries and thefts from cars. In part, they say, the increase in crime is linked to the increasing number of businesses and people that are potential victims.

The most recent crime statistics show that business burglaries more than doubled from 115 in the last three months of 1982 to 336 in the same period a year later. Similarly, burglaries and thefts from cars rose during the same period from 310 in 1982 to 347 a year later.

A check of police reports shows that during a two-week period beginning Dec. 7, the area experienced 133 thefts from cars, 35 business burglaries, 25 reported shopliftings and 15 robberies.

To combat the growing crime problem, police are encouraging Skid Row merchants to learn crime-prevention techniques and to organize a Neighborhood Watch program to keep an eye on their businesses.

“Many merchants are new to the area and are not aware of what police can do for them and what they can do to protect themselves,” said Capt. Robert Martin, commander the Los Angeles Police Department’s Central Division.

Invitation to Thieves

Officer Chuck Oskierko, who regularly patrols the area, said many merchants unload their stock on the sidewalk and leave it unprotected, an open invitation to theft. Some merchants also place their stock too close to the door, and they often lack adequate lighting and proper locks and alarm systems, he added.

But even if merchants take additional safeguards, Oskierko said, the crime problem will continue to worsen as long as these businessmen are unwilling to report trouble.

“There has been a hesitancy for these foreign businessmen to get involved with police,” said Oskierko. “Maybe it has to do with the way police are viewed in their countries. But it takes people getting involved, even if they fear retaliation.”

“We want to stress to them that the more likely they are to get involved, the less likely they are to become victims,” said his partner, Officer Frank Janowicz.

Some Skid Row businessmen admit that they do not always call police, but note that officers are sometimes slow in responding. They also say they are already making attempts to discourage crime by installing alarms and extra lighting.

Through the Walls

“I have an alarm in my business and I drove by my store three times the night it was burglarized,” said Charles Woo, who has been in business in the area for 16 years. “Later we found out that they had broken in through a wall that faces a back alley. They took about $4,000 worth of toys and came back two more times last month. I never know when I go home at night if I’m going to be wiped out the next day. It’s frustrating for us when they start coming through the walls.”

Because most serious burglaries occur between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m., police suggested that merchants hire transients who live in the area as guards to protect their businesses.

“Many crimes down here are not spontaneous, someone’s been staking out a place for some time,” said Oskierko. “If you hired someone from Skid Row, he not only would guard the place, he just might pick up on the information and be able to tip off the merchant before something happens.”

Lee Hopson, associate director of Skid Row’s Midnight Mission seconded Oskierko’s suggestion and said he has a pool of at least 75 men who would like to work.

“Many of the people who are down here are not drinkers but are here because of circumstances beyond their control. If businessmen could hire some of the street people, and if we could communicate with each other, I’m sure we could turn crime around,” Hopson said.

Not Keen on the Idea

But most merchants said they would not consider hiring a street person to work in their stores for security reasons and because all their available jobs are filled by relatives.

“I hired a couple of guys to watch my parking lot during Christmas,” said Bob Liu, who runs a 4th Street toy shop. “They just drank all day and caused more trouble than they were worth. I would prefer someone who I know and trust. Maybe only a relative or a friend.”

A majority of merchants interviewed said they were willing to start a Neighborhood Watch group if it would make their businesses more secure.

“We’ll have problems as long as criminals think that knocking off a toy store is easier and more profitable than knocking off a bank,” said one toy merchant who asked not to be identified.

Lt. Oglesby said that the relative newcomers in the artistic and merchant communities on the east side of downtown will face problems during the period of refurbishing.

“This area is really undergoing a revitalization, but while the community changes, crimes are going to be very high,” he said. “The toy merchants are practically pioneers out here. They’re having to take the brunt of criminal activity until the undesirables leave.”