Street Fair Helps to Unite a Diverse Community

Gabriel Turegano stood in the middle of Sunset Boulevard and spoke into his walkie-talkie. His friends, all members of the Diamond Street gang in the Silver Lake area, encircled him on this steaming summer afternoon, waiting for instructions.

The boys were not planning some sophisticated street war against a rival gang. Instead, they were helping to keep the peace and control the crowds at the Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance’s annual street fair.

“This is like a peace sign,” Turegano said over the din of a rock band performing on a stage behind him. “We have a truce going with the other gangs and they’re working here, too. It’s a way of trying to stay out of trouble and do something for the neighborhood.”

There are few neighborhoods in Los Angeles more diverse than those in Sunset Junction, which includes the communities of Silver Lake, Echo Park and Los Feliz.

Within its boundaries is a broad spectrum of cultures, creeds and life styles that typifies the melting pot that is Los Angeles.

There are Anglos, Latinos, Asians and blacks. Some residents are poor, and live crowded together in tiny apartments. Others inhabit the expensive hillside homes in this neighborhood not far from downtown Los Angeles.

There also is a growing gay population in the area that was, in fact, responsible for starting the Sunset Junction street fair six years ago.

Promoting Community Spirit

The Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance was founded in 1979 by gay and lesbian residents who wanted to promote community spirit and to live in peaceful surroundings. Trouble between gays and Latinos began erupting as more homosexuals moved into the area.

Gay men often were taunted by youths, mostly from the Latino gangs in the area: Diamond Street, Echo Park, Toonerville and Temple Street. Some gays were mugged or beaten. Two gay men were killed in a street robbery in 1979; the year before a gay bar, the Frog Pond, was firebombed.

It was out of this violence and community uneasiness that the Sunset Alliance was born and now flourishes as a nonprofit organization. The group holds several community events each year--Christmas parties and toy drives for children, food distribution programs, graffiti paint-out drives. But its largest endeavor is the annual street fair, held on Sunset Boulevard, beginning at the east side at Maltman Avenue and ending just before Fountain Avenue. The portion of Sunset where the fair is held is closed for both days of the event, Saturday and Sunday.

Proceeds go to 12 community groups that co-sponsor the event with the Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance. Organizers estimated that 250,000 people attended last year’s fair and predicted an increased attendance this year, even though some feared that the oppressively hot weather might diminish the crowd.

Gabriel Turegano wiped his forehead as he gave orders to a group of monitors. Then he talked about the role of the gangs.

“Now everybody is working together here and keeping out of trouble,” said Turegano, one of the head monitors. “The El Centro del Pueblo community center got everybody together. It isn’t just for the fair, but a permanent truce where we’re all trying to work and stay out of trouble.”

Gang members who live in the area have been working at the fair since its inception, enlisted by officials from the El Centro del Pueblo, Turegano explained. He was dressed in a red T-shirt that signified his status as a monitor.

Other volunteers wearing black shirts that said MONITOR patroled the boulevard and assisted with security and traffic.

“The fair gives a constructive thing to the younger kids, too,” said Albert Giron of Diamond Street. “It gives them an opportunity to be something, to do something good.”

Additional Diamond Street members Woody Mendoza, Danny Espinoso, Paul Andrew Nava, Cisco Reyes and Ron Portillo gathered around to explain their purpose. Not only were they working the fair, as usual, they said, but they also were helping to do a mural in Elysian Park, under the direction of El Centro del Pueblo.

“This and working on the mural are ways to get out of trouble,” said Mendoza. “You spend your time in this kind of stuff and have something important to do.”

Senior citizens from the area also worked as monitors, signing up youngsters to work at street barricades and run whatever last-minute errands needed to be done. Most of the seniors sat in the monitor tent, and left the walking to the younger volunteers.

Ted and Etta Pura, members of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program in Hollywood (RSVP), worked the 1984 fair and returned this year as monitors. “We do outreach senior programs,” Etta Pura said. “And this is one of the requests. So far, we’ve signed up about 35 kids from the neighborhood (to work as monitors) this morning. They get T-shirts and $3 lunch tickets.”

Because it was so hot on both Saturday and Sunday, beer, as well as lemonade and other fresh fruit drinks, sold well. The coolest guy in the place was the young man who sat in the water-dunk concession, hoping somebody would hit the paddle with a ball and release him into the cool water.

Couples, straight and gay, strolled the midway, listened to the music and took part in various carnival attractions--pitching pennies for fish, knocking down bottles and throwing darts at posters of celebrities.

The fair’s ethnic origin was proven not only by the faces in the crowd, but in the variety of food being offered at the little stands: ribs and chicken, sweet potato pie, tacos, carne asada and enchiladas, several kinds of Chinese and Thai cuisine, tempura and sushi, American fry-bread, lasagna, hot dogs and Polish sausages.

Booths up and down the boulevard offered leaflets and pamphlets for just about every cause or organization you could name. The Atheists Unlimited table was only a step away from that of the Christians, Evangelicals Together for Gay and Lesbian Christians. “God Has No Sexual Preference” the banner for the Christian group proclaimed.

Being distributed at several other booths was information about AIDS, a disease that has infected more than 12,400 Americans, mostly gay men. Half of those diagnosed with acquired immune deficiency syndrome have died.

Volunteer workers at the L.A. CARES booth, an AIDS educational campaign that cautions people to “Play Safely” in sexual practices, were busy handing out pamphlets and answering questions.

At another booth, people were signing up to participate in the Sept. 8 West Hollywood 5 and 10 K Run/Walkathon to benefit AIDS research and education.

“People are starting to know about our organization because of the media,” said Bill Weaver, a board member of AID for AIDS, an all-volunteer group that provides services for AIDS patients.

“Ninety-eight percent of all our donations and funds go back to people with AIDS,” Weaver said. “Research and education is very important, but let’s not forget the ones who have it. They have to be helped, too. And that’s what we do. We’re giving out about $15,000 to $20,000 a month to AIDS patients.”

At the busy beer stands run by volunteers from the Southern California Gay Bartenders Assn., bartenders had set out tip jars marked AID FOR AIDS.

“We started this last year, collecting tips for AID FOR AIDS,” said bartender John Neptune. “It’s a good community project. Last year in tips we raised about $1,200. I expect it will be more this year. There’s more exposure and more people know about the problem.”

Stages in three separate areas offered a variety of continuous entertainment on both days, ranging from Chinese dragon dancers to drill teams to pop, jazz, rock and Dixieland music.

Local politicians and merchants from the area gave opening speeches, lauding the community for its “Diversity, Strength and Harmony,” which just happened to be the theme for this year’s fair.

Some of the small shops along the midway had closed for the weekend, but others remained open, offering clothing, pottery, jewelry and art to passersby.

“The fair is not good for our business,” said Peter Haloulakos, manager of the Crest Coffee Shop on Sunset near Lucille Avenue. “There are too many foods offered outside. But we stay open anyway for our regular customers.”

Inside, many of the booths were empty, or being filled by people who came in to cool off in the air-conditioned restaurant and ordered only ice tea or soft drinks. Haloulakos ousted one woman who came in with a plastic plate filled with food and sat down at a booth near the front window.

“On a regular Saturday and Sunday from 9 to 3 p.m., people are here standing in line to get in,” said Haloulakos, who has worked at the Crest for five years. “When the fair is on, they eat out there and come in here to get cool.”

For the most part, though, fairgoers braved the heat and smog to stroll up and down the midway for an hour or two. Some who stayed longer ended up being treated in the medical tent for a variety of complaints, mostly sunburn and heat exhaustion.

For a few minutes, Rick Mendoza and his family stood in the shadow of a tent to escape the bright afternoon sunshine as he reflected on the progress of the Sunset Alliance fair.

“It just gets bigger and bigger,” said Mendoza, who came to the fair from East Los Angeles with his wife Andrea and 10-month-old son Ricardo. The Mendozas used to live in Silver Lake and are planning to move back when they find a suitable apartment.

“It started small, but now look at it,” he said, gesturing toward the crowds in the middle of the street. “We were both raised in this neighborhood and we still like it. The thing about the fair is that it brings everybody out. You can see who’s who. It brings the community together. It’s a good thing for all different people.”