Eastside Youth Club Gets Back to Fun Business

There were the usual congratulatory speeches, ribbon cutting and picture taking at the rededication of the Eastside Boys and Girls Club on Thursday.

And of course, while the adults engaged in their ceremonies, the children popped balloons, played pool and grabbed at the food--paying little or no attention at all.

The once-embattled club at 324 N. McDonnell Ave. in East Los Angeles, which had closed abruptly more than a year ago amid charges of mismanagement, officially reopened--with a new roof, swimming pool, gymnasium floor, carpeting and fresh coats of paint throughout.

‘Total Face Lift’

“It’s a total face lift,” the club’s new director, Alex Jimenez Fey, said of the $350,000 renovation.

“We have essentially a new club,” Manuel Caldera, board of directors chairman, said of the Eastside club, which began 37 years ago and is the only recreational facility of its kind in the Maravilla section of East Los Angeles.

Thursday’s festivities, however, belied the struggle it took to reopen the club, which once served up to 1,200 boys and girls, ranging from age 7 to 17.

On a July day last year, dozens of children were put out into the street, unsupervised, when the center was closed by its previous director, Leo Hernandez, who, accused of fiscal mismanagement and inadequate programs, suddenly fired the staff and left.

Deputies Called

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies took the children to the East Los Angeles substation and contacted their parents.

Since then, the Boys’ Club of America, a national association of youth clubs, and United Way, which had financially contributed to the Eastside club, spearheaded a community effort to revive the facility.

A new board of directors was named, and Fey, a 32-year-old Boyle Heights native who had run other boys clubs for eight years, was hired.

Club programs, however, virtually stopped during the reorganization.

“The immediate task was to get this building in shape,” Fey said.

‘Almost Walked Out’

“The first time I walked in I almost walked out,” chairman Caldera said.

A private investor who lives in Rancho Mirage, Caldera said he was shocked when he was asked to help and first saw the building.

“The roof was leaking, the floor in the gymnasium was unlevel,” he said. “The toilets didn’t work. It was a sad state.”

Renovation began last April with funds from a trust set up by one of the founders of the club, who had died. The facility partially reopened during the summer as the refurbishing was completed.

Boys Ignore Ceremonies

Artie Zaragoza, 11, and Raymond Price, 12, ignored the ceremonies and played pool. Nearby, other children played video games.

Before the club opened, Artie said he spent his afternoons “riding my skateboard,” and Raymond “on my bike.”

They figured that now they would be coming every day, Artie said.

“You get to do things here,” he explained.