New Name Urged at Gym Opening : Recreation: Activist says naming Gardena facility for anyone but a black person such as Rep. Augustus Hawkins would be racism.

A 27-year effort to build a gymnasium in Gardena’s Hollypark neighborhood culminated this week with the opening of the new $1.1-million Rowley Park Gym, but in a speech near the end of the ribbon-cutting ceremonies, a black community activist said the facility should be renamed for Rep. Augustus F. Hawkins (D-Los Angeles).

Hollypark resident Duffie Brown said the city should change the name of the gym to honor a black person because the gym is in a mostly black neighborhood. He suggested another ceremony to dedicate the facility in Hawkins’ name.

“To allow this gym to be dedicated to anyone other than an African-American is to perpetuate institutionalized racism,” said Brown, who charged that city officials are insensitive to minority residents of the north Gardena area. “Let’s roll out the red carpet, but on another day.”

The request seemed to take both residents and city officials by surprise.

Phillip Johnson, president of the Hollypark Homeowners Assn., questioned the timing of the suggestion but agreed that many area residents would like to see the building dedicated in honor of an African-American.

Hollypark resident Don Goins suggested that the building be renamed either for civil rights activist Rosa Parks, whose arrest touched off the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., or for “somebody in this community.”

Councilman Paul Tsukahara said: “Traditionally, in Gardena, all the facilities have been named (for) local politicians or distinguished citizens who have made contributions to the community.”

The Rowley Park Community Center, at 132nd Street and Van Ness Avenue, is named in memory of Paul A. Rowley, who served as Gardena’s city administrator in the mid-1950s.

Hawkins, 82, the state’s first elected black congressman, has served in the House for 27 years. Before that, he was a state assemblyman for 28 years. He recently announced plans to retire from office.

“I think (Brown) was making a political statement and trying to make a political issue,” Tsukahara added. “I think it’s divisive. The city is really harmonious.”

Although the entrance to the building is marked “Rowley Park Gymnasium,” City Manager Kenneth Landau said the building has not been officially named. He said the city will follow standard guidelines for naming public buildings, including seeking suggestions from the community.

There is one other city-run gym in Gardena, the James Rush Memorial Gymnasium on 162nd Street near City Hall. That facility was built in 1975 and four years later was renamed in memory of Rush, a past city councilman who was involved in planning the city’s Civic Center.

The Rowley Park complex includes a community center with classroom and meeting facilities on 17 acres.

The new building includes an 11,000-square-foot gym, locker rooms and two classrooms. At the existing community center building, a classroom was added, the kitchen was expanded and other renovations were made.

Brown said he suggested renaming the gym on behalf of the North Gardena/Hawthorne 53rd Democratic Club, a newly formed political group that has 32 members. He said the club plans to circulate a petition among Hollypark residents asking whether they would like to see the park renamed.

Brown’s remarks came after speeches by City Council members and Rep. Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton), who lauded the cooperation between residents and the city that finally got the facility built. The gym was completed after years of lobbying by community groups and efforts by city officials to find funding.

In 1986, the city sold $2.25 million in bonds to pay for improvements at Rowley Park, the Civic Center and the city Public Works building.