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Robert Aguayo, 32, sports a tattoo that spells “Diamond Street,” his former gang, in script across his neck. If Micheal McKinley, 43, opted for a tattoo, chances are it would read: “Remember Stonewall.”

Aguayo and McKinley have been friends since 1980, when they came together to organize an annual block party for 200,000 Echo Park, Silver Lake and Los Feliz residents. They represent an unlikely alliance. When large numbers of gays began moving into the area 15 years ago, some Latino gangs responded with violent gay bashing. “There was a rising concern that something needed to be done,” McKinley says. So he invited Aguayo, then a counselor at El Centro del Pueblo community outreach agency, to help organize a Sunset Junction Street Fair.

Police predicted a blood bath--SWAT teams were stationed on roofs--but peace prevailed. Now, 100 gang members police the five-block-long fair, to be held on Aug. 8 and 9. The security arrangement allows them to handle disturbances first, with the LAPD on alert. “Gangs like to protect their own barrios, which is a positive thing,” said McKinley, now an El Centro board member. Both groups, he adds, are “committed to making this community a better place.” Aguayo says that when he first asked his clients to cooperate with gays, they said, “Are you crazy?” “But when you ignore and ridicule other groups,” he says, “you’ve lost the connections to your own humanity. The fair gets people interacting. Gays were the last group I would hang out with when I was 19. Now, having worked with Micheal, I realize their value to the community.”