A Blessing on Blythe Street : Religion: In a Mass on the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, residents ask the savior of the poor to bring peace to the troubled neighborhood.

In Mexico, the Virgin of Guadalupe is revered as the protector of the downtrodden and the oppressed.

In Panorama City, about 250 Blythe Street residents gathered on Saturday--her feast day--to celebrate Mass in a bleak liquor store parking lot, imploring the Virgin to help them drive gangs, drugs and poverty from one of the city’s worst neighborhoods.

“I’m asking her to bless our home and to protect our street from all these bad guys,” said Blythe Street resident Carmen Chavez, 18, who carried a picture of the Virgin Mary, which she later presented to the priest who celebrated the Mass, Father Samuel Orellana.

“Guadalupe is my mother. She is all of our mother,” added her sister Fabiola, 15. “We want her to do us a favor and make this a nice place.”

Even some gangbangers joined in offering prayers of hope.

“I’m with the gang but I don’t want any more violence,” said Juan Ruiz, 15, who videotaped the Mass on a hand-held camcorder and earlier marched in the procession. “I’m praying for my homeys. I’m praying for peace.”

“I’m praying for help getting off the street,” said Rene Gallegos, 20, who said he’s tangled with the law in the past. “I need her really bad.”

The scene unfolded under the watchful eyes of six police officers who could not recall such a sight on Blythe Street.

“I never thought I’d see this,” said Officer George Flores, who regularly patrols the area. “It’s a miracle they feel comfortable enough to do this.”

The street is infamous among police, building inspectors and probation officers and has been called the “single worst block” in the San Fernando Valley. But authorities have cracked down on gangs in the last year, and the frequent show of force has emboldened the residents.

But some were not so optimistic.

“We pray to her but you can’t expect miracles. If it was a peaceful street, then that would be a miracle,” said Eddie Suarez, 24, a 15-year resident of the street.

Still, it was his neighbors who recently asked the priest, who is based at Our Lady of Peace church in North Hills, to celebrate the Mass to draw the Virgin’s attention to the plight of their street.

“They wanted to pray here for peace on this street,” Orellana said before the service. “Guadalupe brings a message of hope. A message of peace.”

In his sermon, Orellana linked the Virgin’s historic patronage of the poor to the faithful’s belief in her role as a savior for Blythe Street.

The Mass, celebrated in Spanish, was said at 3 p.m. in a parking lot behind a liquor store near the corner of Blythe Street and Van Nuys Boulevard despite blustering winds that knocked over several vases of flowers at the impromptu altar, a folding table decorated with about 20 pictures of Our Lady of Guadalupe and crepe paper in the colors of the Mexican flag--red, green and white.

The service was untraditional in many ways. Children ran back and forth throughout the Mass. Traffic hummed past and the faint sound of a PA system at a nearby auto auction could be heard in the background. When the worshipers exchanged the sign of peace, usually a friendly handshake, several gang members standing at the rear of the crowd flashed gang signs with their fingers and slapped each other’s palms.

Before the Mass, Orellana led a slow procession of about 200 people who sang as they marched west on Blythe Street then turned around at Willis Avenue and headed back to the parking lot. Several trucks joined in, also bearing placards with the image of the Virgin. The procession, mostly women and children, drew the attention of about 150 curious onlookers--including a few gang members--who lined the street and waved or cheered as the procession passed.

Carlos Rodriguez, 32, came out of his apartment to see what was going on and decided to join the procession. “Maybe the Virgin can help get rid of these drugs and guns,” he said.

Blythe Street historically has provided cheap housing for immigrants. But in recent years, it has been overrun by gang members who brazenly dealt drugs on the street. Meanwhile, law-abiding residents lived in fear.

In the past year, police and other city agencies have targeted the block, and residents say they are helping break the gangs’ strangle hold. On Tuesday, a group of more than 100 police officers and FBI agents arrested five alleged Blythe Street gang members suspected of the Oct. 31 killing of a popular landlord.

The police and FBI presence has bolstered the spirits of many residents and landlords, but on Saturday many people said that their problems needed the attention of the Virgin Mary.

“This is too big for police and too big for us,” said Mona Hernandez, 26, as she cradled her infant daughter in her arms. “We need the Virgin. Only she can help.”

Traditionally, the Virgin of Guadalupe is where Mexican Catholics turn when they want miracles.

Tradition holds that the Virgin Mary first appeared to Juan Diego, a 50-year-old Indian, on Dec. 9, 1531, on a hill at Tepeyac, northwest of what is now Mexico City. She instructed him to contact the bishop and have a church built at that site.

The bishop doubted the story, so three days later the Virgin caused rosebushes to bloom--it was the dead of winter--and told Juan Diego to present the flowers to the bishop as proof. When he presented them as instructed, the roses fell out of his mantel, revealing the brightly colored image of a brown-skinned Virgin Mary.

That cloth image is still revered and is the centerpiece in a complex of cathedrals and churches at the site.

By appearing to an Indian just 10 years after the Spanish conquest, the faithful believe, the Virgin welcomed those downtrodden people into the Catholic church and to this day she is considered the protector of the Mexican people and the patron saint of that nation.

On Saturday, against the backdrop of a large Mexican flag nailed to a cinder-block wall behind the altar, Orellana linked the Guadalupe story to the problems of Blythe Street. He recounted the story of Juan Diego.

Then he addressed the crowd directly:

“She told Juan Diego: ‘You are our beloved son.’ Today the message from Our Lady is that the people on Blythe Street are loved too. Guadalupe loves everyone. She loves the gang members too. . . . She offers her love and forgiveness to all.”