Cowboys Clink Spurs in Freeway’s Shadow

The iconoclasts who stable their horses at The Hill, which just happens to lie in the middle of South Central Los Angeles, say they’re no urban cowboys.

“We’re the real deal,” said 63-year-old Bobby Stokes, who has kept a horse at the stable for about 20 years. “Urban cowboys just wear outfits. We’re out there shoveling muck and riding every day.”

Rico Evans, a rehabilitation therapist, said he thinks of The Hill as a place to unwind after work and do something good for the community.

Evans lives near affluent Beverly Hills, but drives to South Central every day and slips a pair of old overalls over his suit, then gallops out to teach inner-city children how to ride--and, in the process, he hopes, how to keep off drugs and stay away from gangs.

“I’m just down with horses and kids,” he said.

Evans is helping to maintain tradition at The Hill, which the cowboys say is among the oldest stables in the country with a mainly black clientele.

Some of the cowboys have grandparents and even great-grandparents who kept horses there.

The cowboys are best known for their regular outings Friday nights, when they hit South Central’s streets on horseback, decked out in Western hats, boots and blue jeans.

“On Fridays, we usually get together and kick it,” Stokes said.

The riders start off on the grassy center strip on Broadway, where they trot next to traffic more indigenous to the area--low-riding cruisers, dump trucks and buses.

They usually finish by galloping along the nearby Century Freeway, which--luckily for the riders--still is under construction.