Vacant Lots a Bleak Tribute to 2nd Anniversary of Riots : Aftermath: Recovery is slowest in South-Central. But officials say rebuilding properties is only a first step.

As the second anniversary of the Los Angeles riots nears, half the 607 properties in the city that were severely damaged or burned to the ground remain empty, weed-strewn lots.

Although the violent upheaval cut a wide swath through the city, a Times analysis shows that rebuilding has progressed far more slowly in South-Central Los Angeles and Pico-Union than in other hard-hit areas.

Nowhere is the contrast more striking than along the city’s most seriously damaged commercial thoroughfare, Vermont Avenue, as it wends its way through Koreatown, Pico-Union and South-Central.

North of the Santa Monica Freeway on Vermont, 80% of the retail buildings and mini-malls that were seriously damaged or gutted by arsonists have been rebuilt. For many property owners along this stretch, the main problem has been finding renters for their rebuilt storefronts during harsh economic times.

South of the freeway, two-thirds of the Vermont properties that suffered serious damage or were destroyed remain forlorn, fenced-off lots. At one corner of the once-thriving intersection of Vermont and Manchester avenues, a single, new Payless Shoe Source store stands sentry over the ghosts of burned-out clothing shops, indoor swap meets and hamburger stands.

Community leaders concede that the pace of reconstruction has been painfully slow since the three days of riots that began April 29, 1992.

“It’s unfortunate; it’s kind of scary,” said Roberto Barragan, director of the Community Financial Resource Center in South-Central. “Watts never fully recovered after the 1965 riots. If something is not done, we’ll be the Watts of the 1990s.”

Landowners and economic analysts say rebuilding efforts have been hampered by financing and insurance woes, fear of crime and renewed civil strife, speculation by absentee landlords, the depressed economy and community groups’ opposition to the return of liquor stores.

“I’m not satisfied with the progress,” said recently appointed RLA President Linda Griego. “The longer these sites are vacant, the harder for these neighborhoods to be revitalized.”

To be sure, significant rebuilding has occurred in some primarily black and Latino neighborhoods of South-Central and Southwest Los Angeles. Moreover, a handful of retail chains led by Chief Auto Parts and Smart & Final have returned to the inner city with more outlets than before.

Nevertheless, community leaders say that even if all vacant properties were rebuilt immediately, it would only be a first step toward providing adequate services in chronically impoverished neighborhoods.

“It was already a challenge before the upheaval, and it was compounded so significantly as to be overwhelming at a certain level,” City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said. “It can’t be built like it was before. It has to be built back better.”

In all, about 1,100 properties suffered more than $500 million in property damage during the civil unrest that followed the not-guilty verdicts returned in the case of four Los Angeles police officers in the first beating trial of Rodney G. King. Most of them were mini-malls and free-standing commercial buildings housing Korean American-run retail businesses.

Of the nearly 500 structures that suffered less than 25% damage, most were back in operation within 18 months, according to data from the city’s Department of Building and Safety.

However, city reports have not been up to date on the 607 properties--many of which contained several businesses--that were damaged at least 25% or destroyed.

To determine the state of rebuilding efforts, a Times reporter surveyed each of these seriously damaged properties.

North of the Santa Monica Freeway, 63% of the properties that were seriously damaged or destroyed have been rebuilt or are under construction, compared to only 44% south of the freeway.

The computer-assisted study also shows that in Koreatown, 82% have been rebuilt or are under construction; in Pico-Union, 45%; in South-Central Los Angeles, 41%, and in Southwest Los Angeles, 52%.

Only two Valley properties were included on the list of severely damaged or burned buildings.

One at 14705 Blythe St. in Panorama City contained a vacant house that burned to the ground and has not been rebuilt, according to Genny Albers, a Blythe Street activist. The city later demolished the home, Albers said.

The other is at 14702 Parthenia St. Efim Flikstin, owner of a nearby coin-operated laundry, said a liquor store there was burned to the ground and has not been rebuilt.

The Times analysis does not include riot-affected areas outside Los Angeles city limits.

Although city officials have often pledged special consideration for riot victims, many of them say they have received more hassles than assistance from city code inspectors. Most businessmen, with the exception of major retail chain operators, said that they received absolutely no help from RLA, the private agency formed as Rebuild Los Angeles at the behest of former Mayor Tom Bradley and Gov. Pete Wilson to oversee revitalization efforts.

“This is an example of how it’s not happening,” said Bill McKee, executive vice president of Rexus Properties, the owner of the Taste and Style Plaza at Vermont Avenue and 1st Street.

McKee, whose efforts to rebuild were initially slowed by the bankruptcy of his insurance carrier, said that it was not until his two-story building was virtually completed that he was told he would need a separate city water meter for a new fire sprinkler system.

In mid-January, McKee wrote a $10,000 check to the city Department of Water and Power to pay for the installation. But he said the DWP wouldn’t accept the check until he submitted lengthy documentation of the sort that he had already presented to city building officials before the project began. “The departments don’t talk,” McKee said. “It’s like different countries.”

Installation of the meter was delayed for additional weeks as the city Department of Transportation and the DWP prepared plans for diverting traffic around a construction trench.

Along Vermont Avenue through the heart of Koreatown, many other rebuilt storefronts remain without tenants because of the weak economy.

“I’m looking for almost anything now,” said Clifford Eng, whose rebuilt structure at 8th Street and Vermont lies vacant. His former tenant, a dry cleaner, moved on rather than waiting for the rebuilding.

Eng said he spent more than $300,000 from a federal Small Business Administration loan and his own finances on the project, only to see rental rates plunge to $1.50 a square foot from a previous high of $2.25. Even at the reduced price, he said, “they still won’t bite.”

As trash and graffiti collect at the door, the disillusioned 65-year-old Los Angeles native said he is watching his dreams of a leisurely retirement fly out the window. “The worst mistake I made is that I had many offers to sell the property as is, but I thought for my best advantage, I should have an income to take care of me until I die.”

Not that there have not been some successes north of the Santa Monica Freeway. Pharmacist David Kasen quickly found five new tenants for the storefronts he rebuilt next to his Key Drug Co. at 8th and Vermont. “Every aspect with the city was like a 10-act play,” he said. “But we were booked right away when the building was rebuilt.”

Moreover, plans for a 25-story hotel, office and commercial center in the midst of the riot zone received City Council approval last month despite opposition from homeowners concerned about the center’s massive bulk.

In South-Central Los Angeles, a $115-million, 587,000-square-foot project such as Koreatown’s planned Pacific Trade Center would stick out like the Empire State Building.

In many South-Central neighborhoods, new strip malls are heralded as major improvements. Chain groceries are few and far between here, office space is negligible and hotels are nonexistent.

Absentee landlordism, on the other hand, runs high. County property records of unrebuilt, riot-wrecked lots along Vermont Avenue read like a directory of middle-class and upper-crust Southern California locales--the property owners living in Rancho Palos Verdes, Pacific Palisades, Agoura Hills, Fountain Valley and other communities.

Landlords with no ties to a neighborhood have fewer concerns about bringing it up to snuff, said Jesse Bowman, a South-Central resident who reconstructed his riot-ravaged Jesse’s TV Sales and Service at 84th Place and Vermont.

“Some people use their property as a tax write-off,” Bowman said. “(Or) they have other properties so they figure, ‘We’ll hold tight on this area and see what happens.’ ”

Steve Needleman, co-owner of several inner-city mini-malls, agrees that some absentee landlords make reconstruction difficult.

“Too many people are in the real estate business that shouldn’t be,” said Needleman, a partner in family-run Denmarst Ltd. “You’d be amazed the different groups of names on chunks of land for 20 years or more . . . where it’s always been in the family.

“Unfortunately, there’s just not enough commitment down there. And it’s not easy finding insurance or banks that will lend money.”

The Denmarst firm, in contrast, concentrates on inner-city properties, including a mini-mall on Martin Luther King Boulevard that suffered more than $3 million in riot damage and lost rent but was among the first rebuilt. The mall is surrounded by a high, black-painted metal fence as a buffer to the gangs and graffiti.

“Most of my tenants are now doing 10% to 20% better business than before the riots, in part because the competition was burned out,” Needleman said. “You don’t make the Taj Mahal but a secure and pleasant environment--I paint over graffiti within 24 hours,”

Some business owners, such as Young Shim, say they are afraid to return to South-Central.

Shim, a Korean American, operated the Right On Drive-In Hamburger stand at 75th Street and Vermont, featuring Chinese food and all-American grilled beef patties, until it was torched by rioters.

His vacant lot is for sale, and he has moved the fast-food eatery, since renamed Young China, to East Los Angeles, where he now prepares Chinese food and hamburgers for Latino customers.

“Business was better on Vermont, but I don’t want fights no more, no arguments. So I quit the area,” he said. “A lot of bad guys used to be over there.”

Other merchants, primarily Korean Americans, have hit roadblocks in the form of zoning strictures discouraging the return of small convenience stores with a high volume of liquor sales.

Although the riots destroyed 224 of the 723 liquor outlets in South-Central, only a handful have been allowed back.

One is the Trojan Market at 30th Street and Vermont, operated by Don Myung for four years before the riots. Myung said he would never have reopened if it were not for the firm support of his landlord, the Wolf family, a longtime landholder near USC.

At public hearings, Myung, armed with petitions of support from customers, faced strong opposition from community groups that complained of drinking and loitering outside the mini-market. To win approval, Myung agreed to hire a security officer and close by 10 nightly. He also offered to sell fresh meat and produce in a community starved for grocery stores.

Government restrictions are a key to improving long-neglected neighborhoods, said Karen Bass, executive director of the Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment.

“The environment that surrounded many of these liquor stores compromised public safety and quality of life,” she said. “If we are going to rebuild, we shouldn’t just rebuild but improve. If you have problems, why should you put them back?”

At the same time, such provisions are a burden to grocery owners, Myung said.

“I’ve been in this country for 20 years. When I was 20, I could work for 20 hours a day. My feet never hurt. Now I’m over 40 and starting new. I’m burned out and I have to start all over again. My whole life, I’ll be a victim.”

Farther south on Vermont, the commercial district centered at Slauson Avenue is among the emerging success stories of post-riot rebuilding.

Most shops and grocery stores that were looted were quickly restocked and among the businesses that burned down, a Home Savings branch and a Kentucky Fried Chicken were swiftly rebuilt.

In addition, the outer shell of a Taco Bell restaurant has emerged in recent months, a new J.J. Newberry discount store is due to rise this fall from the ashes of one that was torched and construction of a new Vons supermarket is scheduled to begin in early 1995.

Marva Smith Battle-Bey, executive director of the Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corp., said major chains have a much easier time than small entrepreneurs winning bank financing for rebuilding or new construction. Now, in contrast to after the Watts riots, many larger businesses have decided to remain in the inner-city rather than flee.

“We already had generated a commercial hub here,” Battle-Bey said. “Several major places were lost . . . but the larger kind of corporate entities came back.”

Twenty-five blocks to the south, the Vermont-Manchester business district is probably the worst remaining riot eyesore.

In recent months, the slew of burnt-out lots has become the focus of a philosophical and political dispute between Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and Ridley-Thomas, two of the city’s top African American elected officials.

Waters envisions remaking the wide thoroughfare into a version of pedestrian-rich Old Town Pasadena or Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade, replete with coffee shops, bookstores, bakeries and theaters. She is also fighting efforts to build a 130-unit, mixed-use affordable housing complex six blocks to the north.

Ridley-Thomas, on the other hand, says there is ample room along the strip for a variety of investments. Current plans, he said, include $30 million in non-commercial structures consisting of the affordable housing project, a senior citizens housing complex, an alternative high school and a mini-City Hall that would include his district office to replace one set afire during the riots.

One impediment to building a major shopping center in the area is the fact the lots are owned by several landlords with competing financial interests.

Making matters more difficult, landlords such as Johnny Chu have gone forward with their own plans.

Last year, Chu began rebuilding his men’s clothing shop. But he ran out of cash before he could finish. As the second anniversary of the riots looms, the half-built structure sits like a war-scarred bunker in a sea of empty lots.

Richard O’Reilly, Times director of computer analysis, contributed to this story.

Rebuilding L.A.

Half of the 607 Los Angeles properties severely damaged or destroyed in the 1992 riots have not been rebuilt. The pace of rebuilding has proceeded more quickly north of the Santa Monica Freeway, where 62% of the properties have been rebuilt or are under construction. South of the freeway, only 44% have been rebuilt. The map shows properties that have not been rebuilt, and in some cases a single dot represents more than one building.

Sources: Times staff survey, Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, Richard O’Reilly, Times director of computer analysis.