In the Heart of the City : Recovery: Executives take a tour to look beyond their riot-scarred images of South-Central. The aim is to increase investment there.

Like tourists headed out for a turnaround trip to Las Vegas, four busloads of bankers and executives sallied forth Wednesday for a look at that place they had heard so much about: South-Central Los Angeles and beyond.

But in this city where it is possible to drive the freeways for a lifetime and never set foot in the neighborhoods whizzing by, this was not exactly the inner city the captains of corporate Los Angeles had been led to expect.

There was Leimert Park, with its neat rows of Spanish-tile roofs. And Compton, with a new shopping complex and rising condo developments. And Watts-Willowbrook, with its gleaming Metro Rail station a stone’s throw from the graffiti-scarred Imperial Courts housing project.

There were also the signs of decay that had for so long defined their view of the area. But from Crenshaw to Lynwood and back, there were also rows of neatly tended houses, manicured lawns and flower beds that proved the bright, common thread running through each community.

The three-hour tour, led by 28-year-old John Bryant, the director of the nonprofit Operation HOPE, was the organization’s second annual Banker’s Bus Tour, aimed at persuading the denizens of the city’s wealthiest corporate enclaves to invest in its most neglected neighborhoods. Bryant--a self-described broker of South-Central--hit upon the idea last year as a way to pitch the area to corporate investors who might otherwise never venture into it.

The ride was determinedly upbeat, with Bryant at the helm of one bus acting as part tour guide and part wiseacre, intermittently spewing positive statistics about the inner city. (“Does anyone know of the 3,000 buildings damaged in the riots, how many were homes? None!”)

When it was all over, many said their riot-influenced perceptions of the inner city had begun to change.

“Seeing is believing,” said Won H. Chung, president of Saehan Bank in Koreatown.

“This was the first time I had ever gone through these areas. . . . Some of it was cozy and quiet; other parts were as I expected. But it made me realize, there has to be a cash flow, investment, for things to happen.”

Bryant, whose group was formed in the wake of the 1992 riots to help revive the economy of the inner city, said he wanted to let investors see for themselves that what they might think of as an economic dead zone is brimming with opportunities for investment. Because it was exactly such a tour that sparked the formation of Operation HOPE, Bryant decided to turn it into a yearly event with the goal of showing the right people firsthand what South-Central and surrounding areas are made of. This year’s focus, in keeping with Bryant’s newly opened home loan center in Leimert Park, was housing.

“You know, I thought I knew the area pretty well. I had heard people call Crenshaw ‘The Jungle,’ so I figured that’s how it looked,” said Daniel Descargar, a distributor for a security electronics firm. “I was amazed that this was just a beautiful part of America. . . . There’s really no color to it. It’s the American dream.”

*

For a few of Wednesday’s “tourists,” it was like going home again. “I grew up on South St. Andrews Place (in South-Central) about 35 years ago,” said Dan Fedrick of South Bay Bank, leaning forward excitedly in his seat as the bus rumbled south on Van Ness Avenue. “And it hasn’t changed a bit. It looks great!”

Yet as the bus rolled farther and farther south and east to Athens, Compton and Watts, as the cheery homes gave way to barren commercial strips, the crowd got noticeably quiet, as if the joy ride were entering a dark, forbidding tunnel.

Undaunted, Bryant called such junctures “challenging areas,” pointing out that as in all neighborhoods, there is bad as well as good.

“I’m glad he (Bryant) said that,” said Craig Hudson of the Independent Bankers Assn. “He didn’t gloss things over, or try and show people only the best things. People have to understand this is a total community, and that there really is a need for funds.”

The trip was not without its problems--the buses pulled off late, and Rep. Walter R. Tucker III (D-Compton) came too late and was left in the dust. Bryant’s assistant, Rachael Farr, tried to give directions over a cellular phone as the bus headed to West Imperial Highway and Van Ness Avenue at the southern tip of Inglewood, to a church and school waiting with midmorning refreshments.

“Aren’t we in Compton?” asked one businessman when Farr wondered aloud what part of the city the church was in. Corrections flew from all corners of the bus, and Bryant took up the discussion of exactly where--and what--South-Central is.

Jeffrey Kaye, a producer for “The McNeil-Lehrer Report,” shook his head in amazement that with so many well-kept homes, South-Central’s precious few lending institutions don’t do more business with their own communities.

“Why would bankers in the area have to take a tour of their own city?” he asked more than once. “Isn’t it incredible?”

For Ann Brooks, a community investment officer at CenFed Bank in Pasadena, the ride was a shock to the senses, albeit a bracing one. “I’ve seen more of South-Central this morning than I’ve ever seen,” she said. “I expected to see more graffiti, more ‘For Sale’ signs. It’s been a real pleasant experience.”