Public Places : Santee Alley: A Thriving Lesson in Revitalization

Revitalizing downtown Los Angeles may seem a daunting task. But all it took for two-block-long Santee Alley to become an economic engine for the center city was an enterprising wholesale merchant in the garment district, who one day in the late 1970s stuck a rack of clothes out the back door. A shopping bazaar was born.

Owners of smaller stores can pay cash and buy small quantities, rather than establishing credit and waiting weeks for merchandise from the nearby apparel marts. Many wholesale tenants for blocks around now sublet space in front of their warehouses to sell retail. And despite the recession, construction is booming in the garment district.

The lesson is that not all revitalization can be planned to the letter. Wonderful things often happen spontaneously.

FREDDIE SHAHAMFAR

Children’s clothing manufacturer and retailer, Santee Alley

People come here looking for a good deal. It’s very competitive. You put a new dress design in a showcase and you will probably see it by the next week, either in the alley or other streets around here.

Most business owners in the alley now are Persian, with some Koreans, a few Chinese and others. I was born in Iran and my family came to the U.S. in 1983 when I was 11 and the war was still going on. The shoppers are mostly Spanish, and tourists come from all over the world.

PEDRO RODRIGUEZ

Shopper from El Paso, Tex.

I come here every month to buy clothes to sell in El Paso and Juarez (Mexico). I don’t have a store--I sell person-to-person. Some customers tell me before I come what they want, what color and what brand. I buy men’s and women’s clothing, T-shirts, pants, dresses, hats, watches--at least $1,000 to $3,000 per trip. I travel by bus, which takes about 14 hours and is cheap.

Los Angeles is growing more in business because a lot of Mexicans and Latin Americans buy here. We have an opportunity to get good things here.

Public Places columnist Jane Spiller welcomes suggestions for places that are publicly accessible and free. Contact her c/o Voices.