Five Years On: Scars of Riots Linger, but Gains Are Clear

Tuesday marks the fifth anniversary of the outbreak of the Los Angeles riots. It’s a memory no one enjoys. The civil unrest--sparked by the acquittals of four white police officers caught on videotape beating a black motorist--caused at least 55 deaths and $1 billion in damage.

But after the worst was over, Los Angeles faced an important opportunity: rebuilding upon urban ruins spread over 30 square miles radiating from South-Central Los Angeles to Hollywood, Pico-Union, Korea- town, the Wilshire district and the near Westside. Not every promise has been kept, particularly in the areas hit hardest by the fires and looting, but the progress is undeniable.

Two of every three buildings destroyed or significantly damaged have been replaced or renovated. Post-riot recovery has surpassed that which followed the 1965 destruction in Watts, Miami’s 1980 Liberty City rioting and upheavals in other urban areas across the United States.

The Rebuild L.A. organization, later RLA, delivered an immediate surge of investment, though not the $1 billion initially expected from the 500 corporations solicited on three continents. Forty-four businesses eventually spent $400 million for recovery; among the prominent investors were Taco Bell, Chief Auto Parts and Smart & Final. While welcome, that investment fell far short of the estimated $6 billion needed to revitalize impoverished areas of L.A.

Los Angeles also never got the federal empowerment zone promised by then-President George Bush. But government--federal, state and local--did funnel in $1.3 billion in loans and grants. City Hall and the Los Angeles City Council did cut red tape, reduce fees, push deals and shepherd developments block by renewed block.

In the immediate aftermath of the riots, rebuilding efforts surged along the more affluent corridors of destruction: La Cienega, La Brea, Wilshire, Crenshaw.

In Koreatown, mini-malls and other new businesses have gone up, prompted by the rebuilding effort and more recently by the region’s economic recovery. Korean store owners found themselves in the bull’s-eye of the urban explosion on April 29, 1992. Some have recovered or sold their businesses to newcomers; however, many others will never recover from the loss of their life savings. The Asian Pacific American Legal Center and others helped, filing suit against insurance companies that didn’t pay out, and groups like the Korean Youth and Community Center have tried to meet community needs.

In the increasingly Latino neighborhoods of South L.A., new grocery stores, auto parts stores, bank branches, fast-food restaurants, drugstores, self-serve laundries, gas stations and other small businesses have gained a firm grip along arteries that were danger zones five years ago.

At the intersection of Florence and Normandie avenues, the flash point of the disturbance, a new Parts USA automotive warehouse stands across from a Chevron gas station undergoing renovation. The only remaining blight on that corner is a boarded-up gas station across from a liquor store. Of the 200 liquor stores destroyed in the riots, at least half have been converted to other uses or not rebuilt, reducing a common scourge in poor neighborhoods.

There is also evidence of the unfinished business: the vacant buildings and lots that dot the poor areas of South-Central Los Angeles. Many whose livelihoods vanished are still untouched by the promises made five years ago or the region’s recent economic renaissance.

Our worst nightmares take time to fade. So it is with our 1992 nightmare, fading, and we hope eventually to be banished from our collective spirit by continued recovery.