Watching Watts

Perhaps Watts was still suffering from the stigma of the 1965 civil unrest and the 1992 riots when city officials tried several years ago to sell the idea of a cultural and economic renaissance in the South-Central community.

Or maybe, as one government official suspected, developers needed to see more “life and activity” in Watts before risking their money. Whatever the case, there were no takers in 1995 when the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency sought bids for building an ethnic theme restaurant, retail shops and other parts of a $14-million Watts Towers Cultural Crescent.

But on Thursday, a host of city officials and community leaders gathered along the railroad tracks near the Watts Towers were betting that the community is ready for cultural and economic resurgence.

Hoping to spark that resurgence, City Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr. presided over groundbreaking ceremonies for a $1.4-million plan to build an outdoor amphitheater, walkways, bikeway and an open-air market on a 10-acre crescent-shaped strip of land anchored by the famed Watts Towers on one end and the historic train station on the other.

Despite the optimism of Svorinich and other speakers Thursday, the question remains: Will developers see this as proof Watts is now ripe for investment?

CRA officials say the answer is yes, because the project comes on the heels of the openings of the 12,000-square-foot Alma Reaves Woods Watts library in 1996 and the Watts Civic Center last year. They say such progress shows that the community has put the civil unrest behind and is creating an environment that is fertile for culture and economic development.

“One of the battles the people have fought is that Watts is not a name for a civil disturbance, but a name for a community in which great people work and live and who are leading a renaissance for the city of Los Angeles,” Svorinich said.

Completion of the first phase of the Watts Towers Cultural Crescent, reflecting African American and Latino cultures, is expected by September, in time for the annual Watts weekend of jazz, drum and art festivals.

CRA Deputy Director Roy Willis said all this activity, along with the new library and civic center, should lure developers to help finance and build the rest of the Watts Towers Cultural Crescent.

The plans include a family-style ethnic restaurant to be called the Grand Oasis, a multimedia music and film studio, and an information and tourist center.

“This is another piece of the Watts renaissance,” Willis said, referring to the landscaping. “[Developers] have seen a steady stream of things happening since then.”

The Watts riots of 1965 still mar the image of the community, but to Willis and others it made the city respond to the problems.

“It showed that things needed to be done,” Willis said. “Back in 1965, it was said that one of the reasons for the Watts rebellion was that government didn’t care.

“Now you’ve got a partnership with the government, the community and the private sector involved in this community. That’s very different.”

The change goes deeper than that, he said.

Willis said there is a different community psychology.

“We’ve got the young people involved now. They are beginning to believe that they have some control over their destiny, and that’s a big difference from the psychology of 1965.”