Celebrating 30 Years of Offering Youths Guidance and Fun

Francisco Naja is not taking karate lessons at the Hollenbeck Youth Center for fists of fury.

“I’m 41,” said Naja, who would look more comfortable in a western than a martial arts film. “Forty-one and I have a purple belt. My kids already have purple belts.”

“I joined after they joined,” said Naja, who takes lessons three days a week at the Boyle Heights facility with his 10-year-old son, Francisco, and his daughter, Rocio, 7. “I do it to keep my kids motivated. If they see their old man doing this, it shows them that anyone can.”

The Najas are a few of the more than 7,000 people annually who use the Hollenbeck Youth Center. On Thursday, a blend of past, present and future--about 300 people in all--celebrated the center’s 30 years of supplying inner-city youth with safety and guidance.

The center provides an extensive array of programs and activities designed to build self-confidence and self-reliance in local children and youth, director Daniel Hernandez said. His motto: “Construction not destruction.”

The center started off as a boxing club for youngsters that was tucked away in the basement of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollenbeck station, said Rudy Deleon, one of the founders and former Hollenbeck captain.

The current building, the old Hollenbeck station, opened in 1977 and by 1998 it had expanded into a 30,000-square-foot center with a basketball court, boxing ring and weight room. It also offers computer training and programs geared toward at-risk youths, such as trips to colleges and cultural institutions. Its operating budget has also increased--from $30,000 annually to about $1 million.

One of the biggest factors in the center’s success is the support of the Hollenbeck station and business leaders, LAPD Chief Bernard C. Parks said.

“It’s a great motivator to know about the kids that came out of here,” said Parks, who has worked closely with the center since 1986. “And it’s not just boxers. We have electricians, doctors, lawyers and college graduates.”

Coming back is always special for Mario Barragan, a volunteer at the center. Although he lives in Hacienda Heights, Barragan, an electrician, comes back to help Hernandez with the Inner City Games, which have grown from a local event to a nationwide movement headed by Arnold Schwarzenegger and operating in 15 cities.

Barragan, 31, first came to the gym when he was 12, but most of the time he stood outside, watching the other kids play basketball. His mother persuaded him to go in.

“I eventually started coming and continued for years,” he said. “I knew it was better for me to be inside the center than being on the streets. My mom always told me, ‘Go play basketball,’ so I did.”

But the center will always be known for boxing. That’s how it all started, said Paul Gonzales, Olympic gold medalist and one of the first boxers to use the center.

Now retired, Gonzales was in his groove Thursday, talking jabs and uppercuts with 1984 Olympic teammate and fellow gold medalist Henry Tillman. “Man, Paul, you were a bad dude in the days. I remember that one guy ... man, you beat him bad,” Tillman told Gonzales, recalling a fight at the Pan-American Games. “I remember I had to hold you back.”

“No, you were bad. This guy beat Mike Tyson twice,” Gonzales told the crowd. Back then, Gonzales was a super flyweight, and Tillman was a heavyweight who defeated Tyson in Olympic trials.

Gonzales, 36, is a trainer at the center, but also helps out in other ways, such as with events for senior citizens. “It’s not only about boxing for me,” he said. “I love this place. This is home.”