Immigrants caught one of L.A.’s most notorious serial killers. Lessons from the barrio 40 years later
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On a toasty summer Sunday 40 years ago, Richard Ramirez was the nation’s most wanted man.
The Nightstalker serial killer had spent months on a reign of terror, casually slipping into homes across Southern California and killing a total of 15 people.
He had eluded the police all summer, but they finally identified him and released his photo to the public. He emerged that Sunday morning on a bus at the edge of downtown and moved east into Boyle Heights, the heart of Latino L.A. and the entry point for countless undocumented immigrants coming from Latin America in the 1980s.
What happened next has become Los Angeles legend and is perhaps best described by one Boyle Heights denizen: “He picked the wrong neighborhood!”
Block after block, residents recognized the long-haired loner from newspaper photos and gave chase. Ramirez ran for two miles before emerging on Hubbard Street in East L.A.. “El maton! El maton!” one woman screamed.
He tried stealing several cars and hit a woman, but neighbors fought back. One man beat Ramirez on the head with a steel pipe, and with the help of neighbors, subdued him until police arrived. Anyone living in L.A. at the time remembers the TV images: Ramirez, his head bandaged, in the back of a sheriff’s cruiser, the “heroes” telling their stories in Spanish, with neighbors translating.
The Nightstalker and today’s immigration raids
It is hard not to mark the anniversary of the Ramirez capture in this summer of ICE without looking at it at least in part through the prism of immigration.
Like now, the mid-1980s were marked by crackdowns on illegal immigration and rhetoric about America being “overrun.”
The summer of 1985 saw a series of high-profile federal immigration raids, including one that temporarily shuttered the Santa Anita racetrack. But such events lived in the shadow of the Nightstalker. He targeted affluent, white suburbs, and the seeming randomness of the crimes left the region terrified.
Against this backdrop, there was undeniable symbolism when the barrio brought the killer of suburbanites to justice. The Hubbard Street heroes were honored for stopping a serial killer, and the whole situation brought pride to Boyle Heights that still lingers today.
A community that banded together
But there was something off about celebrating the immigrants who captured Ramirez during a moment of such hostility toward immigration.
“It is as if the rest of the city is surprised that Latinos are capable of being good citizens,” Times columnist Frank Del Olmo wrote at the time. “Somehow I thought that all the war heroes and just plain hard-working folks who have come out of barrios like East L.A. had dispelled those doubts a long time ago.”
Del Olmo hoped the Boyle Heights capture would lead to a less demonizing view of Latinos. There is little evidence that happened.
To him, what happened that Sunday morning was less about the Nightstalker himself than the culture of the barrio. Ramirez was a stranger in the neighborhood and up to no good, and the community banded together to protect itself. Del Olmo noted that many of those on Hubbard Street pushed back when reporters described them as heroes.
“I doubt that the politicians falling all over themselves to laud the residents of Hubbard Street” appreciated this nuance, Del Olmo wrote.
Lessons from the ‘barrio’
These very same streets have been roiled by a different kind of fear the last three months. Immigration raids have led to numerous arrests, led some residents and vendors to go underground and emptied some shopping districts.
But it’s also clear the neighborhood culture Del Olmo admired in 1985 is still going strong. There have been efforts to deliver supplies, help flagging restaurants and eateries survive, get health services to those in need and much more. Seeing that local grocery stores were emptying, a group of students and others collected food and distributed it to people too afraid to leave their homes.
“It’s all hands on,” Miguel Montes, an Eastside native and Cal State L.A. student, told Boyle Heights Beat. “We need to help those that cannot come out.”
Today’s top stories
Trump’s military deployment in Los Angeles cost $120 million, Newsom says
- The newly revealed price tag was tallied from estimates provided by the California National Guard about costs incurred since June.
- Estimated costs included $71 million for food and other basic necessities, $37 million in payroll, $4 million in logistic supplies, $3.5 million in travel and $1.5 million in demobilization costs.
- This week, a federal judge barred troops from aiding in immigration arrests in a scathing opinion that amounted to a major win for California.
L.A. desperately needs more shade. So why were 77 palm trees planted near LACMA?
- LACMA officials planted 77 new fan palms along two blocks of Wilshire Boulevard near the museum.
- Local environmentalists, who are lobbying hard for more shade trees in L.A., are decrying the decision.
- They say palm trees are expensive to maintain, highly flammable and hopeless at producing the shade Angelenos need.
The feds accuse Southern California Edison of igniting deadly Eaton fire
- Federal prosecutors sued Southern California Edison over its alleged role in January’s deadly Eaton fire
- Prosecutors allege that the Eaton fire ignited “from faulty power infrastructure or by sparks from faulty power infrastructure owned, maintained, and operated” by Edison.
- It’s one of two lawsuits the government filed Thursday seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages from Edison, alleging the company’s negligence caused the deadly Eaton and Fairview fires.
The influential group behind AOC’s victory seeks to oust L.A. Democratic congressman
- Justice Democrats is backing a primary challenge to Democrat Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a four-term congressman representing a staunchly Democratic Los Angeles district.
- The group endorsed Angela Gonzales-Torres, characterizing the 30-year-old Highland Park resident as a fighter willing to take on corporate interests in the Democratic establishment as well as the Trump administration.
- The group also criticized the millions of dollars that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spent in support of Gomez last cycle.
What else is going on
- People can’t get COVID vaccines as cases surge. Anger is building against Trump
- The cost of expanding L.A.’s Convention Center keeps growing. Can the city afford it?
- Parents can now opt kids out of LGBTQ+ lessons. Here’s how schools are bracing for the change.
- An ambulance carrying a crash victim crashes in L.A., drawing a crash investigator — who also crashes.
- California lawmakers are pushing to restrict immigration actions at schools and hospitals.
- Giorgio Armani, the Italian designer who revolutionized the shape of fashion, has died at 91.
Commentary and opinions
- The Epstein victims’ Capitol appearance marks a turning point, writes guest columnist Katy Butler.
- The story of two Republican doctor-senators named Bill is emblematic of the dark Republican Party journey on science and health, guest columnist Jill Lawrence writes.
This morning’s must-reads
A Redding husband who called for the public’s help to find his missing wife has pleaded not guilty to charges that he murdered Nikki Saelee McCain, whose disappearance sparked a months-long investigation by local and federal authorities.
Other must-reads
- Big Bear bald eagle couple Jackie and Shadow had a young visitor. Was it their baby?
For your downtime
Going out
- Travel and lodging: Reset Hotel is the first to be built from the ground up in the Joshua Tree area in 15 years. It’ll make you feel as if you’re sleeping on Mars.
- Art and museums: The Broad museum is staging the largest-ever solo museum exhibition of late artist Robert Therrien’s work.
- Concerts: Josh Groban, who’s performing at the Hollywood Bowl this weekend, tells The Times about the rock project he never finished and his new favorite spot in L.A.
Staying in
- Television: “Wednesday” returned for the second half of its sophomore season on Netflix this week. The show’s creators explain the finale, how Lady Gaga was cast and Thing’s origin story.
- Books: Elizabeth Gilbert was addicted to love and sex. In her latest memoir, the “Eat Pray Love” author explores how she learned to be OK solo.
- Recipes: Here’s a recipe for black-eyed peas with maitake mushrooms.
- ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games.
A question for you: What fall TV shows are you most excited for?
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
And finally ... your photo of the day
Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Jason Armond at the Altadena Town & Country Club — a storied establishment that has been a center of play as well as employment in the foothill town for more than a century. It was destroyed in the Eaton fire but reopened last weekend.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.
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