Drew Street
A young family passes a graffiti-scarred tree on Drew Street near Estara Avenue in Glassell Park. The secluded thoroughfares are “hands down the worst area of Northeast Division,” said LAPD Officer Steve Aguilar, who has patrolled the neighborhood for several years. “I’ve worked two other divisions and even in South-Central. This is worse.” Neighbors, mostly Latino immigrants, endure it like a conquered people: indoors, not speaking to one another, afraid. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Children watch from an apartment balcony as a police patrol passes by on Drew Street. Renters on the street come and go. Landlords say they often cant find reputable tenants to fill their units. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Two women are reflected in water puddled on a cracked Drew Street sidewalk as they watch police question a suspected gang member in front of an apartment building. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
A Los Angeles police officer stands watch while colleagues question a suspected gang member at a Drew Street apartment building. Police task forces, gang sweeps, arrests -- even a 2002 gang injunction -- have done little to break the binds of family and culture that breed criminal activity, officials say. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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As residents look on, a suspected Avenues gang member nicknamed “Droopy,” center, is questioned by police in front of an apartment building. Finding witnesses to testify is almost impossible, police say, so gang members are rarely charged with violent felonies. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Residents of a Drew Street apartment complex watch as a suspected gang member is questioned by police. Without witnesses, police must rely on cases they can make themselves, usually for narcotics possession. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Family, friends and neighbors gather in February to mourn gang member Daniel Leon, who was killed on this Glassell Park street corner in a shootout with police. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A worker dismantles part of the house owned by Maria Leon at 3304 Drew St. For more than a decade, the Satellite House, as its known in the neighborhood, was the center of the street’s drug trade. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
