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BROKEN WING
The original name of the City of Los Angeles (which means “the angels”), El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles del Rio de Porciúncula (the Town of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of the River Porciúncula), is a tribute to the city. Beautiful and lustrous as it may sound, with the recent explosion of crystal meth and hate crime, we’ve felt the rage of angels and the wrath of demons shake our Queen’s throne at the foundation.
Los Angeles County covers 10,518 square kilometers (4,061 square miles) and had a population of about 9.86 million people at the 2010 census. Encompassing 88 cities, it is the most populous county in the United States. If it were a state, it would be the ninth largest. The city proper is shaped like a shooting pistol. Its narrow barrel extending north from the Port of Los Angeles to Downtown, and its flames flickering irregularly to the north, west, and East Los Angeles, West Los Angeles, South Los Angeles, Downtown, and the Los Angeles Harbor represent more than 460 square miles of mountains, hills, rivers, lakes, beaches, skyscrapers, mansions, condominiums, poor real estate, and housing projects. The city is bisected by the Santa Monica Mountains, which run from east to west. A futuristic four-level freeway interchange (the first high-speed freeway interchange in the world) opened west of Downtown in 1953, soon becoming the leading icon of Los Angeles. Now, a spaghetti system of freeways dominates the city, the most important of which start the outline and reinforcement of traditional gang lines. The 110 Freeway runs down the belly of South Central L.A. Like a concrete zipper-scar on the belly of the beast and dividing the city into the Southeast and Southwest.
South Central’s west side (not to be confused with West Los Angeles) is home to the Rollin’ 30s, 40s, 60s, 90s, 100s, Black P. Stones, Rollin’ 20s NHB, all the Brims, all the Hoovers, the 8 Tray Gangstas and many other traditionally black street gangs.
South Central’s east side (not to be confused with East Los Angeles) is home to the 20 Outlaws, Blood Stone Pirus, AFC Bloods, Blood Stone Villains, Pueblo Bishops, all the Swans, all the East Coast Crips, Main Street Mafia, and many more sets as far south as Watts. There are astonishingly twice as many Hispanic street gangs and gang members over the same geography in South Central L.A. This is Gangland, USA.
Downtown Los Angeles boasts the tallest skyscraper, Library Tower, west of the Mississippi, and the most visible skyline of the many surrounding business centers. However, Los Angeles differs from cities like New York City and Chicago, with their towering high-rises that seem to block out the sky, for fear of earthquakes, declining property values, and zoning that limits the height of structures built outside of Downtown. The Pueblo Del Rio housing project—not to be confused with El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, which preserves a historic Spanish and Mexican neighborhood on the north side of downtown Los Angeles—was one of the first of its kind on the west coast. The California-style low-rise complex opened in l942 to meet the needs of factory workers and poor blacks who migrated by the tens of thousands from the Deep South (during the Second Migration) to work in the steel and rubber plants in the city. Companies like Goodyear, Raytheon, and Boeing would help design and manufacture American planes, ships, tanks, jeeps, and munitions to fight Hitler’s Nazi Germany in World War II.
Los Angeles County covers 10,518 square kilometers (4,061 square miles) and had a population of about 9.86 million people at the 2010 census. Encompassing 88 cities, it is the most populous county in the United States. If it were a state, it would be the ninth largest. The city proper is shaped like a shooting pistol. Its narrow barrel extending north from the Port of Los Angeles to Downtown, and its flames flickering irregularly to the north, west, and East Los Angeles, West Los Angeles, South Los Angeles, Downtown, and the Los Angeles Harbor represent more than 460 square miles of mountains, hills, rivers, lakes, beaches, skyscrapers, mansions, condominiums, poor real estate, and housing projects. The city is bisected by the Santa Monica Mountains, which run from east to west. A futuristic four-level freeway interchange (the first high-speed freeway interchange in the world) opened west of Downtown in 1953, soon becoming the leading icon of Los Angeles. Now, a spaghetti system of freeways dominates the city, the most important of which start the outline and reinforcement of traditional gang lines. The 110 Freeway runs down the belly of South Central L.A. Like a concrete zipper-scar on the belly of the beast and dividing the city into the Southeast and Southwest.
South Central’s west side (not to be confused with West Los Angeles) is home to the Rollin’ 30s, 40s, 60s, 90s, 100s, Black P. Stones, Rollin’ 20s NHB, all the Brims, all the Hoovers, the 8 Tray Gangstas and many other traditionally black street gangs.
South Central’s east side (not to be confused with East Los Angeles) is home to the 20 Outlaws, Blood Stone Pirus, AFC Bloods, Blood Stone Villains, Pueblo Bishops, all the Swans, all the East Coast Crips, Main Street Mafia, and many more sets as far south as Watts. There are astonishingly twice as many Hispanic street gangs and gang members over the same geography in South Central L.A. This is Gangland, USA.
Downtown Los Angeles boasts the tallest skyscraper, Library Tower, west of the Mississippi, and the most visible skyline of the many surrounding business centers. However, Los Angeles differs from cities like New York City and Chicago, with their towering high-rises that seem to block out the sky, for fear of earthquakes, declining property values, and zoning that limits the height of structures built outside of Downtown. The Pueblo Del Rio housing project—not to be confused with El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, which preserves a historic Spanish and Mexican neighborhood on the north side of downtown Los Angeles—was one of the first of its kind on the west coast. The California-style low-rise complex opened in l942 to meet the needs of factory workers and poor blacks who migrated by the tens of thousands from the Deep South (during the Second Migration) to work in the steel and rubber plants in the city. Companies like Goodyear, Raytheon, and Boeing would help design and manufacture American planes, ships, tanks, jeeps, and munitions to fight Hitler’s Nazi Germany in World War II.
372 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 25, 2016
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