South Gate is a community with bitter...

South Gate is a community with bitter memories of the recent past. General Motors and Firestone Rubber and Tire, once the area’s largest employers, are 15 years gone, but the sting of the layoffs that followed the companies’ departure lingers.

Many residents recall what it felt like to watch the community’s unemployment rate jump to 14% seemingly overnight during the early 1980s, even as the nation’s dropped below 7%. And they remember their powerlessness in the face of worsening local economic conditions.

They are determined to keep those days from returning. But the conundrum now hanging over the bright azaleas of this southeast Los Angeles community is how to do it.

To some residents, the city council’s recent decision to create a special commission to oversee a planned bingo parlor is a bad bet, even if the lion’s share of the projected $35 million in revenue would go to local charities.

Lawmakers say the enterprise is a stable source of income for the community. Critics say the council’s vision of opening the hall later this year is a quick-cash illusion that would lead South Gate back to its earlier days of broken dreams.

South Gate Inside Out ON THE FLY: Flight pioneer Amelia Earhart learned her craft above South Gate’s Kinner Field in 1921. She took flying lessons from Neta Snook Southern, another female pilot, who charged $1 per minute of in-the-air time. Given Earhart’s eventual fate, it’s unclear whether Southern showed her how to navigate.

BETTER THIS THAN SOUTH ENTRANCE: A Spanish explorer won 11 square leagues of California land in 1810, enough to establish Rancho San Antonio. His heirs, early L.A. real estate moguls, began selling off parcels of the ranch as the years went by. Guess what they called the section located at the southern entrance to the ranch? Close. It was South Gate Gardens. City fathers dropped the Gardens when they incorporated in 1923.

FAST DAYS: During the World War I era, cars used to zip along Ascot Raceway in South Gate, one of the Southern California’s earliest racetracks. Well, maybe not zip, according to one old-timer who witnessed the races. Maybe more like an animated crawl. Slow enough that the frequent crashes along the curving track next to what is now the Long Beach (710) Freeway seldom caused injuries. Sort of a precursor to modern-day rush hour on the 710.

NUCLEAR FAMILY: California’s role in the rise of atomic weapons is well documented, thanks to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. But South Gate has its own contribution. It was home throughout childhood to Nobel Prize-winning chemist Glenn T. Seaborg, who oversaw the development of the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago in World War II. Seaborg moved out in 1930, ten years before he discovered plutonium at age 28.

By The Numbers

CITY BUSINESS

Date founded: Jan. 20, 1923

Area in square miles: 7.5

Number of parks: 8

Number of city employees: 339

1995-96 budget: $19.6 million

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ETHNIC Breakdown

Latino: 83%

White: 14%

Asian: 1%

Black: 1%

Other: 1%

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PEOPLE Population: 86,284

Households: 22,194

Average household size: 3.88

Median age: 25.7

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MONEY AND WORK Median household income: $27,279

Median household income / LA County: $34,965

Median home value: $161,900

Employed workers (16 and older): 34,652

Women in labor force: 50.6%

Men in labor force: 80.%

Self-employed: 1,567

Car-poolers: 7,783

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Shopping

Total stores: 566

Total employees: 3,441

Annual sales: $391 million

Restaurants: 111

Grocery stores: 51

Car dealers (new and used): 44

Furniture stores: 18

Retail bakeries: 18

Florists: 13

Liquor stores: 13

Shoe stores: 12

Jewelry stores: 7

Hardware stores: 6

AGES:

0-17 years old: 35%

18-34 years old: 33%

35-49 years old: 17%

50-64 years old: 8%

65 years and over: 7%

Source: Claritas Inc. household expenses are averages for 1994. All other figures are for 1990. Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number.