City returns to work, school

By Stephen Braun and Sheryl Stolberg

May 5, 1992 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writers

With their street corners still guarded by rifle-toting soldiers and their nerves less jittery but still frayed, Los Angeles residents went back to work and school Monday as officials grappled with how to rebuild the city--both physically and emotionally--in the wake of last week’s riots.

Freeways, buses and trains were once again crowded. Most classrooms were full, although school officials reported slightly higher than normal absentee rates. Suit-clad men and well-dressed women returned to the streets of downtown. Shoppers went back to the malls.

Despite the trauma that Los Angeles has experienced since the riots began last Wednesday, the day appeared to go smoothly. But in neighborhoods across the city, as people attempted to go about their daily routines, they experienced changes subtle and profound. At every turn, there were constant, sometimes painful, reminders of the devastation.

As one resident, spotting a snub-nosed Army helicopter flying over the Federal Building in Westwood, put it: “Every time you think you are getting back to normal, you see something that reminds you that it isn’t quite yet.”

In major developments Monday:

* President Bush said the federal government will make available $600 million in loans and cash grants to help repair damage. At the same time, the White House blamed “liberal programs of the ‘60s and ‘70s” for the upheaval, triggered by last Wednesday’s not guilty verdicts in the Rodney G. King police beating case. The President’s spokesman, Marlin Fitzwater, said that programs offering “direct handouts” do not encourage people to improve their lives by owning property and developing a stake in their community.

* Bush’s likely Democratic opponent, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, toured arson-stricken Koreatown and South Los Angeles and met with a variety of government, civic and religious leaders. “I am convinced if we can heal the wounds of racial division in this community, then we can do it anywhere,” Clinton told a group of Latino activists.

* Mayor Tom Bradley stuck by his decision to lift the dusk-to-dawn curfew, despite an incident Sunday night in which a National Guardsman shot and killed a motorist. Long Beach officials extended their curfew for another night and are expected to reconvene today to decide whether to remove it.

* In a bid to generate business support for an effort to rebuild the inner city, Gov. Pete Wilson met privately with 16 California corporate executives--including representatives of four major financial institutions and three large supermarket chains. And because of the rioting, Wilson extended the deadline for Los Angeles County residents to register for the June 2 primary. The new deadline is 5 p.m. Friday.

* Federal law enforcement experts dispatched to Los Angeles by Bush were sent home Monday, as were police officers and sheriff’s deputies from some Southern California areas. But the National Guard, Army and Marine troops remained. Although their status is to be re-evaluated Wednesday, Bradley said: “There is no plan, no desire to withdraw them.”

* The coroner’s office placed the death toll at 58 , although local police agencies disputed whether three of them are riot-related. Injuries have climbed to 2,383--228 of them critical. The population of Los Angeles County jails continued to swell as the arrest tally rose to 12,111. Property damage has been estimated at $717 million.

* Prompted by tips from neighbors and shopkeepers, teams of police officers searched scores of apartments in Hollywood and other communities and retrieved truckload after truckload of stolen merchandise--furniture with protective cardboard still on it, microwaves with price tags inside and children’s shoes with anti-shoplifting devices still attached. Many residents, seeing the squads of officers, readily handed over their newly gotten stereos or sofas, or explained, “I found it in the street.”

* Los Angeles city finances, already reeling from the recession, took another blow in the rioting. Officials estimated that damage to city-owned property totaled at least $15 million, mostly in burned electrical transformers, power lines and utility poles. The city must also pay nearly $13 million for police and firefighting efforts, mostly in overtime pay. Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who heads the council’s Budget and Finance Committee, said: “I feel like I’m the captain of a sinking ship right now.”

* There were long lines at state employment offices, as economists estimated that at least 20,000 people were put out of work when their places of business were looted or burned down. Said one newly unemployed man, dazed and fighting tears as he waited in an unemployment line: “Let’s put it this way. I’m too rich to be on welfare and I’m too poor to take care of my family.”

* Most schools across Los Angeles reopened for the first time since Thursday amid stepped-up security. Teams of counselors helped students sort through mixed emotions as morning classes--from drama to Spanish--delved into every conceivable aspect of the rioting. School officials reported no unusual discipline problems. “The energy level is low,” one teacher explained. “They are tired.”

Back to the Grind

Los Angeles greeted the workweek with a brave face. For the most part, parents went back to their jobs and sent their children back to class.

Airport officials said operations resumed as usual. The California Highway Patrol said traffic was normal and the Southern California Rapid Transit District said bus service had been completely restored, although there were occasional delays in South Los Angeles because of military vehicles and gawkers.

But behind this seeming return to calm, there was a sense that the fabric binding the city together had been slashed and that the tattered edges were being hastily glued together. Suddenly, the routines that usually start up on a Monday--going to work or school--were no longer routine at all.

In Gardena, 29-year-old Gary Adelstein, whose family owns a company that manufactures shower curtains, returned to work to find his business intact. But at least eight of his customers had lost their businesses to arsonists, leaving Adelstein wondering what he would do with the orders he expected to ship out.

Even more troubling, he said, were the new feelings he was experiencing about traveling to visit his clients in the inner city.

“I’m so comfortable on those streets, getting out of the car and going wherever,” he said. “It took me a while to get used to that. Now, I wonder: Is it safe to go out there and go in these stores?”

At Dorsey High School in South Los Angeles, students returned to find the National Guard roaming the perimeter of their campus. A steady stream of civic leaders, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, paraded through the school, where the gymnasium has been converted into a makeshift shelter for victims of the riots.

After an assembly, students dashed to classes, lined up at snack stands and loitered around campus grounds in small groups, much as usual. But their conversation was focused on one topic: the dramatic events of last week.

“I live in South-Central and the corner around my house is all burned out,” said Kendra Trotter, 17, a junior. “I don’t think it made a lot of sense. At one store a man came out and opened the doors and told them they could take everything but they still burned it down. Now we have to stand in line for three hours or go out to places like Simi Valley or the Westside just to shop.”

In the city’s Pico-Union district, sidewalks teemed with morning shoppers and nearby residents who for the first time were witnessing the extent of the neighborhood devastation.

Women pushing strollers negotiated around piles of rubble; a crowd of about 50 lined up an hour early for the opening of a Security Pacific Bank. In a neighborhood that has become a refuge for thousands of Central Americans fleeing their own war-torn countries, the sight of smoldering shells of buildings jolted their confidence in their adopted America.

Many stepped off buses confused and nearly speechless to find that the bank, the market, the check-cashing shop were gone.

“People are trying to go about doing their normal business and act like they are calm,” said Eduardo Vega, 26, who moved to Los Angeles from Mexico City 12 years ago. “But everyone is nervous. The violence can come back at any moment.”

On the Metro Rail Blue Line, which passes through the heart of the riot-torn area, ridership was heavy on Monday but there was a noticeable reduction in the number of white and white-collar passengers.

A white woman from North Long Beach who rode the train to downtown Los Angeles, where she works, said she thought twice before boarding. But she said she felt the disturbances had sufficiently quieted.

“Sure, I had some second thoughts,” said the young woman, who declined to give her name. “Because of where it goes, you think twice. People I normally ride with would not get on it today. I think some people saw that videotape of that guy getting pulled out of his truck and beaten, and I think people had concerns. But on the train itself, it was safe. I felt very safe.”

Similarly, those who arrived in downtown Los Angeles on the 9:01 a.m. Amtrak commuter train from Orange County said there were fewer passengers than usual. It was easy to find spaces in the normally jammed parking lot.

Attorney Scott Hoyt, a Yorba Linda resident, was on the train. Although he was coming back to work, he said he had no plans to leave his office during the day.

“Just as well,” he explained. “Who knows if this thing might pop up again?”

Plans for Action:

As residents attempted to go about their daily routines, government officials and business leaders began formulating a plan to rebuild the city’s riot-scarred neighborhoods.

President Bush dispatched a team of officials to the city to assess its needs and announced $600 million in federal aid--half in loans from the Small Business Administration and half in grants from Federal Emergency Management Agency. Bush is scheduled to visit Los Angeles Thursday and plans to conduct an inspection of the riot damage then.

In Sacramento, Gov. Wilson said representatives for four major financial institutions--Bank of America, Wells Fargo, First Interstate and Home Savings--have agreed to to provide financing for economic development in distressed areas. Wilson also said three major food retailers--including the owners of the Vons, Ralphs and Food 4 Less chains--plan to repair and reopen any supermarkets damaged during last week’s disturbances.

1/15

Rodney King shows the bruises he sustained at the hands of four Los Angeles police officers. A citizen with a video camera, George Holliday, had recorded from his balcony the prolonged beating of King by four white police officers.

(KEVORK DJANSEZIAN / Associated Press)

2/15

Steven Lerman, attorney for Rodney King, displays a photo of his client during a press conference at his office in Beverly Hills on March 8, 1991. King’s doctor outlined the extent of the man’s injuries for reporters during the meeting.

(Nick Ut / Associated Press)

3/15

George Holliday, who captured the Rodney King beating on his video camera, in February 2006

(Michael Kelley / For the Times)

4/15

Fires burn out of control on the second day of rioting in Los Angeles following announcement of the Rodney King verdicts.

(Kirk Mckoy / Los Angeles Times)

5/15

Rodney King asks the now-famous question, “Can we all get along?” in a press conference outside his lawyer’s office in Beverly Hills. King asked that the killing, looting and destruction spurred by his case would stop.

(Larry Davis / Los Angeles Times)

6/15

Darryl Gates, former LAPD chief, arrives at the Roybal Federal Building and is surrounded by news media. Gates was chief during the King beating and subsequent rioting.

(Leffingwell, Randy / Los Angeles Times)

7/15

Warren Christopher hands a copy of the Christopher Commission report to Police Chief Daryl F. Gates in Gates’ office at Parker Center. The report examined the operation of the LAPD, especially its recruitment, hiring and training practices, internal disciplinary system and citizen complaint system in the wake of the King beating.

(Rick Meyer / Los Angeles Times)

8/15

Rodney King looks at a picture of himself from May 1, 1992, the third day of the Los Angeles riots, which hangs in the living room of his home in Rialto, in 2012. At that press conference, King uttered the famous words, “Can we all get along?”