los angeles cityscape with dodger stadium at sunset

SHOHEI OHTANI AND L.A. CITY COUNCIL ARE BESTIES NOW? – LOS CUENTOS WRAP-UP

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You can also catch this WRAP-UP on YouTube. On Friday, May 17, the L.A. City Council presented a number of local celebrities with some proclamations. May 17th was declared “Shohei Ohtani day,” while May 19th is now “Father Greg Boyle” day, at least on the official calendar of the L.A. City Council chambers. Afterwards, a number of different speakers made Public Comment, many in opposition to an eviction notice filed against the Hernandez family at Plazita Olvera, who’s owned the landmark destination’s only burro or donkey for over 60 years.

Plazita Olvera is located less than half a mile north of L.A. City Hall, but half a mile south of L.A. City Hall is Suehiro cafe, or the former location of Suehiro Cafe, which had been in operation in Little Tokyo for over 50 years before closing this January not because of an eviction notice, but because of a massive rent hike imposed by the landlord; two months later, a brand-new mural of Ohsei Ohtani was revealed across the street from Suehiro’s former location in Little Tokyo. It was a special day on 1st street, full of vibes, not so different from those at this L.A. City Council meeting.

While institutions like L.A. City Council have the power to declare and even decorate for symbolic purposes like Ohtani or Father Boyle day, they do not have the power to prevent eviction notices like the one given to the Hernandez family and their burro at Plazita Olvera, nor the power to prevent rent hikes for legacy businesses like Kenji Suzuki’s Suehiro Cafe in Little Tokyo. The question for Ohtani in particular then is if his legacy will go the way of Fernando Valenzuela, another “once-in-a-generation” talent who the Dodgers would nonetheless isolate from local working class communities outside of the jersey and uniform.

That’s all for the introductory wrap-up! To learn more about my nonprofit work in Los Angeles, visit onevecindario.org. To support the production of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast for as little as $5 a month, check out my page at Patreon.

Until the next time, stay vigilant and stay tuned!

J.T.

Btw L.A., did you know…?

J.T.1 Comment

Did you know that on L.A. Metro’s A Line, formerly known to a generation as “The Gold Line,” the dilapidated, creaky building you can see from the Chinatown to Lincoln Heights/Cypress station, is actually the former Lincoln Heights jail?

In 2016, the L.A. Times noted that: “In the early years of the jail, which opened in 1931, some people were hauled to the building along the concrete-lined L.A. River because they were gay, leading to the creation of a separate wing, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy. Many of those arrested during the 1943 Zoot Suit riots, in which [white] servicemen targeted young Mexican Americans, were taken to the Lincoln Heights Jail on North Avenue 19.”

Young, mostly Mexican American men jailed in Lincoln Heights in the late 1930s. Photo courtesy of the L.A. Public Library.

The jail was also used for the federal government’s efforts against labor-organizing across the nation during the 1930s. One prisoner, E. Yagamuchi, was taken by authorities from the Imperial Valley and jailed for two years there, presumably for involvement with local labor organizing. Yagamuchi faced deportation to Japan before the International Labor Defense (ILD) organization rallied to his defense. In August 1932, the ILD’s efforts won him and another Japanese-American, Tetsui Horiyuchi, a “voluntary departure” to the U.S.S.R. instead.

E. Yamaguchi leaving Lincoln Heights jail after almost two years in 1932. Photo courtesy of the L.A. Public Library.
Taken from page two of the September 1932 edition of the Western Worker newspaper. Photo courtesy of Marxists.org

The Lincoln Heights jail was officially closed in 1965, including because of overcrowding conditions that became well too apparent when residents taken from the Watts neighborhood were booked there during the Watts Rebellion in August 1965.

Lincoln Heights jail photograped in 1936. Photo courtesy of the L.A. Public Library.

Now, 58 years after the fact, the youngest member of L.A. City Council, who also just completed her first year in office, is looking to transform the former jail into social housing for the Lincoln Heights community. Think it can’t be done? Hear about it and more through our latest podcast with Council Member for L.A.’s 1st District, Eunisses Hernandez.

View of Downtown Los Angeles from Lincoln Heights in 2014. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

And subscribe for more Cuentos soon!

J.T.

P.S. JIMBO TIMES has now officially published more than 300,000 words for working-class communities in Los Angeles. Let the city know!