Beyond My Doorstep and Down the Hill

I bought my house in the Oaks back in 1987 when I was in college. The neighborhood back then was quiet, very quiet because most of the homeowners were seniors who had bought their houses as newlyweds. The original houses were built back in the late '20s. They were allowed to subdivide their acreage in 1957 and my home was built on my neighbor's backyard.

The closest major intersection is Hollywood and Western. In 1987 it was a stew pot of abandoned buildings, squatters, drugs, prostitutes, peep show galleries, all you would expect from the lack of care. I don't remember ever driving down there for anything, the closest I got was Franklin and Western where my dry cleaner was. During the 1992 riots, my dry cleaner was broken into and "cleaned" out, the drugstore next to it had people running in and out with diapers and sodas. The closest grocery store was a Mayfair on Franklin that catered to the neighborhood, but was too high priced for anyone south of Franklin.

At night I would hear idling cars outside my window with prostitutes and their clients, in the mornings I would have to step around the detritus that they left behind. My dog had his leash jerked too many times to tell when he got too close to a pile of "something". My neighbor would find used needles in his backyard, I found a gun.

Then they started digging for the Red Line in 1997. The line ran from Union Station to Westlake in 1993, and the next stops were Vermont and Western. The intersection became a cacophony of dust and metal plates, a swirling symphony of banging and popping hubcaps.

Western station opened in 1999. The original Casting Building underwent a major clean out of the squatters and a renovation. The area started to bloom. Public housing sprung up for low income families and seniors. A Ralph's opened on the corner with a Starbucks.

Like Eliza Dolittle, of My Fair Lady with a bit of spit and polish and a new dress, Western and Hollywood stood taller and began to realize that it had value.

I now walk down to the Post Office on Western and Sunset on a regular basis, just to enjoy the views and to watch the people move from one place to another. There is a new church across from the halfway house, they stare each other down and no one has blinked yet.

My favorite is the closed down Thai Food Hot Dog stand. It's symbolic of the changes of the intersection, by it's evolution from tacos to hot dogs to Thai. It changed with the times to suit the needs of the the area, and now it will be torn down to make way for.....?

This is Part Two of a series to highlight KCET's participation in a Knight Foundation project titled "Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy."

Image: Ophelia Chong/ Thai Dog Western and Hollywood