LITTLE WATTS, STREETS THAT MADE A NAME! A Short Story In the summer of 1961, having left three brothers and on sister at my mother's home, at the age of 11, I moved to my father's home in Gardena, California, on 147 Street and Crenshaw.
A very small community composed primarily of poor and working class families, who had relocated from various parts of Los Angeles or migrated from the South to give their families a better life.
For me, it was a new beginning.
Being shy, having low self-esteem, I was about to make new friends.
The first was Ronnie Brembre who lived with his father and dog directly across the street.
Later, my best friend would become Irvin (later called G...
) who was several years older than me.
In Gardena, there was very little to do.
A canal divided the community.
On my side of the bridge, there was absolutely nothing but homes.
On the other side, there were two schools, Kit Carson and Roosevelt.
Divided by a large grassy area, there was a baseball diamond and a basketball field.
Our community was border by Rosecrans on the north, Crenshaw on the east, Yukon Avenue on the west and Compton Blvd.
, now called, Mariner, on the south.
To be found "outside this area ", we would be subjected to police interrogation.
In the beginning on my block, it would be just Ronnie and me playing catch with a football, basketball or a baseball.
We'd go to the canal which nothing but dirt and a stream of water where we'd catch frogs.
Sometimes, we would cross the bridge, to the other side, and go to the play area where the school was.
We'd play baseball mostly.
Sometimes we'd play flag football or baseball.
Sometime we would just have foot races.
At this time, I guess neither of us knew any other young people in the area.
After the summer was over and school was in, I was enrolled in school at Kit Carson.
I would begin to meet other young people and it was then that I met Irvin Gardner (G...
).
Not at school but hanging around the neighborhood.
Irvin was older than me, cool and interested me.
He and I would hang out after school was out.
At night, we'd explore our neighborhood.
Travel outside " our boundary area " and mostly always successfully evading the police (Lennox Sheriffs...
).
Often I would hang out over Irvin's house.
He and I became close.
We became " brothers " in the truest sense of the word.
His mother, Miss Thomas, became my mother.
His sister Bertha, Evelyn and Rita became my sister.
His brother's Joey and Ernest became my brothers.
My father is Filipino and he accepted Irvin as my best friend and would allow me to spend nights over Irvin's house.
Over a period of time, others were brought into our circle.
The Washingtons ( Duke John, Charles, Eddie...
).
Ronnie and Donnie Patton would soon join our family.
All of us became brothers! We were a very tight click.
We'd hang out over each other house, but mostly Irvin's house was the HANG OUT SPOT! At the age of 13, I began to drink beer and wine.
That's when I began smoking cigarettes and later weed.
The circle of the brotherhood grew, the Humdy, the Cobbs, the Edwards, the Rhodes and others.
Although confined to our boundaries, our neighborhood, we continued to participate in escapes.
Escaping from the area with victories over evading the police and the sheriffs became our " bonding " and made us very close friends.
Now teenagers, we were FAMILY, we were a COMMUNITY.
We became a " community at war " with the surrounding streets and neighborhoods.
I know that this made us FAMILY! We had an "one for all and all for one mentality.
" In 1965, in was coming from a visit from my mother's house when something happened in the City of Los Angeles, It "erupted "! Some call it " THE WATTS RIOT " (...
later to be known as an uprising)! I was detoured into another neighborhood, people were looting.
I tried to stop and do something myself, but I had my younger brother in the car with me, this would not work.
People were running around everywhere looting.
When I got back to Gardena, the revolt was on the TV.
Irvin was older, had a car and could drive, so we went back to the uprising area so we could engage.
That is what we did for 3 days.
We kept going back and forth to South Central, evading the police, sheriff and National Guard troops.
Because of our actions, our area, just were we lived, was renamed " LITTLE WATTS ''! Writings started appear on the walls of our neighborhood on each corner.
We began marking our territory and entrance into our community.
Nicknames appeared on the walls of those who represented the neighborhood and our participation in the Watts Rebellion became widely known! Now, for us to be captured, outside or inside, our community would not only lead to police interrogation, BUT also incarceration was the penalty.
Over the years, we became much more defiant (...
usually in a negative way), with robberies, burglaries, etc.
New arrivals to the neighborhood accepted the name "LITTLE WATTS and spoke of living there proudly...
with PRIDE! In 2004, most of the original members are dead or locked up, LITTLE WATTS still exist in name and the boundaries have grown, as well as its membership.
BUT, those who originally represented LITTLE WATTS must be remembered and known as a men and women who " stuck together ", never ever backed down and " GAVE THE STREETS A NAME "! By Manuel Benito Compito...
(aka OG MAN)