Click the pic for the YouTube link for the scene at 4:00
Posted on 01/17/2010 7:46:45 AM PST by Cheap_Hessian
LOS ANGELES – Only miles from the scenic vistas and celebrity mansions that draw sightseers from around the globe — but a world away from the glitz and glamour — a bus tour is rolling through the dark side of the city's gang turf.
Passengers paying $65 a head Saturday signed waivers acknowledging they could be crime victims and put their fate in the hands of tattooed ex-gang members who say they have negotiated a cease-fire among rivals in the most violent gangland in America.
If that sounds daunting, consider the challenge facing organizers of LA Gang Tours: trying to build a thriving venture that provides a glimpse into gang life while also trying to convince people that gang-plagued communities are not as hopeless as movies depict.
"There's a fascination with gangs," said founder Alfred Lomas, a former member of the Florencia 13 gang. "We can either address the issue head-on, create awareness and discuss the positive things that go on in these communities, or we can try to sweep it under the carpet."
Several observers have questioned the premise behind the tours, and some city politicians have been more blunt.
"It's a terrible idea," City Councilman Dennis Zine said. "Is it worth that thrill for 65 bucks? You can go to a (gang) movie for a lot less and not put yourself at risk."
More than 50 people brushed aside safety concerns for Saturday's maiden tour to hear how notorious gangs got started and bear witness to the struggling neighborhoods where tens of thousands of residents have been lured into gang life.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Ha! ha!
OK. now that I'm through laughing I have to give these guys credit for their marketing idea.
I don't know if there's enough money in this venture to keep the gangs at bay.
Eventually they will want more and more and won't appreciate being exploited.
These people are playing with fire!
STE=-Q
And if they are not working and receiving benefits, then what?
The upgrade is worth it!
Yeah, but the rich snobby crazy folk have security people and lawyers to do the threatening for them if you run the tourist bus through their gated community.
lol! i live in a quiet southeastern community and they can come here to get a look at Mexican gangs for free.
I wonder how much extra it costs to get involved in a drive-by shooting...
For $65., step this way to view our opened septic tank. Didja’ ever see anything like it?
One born every day.
“I lived in So Cal from 1964 to 1993.
Many of these “gang areas” were turned into crap from the gangs...
Not the other way around.
Illegals who could not or would not get a job.
Drugs sold on every corner and in the schools.
These were communities of hard working people of all colors before the 60’s.
Gangs are the result of millions of illegals over-running the communities. They didn’t create a cleaner productive life when they got here. The illegals turned the areas into a micro-system just as bad as what they left behind.
You can put lipstick on a pig.........”
RIGHT ON!!!
THIS is the truth! Same thing here in Detroit.
It fries me to NO end to hear how we ‘white’ folk trashed things and moved out to the suburbs, leaving the ruins to the poor people of color. NO FREAKIN’ WAY.
I see the SAME thing happening to the ‘suburbs’ my parents moved out of Detroit to. Used to be a nice, kept neighborhood. But folks have been moving in who just don’t give a rats @$$ about RESPONSIBILITY. And so now, it’s looking more ‘ghetto’ every day.
Ah, similar to the Ball State University social work school’s tour of the public housing complex Cabrini Green in Chicago many years ago.
I think about that alot because the kids I grew up with in 1960's Jewish Long Island are the kids in charge now. In charge in Washington and in charge in Hollywod. I want you to know this is how we grew up...filled with guilt and misplaced compassion.
After this "COURSE" in black history, I remember coming home, confronting my wonderful, dear Father and telling him, "BLACKS WERE SLAVES BECAUSE OF YOU!" (Can you imagine...but that's what they were telling us). My Father took me by the shoulders, sat me down, and gave me his first and only LISTEN UP LITTLE GIRL talks. He explained his family history, and how his Father was on his own when he was 12 and he had his little sister with him and how his learend a trade in the newspaper business and had to do everything for himself without any help. I will never, forget that day..it was the day I became a Conservative.
God, I miss my Father.
I thought of this when I read this story. Liberals do the most ridiculous things to justify their stupid ideas.
I was born in SoCal after WWII and grew up there “before the freeways”, believe it or not. There was actually space between towns.
Sure, there were race problems. There are bigots everywhere. The “gang fights” were racial, but not common.
Drugs, also, were not common in our town.
IMHO, any time you pack people together, just as penning any type of animals in, it creates turmoil. Some look for safety in one group, while others join another group with different opinions.
Hatred and anger seem so easy in life, while caring for, and trusting, each other is difficult.
Me, I would not pay a nickel to see this tour. But, some need their eyes opened. Maybe, then we can help eliminate slums.
For and extra 20 bucks, I heard they will let you slap a ho.
What next? -A fantasy camp for wannabe ‘gangstas’???
“...no son, you gotsta turn da gun SIDEWAYS when you pointin’ it at a dude... makes you look mo intimidatin’!
Yeah, DATS betta! Naah try it aginn...”
Good point. I never thought about them taking bennies.
lol, I used to deliver snack food to liquor stores in the LA area and I frequently would go to Compton, Inner Long Beach, and South Central. It was fun and a surreal place, and for the most part there was a Korean or Indian couple behind bulletproof glass in every liquor store there. The HUGE post office building in the middle of South Central is also a trip.
The number one rule is this - Don’t go there after dark. Plus, gang members usually will not bother you if you don’t LOOK AT THEM. Follow those two rules and you’ll be fine.
I always get a kick out of telling my kids that my old professor at CSULB, Ron Karenga, invented Kwanzaa. They always say “I thought that came from AFRICA?!?!” To which I respond, “No, it comes from a fat, black professor who tortured women!”
WYANDANCH. WE WENT TO SEE THE BLACK KIDS
Know the area well, I grew up in North Babylon. Now I guess someone should start a bus tour there in Wyandanch.Never went to their school.
in LA or further south?
Wasn’t he also a “criminal” too?
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