http://articles.latimes.com/1992-05-02/news/mn-1281_1_police-car
EXCERPT:
In the shadow of a flaming mini-mall near the corner of 5th and Western, behind a barricade of luxury sedans and battered grocery trucks, they built Firebase Koreatown.
Richard Rhee, owner of the supermarket on the corner, had watched as roving bands of looters ransacked and burned Korean-owned businesses on virtually every block.
But here, it would be different.
"Burn this down after 33 years?" asked Rhee, a survivor of the Korean War, the Watts riots and three decades of business in Los Angeles. "They don't know how hard I've worked. This is my market and I'm going to protect it."
From the rooftop of his supermarket, a group of Koreans armed with shotguns and automatic weapons peered onto the smoky streets. Scores of others, carrying steel pipes, pistols and automatic rifles, paced through the darkened parking lot in anticipation of an assault by looters.
"It's just like war," Rhee said, surveying his makeshift command. "I'll shoot and worry about the law later."
From tiny liquor stores in South-Central Los Angeles to the upscale boutiques in Mid-Wilshire, Korean store owners have turned their pastel-colored mini-malls into fortresses against the looter's tide.
For many store owners, the riots have become a watershed in the struggle for the survival of their community.
They have become vigilantes, embracing a new brutal code of order that has inflamed the fragile relationship they had worked hard to forge between themselves and their black and Latino customers.
For some Koreans, the violence has sparked a renewed call for conciliation between the races. But for others, the world has become framed in a blind and vindictive anger.
"We have to stay here," said Dong Hee Ku, a student at Los Angeles City College who went to help defend Rhee's California Market.
Korean shop owners and their supporters have lashed out at police, saying they have begged for protection from vandals, who have left a swath of Koreatown in ashes. Now, many have decided to fight for themselves.
"Where are the police? Where are the soldiers?" asked John Chu, who was vacationing in Los Angeles when the riots broke out and rushed to help Rhee defend the California Market. "We are not going to lose again. We have no choice but to defend ourselves."
Koreans from throughout the area have rushed to Koreatown, spearheaded by a small group of elite Korean marine veterans, heeding a call put out on Korean-language radio stations for volunteer security guards.
I like that!