LA gang member Homie deals coke to some of the world’s most famous faces. Homie’s first move is to visit the stash house. Drugs Inc s6e3: Cocaine White Gold, 2014
In the USA over four million people regularly use cocaine. This powerful stimulant is worth more than gold. ibid.
Here in Los Angeles there are currently more cannabis dispensaries than there are Starbucks. Dr Celia Morgan
A big hard-boiled city with no more personality than a paper cup. Raymond Chandler, of Los Angeles
Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to begin our descent into Los Angeles. The Graduate 1967 ***** starring Dustin Hoffman & Anne Brancroft & Katherine Ross & William Daniels & Murray Hamilton & Elizabeth Wilson & Buck Henry & Walter Brooke & Brian Avery & Norman Fell & Marion Lorne et al, director Mike Nichols, opening scene on plane
You walk left, you walk right, you are a bank rat on a busy river. This restaurant serves no drink, this one serves no meat, this one serves no heterosexuals. You can get your chimp shampooed, you can get your dick tattooed, twenty-four hour, but can you get lunch? And should you see a sign on the far side of the street flashing BEEF – BOOZE – NO STRINGS, then you can forget it. The only way to get across the street is to be born there. All the ped-xing signs say DON’T WALK, all of them, all the time. That is the message, the content of Los Angeles: don’t walk. Stay inside. Don’t walk. Drive. Don’t walk. Run! I tried the cabs. No use. The cabbies are all Saturnians who aren’t even sure whether this is a right planet or a left planet. The first thing you have to do, every trip, is teach them how to drive. Martin Amis, Money
Our riot that happened here in Los Angeles happened on May 1st. It was all pre-arranged, pre-set up by this government. It had nothing to do with the people in the area ... Those who are behind the scenes who control this government. Jordan Maxwell, Lucifer 2000
Street racing: it’s an American sub-culture that dates back to the days of hot-rods and drive-ins. Today young men in Compton, California, say it’s the only thing steering them away from a life of gang membership and drugs. LA Street Racers, National Geographic 2013
135th Street, Compton, California 2.00 a.m. These streets are home to gangs like the Crips and the Bloods. ibid.
So many residents here despise the street racers. ibid.
Almost everyone here has been charged with one driving offence or other. ibid.
Running from the law can get you killed. ibid.
In 1984 Los Angeles was a city with two faces ... The plague of the devil ... Jemeker Thompson, the Queenpin, indicted in a vast cocaine conspiracy. She would serve hard time. Gangsters: America’s Most Evil: The Queenpin, Jemeker Thompson, 2012
In 1984 Jemeker Thompson was on top of her game. ibid.
The Avenues street gang ... The rap sheet and reputation of a gangsta ... Deported twice to her home nation of Mexico. Gangsters: America’s Most Evil: Mother of All Avenues – Maria Chata Leon
The Avenues: the gang got the name from the streets they worked. ibid.
The most feared gangsta in all of Los Angeles may have been a 44-year-old mother of 13. ibid.
I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They’re beautiful. Everybody’s plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic. Andy Warhol
I grew up in Chicago, and there was always snow. In Los Angeles there never was, so we would always import snow! David Hasselhoff
Of course in Los Angeles everything is based on driving, even the killings. In New York, most people don’t have cars, so if you want to kill a person, you have to take the subway to their house. And sometimes on the way, the train is delayed and you get impatient, so you have to kill someone on the subway. That’s why there are so many subway murders; no-one has a car. George Carlin, Brain Droppings
The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles. Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief
I could hear everything, together with the hum of my hotel neon. I never felt sadder in my life. LA is the loneliest and most brutal of American cities; New York gets godawful cold in the winter but there’s a feeling of wacky comradeship somewhere in some streets. LA is a jungle. Jack Kerouac, On the Road
The smog was heavy, my eyes were weeping from it, the sun was hot, the air stank, a regular hell is LA. Jack Kerouac, Dharma Bums
Los Angeles is seventy-two suburbs in search of a city. Dorothy Parker
Los Angeles is just New York lying down. Quentin Crisp
Los Angeles gives one the feeling of the future more strongly than any city I know of. A bad future, too, like something out of Fritz Lang’s feeble imagination. Henry Miller
Between 1890 and 1904 the population of Los Angeles quadrupled to nearly 200,000. Ken Burns, The West IX: One Sky Above Us II: 1887-1914, PBS 1996
We have to find ways to amuse ourselves. We never really get a chance to get down to LA. There’s a lot of sex games on go, wife-swapping and a lot of related nonsense. Scientists really aren’t any different from humankind. Just more inventive, that’s all. Invasion of the Bee Girls 1973 starring William Smith & Anitra Ford & Victoria Vetri & Cliff Osmond & Wright Knight & Ben Hammer & Anna Aries & Andre Philippe & Sid Kaiser & Katie A Saylor & William Keller & Beverly Powers et al, director Denis Sanders, bird in canteen
‘They [LAPD] pretty much could do what they wanted to do.’ O J Simpson: Made in America II, ESPN 2016
‘Civil rights organisations say the Los Angeles Police Department has a history of brutality and misconduct that goes back a quarter of a century.’ ibid. news
‘They are still outraged as judge Joyce Karlin’s decision not to send Latasha Harlin’s killer to jail.’ ibid. news
‘Incredible restraint by the Los Angeles Police Department.’ O J: Made in America III, bloke in chopper
‘This case was becoming this weird referendum on the LAPD.’ ibid. observer
‘Has become the trial of Los Angeles.’ O J: Made in America IV, observer
Four male Negroes in a fifty-two Chevy white colour with sawn-off shotguns. Watts area. LA92: The Riots, rozzers radio, National Geographic 2017
August 1965: Watts district of Los Angeles: It was the most widespread, most disruptive racial violence in American history. ibid. news
Neither the police nor the suspect knew that a home video camera had captured the scene. ibid. Dan Rather
The incident early Sunday morning was not an isolated incident: the difference this time is we have the proof. ibid. Ramona Ripston ACLU
Like they had a little toy and wanted to see how it worked. ibid. Rodney King
Rodney King is released from custody without being charged. ibid. caption
I haven’t beaten anyone this bad in a long time. ibid. rozzer
Public forums are held throughout the city to address the issue of police brutality. ibid. caption
The jury finds Soon Ja Du guilty of voluntary manslaughter: the recommended prison sentence is 16 years. Judge Karlin reduces the sentence to community service, a small fine and no jail time. ibid.
The venue was changed to the Simi Valley, a mostly white suburb of Los Angeles where many police officers live. ibid.
Why is this tragedy happening to us? Could it be that God is punishing us? ibid. store owner
This is America! ibid. store owner
It was worse than being in Vietnam. ibid. rozzer
This is not fair! ibid. store owner
To avoid further delay, Governor Wilson orders the guard into the streets with limited ammunition. A citywide curfew is declared from dusk to dawn. ibid. captions
We all can get along. ibid. Rodney King
‘When the [Rodney King] verdict came in they felt betrayed, leaving 4,000 fires, staggering property damage, hundreds of injuries and the senseless deaths of over thirty people.’ The LA Riots: 25 Years Later, George H W Bush, History 2017
April 29 1992 marked the first day of the most destructive civil disturbance in US history. Over 16,000 crimes were committed. Police made 12,111 arrests. Over 7,000 fires were ignited. 2,116 people were injured. ibid. captions
‘I haven’t beaten anyone this bad in a long time.’ ibid. rozzer