Local Politics at the Grassroots: Community Organizing in Postwar Boyle Heights
For over one hundred years, Boyle Heights' history has been shaped by the contest between the dreams of the neighborhood’s residents, the ambitions of real estate developers, and the policy goals of government leaders, contests that have given rise to forms of grassroots community activism around planning and development projects, particularly in the years after WWII. This long history of grassroots community organizing provides important context for the new forms of activism and community mobilization emerging in Boyle Heights today as residents struggle with gentrification, economic inequality and displacement.
Protesting the Freeways
The new suburban communities that emerged throughout Southern California in the 1940s created thousands of commuters who lived miles from the places where they worked, resulting in serious traffic and congestion problem on regional roadways. In an attempt to alleviate these transportation problems, local and state authorities proposed the construction of a system of multi-lane freeways throughout the southland. In May, 1953, the California Highway Commission announced its proposed route for the Golden State Freeway, a section of the Interstate 5 that would pass through Los Angeles and connect the city north to Sacramento (and on to Oregon and Washington) and south to San Diego (and on to the Mexican border). A portion of the proposed route was to cut directly through Boyle Heights, tracing along the western edge of Hollenbeck Park to meet the Hollywood Freeway (US 101) near Whittier Blvd.
The proposed Golden State Freeway generated forceful opposition among the residents of Boyle Heights, particularly those who recognized that the construction would threaten their homes. Area residents and business owners sent dozens of letters and petitions with hundreds of signatures to the Highway Commission, including this one from Mrs. Eva M. Gard who disclosed that she had been a resident of the area since 1895. They voiced their opposition at planning meetings and, with the support of City Councilman Edward Roybal, submitted several alternate routes complete with maps to prove their feasibility. Unfortunately, in June 1954, the Commission announced that it had rejected their proposals and would continue along the original proposed routes, resulting in the displacement of hundreds of families.
The images included here and additional information about the resistance to the freeways can be found in the Edward Ross Roybal Papers, UCLA Library Special Collections.
The Madres de Este L.A.
In 1986, after the California Department of Corrections announced plans to build a prison in East Los Angeles, a group of Latinx mothers calling themselves the Madres de Este Los Angeles (Mothers of East LA) organized a protest march of some 2,000 neighborhood residents and successfully stopped construction. As protectors of their families and caregivers of their community, the Mothers of East LA have since focused their efforts on environmental justice, waging successful campaigns against the construction of hazardous waste plants in the neighborhood and fighting for improved air and water quality.
Additional information about the Madres de Este L.A. can be found in the Juana Beatriz Gutiérrez Mothers of East Los Angeles (MELA) Collection at the California State University Northridge Urban Archives.
Honoring History and Memory
Following the 1993 death of Cesar E. Chavez, famed leader of the United Farm Workers, the Los Angeles City Council voted to honor him and his contributions by renaming Brooklyn Avenue “Cesar E. Chavez Avenue.” While many residents supported the decision, others felt that Brooklyn Avenue represented an important part of the neighborhood’s history and opposed the change. A compromise was eventually reached to designate the portion of the street between Chicago and Cummings Streets as a Historic-Cultural Monument, the Brooklyn Avenue Historic Neighborhood Corridor.
Letters, petitions and other documents related to the renaming of the street can be found in the Los Angeles City Council File #930907, Los Angeles City Archives.
