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MN: Now, in the '60s, the area is changing, and you experienced the 1965 Watts Riots. What was that like?

SA: Frightening, very frightening. No freeways at the time. I was on Imperial Highway not knowing that the riot was going on. And that morning, (I work) an early shift, so I'm on the streets at about six o'clock, all of a sudden by Willowbrook I saw a fire in the canal, then next thing you knew there were cars all (...) upside down in the middle of the street. Then I saw shirtless black men on the streets. They stopped me for a while then let me go on to the hospital. As soon as I passed Alameda, the police were there with the barricade and they were closing it off, I just made it under the wire. We were forced to stay at the hospital for forty-eight hours to be on call for emergencies. I remember that (year) very well.

MN: Now you lived through the 1992 riots also in L.A. What was that like?

SA: It was similar in a sense, but I was on the freeway, on the 710 freeway at that time. And I saw (...) the National Guard with rifles, and that's what alerted me that they were going through that again. It was a little bit different, but at the same time, definitely frightening episode to see the militia there is sort of frightening. Though not as scary as the '65.

MN: Why wasn't it as scary as the '65?

SA: Well, (in '65) I was the only one, no one around. And out of the element, and it was flames, fire. I mean, when you see fire all around it's like what you see in the news today, when you see cars absolutely upside down, (a war zone), then you're in an area that you know you're not, you're in the minority. It's very, very frightening.

MN: You mentioned that you got stopped by these African American men. How were you able to get out of there?

SA: I can't recall. All I know is I just told them I had to go to work in the hospital. They let me go because I wasn't a threat to them at that time, and it was just beginning, the riots. Early the next morning. And that's why I'll never forget that year.

MN: You had another frightening experience when somebody robbed you from your car?

SA: Oh, that was awful. It was a crazy thing, I had a '72 Buick and I was coming home at three-thirty on Imperial Highway. For some odd reason I didn't want to put the air on and I had the windows open. And I stopped on Willowbrook again, an intersection in the center of the street, stoplight, a little boy around seven came in and grabbed my purse which was sitting right next to me, passenger seat. I wasn't thinking, made a beeline to follow him, going through a red light, followed him all the way into that housing project right there, and then I was in another country. It was frightening. This was at three-thirty, and all of a sudden, every project door was open and all these women came out with pink curlers and it was frightening. I just had to get out again. Somehow I managed to get out of the area and back to the same intersection where there was, must have been a Texaco gas station. Well, there was a man there, black, of course, and I said, "I have to make a phone call," and I had no money, so he gave me a quarter to make a phone call. In the meantime, the police came and they were in a black and white, and they're both, one white and one black police officer. And I said frantically, "I have to call my husband," and they said, "What for? He can't do anything." And I told him what happened. They took me back to the project and all the people were there. They told the police that they think that this purse is somewhere back there, wherever, and sure enough, they found the purse empty, prescription glasses gone, sunglasses gone, wallet. And of all things, that was before the time of Mastercard and Visa, so I had thirteen credit cards, thirteen credit cards from every gas station (...). That was the most frightening experience, but it happened right here.

MN: You know, I wonder also, because of all the racial tension that was going on at that time, had you been white, I wonder, do you ever think about how the experience would have been different?

SA: On this occasion, the robbery occasion?

MN: Yes. And if you had gone into the projects.

SA: I probably would be a statistic. But they let me sort of scoot out. When the police came, they sort of stood back. They told me that I was so fortunate, that I would not have been out if I'd... and I almost didn't make it. So they were honest about that, both of them told me that, "You were very fortunate to get out of that area." So even here in the city of Los Angeles, to think that I was just doing my job, and here, a little boy could get my purse. But that Texaco station, they were all part of it. And so now, looking back, I think I was just naive. Frightening, frightening.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright &copy; 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.