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The sounds of change in Downey, California

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The sounds of change in Downey, California

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THE SOUNDS OF CHANGE
IN DOWNEY, CALIFORNIA

by

David Aaron Kates

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(BROADCAST JOURNALISM)

May 2007

Copyright 2007 David Aaron Kates

ii

Dedication

I dedicate this thesis to Hugh Hoskins, a resident of Downey for nearly 65
years. He gave me an essential grounding in Downey’s history.
Hugh is bravely fighting intestinal cancer. I hope this radio piece conveys his
intelligence and humility to future generations of Downey residents.

iii

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the dozens of Downey residents who gave generously of
their time for my project. They enthusiastically talked about why their city is a
special place to live.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my thesis committee: Judy Muller, Willa
Seidenberg and Felix Gutierrez. Judy gave me extensive help with writing in the
broadcast style. Willa provided careful editing. Felix kindly stepped in at the last
minute with insightful feedback.

iv

Table of Contents

Dedication ii

Acknowledgements iii

Abstract v

Script 1

Bibliography 16

v

ABSTRACT

Downey, like many Southern California cities, is increasingly language
diverse. Spanish now competes with English as the language of choice. Hispanics
have become the predominant ethnic group in only a decade’s time. Some English-
speaking whites are troubled by the amount of Spanish they see and hear in their
city. Businesses, churches and city agencies now use English and Spanish.
Downey’s case points to bilingualism as the future of American communities, which
bodes well for our global economy.

1

Script

Anchor Introduction:

In many areas of Southern California, the primary language at home is no longer
English. David Kates looks at one such community and what a largely Spanish-
speaking populace means for city services and resident relations….

[Ambient: Happy Birthday to Downey]

DOWNEY, CALIFORNIA TURNED 50 LAST YEAR. AND LIKE SO MANY
OTHER BABY BOOMER CITIES, IT’S GOING THROUGH A MIDLIFE CRISIS.
THE SOUNDS OF CHANGE ARE EVERYWHERE.

IN THE CHURCHES… [Ambient: Downey First Christian Church song in
Spanish]

IN THE PRESCHOOLS… [Ambient: Downey City Library Bilingual Story
Time—Chocolate song]
2

SPANISH NOW COMPETES WITH ENGLISH AS THE LANGUAGE OF
CHOICE. DOWNEY HAS GONE FROM MAJORITY WHITE TO HISPANIC IN
JUST 10 YEARS.

THIS IS THE STORY OF HOW ONE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CITY IS
GRAPPLING WITH A DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION ON ITS GOLDEN
ANNIVERSARY.

[Ambient: Car engine noise]

Hugh Hoskins: There was only one traffic light. That was at Lakewood and
Firestone.

HUGH HOSKINS’ FAMILY HAS BEEN IN DOWNEY SINCE 1943 AND KATE
DAVIES’ FAMILY SINCE 1955. DAVIES, WHO HEADS THE DOWNEY
MUSEUM OF ART, GIVES ME A DRIVING TOUR OF THE CITY.

Kate Davies: As a kid, it was great. Behind us was an orange grove with a barn, a
bunk house with a bunk still in it. This was in the 50s, late 50s. And the foreman’s
house. And the barn still had equipment in it. It was great. All the orange trees.…

3
THE FARM LAND BECAME HOMES, SCHOOLS AND SHOPPING PLAZAS.
JENNIFER DEKAY-GIVENS OWNS THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER, THE
DOWNEY PATRIOT.

Jennifer DeKay-Givens: It was the best place in the world. It was safe, friendly, you
knew everybody. When you went to a restaurant … you walked in and people knew
who you were. And you could sit down and have a conversation with your waitress
who had been there for 100 years.

[Ambient: Downey Birthday—“Johnny Be Good” instrumental]

DOWNEY FULLY EMBRACED THE SUBURBIA PORTRAYED IN “LEAVE IT
TO BEAVER” AND “HAPPY DAYS.” IT HAD THE OLDEST TACO BELL
AND ONE OF THE FIRST MCDONALD’S STANDS IN THE COUNTRY.
HUGH HOSKINS…

Hugh Hoskins: It was the center of teen activity in its youth. It brought people from
miles around for 15-cent hamburgers. … It was the place to see and be seen.

BUT THE BIG DRAW WAS THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY THAT HELPED
BUILD THE APOLLO, SATURN AND SPACE SHUTTLE PROJECTS. ONE
PLANT ALONE EMPLOYED ALMOST 30 THOUSAND PEOPLE IN ITS
HEYDAY. THE CITY EVEN MADE ITS MOTTO, “FUTURE UNLIMITED.”
COUNCILMAN DAVID GAFIN…
4

David Gafin: The universe is at our doorstep. The future is unlimited. We’re not
confined by an atmosphere. We’re not confined by our bodily components. We can
do anything we want to do. As was the whole attitude of the United States back in
the 60s and 70s when we were in the space race.

DOWNEY’S POPULATION GREW EXPONENTIALLY IN THE 1950s TO
NEAR 100,000 BECAUSE OF THIS PROGRESS. BUT IN THE LAST DECADE
AND A HALF, GOVERNMENT AEROSPACE CONTRACTS STOPPED
COMING AND THE FACTORY CLOSED IN 1999.

MOST DOWNEY BUSINESSES TODAY ARE IN RETAIL OR HEALTH CARE.
MEANWHILE, ETHNIC CHANGES HAVE BEEN JUST AS REMARKABLE.
COUNCILMAN GAFIN...

David Gafin: Way back when I was a little kid, if you want to call it that, we were a
lily-white community. Most of Los Angeles County was.

IT WASN’T EASY BEING HISPANIC IN DOWNEY BACK THEN. JUDY
DIULIO’S PARENTS OWNED THE ONLY MEXICAN RESTAURANT IN
TOWN.

5

Judy Diulio: My mother said to my brothers and I from an early age that we were
born in this country, that we were Americans, that we were going to learn to speak
the language without an accent so there would be no discrimination against us. And
we were going to get an education. My mother was always so fearful that we would
be discriminated against, so she said she didn’t want anybody to ever call us lazy
Mexicans. She made sure that we were always clean and neat and well groomed.
We didn’t have a lot of money growing up. But she said that was no excuse to be
lazy and unkempt. … We grew up as American as can be.

MEXICANS WHO WEREN’T AS ASSIMILATED IN THE 1960S AND 70S
KNEW TO WATCH OUT FOR DOWNEY POLICE. WHEN COUNCILMAN
GAFIN WENT TO DOWNEY HIGH SCHOOL IN THE LATE 60S, HE HAD
SOME LATINO FRIENDS FROM PICO RIVERA.

David Gafin: … And I’d be like, “Come on over this Saturday and we’ll go shoot
hoops or do something.” “No, I’m not going to come into town.” “Why?” “Any
time I come into town, the cops pull me over and give me a ticket. Because the car’s
too low or the lights are blown on the car.” Whatever the case is, we had the
reputation of a hard and very strict police force.

YET MEXICANS WHO LIVED IN DOWNEY HAD MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT
THE POLICE. JUDY DIULIO…

6

Judy Diulio: I know that years ago when it was an all-white community, when you
would have people who did not look like they belong, the police would always stop
them and question them. As residents, we were glad, we were happy. Now that the
whole population has changed, the police can’t do that anymore because there is no
typical Downey resident anymore. There’s so many different ethnicities here.

NADINE MORRIS, FOR ONE, ISN’T THRILLED ABOUT THE POPULATION
SHIFT. SHE HEADS THE DOWNEY SENIOR CITIZENS RECREATION CLUB.

Nadine Morris: Park outside any school when it lets out. See what you see, it’s
unbelievable. I don’t know where the white people went. Mostly the white people
are the older people in the community. They’ve lived here a long time and their
children are grown and gone.

MORRIS MOVED TO DOWNEY NEARLY TWENTY YEARS AGO TO GET
AWAY FROM VIOLENCE.

Nadine Morris: I came from Huntington Park, and it turned into little Tijuana. We
had a drug dealer across the street, and there was a shooting. And I decided I didn’t
want to live there any more. So I looked around and I decided that Downey was a
very nice place.

SO DID FRANK WILLIAMS, WHO MOVED HERE FROM LYNWOOD IN 1970.

7
Frank Williams: Lynwood had a heavy influx of inner city people from Compton
and South Central Los Angeles. And it replaced people who were mainly Anglo and
better off. And the neighborhood went downhill and the crime rate went way up.

BUT TODAY, RESIDENTS FEEL CRIME MAY BE UP IN DOWNEY AS WELL.

Frank Williams: I think the areas to the west of us and south of us have got worse.
And there’s gangs over there. … And they come to Downey to carry out their crime.
… There’s been a few drive-by shootings. And there’s been some strong-arm
robberies at small stores.

DOWNEY POLICE CHIEF ROY CAMPOS WAS THE SECOND LATINO
HIRED TO THE FORCE NEARLY THREE DECADES AGO. HE SAYS THE
MEDIA BLOW CRIME OUT OF PROPORTION.

Roy Campos: The crime rate of 2006 is lower than that of 1996. Be it with the
media outlets and the media coverage, one might assume that crime is up when in
fact it’s down from 10 years ago.

STILL, POLICE AND RESIDENTS ARE QUITE CONCERNED ABOUT
GANGS.

Judy Diulio: I remember high school students telling me a few years ago that the
Downey Police all they did was hassle them and harass them just because they were
Mexican.

8
JUDY DIULIO TEACHES ENGLISH LEARNERS AT WEST MIDDLE SCHOOL.

Judy Diulio: And I said, “Really, I’ve never been harassed by the police.” And I
said, “Even when I was your age I was never harassed by the police.” And they said,
“That’s because you don’t look like us.” And I said, “Well there you go. Don’t
dress like that. Don’t have your pants hanging off your body. Don’t wear the make
up. Don’t talk the way you do and flash gang signs. And there you go. Then the
police won’t harass you.”

THE HIGH SCHOOLS NOW HAVE STRICT DRESS CODES TO DISCOURAGE
TYPICAL GANG CLOTHES.

NO WONDER NEW HISPANIC RESIDENTS MOVE TO DOWNEY FROM
SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES FOR THE SAFETY AND TOP NOTCH
SCHOOLS. SOME CALL IT THE “HISPANIC BEVERLY HILLS.”

CESAR YBARRA LOOKED UP TO DOWNEY WHILE AT NEIGHBORING
BELL HIGH SCHOOL.

Cesar Ybarra: You would want to go there to live there just because the houses were
better. The community was better. It was kind of like a goal. If you got there, you
got a sense that you’ve kind of made it.

9
MANY NEIGHBORING CITIES ARE 95 PERCENT HISPANIC. DOWNEY IS
MORE THAN 65 PERCENT HISPANIC. WHITE FLIGHT IS ONE CAUSE OF
THE DRAMATIC SHIFT. ABOUT HALF OF FRANK WILLIAMS’
NEIGHBORS MOVED OUT WHEN MINORITIES STARTED MOVING IN.

Frank Williams: Somehow there’s the perception that when people of different
colors move in, the neighborhood’s going down. But I disagreed with them, and I
told them that.

Frank Williams: I don’t think we’re being taken over by a wave of people from
Mexico or Latin America.

JULIE MEURET COORDINATES ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE AT
DOWNEY ADULT SCHOOL.

Julie Meuret: I think once people who have a bad feeling that they’re being invaded,
immigrants are taking over our jobs. Once they get to know immigrants personally, I
think they have a change of attitude about that.

[Ambient: Senior Club—“America the Beautiful,” “God Bless America,” “Pledge of
Allegiance” and “Our Father” medley]

[Ambient: Senior Club—Swing music with clapping]

10
OVER AT THE SENIOR CLUB, NADINE MORRIS SAYS MEMBERSHIP HAS
DWINDLED.

Nadine Morris: I think we would probably have more seniors come, because there
are seniors that are Hispanic. But they don’t speak the language. And they hesitate
to come because they know we don’t speak their language. If you’re going to live in
this country, it’s America, we should speak English. All of us. … If you’re not
English speaking then you should go to school and learn it. It’s available to them,
they won’t do it, and I don’t know why.

BUT IT’S NOT THAT SIMPLE…

[Ambient: Downey Adult School GED Class—Idioms lesson]

Julie Meuret: Our class numbers are around 45.

DOWNEY ADULT SCHOOL’S JULIE MEURET.

Julie Meuret: At the beginning of the quarter, when we begin this next January 8
th
, I
suspect we’re going to have at least 55 in each classroom. And that’s not the ideal
for a language situation. But when you have so many people wanting in, we tell the
teachers take as many students as fit in the class as far as chairs.

THE ADULT SCHOOL EACH QUARTER TEACHES 700 ESL STUDENTS,
WHO STUDY ENGLISH TO GET BETTER JOBS.
11

YET, SOME WHITES SAY THEY SEE AND HEAR TOO MUCH SPANISH,
EVEN IN THEIR FAVORITE STORES. AND IT BOTHERS THEM.

Kate Davies: I went into the bank and the only sign in English was the exit sign.
And I said, “Well they’re clearly not talking to me.”

Nadine Morris: They gather together. And I understand they gather together
because they speak the language. But it makes the original residents here feel as
though they’re being walked over, and we are being walked over. We’re being
ignored, and we’re being just pushed aside.

AS WE WERE SPEAKING, A TODDLER PASSED BY…

[Ambient: Toddler screaming]

Nadine Morris: You see children as small as that, as small as that, need to start
learning English. Now she won’t learn English if her parents speak Spanish until she
goes to school. She will be well engrossed in the other language that will do her no
good in school. … The parents, they don’t seem to care that their children are having
this hard a time.

12
BUT JUDY DIULIO DOESN’T SEE IT THAT WAY. IN HER MIDDLE
SCHOOL CLASSES, THE IMMIGRANT STUDENTS—WHO USUALLY SPEAK
A LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH AT HOME—DO BETTER THAN
NATIVE-BORN STUDENTS. DIULIO SAYS PARENTS ARE THE DRIVING
FORCE…

Judy Diulio: Those kids feel the responsibility to do well to make their parents
proud. And a lot of students have said, “I’m going to be a lawyer; I’m going to be an
architect; I’m going to do this for my parents and that for my parents.” A lot of their
parents are janitors, wash cars, clean houses, live in small, little apartments, more
than one family to an apartment.

WORK ETHIC IS KEY TO STUDENT SUCCESS. HOWEVER, MANY
IMMIGRANT PARENTS CAN’T IMPROVE THEIR ENGLISH BECAUSE OF
JOB AND FAMILY PRESSURES.

[Ambient: Bilingual Story Time—Christmas Wishes by Esther Corona]

[Ambient: Bilingual Story Time—Hokey Pokey (sound under)]

AT THE LIBRARY, STORY TIME IS BILINGUAL. AND THE HISPANIC
PARENTS LIKE IT THAT WAY.

13
Zitlali Montes: It’s important for any child to learn two languages in order to I think
survive in the competitive world today.

Sandra Calderon: Books are very important to us. I started reading to her actually
before she was born, while she was in utero.
“Did you read to her in English and Spanish?”
Yes.

Lou Ramos: We just want him to have another, access to a second language and be
proficient at it. Hopefully that leads on to another language, hopefully a third
language.
“What would you like the third language to be?”
We’re thinking Chinese. Yeah. We’re thinking Chinese.

PEOPLE WHO ARE BILINGUAL IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH OR ANOTHER
LANGUAGE ARE SOUGHT AFTER IN THE WORKPLACE. MORE THAN A
THIRD OF THE CITY’S POLICE OFFICERS ARE BILINGUAL. AND A FEW
CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS ARE BILINGUAL.

[Ambient: Calvary Chapel of Downey song in English]

MOST DOWNEY CHURCHES ARE BILINGUAL, TOO.

[Ambient: First Baptist Church of Downey “Hallelujah” song in Spanish]

14
CALVARY CHAPEL HAS HAD A GROWING SPANISH LANGUAGE
CONGREGATION FOR 15 YEARS. NOW CLOSE TO TWO THOUSAND
PEOPLE COME ON HOLIDAYS.

SPANISH MINISTRY PASTOR MANUEL LOPEZ JOKES THAT HE NEEDS A
LARGER WORSHIP SPACE….

Manuel Lopez: If we can get to Dodger’s Stadium that’s perfect, every Sunday.

THE CHURCH EVEN HAS A SERVICE IN ARABIC, AND LOPEZ THINKS
THERE WILL BE MINISTRIES IN ASIAN LANGUAGES.

LONGTIME RESIDENT FRANK WILLIAMS SEES THIS TREND
CONTINUING.

Frank Williams: I think Downey will be primarily a blended city, a metropolitan
city, a cosmopolitan city of different cultures and maybe different languages.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY WILL MATCH DOWNEY’S DEMOGRAPHICS—
MORE THAN 60 PERCENT HISPANIC—BY 2050. BILINGUALISM, NO
DOUBT, WILL CONTINUE TO FLOURISH.

[Ambient: Downey Birthday—“Johnny Be Good” vocal]
15

HOW DOES A CITY WITH SO MUCH HISTORY RECONCILE WITH ITS
MOTTO “FUTURE UNLIMITED”? WELL, DOWNEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MEMBER HUGH HOSKINS SAYS CHANGE IS INEVITABLE. JUST LOOK
AT THE MCDONALD’S HAMBURGER STAND…

Hugh Hoskins: It was sure nice when it started. It’s nice for those who stop there
now. But if it were replaced, I wouldn’t think there would be too many people too
sad about it. Except the people who just seem to want to cling to the past. And I
think most of those around here weren’t here when it was born. I was here when it
was born. I wouldn’t miss it if it disappeared.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, AFTERALL, IS FAMOUS FOR ITS
MAKEOVERS…ESPECIALLY AT MIDLIFE.

DAVID KATES, ANNENBERG RADIO NEWS.

16

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21
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Abstract (if available)

Abstract Downey, like many Southern California cities, is increasingly language diverse. Spanish now competes with English as the language of choice. Hispanics have become the predominant ethnic group in only a decade's time. Some English-speaking whites are troubled by the amount of Spanish they see and hear in their city. Businesses, churches and city agencies now use English and Spanish. Downey's case points to bilingualism as the future of American communities, which bodes well for our global economy.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Kates, David Aaron (author)

Core Title The sounds of change in Downey, California

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Journalism (Broadcast Journalism)

Publication Date 04/19/2007

Defense Date 04/02/2007

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag demographics,English,Hispanics,OAI-PMH Harvest,Radio,Spanish,Whites

Place Name California (states), Downey (city or populated place), USA (countries)

Language English

Advisor Muller, Judy (committee chair), Gutierrez, Felix Frank (committee member), Seidenberg, Willa (committee member)

Creator Email dkates@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m417

Unique identifier UC1504164

Identifier etd-Kates-20070419 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-475474 (legacy record id),usctheses-m417 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Kates-20070419.pdf

Dmrecord 475474

Document Type Thesis

Rights Kates, David Aaron

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Los Angeles, California

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu