Street Photography Glassell Park Fair
Street Photography Glassell Park Fair
These are documentary photographs of a street fair in Glassell Park taken in November 2010. These photographs were taken in the early morning. Glassell Park was going through a very violent period during this time. I moved into my current studio space a year earlier. I have always been able to navigate rough neighborhoods and while I knew what was going on around me, I never felt in danger. My studio is on Verdugo Boulevard next to a liquor store with this area being run by the Avenues 44 Gang. The various Avenue Gangs are relatively friendly towards one another, it is usually the cross with Cypress Park that would cause problems. On the corner, a friend of mine lives in his parent’s house and is also affiliated with the Drew Street Gang. The Drew Street Gang used to dominate the neighborhood with violence. Many lived in a large apartment complex on Fletcher Avenue as it rounds the bend and heads towards San Fernando Road.
Gangs In Glassell Park
It was pretty common for gang-related shootings to take place on the block north of where I live. At the time Super A, the market on Division had several young baggers who were murdered while walking home after work. This mostly culminated when a member of the Drew Street Gang opened fire on a shotgun on Eagle Rock Boulevard near the El Paso intersection. A young girl walking with her father was killed. Not long after a Deputy Sheriff who worked at the Men’s Central Jail was gunned down in the early morning as he walked to his car. It turned out he had refused a money offer from the Mexican Mafia. Not long after over a thousand officers composed of local, state, and federal agencies swooped down into the neighborhood, battering open doors and pretty much arresting anyone that smelled like a gang banger.
