The Brochure on Los Angeles: Beyond the Headlines

Send us a text

Amidst sensationalized headlines and political rhetoric claiming Los Angeles is "burning," I'm pulling back the curtain to reveal what's actually happening on the ground in my city. Having spent over two decades working in the heart of downtown LA, I offer perspective that goes beyond the dramatic footage you've seen on the news.

Let me take you on a journey through LA's complex geography—a sprawling county of 4,000 square miles and 88 distinct cities—to understand why what's happening matters, but also why it's not representative of daily life for most Angelenos. The protests and rallies you've seen on television are largely confined to approximately one square mile of downtown, centered around City Hall and municipal buildings. Compared to my experiences with the  widespread 1992 riots following the Rodney King verdict, there are stark differences between then and now.

Beyond the protests, I open up about something deeply troubling occurring in our communities: ICE raids that are creating fear among immigrant populations who form the backbone of our economy. I share the heartbreaking story of a U.S. citizen with diabetes who was detained without access to his insulin—a moment that broke me personally as the wife of someone who depends on insulin to live. These human stories reveal the real crisis unfolding away from the cameras.

Whether you're politically liberal or conservative, this episode offers insight into the complex realities of living in modern Los Angeles during turbulent times. Join me as we seek understanding, empathy, and perhaps a moment where "nothing bad happens." Subscribe to Only Child Diaries and follow me on Instagram or Facebook to continue our conversation about navigating life's challenges together.

Episode Transcript

Tracy (00:00):
Welcome to the Only Child Diaries podcast.
I'm your host, Tracy Wallace.
Have you ever felt like youdidn't receive the how-to
brochure on life, that youdidn't get enough guidance about
major life issues?
So did I.
You don't have to be an onlychild to feel this way.
In my podcast, we'll exploresome of the best ways to better

(00:25):
navigate adulting, while doingso with humor and light.
Welcome everyone to the OnlyChild Diaries podcast.
Today, I'm going to talk aboutwhat is really going on in Los

(00:46):
Angeles.
If you live in the area, youknow pretty much what's really
going on, but I have a lot oflisteners who are not in the Los
Angeles or California areas.
I have more and more listenerswho are outside of California or
even outside of the country,and so I wanted to take the time

(01:09):
to explain to you what isreally going on here in Los
Angeles.
I live in a town that is in LosAngeles County.
I'm not in the city of LosAngeles proper, but I'm very
close to the city of Los Angeles, very, very close.

(01:29):
There are 88 cities in thecounty of Los Angeles.
Now, the county of Los Angelesis a larger area than the actual
city of Los Angeles, but, justto make things more complicated
if you're not here.
There are different towns orcities that are in Los Angeles

(01:55):
proper.
Los Angeles City, that is, sothe town of North Hollywood,
which is its own city, is in thecity of Los Angeles.
So I don't know if that clearsit up for anyone, but there are
88 cities in Los Angeles'spretty large Los Angeles County

(02:20):
is about 4,000 square miles, soit's a much larger area of the
Southland.
That's what some of us callSouthern California, call

(02:47):
Southern California theSouthland, depending on where
you are, who you are.
Now, I know a lot of people allover the world have seen the
protests and the rallies and thepolice officers, the National

(03:09):
Guard and whatnot that have comehere or have been here in Los
Angeles, and you've heard ourpresident say that if he hadn't
sent the National Guard, thatLos Angeles would be burning.
I take offense at that forseveral reasons.
I don't think that that's trueand I'm going to explain why.

(03:49):
They locked down really thewhole area and I'm saying the
whole area, I mean the wholecity.
At least it might have beenmore of the county, but everyone
was under a curfew and it wasalso scary because there was a
lot of violence throughout ourneighborhoods and there was also

(04:14):
a shortage of food.
It was just a bad, bad time andthat was predicated on Rodney
King beatings and other thingsthat had happened.
So that was in 92.

(04:36):
Now I also worked in downtownLos Angeles for 23 years, give
or take.
I mean COVID hit towards theend there.
So maybe not every day of those23 years, give or take, I mean
COVID hit towards the end there.
So maybe not every day of those23 years.
But I did work in downtown LAfor the better part of at least
20 years and I worked prettymuch in the heart of downtown LA

(04:57):
.
I worked in what is called thefinancial district, which is not
exactly near the city hall areawhere a lot of the protests and
the peaceful rallies have been,but it's pretty close.
I'd say, as the crow flies,maybe it's half a mile, it's

(05:21):
definitely within a mile, it'sdefinitely within a mile.
What I can tell you about beingin downtown LA on really any
given day is that there wereoften marches or protests or
gatherings of people tohighlight a cause or an effort

(05:47):
or something that happened, anda lot of the times the streets
would be closed for theserallies or walks or marches or
whatever.
This is not an uncommonoccurrence, so I got used to it.
It was just part of living inwell, it was just part of
working in the area.

(06:09):
I saw on occasion the LosAngeles Police Department on
horseback.
They came down for differentreasons to do crowd control.
There were also some othertimes when they felt that they

(06:29):
had to have an increased policepresence and that was fine, that
was okay.
So this is something that I'veexperienced being a resident
here, not living in the area,but definitely spending a lot of
time in the area.
Now the protests, the marches Iguess the violence, if you will,

(06:57):
that we've seen on TV hasreally been confined to a very
small area.
I've heard it said that it'sabout one square mile of
downtown and that's around CityHall, because where City Hall is
, it's very close to the policedepartment, it's very close to

(07:20):
other city offices and citybuildings and municipal
buildings.
There's some park space there,there's the courts and it's just
the heart of the city and it'salso where the federal detention
space is.
That I guess a lot of thedetainees have gone, initially

(07:45):
at least, and one of the federalbuildings is there.
So again, it makes sense thatthis would be an area that is
kind of attracting a lot ofprotesters, and these areas are
close to a freeway.
So if you saw some of theactivity where the protesters

(08:06):
had gone onto the freeway, itmakes sense.
I personally would not want togo on the freeway to stop cars.
I wouldn't want to be in thatfirst group.
A lot of us that live here havecontinued to live our lives.
We are not under a curfewbecause, again, that curfew is
in a very small area.
We go to the market, we takeour kids to school, we do our

(08:32):
errands.
We don't have any trouble goinganywhere because the freeways
are clear.
There's not a police presencewhere I live.
So I think that, at least frommy perspective I'm just talking

(09:12):
about my perspective that themedia, a lot of the reporters
that I've seen, haveconcentrated their efforts in
the worst of the worst areas,where the most activity is, the
most violence is, and I thinkthat people have gotten the
impression that it's that wayeverywhere, but it's not not.
So what has been happening, alsothat is frustrating to a lot of
people that I've talked to here, are the ICE raids.

(09:33):
We live in an area where a lotof the people that we work with,
that we deal with, that do alot of very important jobs in
this economy are immigrants.
They're scared, understandably,and as a humanitarian and as an

(09:54):
empath and as just a caringperson, I'm horrified to see not
only the raids but the effectthat these raids have had on
people, innocent people thatdon't have really anything to
worry about.
That aren't criminals.
Believe me, I don't likecriminals either.

(10:18):
I'm not a crazy person.
If somebody's committed murderor other heinous crimes, I'm not
supporting them being out onthe street.
But people who are trying tolive and work, who need
healthcare, who don't visittheir medical provider because

(10:40):
they're afraid of being taken byan ICE officer and so they're
not taking care of their medicalneeds or they're not going to
work and therefore they're notbeing able to support their
families.
This is a bad situation andit's going to have repercussions

(11:02):
past the people that are beingdetained.
I've tried to just take it in asit comes, but there was a man
on the news on Friday wasdetained at an auto repair shop
and he is a US citizen.

(11:26):
His family says that he has nocriminal record, he's a father
of two and he's taken his kidsto Disneyland.
And, yes, he's Latino, latinoand he's also diabetic.
And they took him in and hisfamily can't find out anything

(11:51):
about where he is and they saidhe doesn't have his insulin with
him.
And to me, that's what broke me.
That was the story that brokeme.
I started crying and I just Ican't even really talk about it
that much now because it hitshome for us, my husband being

(12:12):
diabetic.
But it's just, it's cruel.
The understanding was that theywere going to detain people who
were horrible criminals and whowere here illegally, and it
doesn't seem like that's reallythe case.
So this is a very difficulttime for myself, my family and

(12:39):
people who are friends, who feelthe same way.
And if you don't feel the sameway that I do, I understand that
.
I mean, I don't understand that, but I accept that people have
different mindsets and differentopinions.
But I'll tell you that this isprobably not the podcast for you

(13:04):
Because, again, I am a liberaland I do believe in supporting
others and loving others and nothating others.
And that means that even ifpeople are different from you or
different from what you knowthat they're, they're still good

(13:29):
people.
They're still people.
They're just people like youand me.
They're just people and theydeserve the rights and the
respect and they deserve to livetheir life, and that's not what
I'm seeing.
That's not what any of us areseeing right now.

(13:50):
So my husband and I did go tothe no Kings rally this past
weekend here in our town and Ican tell you that, growing up
here, I always thought that ourtown was conservative, and I
think it is more on theconservative side even for
California.
But I was happy to see thatthere were a lot of people there

(14:14):
supporting the rally.
It was peaceful.
It was very peaceful.
There were no problems.
The police were there watching,that was okay.
Will it do anything?
Will all the rallies that wehad this past weekend do
anything?
I don't know.
I don't know what the answer is, but I just don't understand

(14:43):
how we got here, because a lotof the people, most of the
people that I know, feel thesame way that I do know, feel
the same way that I do.
So I hope that everyone who'slistening is safe and taking

(15:03):
care of yourself and your lovedones.
There's so much going on in theworld right now on any
particular day.
I met a man today and I didn'tknow him.
We started talking and he saidI just want some time to go by
where nothing bad happens.
And I agree with that.

(15:25):
Everything that's going on inthe Middle East is another
terribly worrisome situation.
And, yeah, I'd like some timeto go by where I don't have to
turn on the news and get reallyupset and have my blood pressure
go through the roof, but Idon't know if that's going to

(15:46):
happen anytime soon.
So, again, I hope that you andyour family are safe and that
you are taking care ofyourselves and doing what you
need to do, and next week,hopefully, I'll come up with a
more joyful topic, but it had tobe said.
That's the situation in LosAngeles, and next week I hope

(16:25):
that you will join me again.
It helps others to find us.
Please share it with a friendyou think might like it as well.
Visit my Instagram page OnlyChild Diaries or Facebook Only
Child Diaries Podcast.
Thanks for listening.
I'm Tracy Wallace and these arethe Only Child Diaries, thank

(16:50):
you.