Another story of a person overcoming a horrendous childhood. A tad repetitive but entertaining nonetheless; and a good primer on the carney "trade." In fact, I'll never go on a midway again without a firm hand on my wallet
Much of the book is an inside look at the carnival business, postwar, as the author did not have model parents. Be sure to read the chapter on Flat Games!
Mr. Kahn graduated from Lincoln High while living in the Ramona Gardens projects, his family being among the last Jews to live there. "A series of low-slung military-type beige bungalows provided housing for two thousand families, virtually all of whom were Black or Mexican. Living in the projects was just one step removed from living in the street. It was the lowest rung of the ladder. There were no restaurants, movie theaters, or any commercial enterprises whatever, except for one grocery, Abe's Market. It was an insular community with rigid, unwritten laws. Just outside the projects was a neighborhood of broken down houses with weed-strewn yards. We could only dream of living in that kind of luxury."
He goes on to relate how he was robbed by both Blacks and Latinos when sent to Abe's Market and how their apartment became a 'clubhouse' for addicts, including his parents.
His younger brother was regularly beaten: "The school called and reported that he was attacked by several kids on the school grounds on a regular basis." I know Roosevelt High best, but the LAUSD continued to allow this racism until, given the reinforcements from the Immigration Act of 1965, virtually all Black, Anglo, and Japanese-American families were cleared out of greater East Los Angeles.
Mr. Kahn went on to have a successful career in law.
Oddly, LAPL owns no copies of this 'local' history and I have no understanding of why.
Also I don't know why these families at Ramona Gardens were not moving upwards and onwards as were so many other families during the prosperous years when DDE was president. There was a lot of work, schools were adequate, and houses were selling for a few thousand dollars in east LA and there were many under $15,000 or so that were twenty or thirty years old.
A few photos and a glossary heavy on carny terms.
No index, but the detailed table of contents is very useful.
Mr. Kahn graduated from Lincoln High while living in the Ramona Gardens projects, his family being among the last Jews to live there. "A series of low-slung military-type beige bungalows provided housing for two thousand families, virtually all of whom were Black or Mexican. Living in the projects was just one step removed from living in the street. It was the lowest rung of the ladder. There were no restaurants, movie theaters, or any commercial enterprises whatever, except for one grocery, Abe's Market. It was an insular community with rigid, unwritten laws. Just outside the projects was a neighborhood of broken down houses with weed-strewn yards. We could only dream of living in that kind of luxury."
He goes on to relate how he was robbed by both Blacks and Latinos when sent to Abe's Market and how their apartment became a 'clubhouse' for addicts, including his parents.
His younger brother was regularly beaten: "The school called and reported that he was attacked by several kids on the school grounds on a regular basis." I know Roosevelt High best, but the LAUSD continued to allow this racism until, given the reinforcements from the Immigration Act of 1965, virtually all Black, Anglo, and Japanese-American families were cleared out of greater East Los Angeles.
Mr. Kahn went on to have a successful career in law.
Oddly, LAPL owns no copies of this 'local' history and I have no understanding of why.
Also I don't know why these families at Ramona Gardens were not moving upwards and onwards as were so many other families during the prosperous years when DDE was president. There was a lot of work, schools were adequate, and houses were selling for a few thousand dollars in east LA and there were many under $15,000 or so that were twenty or thirty years old.
A few photos and a glossary heavy on carny terms.
No index, but the detailed table of contents is very useful.
