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lobstrMaccabee Montandon
7/27/13 12:26pm
Whenever I hear stats like "xxxx number of deaths per year from this n' that" I go through this weird OCD-type procession of math to further comprehend the insanity of the statistic, and that has happened here in this story when you say that 2,589 homicides happened in 1992 in LA County.

That's 7 murders per fucking day all year. One every 3½ hours 'round the clock. That is a truly fucked up figure. It's just weird that after, say, like 2 months straight of that kind of crime, the politicians/chief of police/whoever would try to do something — anything — are their hands really that tied to curb that level of violence? I mean, it did eventually (I hope?) go down to much lower levels, right? I guess we're hearing similar numbers coming out of Chicago nowadays. Crazy.
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  PoliDronelobstr
  7/27/13 12:49pm
  660 in LA County last year. As bad as Chicago is now, it's nowhere remotely close to LA in the late 80s/early 90s.
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  lobstrPoliDrone
  7/27/13 1:38pm
  Ah, so down to 2 a day.. an improvement, I guess? :P
  
  So what did they do in the 90s to curb that insane figure?
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Mork Encino's Thick PeltMaccabee Montandon
7/27/13 11:56am
Great piece, moving.

It brings back memories.

From 1985 - 1991 I lived at 222 S. Martel Avenue in L.A. If you know the city, you know that's around the corner from where Maccabee lived/where Asher was shot.

On August 8, 1990 my wife and I had dinner at El Coyote (again, if you know the neighborhood, you know how close that is) with a friend for his birthday (which is how I remember the day) and were robbed at gunpoint. Two kids with a handgun took my walled, her bag. We would find out a few days later that after they robbed us, the beat up another guy while robbing him. But they got caught when their getaway car crashed.

We would go on to do the whole lineup thing at County (the first one was cancelled due to a riot) and later they pled guilty at their preliminary hearing when they realized my wife and I and the guy they beat were going to testify.

Detectives from the same Wilshire Division told us once (on the way to County for the lineup) that robbers liked to patrol our neighborhood and rob people then roll back to their own neighborhoods. People walked in our neighborhood and that made us easier to hold up.

I think about it sometimes. I think about how my wife was pregnant at the time (our son is almost 22 now, we're still married and going strong, btw) and how I could have lost much more than 14 dollars (returned to me after the arrest, btw) that night. I could have lost it all.

Anyway, thanks for the read and so, so sorry for your loss. The story brought back many memories.
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  BoyHowdyMork Encino's Thick Pelt
  7/27/13 1:36pm
  I'm so glad your story ended as it did.
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  Official Witch of Los AngelesMork Encino's Thick Pelt
  7/28/13 2:47pm
  What I found particularly interesting about your story and the article is how much the Mid-City/Beverly area has changed. It's decidedly upper-middle class, filled with large Orthodox Jewish families and 30-something professionals. Not exactly the kind of place you'd expect Generic White Folk to be brutally murdered.
  
  I think a lot of us who came to LA in the 2000s tend to forget how seriously dangerous this city was two decades ago.
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lobstrMaccabee Montandon
7/27/13 12:26pm
Very touching story and nicely put together. Makes me wanna call my older brother and just shoot the shit with him.
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Myrna MinkoffMaccabee Montandon
7/27/13 12:02pm
This was excellent.
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Dkrende Maccabee Montandon
7/27/13 10:11am
Wow. Stumbled upon this and now feel changed by it. I live in Baltimore. Attended a school similar to Park. They should be very proud to call you an alum. Good luck with your writing. Lets fight the NRA.
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ZardozMaccabee Montandon
7/27/13 12:22pm
This was a very beautiful thing to read. Sad and poignant, but beautiful.
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GasPoweredStickMaccabee Montandon
7/27/13 11:15am
My brother died when I was 20 and he was 18. Not in the tragic way of this piece, but a different tragic way. I can't remember all the things this author remembers, and I wish I did. My younger brother says he barely remembers our brother. I think shock blotted out part of my memory, just fried my brain so I can only summon a few things. I remember the way his jaw clenched when he was upset, the only thing that gave his feelings away. I remember his voice surprisingly clearly.

I do hold one happy memory, though, clear as day. Here it is: A few months before my brother died, he and I took my aunt and uncle's dalmatian Danny Boy for a walk in the middle of the night. It was in Wellfleet, Cape Cod, where some of my mother's family live. Wellfleet is pristine. The air is sweet and the land is so well protected by the National Seashore that it's not overbuilt at all. Just a beautiful, rural beach community. The memory is just this: We walked in the middle of the road toward Duck Harbor, not worried about getting run over by a car, smoking Marlboros while Danny Boy walked far ahead of us like a beacon. It was so dark I could barely see my brother's face, just the orange tip of his cigarette. But Danny Boy glowed in the dark. His white fur acted like one of those cheap plastic stars you paste on your ceiling as a kid. As if he had absorbed the warm sun for hours during the day so he could light back up again at night. It was one of the most peaceful, happy moments of my life. We could hear our smoky breathing and we could see the black sky. The air was cold and clean. And we had a glowing dog way ahead, scouting the terrain, leading us through the dark.
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  swedesGasPoweredStick
  7/27/13 11:40am
  Beautiful. Expand it and send it into Kiese.
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  GrossTitsGasPoweredStick
  8/08/13 5:17pm
  I loved this story, thank you for sharing.
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swedesMaccabee Montandon
7/27/13 11:39am
I lived a few blocks away from you in June of 1992 and I think I remember hearing about this. It could have been someone else of course, because 1992 was a violent year in LA with the riots having happened not more than six weeks before your brother's death.

I was pregnant with my second child and packed up a few months later and headed down to the Westside not far from where you saw the movie with Evangeline thinking it would be a safer place to raise a family. Other than the huge earthquake a little over a year later it was a somewhat safer place.

You really captured the era and sent me back. Great essay and I'm very sorry for your loss. I mean that too, trite as it sounds.
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HereWeGoAgainsMaccabee Montandon
7/27/13 10:37am
Thank you
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  PullthestringHereWeGoAgains
  7/27/13 11:40am
  Well written. Thank you.
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  HereWeGoAgainsPullthestring
  7/27/13 12:03pm
  You're welc
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ramona quimbyMaccabee Montandon
7/27/13 2:17pm
My only complaint about this piece is that I wish it were longer. I'll be on the lookout for your books, Mr. Montandon.
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