Diana Mabel Cruz, HEART LA
In 2018, Diana sought help from the Housing Equity & Advocacy Resource Team (HEART LA) for her second wrongful eviction. Today, she is the team’s program director and law clerk. Diana spoke to Jimmy about her family’s 60-year history in Koreatown and her own journey to claim the neighborhood as her own.
This interview has been edited for length, flow, and clarity. Portrait above by Jimmy Recinos.
Jimmy: Here we are at Alchemist Coffee to catch up a little bit. Thank you again for taking the time to chat with me.
Diana: Thanks for having me!
Jimmy: It’s my pleasure! So my first question is: What is K-Town to you? What are a couple of things that come to mind about this place?
Diana: I love that question so much. I immediately think of home. K-Town is home. It's where I grew up. It's where my dad grew up, where my family landed on my dad's side in the 60s.
Jimmy: As far back as the 60s?
Diana: 1964.
Jimmy: Wow!
Diana: Yeah, so I feel like a lot of my identity is tied to K-Town, even though I was kind of taught to not like my community in my youth. I had an interesting relationship with K-Town growing up. I was sent off to Brentwood and the Palisades to go to school so I had a really big disconnect… but I also never really fit in on the Westside. Then, when I came back from college, our housing was at risk. Suddenly, it was like, “Oh, wait. No, K-Town is home. This is my community.” And then I had to ask myself, “What is my place in it, really?” So I think where I'm at now with K-Town is that it’s home and I love it. I can't imagine living anywhere else.
I grew up right by Beverly and Normandie. That corner is like a little pocket of Central America, and it’s pretty important to my family. You have the Salvadoran panaderia. Across the street, you have the Guatemalan panaderia. And then kiddie corner to that is El Lechero Market. And there are all the street vendors with food from their countries. I’ve walked along Beverly from Normandie to Vermont many, many times over the years.
Jimmy: I love that. I especially love identifying Point A to Point B for ourselves in this town because it tells you a lot about the kind of movement you've witnessed since time immemorial, your slice of L.A.
Diana: Yeah. And it’s all in Koreatown.
Jimmy: Of course, of course. And you're right. All those panaderias, they fill such a crucial role. It's cool to think about—at least for me—the role of panaderias from Beverly and Normandie to Beverly and Vermont. And then how when you get to, like, 3rd Street, there you go again: more panaderias, also restaurants... You've got the Jons, and a handful of other little goodies that make up the larger Central American community in this part of town.
Diana: And those were the spots, right? Really early in the morning, you have the cafecito where, you know, the señores and the señoras are having their coffee. We couldn't go to the Jons without seeing moms running into other family friends. Really hyper local—the familiarity and everything.
Jimmy: Absolutely. Now, it's probably difficult to select just one or two but I have to ask you about your earliest memories of K-Town.
Diana: Hm… I grew up here. I’m like, which memory? Which one was my earliest one? I feel like they all kind of morph into one... Oh! There's this hill, this really distinct hill by 1st and Edgemont where I have really early memories of me just, like, on my tricycle, rolling down it really, really, really fast. And, like I said, I have so many memories of me just walking. Walking to the Jons, walking to the train station when it was first built, when we were first able to get on the Metro on Beverly and Vermont. Walking to school, walking with my babysitter since my mom would have to go to work. I went on errands with the babysitter and her kids. A lot of walking! I think those are my earliest memories.
Jimmy: I love that. And, I mean, it brings to mind that your home station off of that Metro Red Line—or the Metro B Line, they call it nowadays—is actually the Vermont/Beverly Station.
Diana: Yeah, that’s my home station. I honestly don't remember it not being there. I know it was just an empty lot for a long time, but a lot of my memories just center around walking to that station to get everywhere else.
Jimmy: Right, and probably walking from that station to get back home for the last leg of your journey. I think about that intersection and all of the activity—all of the chaos, up to a point, but the harmony—that is also at play. It's complicated because you and I were talking earlier about the way the city's evolved, and how the number of challenges facing the most vulnerable have only grown. I think our relationship with home and these places, including some of these intersections, are evolving relationships as we get older and as we become citizens with options, with the ability to speak out, to organize, and so on. So I think it's great that Vermont/Beverly is actually your home station because we need you and others there to hold those in power accountable over what's taking place on these streets, and to create a better way forward for our citizens, our pedestrians, our community.
Now, that’s all about K-Town in the present, but you mentioned earlier that your family actually arrived here in 1964! Do you have photos of your family from that time?
Diana: Yeah, lots of photos. Lots of stories. I recently learned El Lechero Market, which is now like a corner store, was literally el lechero {the milkman} market, where there used to be milk people. That was the headquarters for the people that used to deliver the milk to you. And some buildings along here on 1st Street—some of the more historic buildings—have slots for milk. And you could select cream or, you know, the type of dairy product that you wanted. So that's how far back that market goes.
Jimmy: Wow! Who told you about milk people?
Diana: Well, I learned about milk people on TV. You know, you get your milk person to deliver milk to your door... But my grandfather was the storyteller in our family.
A page in the Cruz Family photo album. First row, L to R: Diana’s First Communion at St. Kevin Church on Beverly Blvd; Diana’s dad in the 60s with neighborhood friends on Edgemont St., between 1st and Council; Diana’s mom with her sister, visiting from El Salvador. Second row, L to R: Diana commemorating her kindergarten graduation from Cahuenga Elementary School; Diana and her family outside their first apartment on Edgemont St.
Jimmy: Oh, I see. What do you know about when he first got to this neighborhood? What key highlights has he mentioned to you from that time, other than El Lechero?
Diana: From the stories that I've heard, it was predominantly white here. My family was maybe one of the few people of color that were here at that time. I have pictures of my dad when he was a child. He’s standing with all his friends in front of these, like, 60s, 70s vehicles and a majority of them were white children. So I think my family was already here when white flight started to happen. I remember looking at those photos and being like, “Wow, what a different demographic than what this neighborhood was like when I was growing up.” I mean, it’s changing now, too.
Jimmy: Right. And because we've talked a little bit about the intersections of K-Town, I want to ask you what one strength or one major asset you think stands out within K-Town?
Diana: I think it's the community itself. I mean, going back to the Riots, what came out of that was the Neighborhood Councils, right? People saying, “We need more of a voice, more agency in our communities, and we need closer ties to the electeds for our communities.” So you had people that came together from the community and were like, “We need to do something.” And even to this day, when there is so much disinvestment, you have organizations like Ktown for All that's addressing the needs that the city isn’t. You have Tenants Unions, you have VyBe. VyBe is Vermont/Beverly because other people also have a connection to that intersection, community members that came together to support tenants in need. You also have KYCC... So many community groups that are so central to K-Town. I think that what makes K-Town so special is that there's so much passion and love for the community. When the city falls short or city officials fall short, the community members step in and address the problems themselves.
Jimmy: That's right. I'm so glad to hear you say this. And what do you think is a major drawback or a shortcoming in K-Town? Something that is key for us to keep in mind as we consider planning and/or development in the neighborhood?
Diana: For me, it's always going to come back to housing. The lack of affordability, the lack of accessibility, the lack of healthy housing, the lack of housing that is habitable. When I look around, yeah, the demographics are different for sure. But there’s always been a long history of disinvestment in Koreatown. And where there is investment now, it's in folks that are paying $3,000 for studio apartments, or the people that are coming in and contributing something financially. But I've never seen an investment in the people that are here—the longtime community members—or even the community members now that are living on the streets. I think that's a big issue. I mean, it's always going to come back to housing.
Jimmy: That's right.
Diana: We don't have vacancy control. We barely have rent control. So there are so many things to consider to address the housing crisis head-on.
Jimmy: You have an extremely personal relationship with that. You know exactly how deep this can get for people without a set of protections, for people who have to go and learn about their rights with last-minute notice. You have experience with the housing crisis in K-Town, and I'm wondering if you could say a little bit about that.
Diana and her mom in Koreatown, or Little Bangladesh, in 2018. Photo by JIMBO TIMES.
Diana: I mean, when I came back from college, we got our second no-fault eviction. I couldn't do anything about it the first time when I was a child. My mom had to figure it out all on her own. The second time, I was immediately like, “What can I do?” So I just tried to exhaust all the community resources that I knew were there. I went to the Neighborhood Council. I went to the Tenants Union. I went to the Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust (CLT). Beverly-and-Vermont keeps coming up! I think, again, it goes back to what makes K-Town so strong as a community. So I went and I was like, “Hi, I've lived here my entire life. I'm in danger of not living here. And it's so bizarre to think about how I just can no longer afford to live in the community that I call home.” And I found so much support in that. So much of that experience is what led me to where I am now. And it just further fueled my passion and work in K-Town.
Jimmy: So when was that second eviction filed against you and your mom?
Diana: 2018, 2019.
Jimmy: Okay, so just about five years ago. Wow. You know, it's interesting, Diana, because I saw the other day that the median purchase price of a home has gone from, like, $600,000 to about $900,000, since about 2018. Your story is very much an insight into why it has grown so exponentially. The need for housing has only increased. And so in this system that we accept and continue to abide by, the more scarce resources only go up in value.
Diana: There's also greed at the other end of the need.
Jimmy: That's right.
Diana: I see in my work today that landlords in K-Town are looking for just about every reason to evict tenants that aren't paying market rates. Tenants that have lived here 20-plus years who pay very, very low rent. They're finding any reason like, “Oh, your dog that has lived with you for six years is not on the lease. You need to go.”
Jimmy: And so, with that in mind, this is the most opportune time to educate our communities and tell these stories so that folks know how they can stand up against these improper, inappropriate, and inhumane ways of approaching people's form of living in the city. Like, in your case, you and your mom were very fortunate to connect with the bevy of resources here, and you're at a better place now.
Diana: Right.
Jimmy: Can you tell me a little bit about your time with the CLT and how that's transformed your living situation over the past couple of years?
Diana: Yeah. I mean, if it wasn't for the Community Land Trust, I wouldn't still be within Koreatown. At the time when we were being evicted, we had spent well over $1,000 in just rental occupations alone. So our resources were being drained. I was doing AmeriCorps at the time, being paid like $7.25 an hour. My mom was retired. So we didn't have very much to go anywhere. When I joined the Community Land Trust, I shared my story and I was lucky that some people in the community were made aware of a unit down the street that was for rent. It wasn't online, it was just word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth got me where I am now. And I mean, with the CLT, it's the idea of community ownership. The land that we're on is stolen, so the idea of land ownership is sort of bizarre to begin with. But what do we do with what we have? I think the best way forward is community ownership.
Jimmy: That's right, absolutely. So, in October of last year, there were these recordings that emerged from L.A. City leadership. It actually concerned remaking the map in Los Angeles, redrawing the political boundaries. And in that convo, K-Town came up and there were some pretty offensive things said about people living in K-Town. I'm wondering if you heard of that when the news first broke out, or if it's come to your attention more recently that K-Town was somehow involved in these talks.
Diana: I remember what they said in the conversation, and—as egregious as it was—unfortunately, I wasn't entirely surprised. There's been a history of this kind of thing.
Jimmy: What I've gathered from a number of folks is precisely that. Many of us, especially living in the city, can see with our own eyes where investment lies and where it is way far gone. So, to some significant extent, it doesn't surprise us when our communities are being spoken about in this way, because how they're being treated—or “abandoned” is probably more accurate to say—speaks for itself. But what might a civic leader or an elected official need to keep in mind going forward about this neighborhood and its needs, given your experience, given what you're seeing on the ground, and given maybe a range of possibilities for improving conditions here?
Diana: I would say it comes down to housing. For me, it's when I can't walk a few blocks of Koreatown without seeing somebody that doesn't have access to shelter. I think we're tired of being resilient. It's a great quality that K-Town has, that we ask community members to stand up and be like, “Hey, we're going to take care of this ourselves.” But at a certain point, it’s like, “Hey, electives, where are you?” There's so much work being done internally. That work should also come from the institution, the place of power. What are we doing to shelter people that are unsheltered? And not just band-aid solutions, like tiny homes or shipping containers. What are we doing to get people into permanent supportive housing? What are we doing to encourage landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers or establish something like that? How do we get people the support that they need, the mental health support they need, and just the very basic food-and-shelter support they need?
Jimmy: Diana, I really have to thank you for speaking with me. I appreciate your voice so much. I'm so happy that we can include it in this mosaic, in this collection of stories that we're gathering for this community. So, once again, from my heart to yours, a huge thanks.
Diana: I really do have a big love for this community and want the best for it.
Jimmy: That’s right. 100%.
Connect with Diana: Instagram
Connect with HEART LA: Website
Read more about Diana’s 2nd wrongful eviction in 2018 on JIMBO TIMES
