Review

This solidly researched and well-written book provides a case study of a working-class suburb and shows how economic, social, and political developments influenced its growth and decline. Located immediately southeast of the City of Los Angeles, South Gate was established in the post-World War I period as an opportunity for working-class people to buy cheap lots and to build their own homes. "Sweat equity" enabled these newcomers to southern California to construct modest homes on large lots and to supplement their income by growing vegetables and raising rabbits and chickens. South Gate residents wanted to keep their property taxes low and opposed infrastructure improvements such as paved streets and street lights. This put them in conflict with merchants who wanted to develop the city's commercial potential. A badly flawed state law, the Mattoon Act, penalized property owners and resulted in a political revolution that for a time ousted the usual civic leaders from public office. Eventually the Mattoon Act was repealed, but by the late 1930s so many new residents had come to South Gate that the merchants were able to claim that they, too, had opposed the unfair law, and they recaptured political leadership of the city.	1
World War II transformed South Gate. Nearby industrial growth provided opportunities for economic improvement that changed the life styles of South Gate residents. The dynamics of this community were unusual in that the city continued as a working-class suburb, most of its residents in blue-collar occupations. They passively supported the labor unions to which they belonged, expecting union leaders to win raises from management. Mortgage equity replaced sweat equity, families enjoyed backyard barbecues, wives went to work and provided extra income. More children went to college.	2
South Gate's period of middle-class prosperity proved astonishingly brief, roughly 1945–1960; and then political realities confronted the suburb. Their lots and homes had come with restrictive covenants that kept people of color out of South Gate. The dividing line at Alameda Boulevard made South Gate a white enclave as Watts, west of the line, became a black neighborhood. Shelley v. Kraemer ended restrictive covenants in 1948, but realtors and residents fought a long battle to evade and avoid the Supreme Court decision. In the 1920s residents had chosen to send their children to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) rather than incur the expenses of creating their own school district. However, forty years later, civil rights activists began their long campaign to integrate the LAUSD, and South Gate residents found themselves in the front lines against integration of their schools and their neighborhood. The predominantly Democratic community believed the cornerstone of their existence and success—their homeownership—devalued by Democratic leaders who endorsed integration. They responded by voting Republican, forming organizations that opposed integration, and trying to maintain a politically static position in a time of dynamic social change. Nicolaides ends her book in August 1965 as the Watts Riot erupted. She shows South Gate residents and merchants guarding their homes and businesses, watching buildings burn just across the railroad tracks running down Alameda Boulevard. In a brief epilog, the author notes the transformation of South Gate since 1965. Although it is still a working-class suburb, white flight took away the people who had created what turned out to be a fragile flower. Today, working-class South Gate is largely Latino, with its occupants showing some similarity to their white predecessors of the 1920s but with fewer opportunities for economic success.	3
Nicolaides has crafted an absorbing study that utilizes sociological and political as well as historical perspectives. She successfully combines statistical data and anecdotal information to present the rise and decline of South Gate as a study of human aspirations and failings. Her interviews with long-time South Gate residents reveal the author's ability to treat often painful recollections sympathetically and non-judgmentally. It would have been far too easy to describe white South Gate residents as racists, but Nicolaides does not fall into this rhetorical trap. Although she does not compare the South Gate experience to working-class suburbs of other cities, the events do not seem unique. Other cities have faced the same problems and not done much better than South Gate in dealing with them. Teachers seeking to challenge their students with topics such as urban history, the roots of modern racism, or the civil rights movement will find Nicolaides's book a valuable source of information. They will also find it an important account of people who ultimately find just how difficult it is to control their lives and environs in an increasingly complex society.	4
Los Angeles Valley College Abraham Hoffman

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