In 1980, Gardena was about 31% Anglo, 23% black, 21% Japanese and 17% Latino. The rest included Filipinos, Chinese, Native Americans and a burgeoning Korean community. By 1987, according to National Planning Data Corp. figures projected from the 1980 census, Gardena's 50,000 residents were 26.3% Anglo, 23% black, 22.7% Latino and 28% other races.

"It's just that way," said [Edmond J. Russ], who is Anglo. "I was on the (Gardena City) Council during the Watts riots, but that was all farther north from Gardena. We really didn't have any problem with that at all." A multiracial advisory committee formed during his council tenure may also have averted potential problems, he said.

= Lorenzo Ybarra, whose family has lived in the Gardena area since the turn of the century, remembers when Gardena High School teachers in the 1950s "didn't think Mexican-Americans were qualified to pursue academic careers." He was advised to take vocational courses.