From the Wreckage of the ’92 Riots, a Better Los Angeles Rises

After 25 Years, a More Diverse, Civic-Minded City Is Embracing Its Shared Destiny

Luxury condominiums compete with foreign banks on the new skyline of Koreatown. On a Saturday night, 20-somethings crowd the sidewalks, huddling around food trucks, circling in and out of karaoke bars, biryani places, barbecue joints, and a high-rise driving range. This same neighborhood, and other swathes of Los Angeles, seemed doomed 25 years ago when more than 2,000 Korean business were damaged or destroyed during the three days of civil unrest that followed the infamous verdict in the prosecution of police officers who beat Rodney King.

The distance L.A. has traveled …

By Roberto Suro and Gary Painter | April 27, 2017

When Is Rioting the Answer?

From the Boston Tea Party to Ferguson, Americans Have Employed Violence to Improve Their Lot. But Does It Work?

July 8, 2015

America was founded on riots. From as far back as the days of tar-and-feathering British tax collectors, citizens have resisted power by fighting back, using fists when their voices weren’t …

How the 1992 L.A. Riots Sparked My Imagination and Opened My Eyes

Research For My Novel Uncovered Tales of Survival in a City I Had Never Fully Known

by Ryan Gattis | May 4, 2015

I didn’t set out to write a book about the 1992 L.A. riots. In fact, if anyone had told me I’d end up writing a novel featuring 17 different first-person …

20/20 Riotous Hindsight

The Southern California Of 1992 Was Almost Unrecognizably Different From Today

by Matt Welch | May 3, 2012

Certain human calamities are so all-encompassing, so shocking to the senses, that they become impossible to contain within a neat narrative. Think 9/11, or Hurricane Katrina, or the federal siege …

Los Angeles riots