First, I want to say -- Great book and Great website! It shows that the same hard times were shared by each and every generation of Gaylords out there.
I have been reading the Speakout messages regarding the history and future, how being a gang member was bad and how our kids should not be in gangs, etc. etc. etc. . . Let me put in my two cents worth.
I had a younger brother who my mother always told me "don't let him hang around with your friends (a.k.a. the Gaylords) b/c he will get hurt." So, I took it to heart and did not
encourage my brother to hang out on Lawndale with me even though he badly wanted to. He even stole my sweater one day and was proudly wearing it in a bad neighborhood. A few Lawndale guys and I had to go hunt him down to tell him how dumb it was and bring him home safely. After pushing him away, he started hanging out with some neighborhood kids drinking and smokingpot with no purpose at all. Then, on January 10, 1983, a fire broke out at one of my brother's "friend's"
houses. My brother's "friends" left him passed out on a couch to die.
The fact that I didn't let my brother become a Gaylord is the Cross that I will have to bear the rest of my life.
I know my friends and fellow gang members from Lawndale would never leave me in a fight or a fire under any circumstances and they have proven it over the past 30+ years we have been hanging
together. Me, for one, will never regret being a Lawndale Gaylord b/c of the friendships and the
purpose it gave us back then -- and the friendships I have now. Even today, we all still hang out together.
I will always be proud to say
DeviLAWNDALE FOREVER, FOREVER LAWNDALE! l