LAT: Latinos’ rising fortunes are epitomized in Downey

Los Angeles Times:

When Rick Rodriguez Sr. moved into a three-bedroom home in Downey in the mid-1980s, he recalled a neighbor interrupting his yardwork with a question: “You’re not going to be one of those guys that parks in the frontyard and lets chickens run around in the frontyard, are you?”

Rodriguez, 54, one of a few Latinos in what was then a mostly white suburb, replied: “No, sir. I’ll make sure to keep the chickens away from the frontyard.”

…”People believe that once they kind of made it, and living in Downey is a symbol of making it,” Vallejo said, “that they should behave in a certain way to demonstrate or signal their class status.”

…When he moved to the northern part of Downey 25 years ago, Alarcon said he felt out of place. There was no graffiti, no homeless people, no brassy ranchera music blaring late into the night.