Block Party

The postgame procession greeting Tyler Ebell is straight out of a coronation, replete with admirers and well-wishers for a knight in black and gold armor. Among the procession are reporters, for whom Ebell, the record-setting senior running back for Ventura High, reserves the same modest answer for questions about his success. He thanks his offensive line as if he's been crowned king. Which, in a way, he has.

Barbecue grills sizzle. Neighbors chat while children of all ages giggle and run through the streets. Long tables are loaded with mouth-watering, homemade dishes. Sound like a get-together in a small Midwestern town? No, it's a scene that's played out hundreds of times throughout the year in cities all over Southern California: the neighborhood block party. From Malibu to San Dimas, Pasadena to Long Beach and everywhere in-between, the block party is alive and well.

On a street where gangsters have notoriously ruled for generations, Rosa Recinos lounged in a plastic chair on the sidewalk Saturday morning and soaked in the scene. "The children are laughing and playing outside," she said. "This is something you would have never seen here before." After nearly 30 years of living on Drew Street in Northeast Los Angeles, the 50-year-old Salvadoran immigrant, like many of her neighbors, has lived through it all on these two blocks.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a permit allowing activities related to the city's first gay and lesbian festival this weekend, while about a dozen irate residents voiced their objections. "I truly feel this will cause a strong negative feeling against gays in this town," resident Sally Hales said. In particular, some residents objected to "block party" activities planned in the area of Mountain Road and South Coast Highway.

Saturday's Jackson Street block party, which brought together the Hmong and Latino residents who dominate the 300 block, was proof that goodwill can be conveyed without many words. The Hmong, ethnic Chinese from Laos, and Latinos, mostly of Mexican descent, have lived side by side for three months--since seven Hmong families moved into an apartment complex--but they rarely mingled.

Matthew Lasserre was in a world of his own. The 3-year-old Oxnard boy sat behind the wheel of a patrol car, jabbering on the hand radio. He fiddled with the flashing lights, played with the hand-held spotlight and swiveled his head, looking for bad guys. His mother, Elissa Lasserre, watched her son fondly as he played police officer. "He's a typical boy," Lasserre said. "He loves fire engines and police cars."

A group of kids takes turns seeing who can throw a roll of string through a hole cut in a dirty piece of particleboard. A man grills chicken on a trailer-like barbecue that he usually tows to his children's soccer games. In their shady frontyards in northwest Pasadena, residents sell clothes and toys, horchata and tamales.

From the coastline, where tanned bodies and brightly colored umbrellas formed a ribbon along the hot sandy beaches, to the parks and main streets where parades and festivals were held, Orange County partied, marched, danced, cycled and roller-bladed its way through another Independence Day Monday. As the aroma from countless back-yard barbecues faded away, skies were filled with the pageantry of fireworks displays over 22 cities.

Sacramento King rookie center Michael Stewart had a ball against the Clippers. Stewart, a former King ballboy, blocked an NBA season-high nine shots and the Kings ended the Clippers' season-best three-game winning streak, 105-89, Tuesday night before 13,136 at Arco Arena. "Working hard, blocking shots, that's what I do," Stewart said after the Kings defeated the Clippers for the first time in three games this season.

The race to recovery began two weeks ago, just after the Santa Ana winds swept the last fireball onto houses in San Bernardino's Del Rosa community. In one horseshoe-shaped enclave, where the so-called Old fire destroyed 20 of the 34 homes lining North Dwight Way, East Ralston Avenue and North Camellia Drive, the neighbors made a pact: Whoever rebuilds first will throw a block party to end all block parties. Will it be Sam and Tami Goldstein?