Man: We are taught to survive.

That's what Watts means to me.

You used to hear the old saying, You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy."

You can take me out of Watts, but you can't take Watts out of me.

The acronyms that I gave you earlier is embedded in my heart.

Wherever I go, I have to have a Watts mentality.

We are taught to survive.

Woman: For me, this community is very nostalgic.

Man 1: We are taught to survive.

Man 2: We're talking about the cooks, the artists, the music.

Moses Massenburg: I had no idea I was privileged to be in Watts.

I actually spoke my future to life.

Tim Watkins: That dream is coming to fruition.

Woman: When I was coming up, I was loved.

In this neighborhood, I was loved.

Announcer: This program was made possible in part by generous support from Carol Shandler, Paula R. Kendrick, and Nikolai Shandler Bokin.

Man: Thank you so much.

All right.

Welcome to Watts New Hope Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

It always gives us a good feeling to hear our mission story.

And, Sister Shawn, will you read the mission story for today for us?

Darryl Everett Jones: In 2007, I was diagnosed with third-stage colorectal cancer with 29 lymph nodes.

I was in the U.S.C.

hospital.

The doctor told me, "There's nothing else we can do for you."

They gave me seven weeks to live in 2007.

"And she again bear his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground."

Everton Ennis: OK, thank you so much.

So what did we learn from these two passages?

Well, we learned that one was... Darryl: So I'm in the hospital room, and I'm praying.

Whether you call it a dream or whatever it is, my grandmother, been deceased many years, she was there.

My mom has been passed away for 47 years, my dad, who's been gone now since 1996, he was in the room.

And the Lord, he gave me great options.

He said, "You can go ahead and go with Me, or you can stay here and do the work I got for you to do.

You got a choice."

I took the latter.

My wife and I were at church, and it just hit, "Now is the time.

This is what I spared you for.

Go let 'em know."

Everett and churchgoers: "On the sixth day, the Lord made the heaven and Earth, the sea and all that is..." Darryl: Let the church say amen.

Churchgoers: Amen.

Darryl: Let the church say amen again.

Churchgoers: Amen!

Darryl: I bring you greetings today from the St. Reed Missionary Baptist Church...

Being a minister now, coming up in these streets, you hear a lot of people say, "He can't preach for me.

I remember him when."

I don't look at what they say because people don't have no hell to keep me out of and no heaven to put me in.

That's up to God...

Preacher used to say, "If I had a thousand tongues, I couldn't thank you enough"...

It ain't always been peaches and cream, but God didn't give me cancer to straighten me up, because God don't do bad things to you, but he allows things to happen to wake you up.

Now, we can be smart and hit the alarm clock and say, "I'm getting up," or we can hit the snooze button and say, "Just give me five more minutes."

Sometimes, five more minutes can be the most detrimental minutes of your life because you missed out on what you could have got 4 minutes ago if you'd have got up.

Ava Post Koo: How you guys doing?

Man: Good.

You?

Ava: Got everything planted.

In January, is sprouting, so getting it ready for the grand opening, so I'm very excited.

Yeah, right now, we're planting some native milkweeds.

All right.

I'm gonna grab some more.

Ha ha!

Tim Watkins: MudTown Farms was and is meant to be a place for respite and solace, and we wanted it to be a place where you can get education.

We're going to teach people about how to grow, harvest, prepare, and consume food that alleviates their dependency on potato chips and orange soda.

That dream is coming to fruition.

[Indistinct conversation] Man: Being up here, it's like a whole nother spice.

Man 2: Right?

It's like you get to see the whole city from here for some reason.

Enrique Vasquez: My name is Enrique Vasquez, but I go by Kiki Smooth.

I was born and raised in Compton, but my grandma has lived in Watts all my life, so when my mom would go out dancing, they would send us to Watts.

Ha ha!

So, you know, I say, Compton's my front yard, and Watts is my backyard.

You know, they filmed a lot of movies here, so they filmed "White Men Can't Jump" over here.

Yeah.

And this is where all the homies go and play basketball.

This is where this guy plays basketball.

I crossed over the line.

There is no more color lines for me, and that's what Watts does.

It's in our roots.

It's the way we grew up.

There's a Latino house, and then there's a Black house.

Ha ha.

And then there's a Latino house, and there's a Black house.

They taught us about fried chicken.

We taught 'em about tacos.

Ha ha.

Now when you go to a chicken spot, you see more Mexicans, and then at the taco spot, you see more Blacks.

Ha ha!

And it's just what we taught each other.

And it's a beautiful thing.

Even my little cousin, he's half-Black/half-Mexican.

Looks like a Black man, talks Spanish.

Raised by my grandmother.

That's Watts for you.

That's Watts for you, you know?

To us, there's no colors here, you know.

This is where it really-- the skins really mix.

Where the magic happens.

Main Event: Yes, sir.

72 episodes--ha ha-- all done off this table.

Kiki Smooth: We were outside one day smoking, and my partner, Main Event, was like, "We should do a podcast."

And I was like, "Yeah!

We should."

Ha ha!

Some people are scared to come to Watts, so this is our way of kind of saying, "Come through."

Ha ha!

And I know who's here every Wednesday no matter what.

The show has just evolved into A, B, each letter of the day, yo.

So you know what time it is!

They told me that my people needed a voice because as Latinos, we don't really have a voice here because Black people are strong and they know how to stand up for themselves.

And as Latinos, we never learned that.

We don't have that.

It's time to stand up, and someone needs to talk, and that's who Kiki Smooth is.

So we're going to start off introducing ourselves, How was the weekend?, last week's show, into a song, then bring out the first... You feel me... We focus on Blacks and Latinos around the Watts community.

We're talking about the cooks, the bikers, the boxers, the basketball players, the artists, the music, the painting, the gutter.

Everything you can see in Watts that you can touch from the gardener to our ice-cream man we will interview.

[Cow bell clanging] Welcome to another episode of "High at... Main Event: "the Towers."

I'm the Main Event.

Kiki Smooth: I'm Kiki Smooth.

Freaky Fred: I'm Freaky Fred.

Kiki Smooth: We broadcast on the dead end where the Watts Towers is at.

My mother's is the corner house.

We started in my mom's front yard.

Then the pandemic hit.

And we kind of put the table outside one day, and it just stayed outside.

Ha ha!

[People speaking at once] Guest: Slowly but surely, I've been, you know, like, leveling up.

Kiki Smooth: So what was... the first pair you did... We are in a gang community, but it's culture here.

And that's just part of life, but people don't understand, we're still humans.

I want to be a voice for my community.

I want people to know that it's not what you think.

It's not the movies.

This is real life.

And in here, we take care of each other.

Here, we make sure we help each other cross to the next level.

You know what's the best part?

To see the community win, you know what I mean?

So everybody's going and gonna always continue to cheer for you, you feel me...

I am really part of this community, and I go far for my community because I live there.

So I try to keep it as beautiful and free that we can.

[Cow bell ringing] [Cheering and applause] Kiki Smooth: So in a way, too, like, you know, I give hope, so people come to Watts... [Continues, indistinct] [Indistinct conversation] Woman: You got to get some stuff wet.

Come on.

Child: ...all the bugs come out.

Janine Watkins: You have to get it nice and overflowed, wait for it to seep in the ground, and then go over it all over again till you get at least 4 inches of water down in the ground.

It's like watching paint dry.

For me, this community is very nostalgic.

My father's family comes out of Houston, Texas, where they migrated during the Southern migration to Watts.

They came to Watts with their two children, and the only child that had kids was my grandmother.

She had 12 kids.

I'd come here for summer vacations and Christmas vacations.

And coming to the city was like, kind of magical, as silly as it sounds.

It was very rich in culture.

There were people here.

My family was here.

We'd go to the park, we'd hang out.

In this neighborhood, I was loved.

There were things that happened that were bad, but I was loved in my family, I was loved in the neighborhood.

This was a predominantly Black neighborhood at one point, and to see a Black child struggle and to love that child, it was a natural response for me because I had been loved, and it felt like I was loving myself in retrospect, that I was actually caring for myself because someone had done the same thing for me in the past.

Hey, Tim?

Tim Watkins: Yes?

Janine: So you're gonna need some more amendments, 'cause this city dirt is hard.

Tim Watkins: Some more what?

Janine: Amendments, because it's really compacted.

[Child laughs] [Janine speaking indistinctly] Janine: You have the highest population of children in the county of Los Angeles.

Just being around food and around nature and being around silence is very important, especially for an urban child that has never experienced that.

So for kids to understand nature is very important because, How is this next generation, if they don't understand nature, going to be stewards of the earth?

And how are they going to exist in a quality environment if the Earth isn't cared for, or, if nothing else, the earth isn't respected?

So there has to be that close relationship in order for the earth to be regenerated.

You have to engage, you have to educate yourself.

You need to understand the systems that bind you, and you have to be innovative enough and have a survival mentality to get through it.

And that's what a child needs to be taught.

The freedom to think, the freedom to believe is the most powerful thing.

I'm really trying to be aware of the words that I use because I don't want a child to hear me talk or someone to hear me talk and think that I'm a victim or that my people are victims.

We're survivors, and even though the pain is the same, the state of mind makes all the difference in the world.

I don't need no pity.

My people don't need pity, but know we going to battle to the end.

That ride-or-die piece is real, the struggle is real, and we will continue to persevere.

And so for me, that's the beauty of it all.

No matter how bad things are, your mind-set and you being a survivor is the best thing that could ever happen to someone.

[Children speaking indistinctly] Janine: I really enjoy the treatments and the facades to this space.

Man: What we were trying to do was emulate different cultures where we had these images of Latino culture, which we call papel picado, which is all of those great type of paper that you see at quinceañeras... Janine: Yes, yes... Man: and weddings.

And it's a symbol of joy and family and also authenticity.

And so, we have the papel picado in perforated metal.

And at night, it glows...

When people say, "What do you do," I usually say, "I try to redevelop communities for them to find their full potential."

Guys, we were going to go into the vacant space and maybe talk about how we can end up designing a restaurant together.

Moving to America was a traumatic experience for my family.

We were leaving a civil war in South America, and I moved to Los Angeles when I was five from a rather provincial life in northern Argentina.

My partner Arturo Sneider and I started the company about 29 years ago.

Because we are both immigrants to the United States, we had a very different perspective of what community meant as it relates to looking at things as why they have to be the way they are.

We found real estate as a vehicle to effect change.

If we were able to incorporate some of the wellness and holistic things that you've taught over at MudTown Farms and incorporate some of that, you know, farm-to-table concepts with actual chef, you know, five-star restaurants here in Watts, that would be a very meaningful experience for everyone to learn from and then ultimately eat and enjoy.

Janine: Right.

Let's have that conversation.

Leandro: I think it's an accurate statement to say that Watts has had a long history of environmental discard and a lot of environmental irresponsibility.

We only develop in urban communities.

This is all we do.

This is all we've done for 29 years, and, sadly, almost everything that we touch in our projects has some degree of contamination that needs to be addressed.

I know it sounds a little strange, but by healing a little piece of land, we, in turn, heal ourselves.

And, you know, that matters.

All right.

Here we are at Southern Girl Desserts.

Hi, Catarah.

How are you?

Janine: ...my daughter worked for you all.

[Indistinct] worked... Shoneji Robison: I was gonna say, "Her niece?"

Oh, my God!

Janine: No, [indistinct].

She worked for you.

Yeah, yeah.

Shoneji: Yeah.

That's why I'm like... Janine: Yeah.

Shoneji: And Tina... Janine: Mm-hmm.

Shoneji: I'm good friends with Tina.

Janine: Nice, very nice.

Yeah.

Shoneji: I don't even know, Leandro, if you know this.

So Mr. Watkins, he allowed us to use the kitchen on Century.

Janine: The kitchen down Central.

Catarah Coleman: And that was over 10 years ago!

Janine: I remember that call like it was yesterday.

Leandro: I have suffered through bouts of substance abuse and alcoholism my whole life.

The opportunity to work on the type of projects that we do in the way that we do them keeps me centered, and it keeps me focused on only spending time on things that matter to me and that affect people's lives for the better.

Janine: They're building a kitchen at the farm, and they're sinking all of their kitchens--WLCAC is-- in order to allow for more people like yourselves to have access to that, and for more of a cottage industry to be built in this community and in South Central.

So I'm looking forward to doing work with you.

You know, there's a lot of festivals coming and work to be done.

Leandro: What I find so compelling about Watts is I just feel that there's truth here.

[Music] Tim Watkins: By 1923, Black farmers in Watts were becoming the predominant demographic, and they were great at farming.

It was an amazing place.

The Ku Klux Klan was also a predominant organization located in Watts, and enjoyed the benefit of covenant restrictions as a matter of poor public policy that restricted Black folks from living next door to white folks.

That's when the environmental destruction began.

Moses: I need you guys to put these boxes on the ground, where there's no boxes, OK?

[Kids speaking at once] Tim Watkins: The railroad right-of-ways today that traverse Watts north, east, south, and west are the single most contaminated system.

[Kids speaking indistinctly] Tim Watkins: Airplanes dropped fuel on Watts.

There was no restriction.

A pilot can elect to dump fuel, and they did dump fuel.

Kid: I'm over here.

Come get me.

Tim Watkins: The pipes in Watts that were put in 100 years ago, they leach lead.

The city, the county, the state, the federal government have already told us that our children are going to live 12 years less than elsewhere in Los Angeles as a result of being poisoned by their environment.

I'm trying to make the point that despite all of these things, people long and hope for a better way of life, and that's what compels me.

[Music] Janine: Every day, there's some kind of struggle, some kind of engagement.

WLCC does its work.

You got other institutions in the community that do their work, and then you have a lot of warriors on the street that do their work just like in Harlem or Chicago.

You know, you got activists doing the work all over the country.

I got a farmer who wants to take that back triangle spot in the back there.

Man: Yeah.

What's he want to do?

Janine: And we're gonna plant every kind of pepper you can think of.

So I think I'm gonna put some beds in the back because he's going to be growing in the back.

And then we can walk...

Politicians, different governmental structures, you know.

But you still have the same plight by the same ethnicities perpetrated against the same people.

And in all of that, it's still a beautiful time, you know, because it's always beautiful if there's possibilities.

Depending on what we do with the fence, we've got to do the vertical grow, right?

So we'll vertical grow, and we've got to come up with that equation on how much more acreage we get, if any.

But if we're growing on the fence lines until we decide what we're going to do on this front line, then you've got growing grounds that are vertical that we can quantify.

Demar Matthews: Being able to have a program that changes and this fence will look different, you know, as the months go on, I see a lot.

I see it not being static.

[Laughter] Janine: Everything's gonna be growing, right?

Demar: Yeah.

Growing, existing.

Janine: Everything's gonna be growing.

So it's the beauty of life's existence, that there's that exchange, that just when you think that they're telling you it can only be this way... it's any way that God or fate or the universe decides for it to be once you decide how you're going to determine your life or how you're going to project yourself into the world.

Children in America are taught money's so important, it's more important than people.

But time is what's most important and the quality of your life.

The richest man in the world cannot give you a second back, not a millisecond back.

The most luxurious thing you can own is time and your health.

[Music] Tim Watkins: In 2012, we started the process, but, boy, what a process it was.

We discovered we didn't have enough money, and so we had to break part of the dream and eliminate many of the features.

And so, what we ended up with were the two main buildings.

As we approach the grand opening, there's still some bittersweetness to it.

We need to run lines all through that field and stake them to the ground.

We have to put two pipes going over here so that we can get these drains in.

It's imperative.

It's real important now because a guy is waiting on us.

[Man chuckles] Darryl: This was my first house.

This is where I was born.

And, you know, when I was a kid, this used to look like a mansion.

Carmen Taylor Jones: As children, we lived on the same street, and we didn't even know it.

Now we've been married for 30 years.

On my birthday, in 2008, we got a call, and, unfortunately, our 15-year-old daughter was killed.

She had been attending a birthday party.

And one young man that could not gain entrance went outside.

They got a gun, and they stood outside and shot through the windows, and my baby was killed.

[Music] God is good.

He allowed me to find peace and comfort.

And He restored all of my joy.

I've been working with Susan Burton with A New Way of Life.

I would go and get the ladies, and we'd go out to lunch or a movie and just sit down and have conversations.

I'd tell them, "I know you guys think this is for you, but you inspire me with your stories of overcoming and tenacity."

And so that's what I do.

For me, I call it soul work, s-o-u-l. What can I do, Lord?

How can I lend myself?

And then prepare me for the battle as I go.

[Music] [Traffic noise] Darryl: There was one Hispanic in the neighborhood, the Lunas.

And this is where we ended up staying.

We moved from there to here.

But we thought we got a big house.

Carmen: Well, it is big.

Darryl: Oh, it's long.

Carmen, chuckles: Yeah.

Darryl: But it was a shotgun house.

You opened the front door, you could see out the back.

It's hard for a man to go fill out a application when he been in Watts all his life and we don't have nothing to say what kind of experience we have.

What we going to put on there for our past experience?

Nothing.

All I got is the 'hood.

[Dog barks] My old school, first school.

Carmen: '96.

You know, it still looks good... Darryl: If you look at the grass over there and you look at the grass over there, one might be brown and one might be green, and if you ask a kid in Watts, "What's wrong with that grass?," he'll tell you it's dead.

But then that's when you teach a kid and tell him, "No, the grass is not dead.

This one is just being taken care of more than the other one."

Carmen: Did you know your neighbors here on Success?

No?

Darryl: No one.

Carmen: Really?

Darryl: No one.

You had to stay off the corners.

And as far as we came was to the market.

And he gave everybody credit, and you paid him on Friday, if you had a job.

Carmen: Not us.

We had to pay for our Charms suckers.

Darryl: We all have abilities, but if we had more resources, if we had something just a little bit closer where we didn't have to go out because going out nowadays is dangerous because you're going through another neighborhood.

Going through another neighborhood is now going through another territory or another boundary, another avenue of non-successfulness that don't like your color, "And we don't like your color because you come from over there."

This is one of the greatest places to grow up, to live, to learn because when you learn the hard way, it makes life easier for you out there.

It makes life easier for you.

That's why we go back to, We are taught to survive.

[Music] Announcer: This program was made possible in part by generous support from Carol Shandler, Paula R. Kendrick, and Nikolai Shandler Bokin.