The East Los Angeles Community Youth Center, a 94-year-old gym located off of East Cesar Chavez Avenue and Dozier Street, that was frequently used by many aspiring professional boxers closed its doors last Thursday, upsetting many who were regulars there.
"Muhammad Ali's been here. Other great boxers have been here, and I want to be one of those guys," said 17-year-old Angel Ortega, an aspiring professional boxer.
In another era, the youth center was known as the Cleland House.
Now the boxers and other members of the community aren't just fighting inside the ring. They are fighting to keep the youth center open. Some community members formed East L.A. United, a group protesting the move.
"I love this place, even the smell of it, the sweat," boxer Francisco Javier Martinez said. "I know it's kind of gross, but I like it."
The president of the board of directors of the youth center, Frank Villalobos, said the center got too expensive to maintain. Villalobos said there wasn't enough money to pay the nearly $700,000 it would cost to fix everything, so the property was put up for sale. Green Dot Public Schools confirmed they are in the process of purchasing the property.
"At the end of the day, we were $350,000 in debt," Villalobos explained.
Villalobos said a new East Los Angeles Community Youth Center will open at the end of November nearby. He said it will offer boxing, but focus on art, technology and academics.
Some kids and their parents said they will not be moving to the new location.
Juvi Segura, a parent of one of the boxers who has seen the new location, said it can't replace the historic center.
"There are many other sports that can exist with the facilities that are here. There's swimming. There's no swimming pool there. There's no racquetball court there. There's no gym for basketball or ballet, gymnastics. There's nothing there," said Segura.
Other parents, who have seen the new location about two miles away, said it's too far. Melania Rincon-Sanchez said she would have to put her 10-year-old on public transportation in order to get to practice.
"It's an inconvenience. A big inconvenience because this is our community," Rincon-Sanchez insisted.
But they're protesting the move for other reasons as well. Ortega said this youth center has helped him get out of some of his darkest moments.
"I was getting into a lot of trouble, just fighting in the streets a lot, getting into problems with gangs," Ortega explained. "And to see my mom cry, telling me every night, 'Why aren't you coming home?' It made me think, 'What am I doing?'" he said.
Ortega's coach, Paul Hernandez said Ortega has become a better person in the last two years he's been boxing.
"He's been kicked out of my gym about six times, " Hernandez said about Ortega. "He's cussed me out once. I've gotten his trophies and took them back home and said, 'it's over with,' and he's still here," Hernandez said.
Hernandez said Ortega isn't the only one who has had a life-changing experience at the youth center.
Rodolfo Garcia said trouble always followed him until he came to the East Los Angeles Community Youth Center.
"It has helped me out a lot, with anger issues," Garcia said. "For me, I'll just say boxing saved my life."
The boxers aren't saying goodbye to the youth center without one last fight. Hernandez said they will protest the move and sale of the property during a public hearing on October 4.
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning, there will be a public hearing on October 4 for a construction permit request to build a new charter middle school on the youth center's property. Pacific Charter School Development put in the request.
East L.A. United said community members and boxers will protest the move and sale of the property during the public hearing.
Guillermo Medina, a long-time resident of the area, said he wants to make it clear that they aren't against building new schools.
"We're just against the closing of the center. It just means so much to a lot of people, and it's such a shame that it would just go down for the sake of another school," Medina said.
In the meantime, boxing coach Hernandez said he will coach all the kids in a backyard if he has to.
Reach Staff Reporter here and follow her here.
Annenberg Media