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The bedroom community of Gardena seems, on the surface, a model suburban American city: relatively peaceful, ethnically diverse, mostly middle-class.
Founded in 1930 on rich farmland, the area was transformed after World War II into a city of neat tract homes and industrial buildings.
City officials extol Gardena for its ethnic balance, citing it as a major reason for its selection in 1980 as an All-America City by the National Municipal League.
In 1980, Gardena was about 31% Anglo, 23% black, 21% Japanese and 17% Latino. The rest included Filipinos, Chinese, Native Americans and a burgeoning Korean community. By 1987, according to National Planning Data Corp. figures projected from the 1980 census, Gardena's 50,000 residents were 26.3% Anglo, 23% black, 22.7% Latino and 28% other races.
The various ethnic groups have lived peacefully but separately in Gardena since the 1960s when middle-class blacks began moving into the Hollypark area at the city's north. Japanese and Anglos tend to live in the central and southern portions of the city, census tracts showed.
Most Gardena residents are pleased with the relatively peaceful life in their suburban city, but Gardena is far...