On Sunday night in MacArthur Park, I fell right in the middle of West Coast Hip Hop history. I actually stumbled on a celebration of Radiotron at the Levitt Pavilion inside the east side park, where a celebration of the Radiotron was going on, and I knew about nothing about it. Located in the neighborhood, Radiotron was in fact first opened as a nightclub in 1980 by one of Ice T.’s close friends, it was then closed and reopened as a youth center, where young dancers could freely express their creativity, and ended up playing a big part in the West Coast Hip Hop culture. The movie ‘Breakin’’ was filmed there and the legacy of iconic place still lives on.
When I arrived at the Pavilion, I didn’t know what was exactly going on, a series of guys was parading on stage giving us a sort of LA Hip Hop history, while some performers showed us a taste of what Radiotron is/was: the center was demolished in 1985 despite attempts to save it. Founder Carmelo Alverez explained that the Surgeon General declared breakdancing hazardous to health, and the city banned teen clubs. A very good way to prevent teen being involved in gangs! And Sunday was a celebration to commemorate Radiotron 30th anniversary.
People were constantly talking about Ice T, and dropping other big (and lesser) names of the Hip Hop world such as The Glove, Dr Dre, Jurassic 5, Egyptian Lover, Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas and for someone who can hardly make the difference between Ice T and Ice Cube, it was kind of landing in foreign country. Pioneers of the West Coast Hip Hop world came on stage, like West Coast first rap recording artist Disco Daddy, godmother of LA Hip Hop Medusa, and everyone had something to say while doing a few dance moves. Ice T’s name was regularly coming back on everyone’s lips and his ex-girlfriend Darlene Ortiz (she is on the cover of his ‘Power’ album) showed up. She still looked hot and announced she was currently writing a book.
Between the talking, a lot of people came to dance, and some of them were not that young anymore, they looked like grandfathers still doing it as if they were 12, as David Guzman, aka MC Sin, said. Alverez talked about Radiotron’s influence, saying that Ozomatli’s founder Wil-Dog came to the center when he was just a kid, or that Radiotron’s Little Ceasar was the kid who ended up breakdancing for Ice Cube, Madonna, and Janet Jackson.
Who else was there? South Bronx artist Percee P was representing the East Coast, Jazzy-D, DJ Pioneer Chris ‘The Glove’ Taylor, members of Zulu Nation, a guy from Stax TV who was talking a lot… for someone who doesn’t really know anything about Hip Hop, I really enjoyed their dance show, described as movements ‘sending waves to the body’. I got it, this Radiotron place was the CBGB of Hip Hop? During the night, there was a lot of ‘Hip Hop saved my life’ discourse, ‘Bronx Angeles’ love, peace, and all the good stuff you don’t see much in today’s rap… I spotted a guy wearing a ‘More humble rappers please’ t-shirt and it summed up what I was thinking… Radiotron was the real deal, involved in youth programs and saving kids from gangs by the purpose of breakdance and Hip Hop.
My mother always told me about the radiotron She said she used to have a big crush on Ice-T & Jazzy D. I had the opportunity to meet Jazzy and it’s crazy he doesn’t look his age at all. My mother said she was in a mall in Pomona and Jazzy was out there passing out flyers And that’s how her in a lot of her friends was introduced to the radio tron