Framework

Capturing the world through photography, video and multimedia

Los Angeles — This March 3, 1991, image taken from video by George Holliday in Lake View Terrace shows the Rodney King beating.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: George Holliday

Los Angeles — Rodney King shows bruises he sustained at the hands of four Los Angeles police officers in this March 6, 1991, photo. The beating was recorded by George Holliday, who just had gotten a new camcorder and decided to test it after noticing the noise and lights of a police helicopter.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Kevork Djanezian / Associated Press

Simi Valley — Los Angeles Police Officer Laurence Powell, center, is hugged by former LAPD Officer Timothy Wind as Sgt. Stacy Koon observes from the background, right, after the verdict in the Rodney King beating trial was read. All defendants were acquitted, except one count against Powell in which the jury could not decide.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Reed Saxon / Associated Press

Simi Valley — Members of the jury that found four Los Angeles police officers not guilty in the Rodney King assault case file aboard a Ventura County Sheriff's Department bus outside the Simi Valley courthouse, April 29, 1992.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Alan Hagman / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A tear gave witness to the reaction of the Rev. Cecil L. Murray, pastor of the 8,000-member First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, as the verdicts were announced.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Robert Gabriel / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Protesters after the verdict in Los Angeles.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A rioter attacks a car at Florence and Normandie in Los Angeles after the King verdict.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A mob at Florence and Normandie attacked this Asian man as he stepped off a bus. Anyone at the intersection who was not black was attacked during the first few hours.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A female motorist stumbles as she gets out of her car, which was pelted with rocks at Florence and Normandie.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — The bloodied occupants of a car leave Florence and Normandie.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A young boy in the crosswalk has just thrown a rock at the photographer's car as others run around the intersection of Florence and Normandie outside Tom's Liquor and Deli. The store was later looted.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Rioters at Florence and Normandie.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — The early demonstrations in front of Parker Center were relatively peaceful as police faced off against the growing crowd. Once night fell, the group grew more violent.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Rosemary Kaul / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Protesters kick in the windshield of a Jaguar parked on Main Street across from City Hall on the first night of the riots.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Alan Duignan / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — An LAPD car is set on fire and overturned by a roving crowd which was originally protesting outside Parker Center.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Alan Duignan / Los Angeles Times

A protester outside Parker Center in Los Angeles.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Air view of fires burning out of control in the vicinity of Vermont and Vernon avenues southwest of the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Randy Leffingwell / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Sandra Evers-Manley, president of Beverly Hills-Hollywood chapter of NAACP, appears to be praying as a building burns.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — The skeleton of a burned car sits at the intersection of Normandie and Florence 4/29/1992. LA riots (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A shopping mall goes up in flames at La Brea Avenue and Pico Boulevard, where someone spray-painted a statement about violence.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Midtown showing plumes of smoke from the numerous building fires in the city on April 30, 1992.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Fires rage on both sides of Western Avenue along Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood on April 30.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A looter wheels a shopping cart full of diapers past a burning market on April 30.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Looters line up to get in as others exit the smashed glass doors of the Thrifty Drugstore at Vermont Avenue and 3rd Street the day after the Rodney King verdict.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Gerard Burkhart / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Looting went on openly as rioting widened in Los Angeles on April 30. Two men carry booty from an electronics store at Broadway and 47th Street.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Con Keyes / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A man fends off would-be looters from a liquor store at 3rd and Berendo streets during the second day of rioting. The man, wearing a white glove, was able to keep the mob at bay until police units arrived.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Larry Davis / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A car carries looted furniture froma store at Western and Maplewood avenues April 30.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: J. Albert Diaz / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — People drag goods across Vermont Avenue at 2nd Street in Koreatown while a newly ignited strip mall burns behind them April 30.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Jim Mendenhall / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A market at 3rd and Catalina streets is ransacked during the second day of the riots following the King verdict.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Larry Davis / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A young boy helps his father loot the Big 5 Sporting Goods store at Western Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard on April 30.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: J. Albert Diaz / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Looters carry off weapons and shoes taken from a Big 5 sporting goods store in the 3400 block of Wilshire Boulvevard during the riots on April 30.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Joe Kennedy / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A man flees from a looted sporting goods store at Vermont Avenue and 1st Street as LAPD officers arrive on April 30.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Gerard Burkhart / For The Times

Los Angeles — Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies keep watch on a group of people arrested after a store on Martin Luther King Boulevard was looted on April 30.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Steve Dykes / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — An LAPD officer falls while chasing a suspected looter on Vermont Avenue near Martin Luther King Boulevard on April 30. The man was caught and subdued soon after.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Steve Dykes / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Store owners defend their property as gunfire breaks out in Koreatown at Western Avenue and 5th Street on April 30.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Hyungwon Kang / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — An employee of a Korean supermarket returns fire from drive-by shooters at the corner of Western Avenue and 5th Street while attempting to protect the market from looters.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Hyungwon Kang / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A National Guardsman stands at alert near graffiti that spells out support for Rodney King.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Randy Leffingwell / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — LAPD officers respond to the scene where two people were shot at the corner of 8th Street and Kingsley Drive. One died.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Edward Song Lee, 18, foreground, was shot to death and three others were injured in an exchange of gunfire with looters at 3rd and Hobart streets in Koreatown on April 30. Police questioned the survivors of the attack who were shot while trying to protect a pizza parlor.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Hyungwon Kang / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Cornelius Pettus, owner of Payless market, throws a bucket of water on flames at next-door business Ace Glass on April 30.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Hyungwon Kang / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — LAPD officer Delwin Fields guards the intersection at Central Avenue and 46th Street on April 30.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — LAPD officers stand guard as fire units battle a blaze near 19th Street and Adams Boulevard on April 30.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Patrick Downs / Los Angeles Times

Looters and curiosity seekers at a Los Angeles strip mall at 17th Street and Western Avenue.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Rick Meyer / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Western Beauty Supply was just one of many businesses looted in the area of Venice Boulevard and Western Avenue.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Lacy Atkins / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — CHP officer Hugh Gnecco checks for looters in a Chief Auto Parts store at Washington Boulevard and Western Avenue.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Rick Meyer / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Tony Meeks, left, loads a pistol to help Norman Simples protect his store at Vermont and Manchester avenues while they wait for help from the National Guard.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Lacy Atkins / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A security guard takes cover and waits for trouble at the California Market in a mini-mall at 5th Street and Western Avenue in Koreatown.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Hyungwon Kang / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — LAPD beating victim Rodney King meets the press outside his lawyer's office in Beverly Hills to call for an end to the violence.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Larry Davis / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — An aerial view of Crenshaw Boulevard at Coliseum after the riots

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Jim Mendenhall / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A child bows his head as family members are arrested for allegedly looting a store at the corner of Rodeo Road and La Cienega Boulevard.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Patrick Downs / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — An LAPD officer trains his weapon on men arrested for looting as a CHP officer handcuffs one of them on Martin Luther King Boulevard near Vermont Avenue.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Robert Gabriel / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — National Guard troops patrol near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Vermont Avenue as a mini-mart burns.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — At Pico Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, Bobby Wade holds a sign asking for peace.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Marilyn Weiss / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — A National Guard member hunkers down as shots are fired after midnight at 6th Street and Western Avenue on May 2, 1992.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: J. Albert Diaz / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — Guillermina Moreno and her 2-month-old daughter Karen rest at a shelter at Dorsey High School on May 2, 1992. Their apartment building on Olympic Boulevard was burned and they lost all their possessions.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — South Los Angeles near the intersection of Vermont and Manchester avenues was among the areas hardest hit by the violence in spring 1992. Every store on the east side of Vermont was gutted, beginning with a Korean-owned swap meet. Vermont runs from top to bottom.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Jim Mendenhall / Los Angeles Times

Compton — A boy checks out Marine's M-16 in front of a supermarket in Compton on May 3, 1992.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Larry Davis / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — LAPD officers act as crossing guards at 50th Place and Vermont Avenue on May 4, 1992, for a student on his way to Audubon Junior High School, one of the campuses closed by the violence.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

Long Beach — Marine Lance Cpl. Jason P. Brown gets a hug of support from Kayla Man, 17, of Carson just before curfew fell on May 6, 1992, in Long Beach.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Rick Corrales / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles — At Vermont Avenue and 27th Street, Tom Sedry and Arturo Pallacios were among those helping to clean up a building in which space had been shared by a discount store and the Exposition Park Church of the Nazarene. Many of the people were members of the congregation, but many others simply wanted to help.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Tony Barnard / Los Angeles Times

Mission Hills — Family members mourn Edward A. Travens, a 15-year-old who was killed in a drive-by shooting on the first night of the riots. His father, Allen Travens, left, mother Rosie Travens, center, and sister Jamie Travens, right, attend his funeral at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery one week after the verdicts in the case of the LAPD officers charged in the beating of Rodney King.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

More galleries on Framework

return to gallery

Photos: The 1992 Los Angeles riots

Japan marks 2 years since tsunami

Japan marked the second anniversary Monday of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that left nearly 19,000 people dead or missing and has displaced more than 300,000.  View Post»

   

Photos: The 1992 Los Angeles riots

Pictures in the News | Nov. 6, 2012

In today's Pictures in the News: Americans line up to vote across the country, cleanup continues after super-storm Sandy struck the East Coast, Pakistani policemen patrol past a...   View Post»

   

Photos: The 1992 Los Angeles riots

Space Shuttle pictures 1972-2011

With the flight of Atlantis, the 30-year-plus space shuttle program comes to an end. Six shuttles -- five operational and one test vehicle -- were built. Two, the Challenger and...   View Post»

   

Photos: The 1992 Los Angeles riots

The Week in Pictures | Oct. 25-31, 2010

Each week we bring you the best images from around the world in our Week in Pictures photo gallery. Take a look back at the week with the humorous (dancing humans as...   View Post»

Photos: The 1992 Los Angeles riots

On April 29, 1992, a jury in Ven­tura County ac­quit­ted four LAPD of­ficers of beat­ing Rod­ney G. King. The beating, caught on am­a­teur video­tape, sparked a na­tion­al de­bate about po­lice bru­tal­ity and ra­cial in­justice. After the verdict, angry crowds gathered on street corners across Los Angeles. The in­ter­sec­tion of Florence and Normandie in South L.A. became the flash point, but it was a scene eer­ily re­peated in many parts of the city in the hours that fol­lowed.

RELATED:

· Photographer recounts covering the 1992 Los Angeles riots

· Timeline: 1992 L.A. riots

· The past still grips Rodney King

· Rodney King, 20 years after L.A.’s riots

· Front pages from the riots

· LAPD goes from longtime oppressor to community partner

15 Comments

  1. April 20, 2012, 8:46 pm

    Where is Rodney King now?

    By: huguinho45@gmail.com
  2. April 23, 2012, 1:31 pm

    Look at those gas prices. $1.20/gallon

    By: jljk
  3. April 23, 2012, 11:49 pm

    Leave it to the LA TIMES to sanitize one of the most violent parts of this riot's history, by NOT showing pictures of the mob beating of truck driver Reginald Denny, who was just driving his truck through Normandie & Florence, when they dragged him out of his truck and beat him with anything they could find, including fire extinguishers, bricks, rocks, medical equipment, etc. He was beaten so badly, that every bone in his face was fractured multiple times, and his skull was broken in 91 places. The only reason he was targeted for such a heinous beating, was because he was white.

    By: Jon N.
  4. April 24, 2012, 2:37 pm

    With all the recent police killings in our great city of Los Angeles I wouldn't be surprise another riot will strike. Most recent killing is that of a 19 year boy who was shot at by LAPD 120 times!!!!!!

    By: guest@latimes.com
  5. April 26, 2012, 1:47 pm

    The only footage of that which was available was from the TV news choppers overhead. IIRC, there were no still photogs there yet on the ground. FYI.

    By: jpatrickdowns
  6. April 26, 2012, 3:16 pm

    Revisitng this is depressing. Not so much because of what happened but because of the sense of utter powerlessness I feel when I see that the same insanity still prevails — that of viewing everything through the prism of political correctness. At least I take some encouragement in seeing that even the L.A. Times has used the word "riots" in reference to the riots instead of "uprising" and/or "rebellion." They were RIOTS, people. More specifically, they were RACE RIOTS. How do we ever expect to fix problems that we won't even permit ourselves to see in plain light?

    By: hubejoob@hotmail.com
  7. April 27, 2012, 1:01 am

    I feel bad for the innocent people in Los Angeles. If those thugs decide to riot again to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the harm they caused against innocent people theyll have no chance. Thanks to the dimwitted California government and their stupid gun laws. However where I live, in Nebraska, thats an entirely different story. We dont have race riots here. And one wonders why… Oh right, you can defend yourself against a thug here. The "brothas" here know that nothing is worth dying over. Even Rodney King…

    By: Jmantnafan@gmail.com
  8. April 28, 2012, 7:59 am

    I find it encouraging that most of the comments here are about the insanity of the political system that allows stuff like this to happen, not about the alleged racial injustice of a drug-addled drunk driver being subdued by the police. If this riot had been smashed early, the people who were killed would be alive and the livelihoods that were burned would have survived.

    By: GuesGuestGuest
  9. April 29, 2012, 1:41 pm

    First of all, this is an incredibly racist comment. The "brothas"? …what is that suppose to mean?! Secondly, riots don't occur in Nebraska because nobody cares about Nebraska. Thirdly, Nebraska doesn't have race riots cuz the only race in Nebraska are racist white people, like yourself.

    By: john
  10. April 29, 2012, 6:56 pm

    Kirk and I covered each others butt that night.

    By: MikeMeadows
  11. May 1, 2012, 10:05 am

    It's a shame how much hasn't really change. Blacks exploded after years of being disenfranchised and chastised by police. Latino community took advantage of the black peoples frustration and looted more than any group.

    Today, black men are still beaten and gunned down at a much higher rate than any other race and they make up a good percentage of the jail population, but are less than 10% of the California population.

    By: onebombcutie
  12. May 3, 2012, 2:44 pm

    For you information, Latinos have been treated unfairly and robbed of their rights for hundreds of years. This wasn't a riot for any specific race. It was a a riot for ALL who have been treated unfairly. So next time you make an ignorant comment, "Latino community took advantage…", you might want to read your California history book and familiarize yourself with all the discrimination that Latinos have endured for throughout the years.

    By: freemyflow
  13. November 4, 2012, 5:19 pm

    Fourthly, nobody cares about Nebraska.

    By: smonkey
  14. January 3, 2013, 11:12 pm

    What happened to Rodney King? wheres he? I couldnt find any recent news on web…

  15. January 18, 2013, 3:43 pm

    Rodney King is dead, from a drug overdose.

    By: guest

Add a comment or a question.

If you are under 13 years of age you may read this message board, but you may not participate. Here are the full legal terms you agree to by using this comment form.

Comments are moderated, and will not appear until they've been approved.

Required

Required, will not be published