I was born in 1937 in L.A. and lived in the Los Feliz/Silverlake area and moved to Glendale in 66 (still have my home there) and my business was in L.A. (closed in 92) and my wife and I are both 5th generation So. Calif. and we are going to stick it out!
The gangs haven't changed in the area in 60 years that I know of except to get worse. 50 years ago they just fought and killed amongst their own when I was in high school. My office and warehouse is in Frog Town, west of Los Feliz Blvd is the Valley gang, and to the east is White Front. Where my office is in Frog Town it got so bad by 85 that I couldn't buy insurance and since I closed the business the neighborhood animals have broken in and what they couldn't steal they smashed.
I look for the S.F. Valley and South Bay to form their own cities and leave the core of L.A. with all the garbage and no tax base.
You, your wife and I are the "genuine article." I know Frog Town, it was near my high school, Belmont. I remember the gangs of those days, Clanton being one. The Asian gangs had the worst reputation. But also, those were the days when they didn't randomly kill innocent bystanders; they had some rules of engagement so to speak.
The S.F. Valley may form its own city, but there are already millions of minorities there. Van Nuys Blvd. is heavily Hispanic, as well as other areas of the valley that look very run down.