Sauntering across the dirty sidewalk, the woman with the short skirt and purple spike-heeled pumps approached a waiting car. She leaned into the open window, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, her skirt twitching toward the traffic on Pacific Coast Highway. She slipped into the passenger seat, apparently unaware of the glaring disapproval of two people watching a few feet away. They made her take notice. Although Cangro exaggerated, his remark had the desired effect.
The woman in the purple heels got out of the car and flounced away. Cangro smiled with satisfaction. One more streetwalker and a potential customer had been notified that they will no longer be accepted as an inevitable piece of the Long Beach terrain. For decades, prostitutes have been working along this busy block corridor of Pacific Coast Highway. Streets bear signs of their commerce.
Condoms sprout like weeds from gutters and cracks in the sidewalk. Nearby residents are confronted with open sex acts being performed in cars parked a few feet from their front doors. Neighbors have organized themselves, staging anti-prostitution marches and setting up citizen foot patrols to confront the hookers. Andrews and Cangro, who live near the highway, have been two of the most active agents of that groundswell, enlisting members of their Wrigley Neighborhood Assn. Members of the association show up in court en masse during the arraignment of prostitutes and customers to serve notice that they want harsh sentences.
The group met with City Councilwoman Doris Topsy-Elvord, who then suggested the city put up signs along major streets warning that soliciting sex for cash is a crime. The association helped persuade The Long Beach Press-Telegram to begin publishing names of convicted johns. The group also has suggested the city paint all PCH curbs in the area red to keep customers from stopping--a suggestion that police and staff said was not feasible for such a busy commercial strip.
Law enforcement officials say they have little hope, however, that these tactics will actually rid the highway area of hookers. The practice is too entrenched, police and prosecutors say.
