MikeBradstreet
Summer, 1979.
Fourteen-year-old Matthew "Matty Chain" Gennaro wants respect, a family, and a place to belong. He finds all three in the La Mirada Punks, a street gang fighting for territory in the rapidly changing neighborhoods of Southeast Los Angeles.
Over the next five years, Matty rises from a frightened kid carrying a pocketknife to one of the most feared soldiers in the gang. As rival crews, biker clubs, police crackdowns, and the city's exploding punk and metal scenes collide around him, every act of violence pushes him further from the life he once imagined.
By the summer of 1984, Los Angeles is preparing to welcome the world for the Olympic Games. The streets are being cleaned up. The police are tightening their grip. Friends are disappearing into graves and prison cells.
For the first time in his life, Matty sees a way out.
But the streets aren't finished with him yet.
Set against the backdrop of gang wars, punk rock, heavy metal, and the changing face of Los Angeles, "La Mirada Blues" is a story about loyalty, violence, friendship, and the price of growing up too fast.