Whether walking in heels or hobbling with walkers, the guests made their way to the Watts Senior Citizen Center last Friday in style – the women in bright dresses, the men in dapper suits and all wearing white rose corsages with “Watts Senior Prom” printed on black ribbons.

Inside the “ballroom” they found a dozen tables draped in black cloths dotting the room among bunches of black and silver balloons. Smooth jazz played in soft tones. Servers in starched dress-shirts served glasses of pink lemonade along with soul food from the Watts Coffeehouse.

District 15 Councilman Joe Buscaino, who planned the event, said he wanted the longtime residents of Watts to feel gratitude and respect – and have fun, too. Looking at his parents, who sat at one of the front tables together, he said, “You can be a senior and still party, ma!”

Buscaino had planned to take his grandmother for a spin on the dance floor, but she had recently taken a fall and didn’t feel up to the festivities. When the councilman, wearing a black suit and silver tie, said his nona would turn 94 in August, the crowd broke out in cheers and applause.

Intersections South LA spoke with some guests about their long lives spent in the ever-changing neighborhoods of Watts and South Los Angeles.

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