When Rick Rodriguez Sr. moved into a three-bedroom home in Downey in the mid-1980s, he recalled a neighbor interrupting his yardwork with a question: "You're not going to be one of those guys that parks in the frontyard and lets chickens run around in the frontyard, are you?"
Rodriguez, 54, one of a few Latinos in what was then a mostly white suburb, replied: "No, sir. I'll make sure to keep the chickens away from the frontyard."
After founding the state's largest Latino-owned private security firm, Rodriguez eventually sold his home and bought multiple properties around the city.