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The Watts Riots, of August 1965, left Los Angeles in disrepair and chaos. The city was fractured along racial lines and tensions among neighborhoods were running high. But one man found a way to ease that pressure: ”Big Willie” Robinson.
To many, “Big Willie” was a hero who somehow got cops and criminals, movie stars and miscreants, to see eye to eye. But over time his story has faded. What happened to him? And aside from the legend, who was he, really?
Larger Than Life, from Wondery and The Los Angeles Times, is the story of a man who tried to make peace one quarter-mile at a time.
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