This L.A. mailman retired after 42 years. Hundreds showed up to his farewell party

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There were 200 people on the back patio of Glassell Park’s Verdugo Bar, and John Ayala had a hug for all of them.Wiping tears from his eyes as he slowly made his way through the intergenerational crowd, he recognized almost everyone in attendance — if not by name, then definitely by address.For four decades, the 61-year-old Ayala delivered mail to their homes, and now he was finally retiring, to the great surprise of everyone, including himself.

He’d been talking about it for years — working it into the many conversations he had each day with the friends he’d made along his mail route in the hills of Mount Washington, a small residential community in northeast Los Angeles.The folks at the retirement party were glad that he would finally get some well-deserved downtime, but they were also wistful.

For them, Ayala’s departure represented the end of an era when mail delivery came with a side of conversation.“He talked with everyone,” said Jonathan Sample, a graphic designer who grew up in Mount Washington and now lives there with two kids of his own.“He was a really unifying presence.”At a time when just 26% of Americans say they know their neighbors according to a recent Pew Research study, Ayala helped create a sense of community in Mount Washington, even if it was only through the shared experience of having an unexpectedly personal relationship with the local mailman with a gruff voice and a gregarious disposition.

Over the years, Ayala would invite people from his route to the shows he played with his metal band Horns Up, and whether or not they liked the music, they‘d come out because they liked him.He would frequently talk about sports (especially the Dodgers and the Packers) and many on the hill knew he had two knee replacements — a result of a job that required him to hop in and out of a truck all day — because he would share updates on his rec...