When Socoro Callejaf moved to Hollywood from Mexico City in 1992, she quickly noticed the obvious: a concentration of liquor stores near local schools and an absence of affordable housing.

Today, the doctor-turned-community activist is regarded as one of the key people responsible for wiping out drug- and alcohol-related problems in Hollywood’s Yucca corridor.

“She’s got an excellent, quiet kind of leadership,” said Roxanna Tynan, director of accountable development at the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. “(She is) not about ego or aggressiveness. She’s a doer and a good listener.”

Callejaf, now 47, came to Hollywood when she was pregnant with her first child and decided not to practice medicine so that she could stay at home with the baby. But being home all the time exposed her to the depth of the problems Hollywood was facing.

“We had prostitutes, we had drug dealers and no place safe for our kids to play,” Callejaf said of the neighborhood when she first moved in. “We talk to police and politicos and tell them where the drug dealers and gangs are. We show them houses where gangs were selling drugs.”

Callejaf was among the residents that Tynan, working for then-City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, had recruited in trying to clear out some of the slum-like areas. An after-school program to keep children off the streets was one of the first initiatives, but Callejaf didn’t stop there.

As a member of the Yucca Community Group, Callejaf led the negotiations last year with City Councilman Eric Garcetti that resulted in the community having a voice in the development of the Hollywood & Vine project.

Callejaf has also lobbied successfully for the creation of Yucca Park, now a popular spot for neighborhood children that boasts music and dance competitions, among other activities.

“It’s much better now,” Callejaf said. “We destroyed the buildings with the gangs. In front of where the park is now there used to be a liquor store where the gangs would fight and some kids died. But no more.”

Callejaf and the Yucca Community Group are trying to encourage development of affordable housing in the neighborhood, which has seen market-rate rents rise in concert with the rest of the county over the last few years.

Liquor stores have also proven to be a more intractable concern. The proximity of these stores to schools is a constant source of worry for families and there is an ongoing effort to address the dilemma. But community efforts to cut the number of liquor stores have so far met with resistance.

Callejaf’s reason for her community involvement seems simple: “We want clean streets and a safe place for our kids.”

Yucca wasn’t the first community Callejaf has changed. After graduating from a Mexico City medical school, she spent years helping the children of poor families. “My work is for my kids and for all other kids,” she said. “I want them to be safe.”