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41-510: The name Vermont Square appeared in newspaper ads in 1909, advertising the community as "the largest subdivision ever put on the market in Los Angeles". In the 1920s, the neighborhood was home to lower-middle-class white families. After World War II, African Americans began moving into the community. In the 1980s, Latino families began moving in. As late as 1969, the name Vermont Square was still being used by local businesses. In 1996,

82-501: A loss of the jobs that had allowed skilled union workers to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle. Downtown Los Angeles' service sector, which had long been dominated by unionized African Americans earning relatively fair wages, replaced most black workers with newly arrived Mexican and Central American immigrants. Widespread unemployment, poverty and street crime contributed to the rise of street gangs in South Central, such as

123-401: A minority alongside whites, Asians, and Hispanics; but by the 1930s those groups moved out of the area, African Americans continued to move in, and eastern South LA became majority black. Whites in previously established communities south of Slauson, east of Alameda and west of San Pedro streets persecuted blacks moving beyond established "lines", and thus blacks became effectively restricted to

164-494: A set of principles intended to make it visually and statistically coherent. It gathers every block of the city into reasonably compact areas leaving no enclaves, gaps, overhangs or ambiguities. The project crafted neighborhood boundaries by merging together neighboring census tracts . However, census tract boundaries are not always consistent with traditional neighborhood boundaries. As the Times states: Census tracts are drawn by

205-549: Is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as a 16-square-mile (41 km ) rectangle with two prongs at the south end.” In 2003, the Los Angeles City Council renamed this area "South Los Angeles". The name South Los Angeles can also refer to a larger 51-square-mile (130 km ) region that includes areas within the city limits of Los Angeles as well as five unincorporated areas in the southern portion of Los Angeles County. The City of Los Angeles delineates

246-489: Is installed on Vermont Avenue at King Boulevard. In December 2000, Vermont Square Park was refurbished at a cost of $ 20,000. Lights were repaired, trees were trimmed, sandboxes graded and gazebos freshly painted. On April 19, 2002, the Vermont Square Community Garden was dedicated, with Councilperson Jan Perry in attendance. Funded by an $ 80,000 grant from the S.Mark Taper Foundation , it was

287-623: The 2028 Olympics , with many of the games to be hosted on or near the USC campus. Crime in South Los Angeles has increased significantly with the COVID-19 pandemic . Recession caused by the pandemic sparked gang warfare that rivalled all-time high statistics, with homicide figures similar to those of late 1990s to early-to-mid 2000s. By the end of the 1980s, South Los Angeles had an increasing number of Hispanics and Latinos , mostly in

328-615: The City of Los Angeles as well as three unincorporated neighborhoods in the County of Los Angeles. Google Maps delineates a similar area to the Los Angeles Times Mapping Project with notable differences on the western border. On the northwest, it omits a section of Los Angeles west of La Brea Avenue. On the southwest, it includes a section of the City of Inglewood north of Century Boulevard. According to

369-770: The Crenshaw District were "well-removed" from South Central. In 1992, this area was at the center of the Los Angeles Riots , also known as the Los Angeles Uprising, which were sparked after an all-White jury acquitted Los Angeles Police Department officers who were on trial for the videotaped police brutality of Rodney King . By the early 2010s, the crime rate of South Los Angeles had declined significantly. Redevelopment, improved police patrol, community-based peace programs, gang intervention work, and youth development organizations lowered

410-692: The Crips and the Bloods . The gangs became even more powerful with money coming in from drugs, especially the crack cocaine trade that was dominated by gangs in the 1980s. Paul Feldman of the Los Angeles Times wrote in 1989: Leaders of the black community regret the branding of a large, predominantly black sector of the city as South-Central, saying it amounts to a subtle form of racial stereotyping. He added that they believed such "distinctive neighborhoods" as Leimert Park , Lafayette Square and

451-641: The Mapping L.A. survey of the Los Angeles Times , the South Los Angeles region consists of the following neighborhoods: The roots of South Los Angeles traces back to the beginning of the 20th Century. Until the 1920s, the South Los Angeles neighborhood of West Adams was one of the most desirable areas of the City. As the wealthy were building stately mansions in West Adams and Jefferson Park ,

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492-491: The U.S. Census Bureau and used for tabulating demographic information, including income and ethnicity. The shapes of the tracts are frequently out of sync with the geographical, historic and socioeconomic associations that define communities. However, by using the tracts as building blocks, The Times was able to compile a statistical profile of communities, something other neighborhood boundaries do not offer. The Times further stated that after merging tracts, they then adjusted

533-605: The White working class was establishing itself in Crenshaw and Hyde Park . Affluent blacks gradually moved into West Adams and Jefferson Park. As construction along the Wilshire Boulevard corridor gradually increased in the 1920s, the development of the city was drawn west of downtown and away from South Los Angeles. In the eastern side of South Los Angeles (which the city calls the "Southeastern CPA") roughly east of

574-480: The 2008 economic recession, housing prices in South Los Angeles recovered significantly, and by 2018, many had come to see South Los Angeles as a prime target for gentrification amid rising real estate values. Residents and activists are against market-rate housing as they have concerns that these projects will encourage landlords to sell, redevelop their properties or jack up rents. Under California law, cities can't reject residential projects based on these criticisms if

615-399: The 4,000 square miles [10,500 km ] of Los Angeles County — by far the most populous county in the nation — from the high desert to the coast. In 2009, there were an estimated 9.8 million residents, up from 9.5 million counted in the 2000 U.S. census, the basis for The Times' demographic analysis for each neighborhood and region. Unlike most other attempts at mapping L.A., this one follows

656-480: The Harbor Freeway, the area grew southward in the late 1800s along the ever-longer streetcar routes. Areas north of Slauson Boulevard were mostly built out by the late 1910s, while south of Slauson land was mostly undeveloped, much used by Chinese and Japanese Americans growing produce. In 1903, the farmers were bought out and Ascot Park racetrack was built, which turned into a "den of gambling and drinking". In

697-732: The South Health Center in Watts , Los Angeles , serving South Los Angeles. Mapping L.A. Mapping L.A. is a project of the Los Angeles Times , beginning in 2009, to draw boundary lines for 158 cities and unincorporated places within Los Angeles County, California . It identified 114 neighborhoods within the City of Los Angeles and 42 unincorporated areas where the statistics were merged with those of adjacent cities. The project began in February 2009 with

738-642: The South Los Angeles Community Plan area as an area of 15.5 square miles (40 km ). Adjacent communities include West Adams, Baldwin Hills, and Leimert Park to the west, and Southeast Los Angeles (the 26-neighborhood area east of the Harbor Freeway) on the east. According to the Los Angeles Times Mapping Project , the South Los Angeles region comprises 51 square miles (130 km ), consisting of 25 neighborhoods within

779-533: The Times’ designations for not following city-recognized borders, and for lumping many smaller neighborhoods into larger, more indistinct areas such as “Mid-Wilshire.” In 2017, cartographer Eric Brightwell of Pendersleigh and Sons, created a map that identified 472 neighborhoods (in comparison to Mapping LA's 114 neighborhoods). Comparing Brightwell's map with the Mapping LA Project, Jenna Chandler,

820-417: The area in between. The black mutual protection clubs that formed in response to these assaults became the basis of the region's street gangs . As in most urban areas, 1950s freeway construction radically altered the geography of southern Los Angeles. Freeway routes tended to reinforce traditional segregation lines. Beginning in the 1970s, the rapid decline of the area's manufacturing base resulted in

861-403: The boundary lines by moving individual city blocks from one census tract to another. That allowed them to adjust the census data in proportion to the relocated block's population. A first draft of 87 neighborhoods was released in February 2009. As the Times received input from their readers, they shifted where the neighborhood boundaries should be nearly 100 times. A final map of 114 neighborhoods

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902-454: The city's "2014 South Los Angeles Community Plan Area Demographic Profile", South Los Angeles had a population of 271,040 residents with the following racial and ethnic balance: Race: Asian - 4.9%, White - 21.4%, African-American - 28.7%, Other Race - 39.4%. Ethnicity (Hispanic or Latino Origin by Race): Not Hispanic or Latino - 39%, Hispanic or Latino - 61%. According to the census, for the category of "race", respondents self-identified as one of

943-495: The city's black community was concentrated around what is now Little Tokyo , but began moving south after 1900. It had one of the first jazz scenes in the western U.S., with trombonist Kid Ory a prominent resident. Under racially restrictive covenants, blacks were allowed to own property only within the "Slauson Box" (the area bounded by Main, Slauson, Alameda, and Washington) and in Watts, as well as in small enclaves elsewhere in

984-626: The city. The working- and middle-class blacks who poured into Los Angeles during the Great Depression and in search of jobs during World War II found themselves penned into what was becoming a severely overcrowded neighborhood. During the war, blacks faced such dire housing shortages that the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles built the virtually all-black and Latino Pueblo Del Rio project, designed by Richard Neutra . During this time, African Americans remained

1025-467: The community got a LANI (Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative) grant to install trees, streetlights and bus shelters. In the 1997, in an effort to distinguish the area from South Central Los Angeles , residents of Vermont Square met with historian Gregory Fischer to discuss neighborhood signage. Fischer had helped design historic signage for the Victoria Park neighborhood. Vermont Square signage

1066-509: The county at large; the percentage of those residents with less than a high school diploma was high for the county. LAUSD has 12 schools within Vermont Square. They are: South Central Los Angeles South Los Angeles , also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central , is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, California , lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles , south of downtown . It

1107-480: The editor of Curbed Los Angeles , wrote that Brightwell's map of 472 neighborhoods "looks more accurate than the neighborhood maps compiled by the Los Angeles Times. " Additionally, Elizabeth Fuller of The Larchmont Buzz said that Brightwell's map was a much more fine-grained view of “every L.A. neighborhood.” LAist reporter Tim Loc said that while Mapping L.A. provided "plenty of insightful information about individual neighborhoods...Brightwell takes it to

1148-508: The first community garden in South Los Angeles. In 1997, The Los Angeles Times defined the neighborhood as a 3-mile area, approximately bounded by Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the north, Hoover Street on the east, Slauson Avenue on the south and Arlington Avenue on the west. A total of 42,284 people lived in Vermont Square's 2.54 square miles, according to the 2000 U.S. census—averaging 17,798 people per square mile, among

1189-408: The following: White, African-American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Some Other Race, or Two or More Races. For the category of "ethnicity", they self-identified as either "Hispanic or Latino" or "Not Hispanic or Latino". According to the 2000 United States census , Mexican and Unspecified African were the most common ancestries. Mexico and El Salvador are

1230-439: The highest population densities in the city as a whole. Population was estimated at 47,555 in 2008. The median age was 26, considered young when compared to the city as a whole. The percentages of young residents, aged birth to 18, were among the county's highest. Within the neighborhood, Latinos made up 58.5% of the population, with black people at 39.2%, whites 1.4%, Asian 1.1%, and other 1.8%. Mexico and El Salvador were

1271-478: The late 1910s the park was razed and freed up land for quick build-up of residential and industrial buildings in the 1920s. "By 1940, approximately 70 percent of the black population of Los Angeles was confined to the Central Avenue corridor"; the area of modest bungalows and low-rise commercial buildings along Central Avenue emerged as the heart of the black community in southern California. Originally,

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1312-673: The most common foreign places of birth. South Los Angeles is home to the University of Southern California , a private research university in the University Park neighborhood. It is California's oldest private research university. The following LAUSD schools fall within the boundaries of South Los Angeles. LAUSD Elementary Schools LAUSD Middle Schools LAUSD High Schools LAUSD 6-12 schools : Community Colleges Universities The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services operates

1353-407: The most common places of birth for the 38.5% of the residents who were born abroad, an average percentage of foreign-born when compared with the city or county as a whole. The $ 29,904 median household income in 2008 dollars was considered low for the city and county. The percentage of households earning $ 20,000 or less was high, compared to the county at large. The average household size of 3.4 people

1394-483: The murder and crime rates to levels that had not been seen since the 1940s and 1950s. Nevertheless, South Los Angeles was still known for its gangs at the time. After leading the nation in homicides again in 2002, the City Council of Los Angeles voted to change the name South Central Los Angeles to South Los Angeles on all city documents in 2003, a move supporters said would "help erase a stigma that has dogged

1435-594: The neighborhood boundaries "based on historical and anecdotal definitions, civic proclamations and reader commentary." "Thousands of city blocks" were converted "into a complete picture of Los Angeles neighborhoods, with no ambiguities, overlaps or missing pieces." The Times said that the Mapping L.A. project became the newspaper's "resource for neighborhood boundaries, demographics, crime and schools." The results as posted are searchable by address and ZIP code or by individual neighborhood. It noted that: The maps cover

1476-527: The northeastern section of the region. According to scholars, "Between 1970 and 1990 the South LA area went from 80% African American and 9% Latino to 50.3% African American and 44% Latino." Many African Americans from South Los Angeles have moved to Palmdale and Lancaster in the Antelope Valley . South Los Angeles has received immigrants from Mexico and Central America . According to

1517-481: The posting online of the first version of boundary lines for 87 Los Angeles neighborhoods. The map was then "redrawn with the help of readers who agreed or disagreed with our initial boundaries." The Times said: "After reviewing this collective knowledge, Times staffers adjusted more than 100 boundaries, eliminated some names and added others." The Times' database editor and the map project's coordinator, Doug Smith, along with researcher Maloy Moore, standardized

1558-475: The project complies with applicable planning and zoning rules. The construction of the K Line light rail through the neighborhood has stimulated the building of denser multistory projects, especially around the new stations. The NFL Stadium in Inglewood also encourages gentrification according to activists. Real estate values in South Los Angeles were further bolstered by news that Los Angeles will host

1599-527: The southern part of the city." On August 11, 2014, just two days after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri , a resident of South L.A., Ezell Ford, described as "a mentally ill 25-year-old man," was fatally shot by two Los Angeles police officers (see Shooting of Ezell Ford ). Since then, a number of protests focused on events in Ferguson have taken place in South Los Angeles. After

1640-400: Was high for the city. Renters occupied 63.2% of the housing units, and homeowners occupied the rest. In 2000, there were 2,519 families headed by single parents, or 26.7%, a rate that was high for the county and the city. Vermont Square residents with a four-year college degree amounted to 5.3% of the population aged 25 and older in 2000, which was a low figure when compared with the city and

1681-581: Was released in June 2009. With the release of the maps, the Times stated: We'll be the first to acknowledge that our map isn't perfect. No lines can capture the geographic diversity and demographic energy of Los Angeles. Not everyone agreed with the neighborhood boundaries the Times ultimately settled on. Elizabeth Fuller wrote in The Larchmont Buzz that "Many people who live in and represent their neighborhoods in various ways have objected to

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