Leimert Park (; ) is a neighborhood in the

South Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown. It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as a ...

region of Los Angeles, California. Developed in the 1920s as a mainly residential community, it features

Spanish Colonial Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival Style ( es, Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In the ...

homes and tree-lined streets. The Life Magazine/Leimert Park House is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. The core of Leimert Park is Leimert Park Village, which consists of Leimert Plaza Park, shops on 43rd Street and on Degnan Boulevard, and the Vision Theater. The village has become the center of both historical and contemporary African-American art, music, and culture in Los Angeles.

History

Leimert Park is named for its developer, Walter H. Leimert, who began the subdivision business center project in 1928. The master plan was designed by the Olmsted Brothers company, which was managed by the sons of

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co-d ...

(1822–1903), the landscape designer best known for

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

in New York City. Elderly Japanese-American residents still live in the area, and some of the Japanese gardens still exist. The Crenshaw Square Shopping Center was inspired and designed in the style of Japanese architecture. The center was a hub of retailing in the mid 1950s. In 2013 and 2014, resurgent home prices in South Los Angeles spurred much interest among many young professionals into moving into Leimert Park and among other areas within the region. Observers took note with mixed feelings: fears of

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...

and hope for increased business investment. The trend continued with 2021 seeing a jump in house prices.

Geography

Map of the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles California

Neighborhood boundaries

According to LAist: The boundaries are

Obama Boulevard President Barack Obama Boulevard, or commonly Obama Boulevard, is a major thoroughfare in the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw area of the city of Los Angeles. It stretches from Baldwin Hills (past Baldwin Village and Crenshaw) to Leimert Park. Histo ...

(formerly Rodeo Road) on the north, 4th Avenue and Roxton Avenue on the east, West Vernon Avenue on the south, and Crenshaw Boulevard on the west. The Crenshaw District lies to the northwest, View Park and Baldwin Hills are to the west and southwest,

Vermont Square Vermont Square is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, within the South Los Angeles region. The Vermont Square Branch library, a designated Historic–Cultural Monument, is located in the community. Geography The name "Vermont Square" w ...

is to the east, and Jefferson Park is to the north. According to the Los Angeles Times

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 ...

project: Leimert Park is bounded by Exposition Boulevard on the north, South Van Ness Avenue and Arlington Avenue on the east, West Vernon Avenue on the south, and Victoria Avenue and

Crenshaw Boulevard Crenshaw Boulevard is a north-south thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California, that runs through Crenshaw and other neighborhoods along a 23-mile (37.76 km) route in the west-central part of the city. The street extends between Wilshire Boul ...

on the west.
"Leimert Park," Mapping L.A., ''Los Angeles Times'' Jefferson Park is to the north, Exposition Park (Los Angeles neighborhood), the Exposition Park neighborhood and Vermont Square are to the east, Hyde Park to the south and

View Park-Windsor Hills A view is a sight or prospect or the ability to see or be seen from a particular place. View, views or Views may also refer to: Common meanings * View (Buddhism), a charged interpretation of experience which intensely shapes and affects thou ...

and Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw to the west. Leimert Park angles to the

West Adams West Adams is a historic neighborhood in the South Los Angeles region of Los Angeles, California. The area is known for its large number of historic buildings, structures and notable houses and mansions throughout Los Angeles. It is a youthfu ...

district on the northwest. According to Google Maps: the boundaries are Exposition Boulevard on the north, Western Avenue on the east, West Vernon Avenue on the south, and

on the west. According to the books "Leimert Park (Images of America)" and "Los Angeles Residential Architecture", Leimert Park was established with the following boundaries: Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. (formerly Santa Barbara Avenue) on the north, Arlington on the east, Vernon to the south and Crenshaw Boulevard (formerly Angeles Mesa Drive) on the west.

Historic Leimert Park Village

Within the Leimert Park neighborhood lies the city-designated "Historic Leimert Park Village". On May 1, 2018, the Los Angeles City Council designated the area between the intersections at Vernon Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard, 43rd Street and Crenshaw Boulevard, Leimert Boulevard and 43rd Street, Leimert Boulevard and Vernon Avenue, and Degnan Boulevard and 43rd Street as “Historic Leimert Park Village" and directed the Department of Transportation to erect permanent ceremonial sign(s) to this effect at these locations. In 2005, a "Leimert Park Village" brick gateway marker was installed.

Demographics

A total of 11,782 people lived in Leimert Park according to the 2000 U.S. census— counted 9,880 residents in the 1.19 square-mile neighborhood. The median age was 38. The percentage of residents aged 65 and above was among the county's highest. Within the neighborhood, African Americans made up 79.6% of the population, with Latinos at 11.4%, Asians at 4.9%, White at 1.5%, and other races at 3.2%. El Salvador and Mexico were the most common places of birth for the 10.7% of the residents who were born abroad. This is a low percentage of foreign-born when compared with the overall city or

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

. The median household income in 2008 dollars was $45,865, considered average for the city but low for the county. The percentage of households earning $20,000 or less was high, compared to the county at large. The average household size of 2.2 people was low for both the city and the county. Renters occupied 54.1% of the housing units, and homeowners occupied the rest. In 2000 there were 817 families headed by single parents, or 27.7%, a rate that was high for the city and the county. There were 990 veterans, or 11.1% of the population, considered high when compared with the city overall. The percentage of veterans who served in the Vietnam War was among the county's highest.

Arts and culture

Leimert Park Village

The core of Leimert Park is Leimert Park Village, which consists of Leimert Plaza Park, two blocks of 43rd Street, and one block of Degnan Boulevard. Leimert Park Village has historically served as a hub of African-American art and culture in Los Angeles, has been compared to both Harlem and Greenwich Village, and in 1998 was seen as "the cultural heartbeat of black Los Angeles."Jocelyn Y. Stewart, "A Community's Cultural Heartbeat," ''Los Angeles Times,'' October 9, 1998, image 35
/ref> Leimert Plaza Park was designed by the Olmsted Brothers to serve as the public hub of the master planned community. The park has been a go-to community space for the African American community since the 1980s hosting art walks, a regular drum circle, annual celebrations, rallies, protests, and memorials. The village has blues and jazz night clubs, theaters for musicals, dramatic performances, award ceremonies, comedy specials, and poetry readings, and venues for hip hop. The intersection of 43rd Street and Degnan Boulevard was dedicated as

Barbara Morrison Barbara Morrison (September 10, 1949 – March 16, 2022) was an American jazz singer. Biography Born in Ypsilanti, Michigan on September 10, 1949, and raised in Romulus, Michigan, Barbara Morrison recorded her first appearance for radio in Detr ...

Square on the anniversary of her birth, September 10. 2022.

Project Blowed Project Blowed is an open-mic workshop, its affiliated underground hip hop crew and record label based in Los Angeles, California at 3333 Leimert. This hip hop function started in 1994 and features many music groups, emcees, dancers, music ...

is the longest-running hip hop open mic in the world, started in 1994 by rapper

Aceyalone Edwin Maximilian "Eddie" Hayes, Jr. (born September 30, 1970), better known by his stage name Aceyalone, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California, United States. He is a member of Freestyle Fellowship, Haiku D'Etat and The A-Team. He is ...

and friends. It is hosted by Kaos Network, and held every Thursday night at 43rd Place and Leimert Boulevard.

Vision Theatre

April 21, 2019 marked the 87th anniversary of the opening of the Vision Theatre (initially named the Leimert). This

Mediterranean Revival Style Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonia ...

theater is at the south end of Leimert Park Village at 3341 West Forty-Third place and Degnan Avenue. It was designed in 1931 by the architectural firm Morgan, Walls & Clements and opened as a movie theater on April 21, 1932. In 1977 the theater came under the ownership of the Jehovah's Witnesses known as the "Assembly Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses". Actress

Marla Gibbs Marla Gibbs (born Margaret Theresa Bradley; June 14, 1931) is an American actress, singer, comedian, writer and television producer, whose career spans six decades. Gibbs is known for her role as George Jefferson's maid, Florence Johnston, in t ...

bought the theater in 1990 and renamed it the Vision Theatre, intending to make it a venue for African-American movies,

live theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

, and dance productions. In 1992 the Los Angeles civil unrest and an economic recession hit the area hard, and the property fell into foreclosure. The City of Los Angeles acquired the theater in 1999. The Department of Cultural Affairs manages the theater with the goal of providing a performing arts venue for professional performing arts presentations; a training center for talent reflective of South Los Angeles; and a venue for the production and presentation of world-class theater, music, and dance performances. The first phase of renovations to the Vision Theatre included upgrades to the lobbies, restrooms, office space, and classrooms in 2011. Phase II of the renovation began in March 2018. The rehabilitation of the remaining portions of the theater includes the historic refurbishment and expansion of the theater and auditorium, and the addition of an orchestra pit and a fly loft. The grand reopening of the Vision Theatre is planned for 2022.

The Leimert Park Book Fair

The Leimert Park Book Fair began in 2007 and attracts "more than 200 authors, poets, spoken-word artists, storytellers and other participants."

Destination Crenshaw

Sankofa Park will anchor the northern end of Destination Crenshaw, an open-air museum of African American history and culture that will extend 1.3-miles (2.1 km) down

through the Hyde Park neighborhood.

Juneteenth

Juneteenth Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Deriving its name from combining "June" and "nineteenth", it is celebrated on the anniversary of General Order No. 3, i ...

is commemorated with a

street festival A street fair celebrates the character of a neighborhood. As its name suggests, it is typically held on the main street of a neighborhood. The principal component of street fairs are booths used to sell goods (particularly food) or convey inform ...

that brings together artists and residents for a day of fun and remembrance. The event celebrates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved African Americans were liberated. The celebration in Leimert Park dates back to 1949 when a new resident started hosting a barbeque in his backyard. He was surprised that it was not a popular tradition like it was in Texas. The celebration expanded and has been organized by Black Arts Los Angeles since 2009. During the

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

celebration, the iconography of the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police brutali ...

movement, and images of

George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twe ...

and

Breonna Taylor Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American woman, was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky apartment on March 13, 2020, when at least seven police officers forced entry into the apartment as part of an investigation into drug dealing o ...

were part of the celebration.

Parks and recreation

* Leimert Plaza Park is at 4395 Leimert Boulevard, between Vernon and 43rd Place. The park is unstaffed, with picnic tables, park bathrooms, benches, and a decorative

water fountain A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or water bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and s ...

* People St Plaza, between the Leimert Plaza Park and the Vision Theater on 43rd Place * Pocket Park at Degnan Boulevard, Norton Avenue and Edgehill Drive, unnamed''The Thomas Guide,'' 2006, page 633

Landmarks

*Emmanuel Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church - 4254-4260 3rd Avenue, the church is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 578. * Leimert Plaza - 4395 Leimert Boulevard, designed by the Olmsted Brothers, the park is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 620. * Life Magazine/Leimert Park House - 3892 Olmstead Avenue, the home is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 864.

Economy

Tavis Smiley, host and producer of National Public Radio (NPR) and the former nationally syndicated talk show '' Tavis Smiley'' on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...

, has production studios called The Smiley Group, Inc., within the Leimert Park neighborhood. LeimertParkhouses

Transportation

In 2014, construction was under way on the Leimert Park station, on the

Los Angeles Metro The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), commonly branded as Metro, LA Metro, and L.A. Metro, is the state agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the transportation system in Los Angele ...

light rail

K Line is a Japanese transportation company. It owns a fleet that includes dry cargo ships (bulk carriers), container ships, liquefied natural gas carriers, Ro-Ro ships, tankers, and container terminals. It used to be the fourteenth largest conta ...

near the intersection of Crenshaw Boulevard and

Vernon Avenue Vernon may refer to: Places Australia *Vernon County, New South Wales Canada * Vernon, British Columbia, a city *Vernon, Ontario France * Vernon, Ardèche *Vernon, Eure United States * Vernon, Alabama * Vernon, Arizona * Vernon, California ...

. Nearby Leimert Plaza Park was planned to be part of a new walkable corridor with a direct entrance into the station. It would also have new parking structures. A section of 43rd Place would be closed to car traffic and converted to a public plaza.

Education

Leimert Park residents aged 25 and older holding a four-year degree amounted to 55.9% of the population in 2000, about average within the city and the county. A high percentage of residents aged 25 and older had a college education. Leimert Park is served by Los Angeles Unified School District. Within Leimert Park are the following schools:
"Leimert Park Schools," Mapping L.A., ''Los Angeles Times'' * C.A.T.C.H High School, Charter school, charter high school, 4120 11th Avenue * Audubon Middle School, 4120 11th Avenue, LAUSD * Tom Bradley Global Awareness Magnet, LAUSD alternative, 3875 Dublin Avenue * New Heights Charter Elementary, 2202 West Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (LAUSD) * Forty-Second Street Elementary, 4231 4th Avenue (LAUSD)

Other schools

*Libertas College Preparatory (on the Tom Bradley campus), 2875 Dublin Avenue (charter)

Notable people

Mark Bradford Mark Bradford (born November 20, 1961) is an American visual artist. Born in Los Angeles, Bradford studied at the California Institute of the Arts. Recognized for his collaged painting works, which have been shown internationally, his practice al ...

, artist known for grid-like abstract paintings combining collage with paints. * Tom Bradley (1917–1998), Los Angeles mayor *

Busdriver Regan Farquhar (born February 12, 1978), better known by his stage name Busdriver, is an American rapper and producer from Los Angeles, California. He has collaborated with rappers such as Myka 9, Milo, Nocando, Open Mike Eagle, 2Mex, and Radi ...

, hip-hop artist *

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

(1930–2004), singerGayle Pollard-Terry, "Activism, Music Intersect in Leimert Park," ''Los Angeles Times,'' December 25, 2005
/ref> *

Alonzo Davis Alonzo Davis is an African-American artist and academic known for co-founding the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles with his brother Dale Brockman Davis. In reaction to a perceived lack of coverage of black art, Davis became an advocate for black ...

, artist, academic, and co-founder of the Brockman Gallery * Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996), singer *

Ras G Gregory Shorter Jr. (December 11, 1978 – July 29, 2019), better known by his stage name Ras G, was an American record producer and DJ from Los Angeles, California. He was a co-founder of the record label Poo-Bah Records and was also associated ...

, record producer and DJ *

Dom Kennedy Dominic Ross Hunn (born August 22, 1984), better known by his stage name Dom Kennedy, is an American rapper from Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. Since 2008, Kennedy has released 5 independent mixtapes, most notably his 2010 critically accl ...

, rapper * Holly Mitchell, county supervisor, former State Assembly member * Carl C. Rasmussen (1901–1952), Los Angeles City Council member

In popular culture

*''Leimert Park'' is a comedy series on BET that premiered in 2021. *''Leimert Park After Dark'', Album by Pianist/composer Bobby West (musician) *'' Moesha'' is a television sitcom that aired on UPN. *'' Insecure'' has highlighted community businesses. While Issa Rae is proud that the show has changed the public perception of South Los Angeles, she is concerned about gentrification. *It is the discovery site of the "

Black Dahlia Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – January 14–15, 1947), known posthumously as the Black Dahlia, was an American woman found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. Her case became highly publicized ow ...

" murder.

References

External links

Leimert Park 20/20 Vision
* ttp://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/neighborhood/leimert-park/crime/Leimert Park crime map and statistics
Leimert Park Beat: "The Soul of Los Angeles" is an online community focused on Leimert Park and the surrounding area of South Los AngelesLA City Beat: Go to the Park, Leimert Village is a cultural mecca for everyone (19 May 2005)

Photograph of Leimert Park fountain, 1995
{{Authority control Crenshaw, Los Angeles Neighborhoods in Los Angeles Japanese-American culture in California Populated places established in 1928 South Los Angeles