Skip to main content

Leimert Park

For the past several decades Leimert Park has been considered a hub of African American arts and culture. From literature and poetry, to jazz and hip hop, the 1.2 square-mile neighborhood known as Leimert Park possesses a unique creative energy that has given the area a reputation as "the black Greenwich Village," as noted by film director and resident John Singleton.

But it wasn't always that way. Originally built in the 1920's as a white middle-class planned community, Leimert Park, like many other neighborhoods in L.A. post-WWII, experienced what scholars describe as "white flight" -- when the prevalence of automobiles combined with the outlawing of racial covenants prompted many residents to "flee" to the newly developed suburbs. The area then became home to large Japanese and African American communities, and after the Watts turmoil of 1966, became a predominantly African American community.

Today, as the Metro Crenshaw Line is expected to include a stop in the neighborhood, Leimert Park is at a crucial moment in its history. Business owners and stakeholders struggle to keep the area's cultural heritage, while the hike in real state interest due to the Metro stop may push them out of their neighborhood.

Leimert Park
Support Provided By

Featured

leimertcaldwell01.jpg
Known to some as the "Father of Leimert Park," Ben Caldwell has worked as a filmmaker, entrepreneur, ethnographer, documentarian, educator, and community activist.
Exterior-primary.jpg
Post and Beam has become the between home and work spot that facilitates and anchors community in the Crenshaw District.
kentifrica01.jpg
The fictional continent of Kentifrica serves as a platform to explore themes of intermingling history and identity, and how particular neighborhoods reconstruct narratives to keep their culture alive.
Larry-Davis-Duke45-thumb-600x350-72451
Founded in 1964 on Central Ave., the mythical Blues venue found a new home in Leimert Park during the late 90's.
Richard Fulton in front of 5th St. Dick's
Founded in 1992, 5th St. Dick's was known for the coffee and late night jazz sessions, and the spirit of it's proprietor Richard Fulton.
Eso-Won-Primary-thumb-630x496-70602
In an ever-shifting book selling landscape, creative survival has been crucial to Eso Won's longevity.
Leimert-Mural-Top-Image-thumb-630x410-70212
The closing of a longstanding gathering place for the black community marks a bittersweet new beginning for Leimert Park.
Brockman-Gallery-Storefront
In 1967, Alonzo and Dale Davis opened the Brockman Gallery in Leimert Park, setting in motion a series of cultural projects that would establish the village as a black cultural Mecca.
leimerttoneytop.jpg
What makes anything worth having and owning has a lot to do with preserving art and culture within a natural environment. The Leimert Park artist village is that sense of place.
39th Street Elementary.JPG
For close observers, signs of a Japanese American presence are visible throughout the Crenshaw district.
For the last twenty years, the scene in Leimert Park Village has been a contradiction that embodies the general state of black people in Los Angeles.
The impending Metro Station has brought unexpected changes to Leimert Park with increased rents threatening local businesses and longtime cultural spaces such as the World Stage.
Active loading indicator