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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
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The Future is Calling in Leimert Park, by Payphone
With rapid changes in our modern lives, the list of obsolete technology is growing, fast: cassette tapes, vcr's, or more recently the equally archaic,…
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Leimert Park: Where Does It Go From Here?
The celebration after the rail stop victory brought together activists, village regulars and politicians -- but the jubilation fizzled almost immediately. What's happened in Leimert Park?
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The Center Can Hold: Leimert Park and Black Los Angeles
Nurtured by three generations of African Americans with a shared vision of economic self-empowerment, the patronage of black businesses, the cultivation of black arts, and the maintenance of a public commons for political discourse, Leimert Park is not...
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The Black Dahlia of Leimert Park
Today, the crime scene is unassuming: a well-kept lawn in front of a boxy, beige home which was not yet built when the murder occurred. It's our job to peel back the layers, provide context, and tell the story of how Beth Short's body might have come t...
Leimert Theater under construction, 1931 | Dick Whittington Studio, Courtesy of the USC Digital Library
Leimert Theater: Envisioning a Neighborhood Landmark
The Vision Theater, located in Leimert Park, is one of the most overlooked of Los Angeles' classic theaters.
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Leimert Park and the 1932 Olympics
Located in Baldwin Village, only a mile away from the nascent Leimert Park development, this was the very first Olympic Village since the ancient Greeks pitched their tents on the plain of Elis.
Leimert Park sales office, 1927 | Dick Whittington Studio, Courtesy of the USC Digital Library
Walter H. Leimert and the Selling of a Perfect Planned Community
Walter H. Leimert was so confident with his new westside L.A. development that for the first time in his career, he lent his own name to the subdivision, creating the neighborhood we now know as Leimert Park.
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Leimert Plaza Park: Where the Community Speaks
Since the 1980s Leimert Plaza has been a go-to community space for the African American community.
Portraits of Elias Jackson Baldwin through the years. Images: Los Angeles Public Library
Elias 'Lucky' Baldwin: Land Baron of Southern California
More than a century after his death, his name still echoes throughout the Southland: Baldwin Park, Baldwin Lake, Baldwin Avenue, and Baldwin Hills.
A group of laborers and their children at Santa Anita Ranch, ca 1886. Image: Courtesy of Los Angeles Public Library
The Melting Pot of Laborers at Santa Anita Ranch
More than likely, Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin's decision to hire such a multicultural labor force was merely a shrewd business decision, allowing him to pay low wages.
Portrait of Tomás Sanchez | Courtesy of the USC Libraries California Historical Society Collection
Tomás A. Sanchez: The Californio Sheriff of Los Angeles
Tomás Avila Sanchez inherited Rancho La Cienega o Paso de La Tijera from his grandfather Vicente Sanchez, a powerful and cantankerous old Don from the Pueblo days
Image: loststatesblogspot.com
California's Need to Secede: From the Rancho Days to the Present
Tomás Sanchez once owned the land of present day Baldwin Hills and Leimert Park. While deep in the throes of research, a small aspect of this man's life struck a chord: his need to secede.
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