Jefferson Park, Los Angeles
| Jefferson Park | |
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| — Neighborhood of Los Angeles — | |
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 Jefferson Park
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| Coordinates: 34°01′38″N 118°19′00″W / 34.02722°N 118.31667°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Los Angeles |
| City | Los Angeles |
| Time zone | PST (UTC-8) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
Jefferson Park is a district in South Western Los Angeles, California.
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[edit] Geography and transportation
Jefferson Park's boundaries are, roughly, Western Avenue on the east, Adams on the north, Crenshaw Boulevard on the west, and Exposition Boulevard/Rodeo Road on the south. It is bordered by Arlington Heights on the north, Mid-City on the northwest, Leimert Park/King Estates on the south, and West Adams on the east. Major east-west roads through the district include Adams, Jefferson, and Exposition Boulevards, and 7th, 10th, and Arlington Avenues which run north-south. The Santa Monica Freeway (I-10) runs just north of the district, parallel to and between Washington and Adams.
[edit] The neighborhood
With development commencing around the turn of the 20th century, Jefferson Park began as one of the city's wealthiest areas. On the hills rising west of Western Avenue, wealthy white Angelenos built fine Edwardian, Craftsman, and Art Deco mansions, with churches and commercial buildings of commensurate expense. Some wealthy blacks moved into the area as well, leading the neighborhood to be dubbed "Sugar Hill" by many African-Americans of the day. To the south, in the flatter areas along Jefferson Boulevard, a low-rise commercial corridor developed, with small single-story homes and low-rise apartment buildings in the blocks behind. After the 1948 Supreme Court ruling that banned segregationist covenants on property, most of Jefferson Park's white population decamped to other parts of the region, in turn being replaced by upper-middle and upper-class blacks whose descendants still reside in many of the district's spectacular homes.
A notable characteristic of the neighborhood is the strong Creole influence from the families that moved from New Orleans in the post-World War II period. Harold and Belle's restaurant embodies that tradition today as a bastion of creole cooking in Los Angeles. Author Bliss Broyard meets the LA branch of her Creole family at Harold and Belle's in her book about her father One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life--A Story of Race and Family Secrets. A comment from Greg Jackson on the Los Angeles Times website relates his experience: "My parents and I moved into Jefferson Park, also known as Little New Orleans, in the early 50's. I lived on 7th Avenue just down the street from 6th Avenue Elementary School. It was a great neighborhood... The Creole influence was very noticeable. I lived across the street from and next to two large Creole families who loved to party. And several Creole families were living behind us on 8th Avenue... Jefferson Park was a great place to live. I feel really fortunate that my parents chose for us to live here."
Additionally, many Japanese-American families moved to Jefferson Park in the late 1940s to the 1960s. This is reflected in some old Japanese businesses such as Tak's Hardware, Saki Liquors and Kashu Realty, all on Jefferson Blvd. Distinctive Japanese-style landscaping also shows the influence in yards in the neighborhood. As South Central (now South Los Angeles) deteriorated from the 1970s onward (punctuated by the 1992 Los Angeles riots), the working-class black population that had moved into the bungalows and ranch homes in the Jefferson corridor was increasingly replaced by Latinos[citation needed].
Today, like most of South Los Angeles, Jefferson Park is a mix of blacks and Latinos. The Expo Line (light rail), which is currently under construction, will likely bring greater prosperity to the district, which is roughly equidistant between Downtown Los Angeles and the business districts of Westwood and Century City.
[edit] Notable landmarks
The First African Methodist Episcopal Church, considered the spiritual heart of South Los Angeles and the usual venue for funerals of prominent black Angelenos, lies just northeast of the intersection of Adams and Western. Its rector, Los Angeles icon Rev. Cecil Murray, stepped down in 2004.
The Victorian mansion used to depict the Fisher family home in the HBO series Six Feet Under is located on Arlington Avenue in Jefferson Park.
Trinity Baptist Church was one of the first non whites land owners in the area in the 1940s. It was Trinity along with its membership that went to court to tear down white only covenants in the area. Trinity is located at 2040 W. Jefferson Blvd.
[edit] Education
Jefferson Park is in the Los Angeles Unified School District[1] and is located in the attendance areas for the following elementary schools:
- 6th Avenue Elementary School
- 24th Street Elementary School
- Bright Elementary School
Cochran Middle School (formerly Mount Vernon Middle School) serves as the area middle school.
Some high school students are zoned to Dorsey High School,[2] while others are zoned to Manual Arts High School.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Jefferson Park Historic Neighborhood Profile at The Los Angeles Conservancy
- Los Angeles Times, Real Estate section, Neighborly Advice column: "[Jefferson Park:] L.A. as it looked a century ago" (10 Aug 2003)
- Bungalow History of Jefferson Park
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jefferson Park, Los Angeles |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Exposition Park, Los Angeles |
- University Park Family is a collaborative online community focused on adjacent University Park, Expo Park and the surrounding areas.
- Leimert Park Beat is a collaborative online community focused on adjacent Leimert Park: The Soul of Los Angeles and the African American cultural center of the city.
- LA Times Neighborhoods: Jefferson Park--comment by Greg Jackson, April 18, 2010
Coordinates: 34°01′38″N 118°19′00″W / 34.02722°N 118.31667°W
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