Watts, Los Angeles

Watts' most famous landmark: Watts Towers created by Simon Rodia.

Watts is a residential district in southern Los Angeles, California (more specifically, part of South Los Angeles).

History

Watts in 1912

The area now known as Watts began its modern history, after the arrival of Spanish-Mexican settlers, as part of the Rancho La Tajuata, which received its land grant in 1820. As on all ranchos, the principal vocation was grazing and beef production.

With the influx of white Americans into Southern California in the 1870s, La Tajuata land was sold off and subdivided for smaller farms and homes. In those days each Tajuata farm had an artesian well. The arrival of the railroad spurred the development of the area, and in 1907 Watts was incorporated as a separate city, named after the first railroad station, Watts Station, that was built in the town. The city voted to annex itself to Los Angeles in 1926.

Along with more Caucasian Americans, Mexican and Mexican American railroad workers ("traqueros") settled in the community. Blacks came in later and many of the men were Pullman car porters and other railroad workers. Schoolroom photos from 1909 and 1911 show only two or three black faces among the 30 or so children pictured. By 1914, a black realtor, Charles C. Leake, was doing business in the area.

Watts did not become predominantly black until after the 1940s, as the Second Great Migration brought tens of thousands of migrants from Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas who left segregated states in search of better opportunities in California. During World War II, the city built several large housing projects (including Nickerson Gardens, Jordan Downs, and Imperial Courts) for the thousands of new workers in war industries. By the early 1960s, these projects had become nearly 100 percent black, as whites moved on to new suburbs outside the central city. As industrial jobs disappeared from the area, the projects housed many more poor families than they had traditionally.

Longstanding resentment by Los Angeles' working-class black community over discriminatory treatment by police and inadequate public services (especially schools and hospitals) exploded on August 11, 1965, into what were commonly known as the Watts Riots. The event that precipitated the disturbances, the arrest of a black youth by the California Highway Patrol on drunk-driving charges, actually occurred outside Watts. Mobs did the most property damage in Watts in the turmoil.

Watts suffered further in the 1970s, as gangs gained strength and raised the level of violence in the neighborhood. Between 1989 and 2005, police reported more than 500 homicides in Watts, most of them gang-related and tied to wars over control of the lucrative market in illegal drugs. Three of Watts' most notorious gangs—Grape Street Watts Crips, Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods, and PJ Watts Crips—formed a cease-fire agreement after the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Their pact that may have contributed to the decrease in crime in the area between 1992 and 2000.

Beginning before the 1970s, like whites before them, those African Americans who could, left Watts for other parts of South Los Angeles, and suburban locations in the Antelope Valley, the Inland Empire, The San Gabriel Valley, Orange County, and the San Joaquin Valley. This process, which some call black flight, is simply part of the increasing suburbanization of African Americans during recent decades, in a journey typical of the larger American society. The black population in Watts has been replaced by successor migrants, primarily Hispanic immigrants of Mexican and Central American ancestry, as well as a smaller proportion of Ethiopian and Indian ancestry. This process of residential change accelerated after the 1992 riots.

In addition, there has been a net migration of African Americans out of California to return to the South in a New Great Migration. From 1995-2000, California was a net loser of African-American residents. With new jobs, Southern states have attracted the most black college graduates since 1995.

Neighborhood leaders have begun a strategy to overcome Watts' reputation as a violence-prone and impoverished area. Special promotion has been given to the museums and art galleries opened in the area surrounding Watts Towers at 1765 East 107th St, near the Imperial Highway and suburb of Lynwood. This sculptural and architectural landmark has attracted many artists and professionals to the area.

Geography and transportation

Watts is bordered by the cities of South Gate on the east and Lynwood on the southeast, and the unincorporated areas of Willowbrook on the south and Florence on the north.

The district's boundaries are Firestone Boulevard on the north, Alameda Avenue on the east, Imperial Highway on the south, and Central Avenue on the west. Principal thoroughfares through the district include Santa Ana Boulevard; Compton and Wilmington Avenues; and 108th Street. In addition to buses, mass transit is provided by the Blue and Green light rail lines of the Los Angeles Metro system, at the 103rd Street/Kenneth Hahn station on the Blue Line and the Imperial/Wilmington/Rosa Parks station where the Blue and Green lines meet.

Watts is split between ZIP Codes 90002 and 90059.

Demographics

Watts covers U.S. Census tracts 2420, 2426, 2427, 2430, and 2431. As of the 2000 census, total population in the district was 22,847. Racial breakdown was as follows: 38.9% black or African American, 13.3% White, 9.8% American Indian or Alaska native, 5.2% Asian or Pacific Islander, 49.3% some other races, and 13.9% two or more races; 69.7% were Hispanic of any race. The community has the lowest household income in all of Los Angeles County at $17,987. Per capita income stood at $6,681; 49.7% of families and 49.1% of individuals were below the poverty line. Unusually, the household income in the 1980 census for Watts was higher than it is today even with inflation.

Government and infrastructure

Local government

Los Angeles Fire Department Station 65 (Watts) serves the community.

Los Angeles Police Department operates the nearby Southeast Community Police Station..

The United States Postal Service Augustus F. Hawkins Post Office is located at 10301 Compton Avenue. On January 24, 2000 the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate presented a bill to rename the Watts Finance Office as the Hawkins Post Office.

Education

Primary and secondary education

Public schools

Watts is located in Los Angeles Unified School District's Local District 7.

Its local secondary public school is David Starr Jordan High School, which includes a math-science magnet component .It has a student body of 76.5 percent Latinos, 23 percent African Americans and 5 percent other and, according to its website, is "located in a high crime area." Its athletic teams are known as the Bulldogs. The adjacent Simon Rodia High School is a continuation school for students who cannot attend Jordan. has sixth- through eighth-grade students .

Youth Opportunities High School, part of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps , is also located in Watts, as is 109th Street School.

Compton Avenue Elementary located at 1515 E. 104 Pl next to Markham Middle School educates students grades Pre-K-5th.

There are 2 more elementary schools 1 on Watts ave named John Ritter Elementary Pre-K-5th also Grape St. elementary.

There is also a fairly new public charter school named Jack H. Skirball Middle School located in Watts. It is located at Avalon and 115th St. After only one full year of operation, this school has become the highest performing middle school in the area, based on 2007-2008 API (Academic Performance Index) scores. Currently, approximately 250 students attend the school in the sixth and seventh grades. Currently, there are no athletic teams, but the mascot of Jack H. Skirball Middle School is the Spartan.

Private schools

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles operates many area Catholic schools.

San Miguel School provides a Catholic education for about 200 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. Most of the families come from Latin America. Tuition is $145 a month. Many parents cannot pay on time, according to The Tidings online at [1]. Verbum Dei High School is also located in the Watts area. Another Catholic Elementary school is St. Lawrence Brindisi which is also K Through 8.

Public libraries

Los Angeles Public Library operates the Alma Reaves Woods – Watts Branch.

Parks and references

The 109th Street Pool is located in Watts. In June 2005 a group of young men attacked a manager there, forcing the city to close the pool for a short period of time. When it re-opened police were stationed there.

Notable residents

• Olympic track and field gold medalist Florence Griffith-Joyner (1959-1998) was raised in the Watts projects.
• Community organizer "Sweet Alice" Harris (1934-) and her activist group Parents of Watts are based in Watts.
• R&B singer Tyrese (1978-) was raised in Watts by his single mother. In 2000, he chartered a foundation to build a community center in Watts.
• Rapper Jay Rock
• Hall of Fame former Baseball Player Ozzie Smith

See also

• 1965 Watts Riot
• 1992 Los Angeles riots
• Watts Towers
• Watts Station
• Los Angeles, California
• South Central Los Angeles
• Crips
• Bloods

References

MaryEllen Bell Ray, The City of Watts, California: 1907 to 1926, Los Angeles: Rising Publications, 1985. A definitive early history.