Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Baldwin Hills is a district in southwestern Los Angeles, California, in South Los Angeles. It is located on the central hills overlooking the Los Angeles Basin, and in the flats immediately to their north. (Areas in the flats are often referred to as Baldwin Village.) Subdivisions of Baldwin Hills include Baldwin Hills Estates (east of South La Brea, southwest of Santo Thomas Drive, south of the Jim Gilliam Recreation and north of Stocker Street; includes "the Don streets") and Baldwin Vista (west of South La Brea).[1]
It includes the Village Green "garden city" housing development, which was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2001. The southern portion of Baldwin Hills is actually outside the Los Angeles City limits; it resides in the unincorporated Los Angeles County area that also shares its space with View Park-Windsor Hills and Ladera Heights. Local residents call Baldwin Hills "The Jungle" given its lush vegetation and vast open spaces, especially around the hills.
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[edit] Geography
Baldwin Hills is bordered on the southwest by Inglewood, on the south by View Park-Windsor Hills, on the west by Culver City, on the north by Mid-City, and on the east by the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles. The district's ZIP code is 90008.
The hills that are the namesake of the neighborhood have long been drilled for petroleum. As the oil companies leave, some of their properties are being taken over by public agencies. One section has been designated the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area.
[edit] Demographics
African Americans make up approximately 78.5% of Baldwin Hills' population. It is one of the wealthiest majority-black areas in the United States. Prior to 1965, it was known as "Pill Hill" because a large number of doctors were believed to live there. After African Americans began moving into the area, it was given nicknames such as the Golden Ghetto and the Black Beverly Hills. It has been home to such celebrities as Ray Charles, Tina Turner and the late Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. Like nearby Ladera Heights and View Park -Windsor Hills, it has seen a recent influx of white, Asian, and Latino families drawn to its relatively affordable yet high-quality housing.
[edit] Disasters
Baldwin Hills has experienced several natural and man-made disasters. A few days before Christmas in 1963, the Baldwin Hills Reservoir (in what is now Kenneth Hahn State Park), situated in the hills above many expensive homes, began to crack. Within a few hours, the leak from the small crack had expanded to a torrent of water that cascaded through a growing gaping hole down the canyon along Cloverdale Avenue. Many homes were washed away and destroyed. Most of Baldwin Village, including the historic Village Green community, was flooded as well. The crack in the dam was ultimately attributed to subsidence caused by overexploitation of the Inglewood oil field. The disaster caused the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to phase out small local reservoirs such as Baldwin Hills and Silver Lake, opting instead to store water in groundwater basins and behind the Hansen Dam in Lake View Terrace.
During the summer of 1985, an arsonist started a brush fire along La Brea Avenue. The fire spread up the canyon towards the expensive homes along Don Carlos Drive in the Baldwin Hills Estates tract. Many homes were destroyed despite the valiant attempts of the Los Angeles fire department to suppress the flames. The fire killed three people and destroyed 53 homes[1]; the arsonist was never caught.
[edit] Education
The neighborhood is zoned to Los Angeles USD schools [1].
The schools include:
- Baldwin Hills Elementary School
- Audubon Middle School
- Dorsey High School
The area is served by several other schools, including Windsor Hills Elementary School and Hillcrest Drive Elementary School.
The Marlton School and the New Designs Charter School are also in the area.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Pollard-Terry, Gayle, "Neighborly Advice: [Baldwin Hills Estates:] Years Later, The Pitch Still Delivers," Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct 2006, p. K2.
[edit] External links
- Friends of the Baldwin Hills
- The Baldwin Hills Conservancy
- Article on Village Green
- Village Green Web site
- Kenneth Hahn State Park
- Baldwin Hills dam
