Central Avenue (Los Angeles)

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Central Avenue is a major north-south thoroughfare in the central portion of the Los Angeles, California metropolitan area. Located just to the west of the Alameda Corridor, it runs from the eastern end of the Los Angeles Civic Center south, ending at Del Amo Boulevard. A second portion of Central Avenue, located in Glendale, runs between Kenneth Road at its northern terminus and Gardena Avenue at its southern terminus.

From north to south, Central Avenue passes through Downtown Los Angeles, South Los Angeles (including Watts, Florence-Graham, and Willowbrook), Compton, and Carson (where it runs through California State University, Dominguez Hills).

From approximately 1920 to 1955, Central Avenue was the heart of the African-American community in Los Angeles, with active Rhythm and Blues and Jazz music scenes. Local luminaries included Eric Dolphy, Chico Hamilton, and Charles Mingus. Other jazz and R&B musicians associated with Central Avenue in LA include Benny Carter, Buddy Collette, Dexter Gordon, Lionel Hampton, Hampton Hawes, Big Jay McNeely, Johnny Otis, Shifty Henry, Charlie Parker (briefly), Gerald Wilson and Teddy Wilson. Commenting on its historical prominence, Wynton Marsallis once remarked that "Central Avenue was the 52nd Street of Los Angeles."[1]

[edit] Books on Central Avenue

"Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Angeles (Roth Family Foundation Book in American Music)" by Clora Bryant et al. ISBN 0-520-22098-6
"Central Avenue: Its Rise and Fall, 1890-C1955, Including the Musical Renaissance of Black LA" by Bette Yarbrough Cox ISBN 0-9650783-1-0
"The Great Black Way: L.a.’s Central Avenue in the 1940s And the Rise of African-american Pop Culture" by R. J. Smith ISBN 1-58648-295-5
"Upside Your Head! Rhythm and Blues on Central Avenue (Music/Culture)" by Johnny Otis ISBN 0-8195-6287-4