Westside, Long Beach, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section needs copy editing for proper spelling, grammar, usage, tone, style, and voice. You can help by editing it now. A guide is available, as is general editing help. |
West Long Beach is a working class neighborhood in Long Beach, California made up of mostly Latinos, Asians, and Blacks.
Its boundaries are the Los Angeles River (East), 405 freeway (North), Anahiem street (South) and Long Beach's border with Los Angeles and Carson (West).
Santa Fe, Spring, Easy, Willow, Pacific Coast Highway, and Anahiem, are some of the major streets in the area. Besides the 405 freeway the area is served by the terminal island freeway and the 710 freeway. The Largest industry in the area is the combined Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
The neighborhood was once an affluent area populated mostly by Whites and Japanese. This can still be seen by the real estate market on the west-side. Houses sell for higher prices than similar homes in north and central Long Beach.[citation needed] During the late 1960's through the 1980's, large numbers of African-Americans began moving to the area, mostly from the East Side or Central Long Beach. The White and Japanese population dwindled and is now less than 10%. During the 1980s through today, large numbers of Hispanics, Asians (mostly Filipino), and Samoans have moved to the area as well. As of census 2000 African-Americans are mostly concentrated in the Springdale Section 8 apartments area (Census Tract 5725 38.7% Black) and the Taper Street area (Census Tract 5724 46.8% Black. The rest of the Census tracts in the area are between 15% and 30% Black. There are nine census tracts that make up West Long Beach. Of those Asians make up between 2.2% and 51.% of the population. Census tract 5727 had the highest percentage at 51.1. Hispanics range from 23.7% to 64.5% amongst the nine census tracts with tract 5729 having the highest percentage at 64.5.
Gang presence in this area is heavy. Long Beach's most prominent gang West-Side Longo is located on the West Side. Some of the larger gangs are West Side Longo 13 (Latino), West Coast Crips (Black), Sons of Samoa (Samoan), and West-Side Islanders (Filipino/Guamanian). West Long Beach is a hotbed for Black and Latino violence. Racial shootings and riots have occured at Cabrillo High School, Stephens Middle School, Admiral Kidd Park, and Silverado Park.
