| Baldwin Hills | |
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| — Neighborhood of Los Angeles — | |
| The Baldwin Hills Village Office Building, a National Historic Landmark at Village Green | |
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Baldwin Hills
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Los Angeles |
| City | Los Angeles |
| Time zone | PST (UTC-8) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
| ZIP Code | 90008 |
Baldwin Hills is a community and neighborhood in the South Los Angeles area of Los Angeles, within southwestern Los Angeles County, California. Baldwin Hills is in their namesake Baldwin Hills range overlooking the Los Angeles Basin and the lower plain immediately to the north.
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Baldwin Hills is bordered on the southeast by Los Angeles' Leimert Park neighborhood, on the south by View Park-Windsor Hills, on the west by Culver City, on the north by the Los Angeles Mid-City district, and on the east by the Crenshaw district. The Baldwin Hills ZIP code is 90016, and telephone area code is (323). Baldwin Hills starts at La Brea and Rodeo Rd(west)to La Cienega Blvd and going upward to the top of the hill to the Baldwin Hills Estates. African American Celebrities and well to-do African American families which consist of a gracious number of City ,County and State Officals and employees occupy the majority of residents in Baldwin Hills. Baldwin Hills is agreat community for young kids. The neighborhood is very well perserved and eludes a family atmosphere throughout.
The landform Baldwin Hills have long been drilled for petroleum, with active oil wells in the mid-hills along La Cienega Boulevard. As the oil fields close some of the otherwise undeveloped open space land is being acquired by agencies for the public's benefit. The Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area is a major jewel enhancing the community with park activities and recreation. The headwaters of Ballona Creek are in the hills and park, which then flows west into the Santa Monica Bay.
Communities and sub-divisions in Baldwin Hills include:
The Los Angeles Public Library operates the Baldwin Hills Branch Library.[10]
Baldwin Hills is zoned to Los Angeles USD,[11] and the schools include:
The Baldwin Hills population is 78.5% African American within ZIP code 90008.[12] Baldwin Hills is among the wealthiest majority-black communities in the United States. Prior to 1965 and restrictive covenants being eliminated, it was known as "Pill Hill" because a large number of doctors seemed to live there. After African Americans began moving into the area, Baldwin Hills was given nicknames such as the "Golden Ghetto" and the "Black Beverly Hills."
Baldwin Hills has been home to such celebrities as Ray Charles, Tina Turner, "Bubba" Smith, Nancy Wilson, Cal Worthington, Oscar-nominated film director John Singleton, comedian Jimmy Pardo, renowned architect Paul Williams, and the late Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.
On December 14, 1963, the Baldwin Hills Reservoir situated up in the Baldwin Hills began to crack. Within a few hours, the leak from the small crack had expanded to a gaping hole, releasing a sudden torrent of water that rushed down the Cloverdale Avenue canyon. Many expensive homes were destroyed and washed away. Most of Baldwin Vista below the canyon, 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 this one and the Silver Lake Reservoir. The dam was not repaired, and the basin was later filled in as part of Kenneth Hahn Regional Park.
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 efforts of the Los Angeles Fire Department to suppress the flames. The fire killed three people and destroyed 69 homes;[5] the arsonist was never caught.
In 2007, Black Entertainment Television - BET began airing Baldwin Hills, a program featuring several African-American teenagers and their lives in the upper-middle class Los Angeles community.[13][14]
The show is very similar in nature to such MTV program as Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County,The Hills, and the online series The Suburbs - as it features African-Americans of upper-middle class families who divide their time between attending school, playing sports, shopping at high-end stores, and driving expensive cars. The series is in a third season.
Orson Scott Card's urban fantasy novel Magic Street is set in Baldwin Hills.
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