Harvard Heights is a district in the Mid-Wilshire region of Los Angeles, California.
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The boundaries of Harvard Heights are Pico Boulevard on the north, Western Avenue on the west, The Santa Monica freeway (I-10) on the south, and Normandie Avenue on the east. Koreatown lies to the north, Pico-Union to the east, West Adams to the south, and Arlington Heights to the west. Major thoroughfares include: Pico Blvd. on the north, Washington Blvd on the south, Normandie Ave. on the east and Western Ave on the west The boundaries of the aforementioned streets comprise the Harvard Heights Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ) which consists of Several tracts including the north part of West Adams Heights, Harvard Heights and Westmoreland Heights. Well preserved and restored 2 & 3 story bespoke "California Craftsman" Arts & Crafts style,( Along with many other styles popularized at the turn of the 20th century) single family residences. The area lies within the 90016 and 90018 zip codes.
Harvard Heights is a neighborhood of mostly Arts and Crafts "Craftsman" houses built on the heights southwest of downtown, primarily between 1900 and 1910 (ZIMAS). It is currently home to Southern California's oldest high school, Loyola High School, a highly-selective all-boys Jesuit institution. Right next door to Loyola, is St. Thomas The Apostle, a Catholic elementary school, that is currently under construction. A upper middle-class neighborhood through the first half of the 20th century, with a notably large Greek-American population that built the neighborhood landmark Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral, it began to go into decline after World War II, as suburbs and the newer neighborhoods of the Westside drew away much of its population. The overturn of segregation covenants in 1948 led to an infusion of working- and middle-class blacks in the ensuing decade, but by the 1980s most of the black population had moved on to other parts of the city. As is the case in many other areas, Latinos have become the predominant demographic, with a particularly heavy concentration of Central Americans. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Harvard heights became the home of Los Angeles' vibrant but severely impoverished Salvadoran and Guatemalan community, exiles from the civil and CIA wars in Central America.[1] Consequently the area is particularly known for authentic Salvadoran cuisine, in particular Pupuserias. Drawn to the area's abundance of classic architecture at bargain-basement prices, many "bourgeois bohemian" and upwardly mobile and diverse Anglos also moved into the district. Since the late 1990s, the city of Los Angeles has erected numerous signs and billboards commemorating the area's Greek heritage and highlighting its present ethnic majority with the name Byzantine-Latino Quarter (east of Normandie Ave, officially in the Pico Heights postal district). The area has also been designated as a Los Angeles Historic Preservation Overlay Zone. The official HPOZ lies between Pico Blvd. on the north, the Santa Monica freeway on the south, Normandie Ave. on the east and Western Ave. on the west. The HPOZ is dominated by classic Arts and crafts "California Craftsman" Homes.
Harvard Heights comprises U.S. Census tracts 2211.10, 2211.20, 2212.10, 2212.20, 2213.01, and 2213.02. As of the 2000 census, the district had a population of 24,557 people. Racial composition was 27.5% white, 12.9% black or African-American, 1.2% Native American, 5.4% Asian or Pacific Islander, 47.1% some other race, and 5.9% of two or more races; 78.2% of all respondents, for all races, claimed Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. Per capita income was $10,034; 34.9% of individuals were at or below poverty level.
Mexican and Salvadoran are the most common ancestries in Harvard Heights.[2][3]
The neighborhood is within the Los Angeles Unified School District.[4]
Several different elementary schools serve different sections of the neighborhood. They include:
Two different middle schools serve portions of Harvard Heights.
All of Harvard Heights is zoned to Los Angeles High School, West Adams Preparatory High School and Manual Arts High School.
Loyola High School and Bishop Conaty-Our Lady of Loretto High School, an all-female Catholic high school, are also located in Harvard Heights.St.Thomas the Apostle School is the only private elementary school in the area. It is right next door to Loyola High School, and down the street from Bishop Lorretto. University in Harvard Heights is Pacific States University.
Libraries near Harvard Heights are:
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