Jefferson Park, Los Angeles

Jefferson Park
Neighborhood of Los Angeles

Jefferson Park sign located at Jefferson Boulevard and 4th Avenue
Jefferson Park

Location within Central Los Angeles

Coordinates: 34°01′38″N 118°19′00″W / 34.02722°N 118.31667°W / 34.02722; -118.31667
Country United States
State California
County Los Angeles
City Los Angeles
Time zone PST (UTC-8)
 • Summer (DST) PDT (UTC-7)
Zip Code 90018
Area code(s) 323

Jefferson Park is a neighborhood in the South region of the City of Los Angeles, California.

Geography

Map of Jefferson Park boundaries as delineated by the Los Angeles Times

Jefferson Park is a 1.28 square mile neighborhood. It is bounded by the Santa Monica Freeway on the north, Crenshaw Boulevard on the west, South Western Avenue and Arlington Avenue on the east and Jefferson Boulevard and Rodeo Road (soon Obama Boulevard) on the south.[1][2][3]

According to the Mapping L.A. project of the Los Angeles Times, The 1.28 square miles (3.3 km2) neighborhood touches Arlington Heights to the north, Adams-Normandie to the east, the Exposition Park residential neighborhood on the southeast, Leimert Park on the south and West Adams to the west.[4]

Jefferson Park contains within it a smaller neighborhood called West Adams Terrace.[1]

History

With development commencing around the turn of the 20th century, Jefferson Park began as one of the city's wealthiest neighborhoods. On the hills rising west of Western Avenue, wealthy white Angelenos built luxury Edwardian, Craftsman, and Art Deco mansions, with churches and commercial buildings of commensurate expense. In 1903 there were trolley cars running down Jefferson and Adams Boulevard.[5] Some wealthy blacks moved into the area as well, leading the neighborhood to be dubbed "Sugar Hill" by many African-Americans of the day. To the south, in the flatter areas along Jefferson Boulevard, a low-rise commercial corridor developed, with small single-story homes and low-rise apartment buildings in the blocks behind. After the 1948 Supreme Court ruling that banned segregationist covenants on property, most of Jefferson Park's white population decamped to other parts of the region, in turn being replaced by upper-middle and upper-class blacks whose descendants still reside in many of the district's spectacular homes.[6]

The Jefferson Park and Jefferson Boulevard area saw an influx of Creole peoples to the Los Angeles area in the post-World War II period.[7] The resulting area was dubbed "Little New Orleans" and saw a large population of Creole people and Creole owned businesses such as the Big Loaf Bakery.[8][9] The area and its Creole influence has been mentioned in the 2007 book One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life--A Story of Race and Family Secrets by Bliss Broyard.[10]


Population

A total of 23,130 people lived in the neighborhood's 1.42 square miles, according to the 2000 U.S. census—averaging 16,300 people per square mile, among the highest population density in the city as a whole. The median age was 31, about the same as the rest of the city.[1]

Within the neighborhood, African Americans made up 46.8% of the population, with Latinos 44.9%, Asian 2.9%, non-Hispanic Whites 2.7% and others 2.7%. Mexico and El Salvador were the most common places of birth for the 32.7% of the residents who were born abroad, considered an average percentage of foreign-born when compared with the city or county as a whole.[1]

The median household income in 2008 dollars was $32,654, considered low when compared with all city and county neighborhoods. The percentage of households earning $20,000 or less was high, compared to the county at large. The average household size of 2.8 people was about the same as the rest of the city. Renters occupied 69.5% of the housing units, and homeowners occupied the rest.[1]

In 2000, there were 1,365 families headed by single parents, or 26.6%, a rate that was high for the county and the city.[1]

Jefferson Park residents aged 25 and older holding a four-year degree amounted to 11.8% of the population in 2000, considered low when compared with the city and the county as a whole; the percentage of residents aged 25 and older with a high school diploma was also considered low.[1]

Education

Schools within the Jefferson Park boundaries are:[2][11]


In 2013 24th Street Elementary School in Jefferson Park became the first campus in Los Angeles to make use of a "parent trigger" law that enabled its parents to install a new administration. The school serves a mostly low-income and minority population, and it failed to meet the state's educational standards in English and mathematics.[13] The parents voted to take control of what had been a chronically underperforming school, and they chose to organize it as a hybrid charter school, with the Los Angeles Unified School District operating kindergarten through 5th grade and a private entity, Crown Prep Academy, running grades 5 through 8.[14]

Parks and Libraries

William Andews Clark
Memorial Library,
2520 Cimarron Street

Landmarks and Attractions

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Hyde Park," Mapping L.A., Los Angeles Times
  2. 1 2 3 4 The Thomas Guide, 2006, pages 633 and 673
  3. ↑ "LA City Council unanimously approves South LA street names". www.ktla.com. Retrieved 2017-06-28.
  4. ↑ "South L.A.," Mapping L.A., Los Angeles Times
  5. ↑ Wedner, Diane (August 10, 2003) "L.A. as it looked a century ago" Los Angeles Times
  6. ↑ Khouri, Andrew (April 30, 2014) "Soaring home prices spur a resurgence near USC " Los Angeles Times
  7. ↑ Carpenter, Jane (2002). Conjure women: Betye Saar and rituals of transformation, 1960-1990. University of Michigan. p. 22.
  8. ↑ Campanella, Richard (2006). Geographies of New Orleans. University of Louisiana at Lafayette. p. 215. ISBN 1887366687.
  9. ↑ Thompson, Ginger (February 5, 1989). "Spicy Parties : Set Tone for : Creoles' Life in Southland". LA Times. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  10. ↑ Broyard, Bliss (2007). One+Drop:+My+Father's+Hidden+Life--A+Story+of+Race+and+Family+Secrets&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5OsqUqH8JLb54AOFn4HQDw&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=jefferson&f=false One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life--A Story of Race and Family Secrets. Back Bay Books. ISBN 0316019739.
  11. ↑ "Jefferson Park Schools," Mapping L.A., Los Angeles Times
  12. ↑ www.hnojla.org School website
  13. ↑ Brandon Lowrey, Reuters, Huffington Post, March 17, 2013
  14. ↑ Toni Guinyard, John Càdiz Klemack and Neil Costes, "'There's New Blood': Parents Take Control of West Adams School as Students Return to Class," News4 Southern California, August 13, 2013
  15. ↑ Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks
  16. ↑ Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks
  17. ↑ Los Angeles Public Library, Jefferson Branch
  18. ↑ http://laist.com/2016/06/03/six_feet_under_house.php
  19. ↑ https://la.curbed.com/maps/west-adams-architecture-tour-map/auguste-r-marquis-residence
  20. ↑ https://www.westadamsheritage.org/sites/default/files/WAHA-December-2015-News_.pdf
  21. ↑ http://www.trinitybaptistchurchofla.org/PDF/History-of-Trinity-Baptist-Church.pdf
  22. ↑ https://www.laconservancy.org/locations/first-african-methodist-episcopal-church

Coordinates: 34°01′38″N 118°19′00″W / 34.02722°N 118.31667°W / 34.02722; -118.31667

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