For those of you who think I may have gone astray from the Crenshaw District with my postings, here is an article about Baldwin Hills. I will include the link to it later within the Comment Section. The entire article is pretty extensive, along with photos. It was originally published in 2007. Enjoy! The Neighborhood Project: Baldwin Hills There is so much more to Baldwin Hills than meets the eye. Home to the largest middle and upper middle-class African American community in Los Angeles, this hillside neighborhood ties together one of the most important strongholds of black culture in town, forming the residential nexus of the Crenshaw area. Baldwin Hills has gone through many permutations over the decades, and has been the site of some of the most significant events in the citys recent history, having since the 1930s hosted an Olympics, a whos who of black Hollywood and one of the citys most amazing natural disasters. Through it all Baldwin Hills has continued to endure, and today is a tight-knit enclave determined to preserve its past while looking boldly towards its future. Your tour of wonderful Baldwin Hills begins after the jump... Boundaries: La Cienega Blvd to the west, Crenshaw Blvd to the east, Slauson Ave to the south, and Rodeo Rd to the north, with Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd forming the northeast dividing line between Baldwin Hills and Crenshaw Manor. Baldwin Hills is bordered on the west by Culver City, and shares the eastern border of Crenshaw Blvd with Leimert Park. Political breakdown: Council District 8, Councilman Bernard C. Parks 2nd County Supervisorial District, Councilwoman Yvonne Braithwaite Burke State Senate District 26, Rep Kevin Murray State Assembly District 47, Rep Karen Bass U.S. Congressional District 33, Rep Diane E. Watson Public transit: The Metro 210 and 710 Rapid bus lines head along the eastern border of Baldwin Hills via the busy Crenshaw Blvd artery, connecting the neighborhood with Hollywood to the north and the South Bay Galleria to the south. The 42 cuts through the heart of the residential area along both Stocker St and Overhill en route to LAX. On weekends, Metro bus 439 actually travels right into the front entrance of Kenneth Hahn SRA, providing a car-free alternative to exploring the park. When completed in 2010, the Expo Line light rail will pass just a short distance from the communitys northern border, with stops at Crenshaw, La Brea and La Cienega. Usually considered: The hood to most people who live north of the I-10. People who front say they live in: Why front? Having a Baldwin Hills address is a point of pride for its residents. Wouldnt you be smiling too if you looked north out your window and knew the people in the other hillside neighborhood off in the distance (Hollywood Hills) paid three times more than you for the same size house? from a distance Insight: Unlike other hillside communities like the Hollywood Hills, which are part of a single mountain range that bi-sects the entire city, Baldwin Hills sits alone, towering on a series of hills overlooking the entire Los Angeles basin. As beautiful as the hills look in the distance, the sad fact is that having a predominantly African American population means many Angelenos never bother to explore the area, dismissing it as just more of the hood. Never has a such a generalization been more unfair than here, in a community so economically and socially diverse as to defy classification. I spend a lot of time in the Baldwin Hills area, eating, drinking, going to movies, fishing and more. Hopefully this little tour will show you that just because a community isnt mentioned in a guidebook doesnt mean its any less cool, interesting or alluring. Elias Jackson Lucky BaldwinSo, who was this Baldwin guy, anyway?: Well, Elias Jackson Lucky Baldwin was a legendary horse breeder and racer whose steeds captured just about every major racing title in existence during his late 1800s heyday. According to About, Baldwin was one of the first breeders in America to stress speed over stamina in his horses, a trait that is now standard in California thoroughbreds. History: Long a destination of doctors (hence the early moniker Pill Hill), large numbers of African Americans began arriving in Baldwin Hills in the early 1960s. However, unlike the working class who settled in communities like Watts and Compton, Baldwin Hills drew a disproportionate number of black musicians and actors, many of whom were frozen out of affluent westside neighborhoods. Thus, the Black Beverly Hills was born, with celebs including Ray Charles, Ike and Tina Turner, Loretta Devine, Nancy Wilson, James Cleveland and former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley settling into the lovely hillside homes. Other communities like Leimert Park and Country Club Park were also havens for black entertainers during this time, but none took on quite the same mystique as Baldwin Hills.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 06:48:27 +0000
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