Mural of African-American Progress and apartment complexes, along Crenshaw Boulevard
Crenshaw, or the Crenshaw District, is a neighborhood in South Los Angeles, California.[2][3]
In the post–World War II era, a Japanese American community was established in Crenshaw. African Americans started migrating to the district in the mid 1960s, and by the early 1970s were the majority.[4]
The Crenshaw Boulevard commercial corridor has had many different cultural backgrounds throughout the years,[5] but it is still "the heart of African American commerce in Los Angeles".[6]
According to Google Maps,[9] the Crenshaw neighborhood is centered on Crenshaw Boulevard and Buckingham Road. The neighborhood of Baldwin Hills is to the south, Baldwin Village is to the west, Leimert Park is to the east and Crenshaw Manor to the north.
Cartographer Eric Brightwell considers Baldwin Village to be part of Crenshaw.[10] Google Maps includes in Crenshaw areas labelled by Brightwell as being Baldwin Hill Estates, Baldwin Hill, Baldwin Village, and southern parts of West Adams and Jefferson Park. Google Maps plots Crenshaw as bounded by Crenshaw Boulevard, Stocker Street, and South La Brea Avenue, with the border going along West Jefferson Boulevard to Vineyard Ave, northeast to West 30th Street, east to 11th Avenue, south and west along West Exposition Boulevard.[11]
In the post-World War II era, a Japanese-American community was established in Crenshaw. There was an area Japanese school called Dai-Ichi Gakuen. Due to a shared sense of discrimination, many Japanese-Americans had formed close relationships with the African-American community.[12]
At its peak, it was one of the largest Japanese-American settlements in California, with about 8,000 residents around 1970, and Dai-Ichi Gakuen had a peak of 700 students.[12]
Beginning in the 1970s the Japanese American community began decreasing in size and Japanese-American businesses began leaving. Scott Shibuya Brown stated that "some say" the effect was a "belated response" to the 1965 Watts riots and that "several residents say a wave of anti-Japanese-American sentiment began cropping up in the area, prompting further departures."[12] Eighty-two-year-old Jimmy Jike was quoted in the Los Angeles Times in 1993, stating that it was mainly because the residents' children, after attending universities, moved away.[12]
By 1980, there were 4,000 Japanese ethnic residents, half of the previous size.[12] By 1990 there were 2,500 Japanese-Americans, mostly older residents. By 1993, the community was diminishing in size, with older Japanese Americans staying but with younger ones moving away. That year, Dai-Ichi Gakuen had 15 students. In the 90s there began a shift to a new generation of Japanese Americans moving back into the neighborhood.[12]
Police services in Baldwin Hills are provided by the Los Angeles Police Department's Southwest Division.[13] The station is located at 1546 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
After courts ruled segregation covenants to be unconstitutional, the area opened up to other races. A large Japanese American settlement ensued, which can still be found along Coliseum Street, east and west of Crenshaw Boulevard.[12] African Americans started migrating to the district in the mid 1960s, and by the early 1970s later were the majority.[4]
In the 1970s, Crenshaw, Leimert Park and neighboring areas together had formed one of the largest African-American communities in the western United States.
In 2006, the population of Crenshaw was around 27,600. Currently, there is a huge demographic shift increase in which many middle and lower-class blacks and Latinos are migrating to cities in the Inland Empire as well as cities in the Antelope Valley sections of Southern California as a form of gentrification.[17] The gentrification process continues into 2010's as the Crenshaw mall been approved for a major renovation plan, that will include apartments, shops, and more restaurants.[18]
Marlton Square (formerly known as Santa Barbara Plaza) was a shopping center. The center had aged over the years and was a failed redevelopment project.[21]
The Crenshaw Square Shopping Centre and sign, a local landmark, had been in some disrepair throughout the years. In 2007, the sign was replaced by a modern illuminated red-and-green sign. The Crenshaw Square outdoor shopping center was sold in 2015 and underwent a significant renovation in 2016.
^"Boyz N The Hood". siskelfilmcenter.org. Gene Siskel Film Center. Retrieved July 8, 2024. In his riveting directorial debut, Singleton follows Jason "Tre" Styles III (Cuba Gooding Jr.) as he relocates to South Central LA's Crenshaw neighborhood to live with his father.
^Axelrod, Jeremiah B. C. (Occidental College). "The Shifting Grounds of Race: Black and Japanese Americans in the Making of Multiethnic Los Angeles." The Journal of American History, 12/2008. p. 909-910. Cited: p. 910.
