West Adams, Los Angeles

Historic Engine House No. 18, built in a Mission Revival style in 1904.

West Adams is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city of Los Angeles, with most of its buildings erected between 1880 and 1925, including the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. West Adams was developed by railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington and wealthy industrialist Hulett C. Merritt of Pasadena. It was once the wealthiest district in the city, with its Victorian mansions and sturdy Craftsman bungalows, and a home to Downtown businessmen and professors and academicians at The University of Southern California. Several historic areas of West Adams, namely, Harvard Heights, Lafayette Square, Pico-Union, and West Adams Terrace, were designated as Historic Preservation Overlay Zones by the city of Los Angeles, in recognition of their outstanding architectural heritage. Menlo Avenue-West Twenty-ninth Street Historic District, North University Park Historic District, Twentieth Street Historic District, Van Buren Place Historic District and St. James Park Historic District, all with houses of architectural significance, are located in West Adams.

The development of the West Side, Beverly Hills and Hollywood, beginning in the 1910s, siphoned away much of West Adams' upper-class white population; upper-class blacks began to move in around this time, although the district was off limits to all but the very wealthiest African-Americans. One symbol of the area's emergence as a center of black wealth at this time is the landmark 1949 headquarters building of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, a late-period Moderne structure at Adams and Western designed by renowned black architect Paul Williams. It housed what was once one of the nation's largest black-owned insurers (currently, along with an adjacent new building, it is now a campus for a large non-profit). West Adams' transformation into an affluent black area was sped by the Supreme Court's 1948 invalidation of segregationist covenants on property ownership.[1] The area was a favorite among black celebrities in the 1940s and 1950s; notable residents included Hattie McDaniel, Tim Moore, Eddie Anderson, Joe Louis, Sweet Daddy Grace, Little Richard, Lionel Hampton and Ray Charles.

Singer Ray Charles's business headquarters, including his RPM studio, is located at 2107 Washington Boulevard. The intersection of Washington Boulevard and Westmoreland Boulevard, at the studio, is named "Ray Charles Square" in his honor.

Starting in 1961, construction of the ten-lane Santa Monica Freeway (Interstate 10) tore through West Adams' core, with the freeway routed east to west just north of Adams Boulevard. Its construction resulted in the taking by eminent domain, and demolition, of numerous West Adams homes, including a number of mansions owned by African Americans.[2] The construction resulted in substantial displacement of West Adams residents, including the relocation of much of the area's affluent Black families.[3] As the Los Angeles Sentinel reported:

The road could have been built without cutting through the so-called Sugar Hill section. However, in order to miss Sugar Hill, it was "said" that the route would have to cut through fraternity and sorority row area around USC. Sorority and fraternity row still stands and Sugar Hill doesn't, so you know who won out![3]

As in many other American cities during the heyday of Interstate Highway Act construction, interstate highway rights of way were disproportionately routed through predominantly African American communities, causing substantial displacement of residents and steep declines in neighborhood viability.

In the past, many African-American gays had moved into the neighborhood, and it became the center of black gay life in Los Angeles, even earning the nickname of "the black West Hollywood" or "the black Silver Lake"[4]

Many of the neighborhoods, including West Adams, are experiencing a renaissance of sorts with their historic houses being restored to their previous elegance.[1]

West Adams Gateway Marker, installed in 2007 by LANI (Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative), in front of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building

The area is undergoing gentrification,[5] with young professionals, restaurants, new businesses moving into the area. Many professionals are being attracted to the area, due to the proximity of job hubs in Silicon Beach, Culver City, and El Segundo.[6][7]

In 2007, the city approved the "West Adams Streetscape Enhancement Program" proposed by LANI (Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative). Improvements included the installation of four "gateway markers" at the corners of Adams Boulevard and Western Avenue and Adams Boulevard and Vermont Avenue. Additionally, 58 magnolia trees were planted along Adams Boulevard between Western and Vermont Avenues, along with additional trees clustered near the gateway markers.[8]

West Adams is home to one of the largest collections of historic houses and small mansions west of the Mississippi River. The West Adams neighborhood was developed between 1880 and 1925 and contains many diverse architectural styles of the era, including the Queen Anne, Shingle, Gothic Revival, Transitional Arts and Crafts, American Craftsman/Ultimate Bungalow, Craftsman Bungalow, Colonial Revival, Renaissance Revival, Mediterranean Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival, Mission Revival, Egyptian Revival, Beaux-Arts and Neoclassical styles. West Adams boasts the only existing Greene and Greene house left in the entire city of Los Angeles.

More than 70 sites in West Adams have received recognition as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, a California Historical Landmark, or listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

According to the Mapping L.A. project of the Los Angeles Times, a total of 21,764 people lived in West Adams's 1.48 square miles, according to the 2000 U.S. census—averaging 14,686 people per square mile, among the highest population densities in the city as a whole. Population was estimated at 22,857 in 2008. The median age was 28, considered young when compared to the city as a whole. The percentages of residents aged birth to 18 were among the county's highest.[20]

Latinos made up 56.2% of the population, with black people at 37.6%, white people 2.4%, Asian 1.7%, and other 2%. Mexico and El Salvador were the most common places of birth for the 36.9% of the residents who were born abroad, an average percentage of foreign-born when compared with the city or county as a whole.[20]

The $38,209 median household income in 2008 dollars was considered low for the city and county. The percentage of households earning $20,000 or less was high, compared to the county at large. The average household size of 3.1 people was about average for the city. Renters occupied 62.8% of the housing units, and homeowners occupied the rest.[20]

In 2000, there were 1,078 families headed by single parents, or 21.8%, a rate that was high for the county and the city. The percentages of never-married women (39.5) and divorced women (5.7) were among the county's highest.[20] Just 7.8% of residents aged 25 and older had a four-year degree, a percentage considered low for the city and the county; the percentage with less than a high school diploma (not stated) was considered high.[20]

Cienega Elementary School

The schools within the West Adams neighborhood are as follows:[21][22]

• Stella Middle Charter Academy, LAUSD, 2636 Mansfield Avenue
• Cienega Elementary School, LAUSD, 2611 South Orange Drive
• Cleophas Oliver Learning Academy, private elementary, 4449 West Adams Boulevard
• Virginia Road Elementary School, LAUSD, public, 2925 Virginia Road
• Full Circle Learning Academy, LAUSD charter, 1850 West 96th Street
• Crown Preparatory Academy, 2055 W. 24th St.

• Loren Miller Recreation Center , 2717 Halldale Avenue[21][23]
• Richardson Family Park, 2700 S. Budlong Avenue[21][24]

The Metro E Line from Downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica includes three stations in West Adams: La Cienega/Jefferson, Expo/La Brea and Farmdale.[25]

West Adams has one Fire station in the neighborhood. The Los Angeles Fire Department operates Station 26, located at 2009 S. Western Avenue.[26]

Police services in West Adams are provided by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Southwest Division.[27]

• Olympic Village 1932 Summer Olympics (near intersection of Adams and Hoover)
• Forthmann House – At 1102 W. 28th Street, a Victorian home built in 1880. This home is known as the Forthmann House and was built for the founders of the Los Angeles Soap Co. It is characterized by its mansard-roofed tower.
• John B. Kane Residence (Bonsallo Avenue, located near 23rd St)

• Hattie McDaniel, actress, the first African-American to win an Academy Award.[28]
• Tim Moore, vaudeville comedian; star of CBS-TV's situation comedy, Amos 'n' Andy.
• Joe Louis, pugilist
• Sweet Daddy Grace
• Clementina D. Griffin, school principal, aviator
• Little Richard, singer
• Lionel Hampton, musician
• Ray Charles, singer
• Leila Holterhoff, singer, linguist, psychoanalyst
• Conejo rapper

Its historic homes are frequently used as locations for movie films and TV shows including CBS's CSI, Six Feet Under, The Shield, Monk, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and Of Mice and Men.

The neighborhood is featured in Visiting... with Huell Howser Episode 110.[29]

• List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles
• List of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in South Los Angeles
• South Los Angeles

Wikimedia Commons has media related to West Adams, Los Angeles.

• WAHA—West Adams Heritage Association
• Los Angeles Times: Saving Harvard Heights
• Van Buren Place Community Restoration Association
• West Adams Heights/Sugar Hill Neighborhood Association
• United Neighborhoods Council

Wikimedia Commons has media related to West Adams, Los Angeles.