Crenshaw Boulevard is a north-south

thoroughfare A thoroughfare is a primary passage or way as a transit route through regularly trafficked areas, whether by road on dry land or, by extension, via watercraft or aircraft. On land, a thoroughfare may refer to anything from a multi-lane highway ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, that runs through

Crenshaw Crenshaw may refer to: Places in the United States *Crenshaw, Los Angeles **Crenshaw High School *Crenshaw County, Alabama *Crenshaw, Mississippi *Crenshaw, Pennsylvania Transportation *Crenshaw Boulevard *Crenshaw station (C Line, Los Angeles Met ...

and other neighborhoods along a 23-mile (37.76 km) route in the west-central part of the city. The street extends between

Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue in the Financial District of downtown Los Angeles. One of the principal ...

Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles Mid-Wilshire is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is known for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Petersen Automotive Museum, and the Miracle Mile shopping district. Geography City of Los Angeles bounda ...

, on the north and Rolling Hills, on the south. Crenshaw marks the eastern boundaries of Torrance, and

Hawthorne Hawthorne often refers to the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne may also refer to: Places Australia *Hawthorne, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane Canada * Hawthorne Village, Ontario, a suburb of Milton, Ontario United States * Hawt ...

and the western border of Gardena. The commercial corridor in the Hyde Park neighborhood is known as "the heart of African American commerce in Los Angeles".

History

Crenshaw Boulevard was named after

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

and Los Angeles

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

developer George Lafayette Crenshaw who also developed the affluent Lafayette Square. The southern end of Crenshaw Boulevard was at Adams Street until 1916-1918, when the road was extended between Adams on the north and

Slauson Avenue Slauson Avenue is a major east–west thoroughfare traversing the central part of Los Angeles County, California. It was named for the land developer and Los Angeles Board of Education member J. S. Slauson. It passes through Culver City, Lad ...

on the south. The extension saved three miles in travel over the nearest through road ( Western Avenue) and five miles over the nearest paved road (

Vermont Avenue Vermont Avenue is one of the longest running north–south streets in City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, California. With a length of , is the third longest of the north–south thoroughfares in the region. For most of its length betwe ...

). The street became a major transportation route with tracks for the 5 Line

streetcar line A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

in the median between Leimert Boulevard on the north close to Florence Ave on the south. With the abandonment of the streetcar system in the 1950s, the railway median was narrowed, the driving lanes improved and the street reconfigured for automobiles, buses and trucks.

Revitalization project

Many local residents were disappointed that 71 mature street-line trees were cut down in 2012 to make way for the

Space Shuttle Endeavour Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-105) is a retired orbiter from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the fifth and final operational Shuttle built. It embarked on its first mission, STS-49, in May 1992 and its 25th and ...

to be moved from LAX to the

California Science Center The California Science Center (sometimes spelled California ScienCenter) is a state agency and museum located in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, next to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the University of Southern California. B ...

in nearby Exposition Park. The construction of the

K Line is a Japanese transportation company. It owns a fleet that includes dry cargo ships (bulk carriers), container ships, liquefied natural gas carriers, Ro-Ro ships, tankers, and container terminals. It used to be the fourteenth largest contai ...

required the removal of additional trees in 2014. City officials promised that more trees would be planted than were removed. The improvements will include

bike lanes Bike lanes (US) or cycle lanes (UK) are types of bikeways (cycleways) with lanes on the roadway for cyclists only. In the United Kingdom, an on-road cycle-lane can be firmly restricted to cycles (marked with a solid white line, entry by motor v ...

, wider

sidewalks A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English), footpath in Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland, or footway, is a path along the side of a street, highway, terminals. Usually constructed of concrete, pavers, brick, stone ...

, new

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

bus stops,

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

traffic light Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traf ...

s and

street lights A street light, light pole, lamp pole, lamppost, street lamp, light standard, or lamp standard is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or path. Similar lights may be found on a railway platform. When urban electric power distribution ...

.Jennings, Ange
"Tree removal along Crenshaw has residents stumped"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

,'' March 30, 2014 The revitalization was coordinated with the construction of

Destination Crenshaw Destination Crenshaw is an under-construction open-air museum along Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, dedicated to preserving the history and culture of African Americans. The project includes new pocket parks, outdoor sculptures, ...

. A portion of Crenshaw Boulevard in the

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

and

Leimert Park Leimert Park (; ) is a neighborhood in the South Los Angeles region of Los Angeles, California. Developed in the 1920s as a mainly residential community, it features Spanish Colonial Revival homes and tree-lined streets. The Life Magazine/Lei ...

neighborhoods will become an open-air museum dedicated to preserving the history and

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

. The project includes pocket parks, outdoor sculptures, murals,

street furniture Street furniture is a collective term for objects and pieces of equipment installed along streets and roads for various purposes. It includes benches, traffic barriers, bollards, post boxes, phone boxes, streetlamps, traffic lights, traffic ...

, and landscaping.

Transportation

Metro Local

Metro Local Los Angeles Metro Bus is the transit bus service in Los Angeles County, California operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . , there are ...

lines 40 and 210, and

Torrance Transit Torrance Transit is a transit agency primarily serving the South Bay region of Los Angeles County. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . History Torrance Transit inaugurated service on January 15, 1940 using three ...

line 10 serve Crenshaw Boulevard; Metro line 210 run through the majority of Crenshaw Boulevard to Artesia Boulevard, Metro line 40 from Crenshaw District to Hyde Park, and Torrance Transit line 10 south of Artesia Boulevard. The

Metro C Line The Metro C Line is a bus rapid transit line in Brooklyn Center and Minneapolis, Minnesota operated by Metro Transit. The line is part of Metro Transit's Metro network of light rail and bus rapid transit lines. The route operates from the Broo ...

serves the

Crenshaw station Crenshaw station is a elevated light rail station on the C Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. It is located in the median of Interstate 105 (Century Freeway), above Crenshaw Boulevard, after which the station is named, in the city of ...

on Crenshaw Boulevard underneath Interstate 105, while the Metro E and K Lines serves Expo/Crenshaw station at the intersection with Exposition Boulevard. In the Crenshaw district, Crenshaw Boulevard and

Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza (alternately BHCP) is a shopping mall located in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. This was one of the first regional shopping centers in the United States built specifically for the automo ...

are served primarily by LADOT trolleys, buses and a light rail subway line

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), commonly branded as Metro, LA Metro, and L.A. Metro, is the state agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the transportation system in Los Angele ...

bus lines that are: :* Metro Local Line 40 - South Bay Galleria -

Patsaouras Transit Plaza Patsaouras Transit Plaza is a bus station on the east side of Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles, near the El Monte Busway. It was originally named the Gateway Transit Plaza but was renamed after Nick Patsaouras, former Rapid Transit District ...

via Martin Luther King Boulevard and Hawthorne Boulevard :* Metro Local Line 210 - South Bay Galleria - Hollywood/Vine B Line Station via Crenshaw Boulevard, Rossmore Avenue, and Vine Street Crenshaw Boulevard is also briefly served in the Crenshaw district by the following

LACMTA The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), commonly branded as Metro, LA Metro, and L.A. Metro, is the state agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the transportation system in Los Angele ...

lines: :* Metro Local Line 102 -

LAX City Bus Center The LAX City Bus Center is the main bus station serving the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California. The LAX City Bus Center, is located about a from the Central Terminal Area on 96th Street, east of Sepulveda Bouleva ...

to Huntington Park via La Tijera Boulevard, Stocker Street, Exposition Boulevard and

Jefferson Boulevard Jefferson Boulevard is a street in Los Angeles and Culver City, California. Its eastern terminus is at Central Avenue east of Exposition Park. At its entrance to Culver City, it splits with National Boulevard. North of Sawtelle Boulevard, it ...

:* Metro Local Line 105 - West Hollywood - Vernon via

La Cienega Boulevard La Cienega Boulevard is a major north–south arterial road that runs between El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne, California on the south and the Sunset Strip/Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood to the north. It was named for Rancho Las Cienegas, ...

, Barack Obama Boulevard and Vernon Avenue Additionally, the Metro K Line runs along the Crenshaw Boulevard alignment from the E Line to 67th Street, serving three more additional stations: *

Martin Luther King Jr Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 196 ...

LADOT

Crenshaw Boulevard is served by these

LADOT Dash The Los Angeles Department of Transportation, commonly referred to as LADOT, is a municipal agency that oversees transportation planning, design, construction, maintenance and operations within the city of Los Angeles. LADOT was created by city or ...

lines: :* LADOT Crenshaw - Stocker and

Coliseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world t ...

via La Brea :* LADOT Leimert Park/Slauson - Down King Boulevard via Crenshaw Blvd :* LADOT Midtown - Down Crenshaw Blvd

Notable landmarks

* The intersection of

and Crenshaw Boulevard was named Ermias “Nipsey Hussle” Asghedom Square in April 2019 to honor him and his contributions to the neighborhood. *

Crenshaw High School Crenshaw High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located on 11th Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The school first opened in 1968 and currently enrolls arou ...

, 1.3-mile-long (2.1 km) open-air museum of African American history and culture *The

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has b ...

was a

bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a Meetinghouse, clubhous ...

and

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

known for being a center of ethnic diversity during the 1960s and 1970s. It featured a sushi bar known as the Sakiba Lounge with live musical acts with a Modernist

Googie architecture Googie architecture ( ) is a type of futurist architecture influenced by car culture, Jet aircraft, jets, the Atomic Age and the Space Age. It originated in Southern California from the Streamline Moderne architecture of the 1930s, and was pop ...

style. It is City of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #688. * SpaceX Headquarters

References

External links

* {{Streets in Los Angeles Crenshaw, Los Angeles Streets in Los Angeles Boulevards in the United States Streets in Los Angeles County, California Economy of Los Angeles Central Los Angeles Mid-City, Los Angeles South Los Angeles