Jefferson Park, Los Angeles

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

Geography

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 Exposition Boulevard on the south.''The Thomas Guide,'' 2006, pages 633 and 673

According to the Mapping L.A. project of the ''Los Angeles Times'', The 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.

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

History

With development commencing around the turn of the 20th century, Jefferson Park began as one of the city's wealthiest neighborhoods. On the hill 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. 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.

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. 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 and Harold and Belle’s, an upscale creole restaurant. 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.

The area is undergoing gentrification as young professionals are purchasing the craftsman homes that surround the area, and new shops and restaurants are opening up.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Education

Schools within the Jefferson Park boundaries are:
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* Joseph Pomeroy Widney High, LAUSD, special education, 2302 South Gramercy Place
* Twenty-Fourth Street Elementary, LAUSD, 2055 West 24th Street
* Mid City Magnet, LAUSD alternative, 3150 West Adams Boulevard
* Celerity Nascent Charter, LAUSD, 3417 West Jefferson Boulevard
* Sixth Avenue Elementary, LAUSD, 3109 Sixth Avenue
* Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Elementary, private, 1955 West Jefferson Boulevard. The school was founded in 1924 by families from New Orleans. It celebrates its Creole heritage with a music program in which every child in the school learns to read music and to play a musical instrument.

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. 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.

Parks and Libraries

* Benny H. Potter West Adams Avenues Memorial Park, formerly Second Avenue Park, 2413 Second Avenue
* Leslie N. Shaw Park, 2250 West Jefferson Boulevard
* Jefferson - Vassie D. Wright Memorial Branch Library, 2211 W. Jefferson Boulevard

Landmarks and Attractions

* Auguste R. Marquis Residence. This 1904 Queen Anne-style house — designated the city's 602nd Historic-Cultural Monument in 1994 – was also used to depict exteriors of the Fisher & Sons Funeral Home in the HBO series '' Six Feet Under''. It is located at 2501 Arlington Ave.
* Trinity Baptist Church. Originally located at 36th and Normandie, it moved to its present location at 2040 W. Jefferson Blvd. in 1948. The master plan for the church was designed by noted African-American architect Paul Williams.
* The First African Methodist Episcopal Church. Considered the spiritual heart of South Los Angeles and the usual venue for funerals of prominent black Angelenos, it is located at 2270 S. Harvard Blvd. It was designed by noted African-American architect Paul Williams and completed in 1968.

Transportation

* The Metro E Line has a station in Jefferson Park, and as of October 7, 2022, it will serve as a transfer point between the E Line and the Metro K Line.
* Metro Local bus routes 14, 35, 37, 38, 207 and 209 also servers Jefferson Park.

References

External links

Jefferson Park Historic Neighborhood Profile at The Los Angeles Conservancy

LA Times Neighborhoods: Jefferson Park--comment by Greg Jackson, April 18, 2010

Huell Howser video from 2003 about Jefferson Park in his "Our Neighborhoods" series, hosted by Chapman University, home of the Huell Howser archive.

YouTube video

{{Geographic location
, Centre = Jefferson Park
, North = Arlington Heights
, Northeast =
, East = Adams-Normandie
, Southeast =
, South = Leimert Park
, Southwest =
, West = West Adams
, Northwest =
, image =

Neighborhoods in Los Angeles
South Los Angeles