Los Angeles City Council District 8 is one of the 15 districts of the

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles in California. The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The President of the Los Angeles City Counc ...

, representing much of western

South Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown. It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as ...

. The current council member is

Marqueece Harris-Dawson Marqueece Harris-Dawson (born November 7, 1970) is an American politician, who currently represents the 8th district of the Los Angeles City Council since 2015. Early life and education Harris-Dawson was born and raised in South Central Los An ...

, who took office on 1 July 2015. The preceding council member was

Bernard C. Parks Bernard C. Parks (born December 7, 1943) is an American politician, who served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 8th district in South Los Angeles from 2003 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, Parks served as C ...

, from 2003 to June 2015.

Geography

Present day district

The 8th District includes the neighborhoods of: Baldwin Hills, Chesterfield Square,

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 ...

, Jefferson Park, and other communities of western South Los Angeles.

Los Angeles City Council District 9 Los Angeles City Council District 9 is one of the 15 districts of the Los Angeles City Council. The Ninth District encompasses much of South Los Angeles and the western section of Downtown Los Angeles which includes L.A. Live, Crypto.com Arena, a ...

represents neighborhoods and communities in eastern

. For all the communities represented, see the officia
City of Los Angeles map of District 8

Historical locations

A new

city charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document (''charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally the granting of a charter ...

effective in 1925 replaced the former " at large" voting system for a nine-member council with a district system with a 15-member council. Each district was to be approximately equal in population, based upon the voting in the previous gubernatorial election; thus redistricting was done every four years. (At present, redistricting is done every ten years, based upon the preceding U.S. census results.)Tina Daunt and Seema Mehta, "Council Districts Drawn to Benefit Valley, Latinos," ''Los Angeles Times,'' June 12, 2002
/ref> The numbering system established in 1925 for City Council districts began with No. 1 in the north of the city, the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

, and ended with No. 15 in the south, the Harbor area. As the city's population expanded to the west, the 8th District's boundaries gradually shifted that way as well. Areas covered over the years have been: 1925: South of Washington Street, north of Jefferson on the western side and north of

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 eastern side, bounded on the east by

Alameda Street Alameda Street is a major north-south thoroughfare in Los Angeles County, California. It is approximately 21 miles in length, running from Harry Bridges Boulevard in Wilmington; and through Carson, Compton, Lynwood, Watts, Florence-Graham, Hunti ...

and the Vernon city line. 1926: Bounded by 47th Street,

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 ...

Florence Avenue Florence Avenue is a major east–west street in central Los Angeles County and South Los Angeles, in Southern California. 150px, The oldest operating McDonald's is on Florence Ave at Lakewood, in Downey, California. Route It is bounded in th ...

and

. 1928: Same as before, with the addition of an area bounded by Central Avenue,

Manchester Avenue Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and

. 1929: "Extreme southwest." 1932–33: ". . . due to the exceptional growth of the western part of the city, a general movement toward the ocean was necessary." East boundary: Central Avenue. North: Vernon Avenue. West:

. South:

Century Boulevard Century Boulevard is a major east–west thoroughfare in the southern portion of Los Angeles, California. Century Boulevard acts as a continuation of Tweedy Boulevard at Alameda Street in South Gate in its east end (Tweedy Boulevard in its ea ...

. 1935: Roughly the same as in 1932. 1937: North: 45th Street or 48th Street. East:

. South:

. West:

. 1940: "The general trend is westward and northeastward, due to heavy construction in the

and the beach areas." In 1940, the 8th District was bounded on the north by Vernon Avenue, on the west by Western Avenue, on the east by the city limits or

and on the south by about

. 1955: ". . . bordering on

Huntington Park Huntington Park is a city in the Gateway Cities district of southeastern Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 58,114, of whom 97% are Hispanic/Latino and about half were born outside th ...

and Vernon, from Vernon Avenue to 94th Street. . . . A considerable percentage of the population is Negro; they hold that their race should have some representation in the City Council. On the other hand, left-wing Democrats, following the banner of Rep. Jimmy Roosevelt, also have a candidate in the race, which may split the Negro vote." 1964: Enlarged by absorbing two-thirds of the old 12th District, which was moved to the

because of the growth of population there. 1971. Runs "from Adams Blvd. through the south

central city In urban planning, a core city, principal city metropolitan core, or central city, is the largest or most important city or cities of a metropolitan area. A core city is surrounded by smaller satellite cities, towns, and suburbs. A central city ...

to around Century Blvd. and includes parts of

Watts Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People *Watts (surname), list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Watts, main character in the film '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' *Watts family, six chara ...

. 1975: "The district runs in a north-south line in

South-Central Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown. It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as ...

, from Adams and Jefferson Blvds. on the north, to Normandie and Central Avenue on the west, 118th St. on the south, and Arlington and Van Ness on the west. . . . tsuffers some of the worst crime, unemployment and housing problems in the city." 1992: Line had shifted west to include

Marlton Square Marlton Square is a one-block medical facility, retail and residential portion of Marlton Ave, located in the Baldwin Village neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California. It is bordered by Martin Luther King Jr Blvd on the north, Marlto ...

Crenshaw Boulevard Crenshaw Boulevard is a north-south thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California, that runs through Crenshaw and other neighborhoods along a 23-mile (37.76 km) route in the west-central part of the city. The street extends between Wilshire Boulevar ...

. as well as Baldwin Hills."Crenshaw Ridley-Thomas Field Office," ''Los Angeles Times,'' July 30, 1992
/ref>

Officeholders

The 8th District has been represented by 9 council members.

References

*Note: Access to most of these links requires the use of a LAPL library card.

External links

Official Los Angeles City Council District 8—Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson website

Detailed city street map showing District 8 boundaries
{{Los Angeles LACD08 South Los Angeles Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles Crenshaw, Los Angeles Jefferson Park, Los Angeles West Adams, Los Angeles