Community Voices

Gentrification in South LA

USC Annenberg Media

Intersections Team

Renewed investment interest and new developments across South LA, including the construction of the LA Metro Crenshaw/LAX line expected to open in 2019, have brought many changes to South LA neighborhoods. Intersections South LA reporters hit the streets to ask people about gentrification and their communities. Here’s what they had to say.

“They’re trying to get rid of all the low income housing”

Amir Aswad

West Adams

“What it’s forcing people to do, is have like 10 people in one house”

Beejay Watkins

West Adams

Mauricio Balladares

West Adams

“Sometimes now it’s not even possible to pay the rent”

Anthony Lamas

West Adams

“People coming up […] they’re trying to buy us out”

“A lot of the houses and constructions around the neighborhood being remodeled”

Andrea Morales

West Adams

“It’s not as unsafe as it used to be…”

Darron Blackburn

Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw

Tabitha Smith

Hyde Park
Teacher

“I’m not really against the rail system”

Myra Hernandez

Hyde Park
Owner of small business

“They close the whole street right here, and nobody can pass”

"A lot of people are moving out, selling their homes”

Adriane Givens

Hyde Park

“You could be looked at as stupid for passing that opportunity up”

Brandon Sankara

Hyde Park
Community organizer

Manuel Fabian

View Park/Windsor Hills

“A mixture of different communities, different people is good”

Lawrence Scurlark

View Park/Windsor Hills
Driver for Lyft

“We decided to put it out there, that this is the Crenshaw district”

“I’ve seen a lot of different nationalities come through”

Meeka Robinson Davis

Windsor Hills
Owner of One-of-A-Kind Hats

“Housing prices are crazy— it’s like you’re living 10 years ago in Beverly Hills”

Roni Lopez

West Adams
Owner of a mechanics shop

Sherrie Coleman

Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw
Crossing guard by USC

“The Metro system also became a big problem”

Jamar Lucas
(Stage name: Lucabrazzi Kamikazi)

Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw
Musician

“You still have to make way for the natives and the residents”

“The gentrification is good and it’s bad”

Simone Westby

Exposition Park
Sales representative

“I felt they were discriminating against minority youth”

Ana Carril-Grumberg

Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw
Government, CEO & special partnership liaison

Laura Fried

Exposition Park
Curator

“Changing demographics in this neighborhood, that may change for artists”

Mike Stenstrom

Exposition Park
Professor at UCLA

“In my own neighborhood, the prices have gone up”

“The housing market is really hard to get into”

Stacy Leimkuhler

Exposition Park
Teacher

“We're taught to build the community, not destroy it”

Justin Westby

Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw
College student