Leimert Park Village Tour and Screening of the Documentary

“ Leimert Park: the Story of a Village in South Central LA,”

Tour: 11 am-12 noon, Lunch: 12 noon- 1pm, Screening: 1 pm-3:00 pm

Price: $20 or $12 for Walking Tour only, $12 for Documentary only


SOHA is proud to present a walking tour and documentary on Thursday, March 26, 2009 as an extension of the 2009 Conference in Los Angeles. Thanks to Dalena Hunter, Librarian, UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies for organizing this terrific tour. Leimert Park Village is an intriguing community and a center of African American cultural and artistic expression.

The entertaining and knowledgeable our leader is Toree Reese, a musician, Doo Wop performer, community activist, poet, essayist, gang prevention specialist, and founder of the Los Angeles Malcolm X Arts, Education, and Culture Festival.

Tour will begin at 43rd Street and Degnan Blvd. at 11am with street parking available. Limited transportation from the USC area will be available by Radisson Shuttle or car pool. Please email dhunter@bunche.ucla.edu if you need a ride. Meet in the Lobby of the Radisson Hotel at 10:30 AM. An hour is allotted for lunch on your own at one of the local restaurants. Then we go to Kaos Network for a screening of the documentary and a discussion with producer Jeanette Lindsay.

In 1927 architect Walter Leimert created an upscale neighborhood West of South Central Los Angeles for families who wanted to distance themselves from urban communities and maintain a sense of economic and social stability. These families were required to sign Deed and Restrictive Covenant Restrictions which prevented sale and residence of the homes in Leimert Park to Black families. Despite hostility and violence from White homeowners in Leimert Park, middle class African Americans and other minorities slowly moved into the area from segregated areas of Los Angeles and transformed it into a diverse and thriving community.

Today, Leimert Park is an important part of the African American community in Los Angeles. Over 90 percent African American according to the 2000 U.S. Census, Leimert Park boasts Blues, Jazz, Hip-Hop and Spoken Word venues, as well as art galleries and a bookstore specializing in African American History and Culture. Well known residents have included former Mayor Tom Bradley and actor, producer, John Singleton, who describes Leimert Park Village as an African American Greenwich Village.

Sources:

Kurashige, Scott. The shifting grounds of race: Black and Japanese Americans in the making of multiethnic Los Angles. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008.

Schiesel, Martin and Mark M. Dodge eds. City of Promise: race and historical change in Los Angeles. Claremont, Ca: Regina Books, 2006.

Sides, John. L.A. City Limits: African American Los Angeles from the Great Depression to the Present. Berkeley: University of California Press. 2003.

Wikipedia. Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leimert_Park. Accessed 20 February 2009.