Jefferson Park, Los Angeles
Jefferson Park is a neighborhood in the South region of the City of Los Angeles, California. 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 Rodeo Road on the south. According to the Mapping L. A. project of the Los Angeles Times, The 1.28 square miles 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. With development commencing around the turn of the 20th century, Jefferson Park began as one of the city's wealthiest neighborhoods. On the hills rising west of Western Avenue, wealthy white Angelenos built luxury Edwardian and Art Deco mansions, with churches and commercial buildings of commensurate expense.
In 1903 there were trolley cars running down 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. 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, homeowners occupied the rest. In 2000, there were 1,365 families headed by single parents, or 26.6%, a rate, 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. Schools within the Jefferson Park boundaries are: 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 low-income and minority population, 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, 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. Benny H. Potter West Adams Avenues Memorial Park 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 Auguste R. Marquis Residence; this 1904 Queen Anne-style house — the city's 602nd historic cultural monument - was used to depict the Fisher & Sons Funeral Home in the HBO series Six Feet Under.
It is located at 2501 Arlington Avenue. Trinity Baptist Church. Located at 36th and Normandie, it moved to its present location at 2040 W. Jefferson Boulevard in 1948; the master plan for the church was designed by noted African-American architect Paul Williams. It was one of the first non-white land owners in the area in the 1940s, it was Trinity, along with its membership, that went to court to tear down white-only covenants in the area. The First African Methodist Episcopal Church. Considered the spiritual heart of South Los Angeles and the usual v
Redondo Beach station
Redondo Beach is an elevated light rail station on the Los Angeles County Metro Rail. It is served by the Green Line. Located on Marine Avenue in Redondo Beach, California, it is the western terminus of the Green Line; the station platforms are situated above Marine Avenue. The original name for the station was Marine/Redondo; the station was rebranded as Redondo Beach station in 2005, when the station signs were changed on the platform and on street level. An extension beyond Redondo Beach into Torrance is the planning stages; the station is notable for its appearance as the light rail station in the opening montage to the 1995 film Heat. The station appeared in the closing moments of another film directed by Michael Mann, Collateral. Green Line service hours are from 5:00 a.m. until 12:45 a.m. daily. Metro Local: 126, 215 LADOT Commuter Express: 438, 574 Lawndale Beat: Residential, Express Beach Cities Transit: 102 Gardena Transit: 1X Media related to Redondo Beach at Wikimedia Commons Metro website
Black Dahlia
Elizabeth Short, known posthumously as the "Black Dahlia," was an American woman, found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Her case became publicized due to the graphic nature of the crime, which included her corpse having been mutilated and bisected at the waist. A native of Boston, Short spent her early life in Medford and Florida before relocating to California, where her father lived, it is held that Short was an aspiring actress, though she had no known acting credits or jobs during her time in Los Angeles. She would acquire the nickname of the Black Dahlia posthumously, as newspapers of the period nicknamed lurid crimes. After the discovery of her body on January 15, 1947, the Los Angeles Police Department began an extensive investigation that produced over 150 suspects, but yielded no arrests. Short's unsolved murder and the details surrounding it have had a lasting cultural intrigue, generating various theories and public speculation, her life and death have been the basis of numerous books and films, her murder is cited as one of the most famous unsolved murders in American history, as well as one of the oldest unsolved cases in Los Angeles County.
It has been credited by historians as one of the first major crimes in post-World War II America to capture national attention. Elizabeth Short was born in the Hyde Park section of Boston, the third of five daughters of Cleo and Phoebe May Short. Around 1927, the Short family relocated to Portland, before settling in Medford, Massachusetts the same year; this is where Short was spent most of her life. Short's father built miniature golf courses until the 1929 stock market crash, when he lost most of his savings and the family became broke. In 1930, her father's car was found abandoned on the Charlestown Bridge, it was assumed that he had committed suicide by jumping into the Charles River. Believing her husband to be deceased, Short's mother moved with her five daughters into a small apartment in Medford and worked as a bookkeeper to support them. Troubled by bronchitis and severe asthma attacks, Short underwent lung surgery at age 15, after which doctors suggested she relocate to a milder climate during the winter months to prevent further respiratory problems.
Short's mother sent her to spend winters in Miami, Florida with family friends. During the next three years, Short lived in Florida during the winter months and spent the rest of the year in Medford with her mother and sisters. In her sophomore year, Short dropped out of Medford High School. In late 1942, Short's mother received a letter of apology from her presumed-deceased husband, which revealed that he was in fact alive and had started a new life in California. In December, aged 18, Short relocated to Vallejo to live with her father, whom she had not seen since she was six years old. At the time, he was working at the nearby Mare Island Naval Shipyard on San Francisco Bay. Arguments between Short and her father led to her moving out in January 1943. Shortly after, she took a job at the Base Exchange at Camp Cooke, near Lompoc, living with several friends, with an Army Air Force sergeant who abused her. Short left Lompoc in mid-1943 and moved to Santa Barbara, where she was arrested on September 23, 1943 for underage drinking at a local bar.
The juvenile authorities sent her back to Medford, but she returned instead to Florida, making only occasional visits to Massachusetts. While in Florida, Short met Major Matthew Michael Gordon, Jr. a decorated Army Air Force officer at the 2nd Air Commando Group. He was training for deployment to the China Burma India Theater of Operations of World War II. Short told friends that Gordon had written to propose marriage while he was recovering from injuries from a plane crash in India, she accepted his offer, but Gordon died in a second crash on August 10, 1945, less than a week before the Surrender of Japan ended the war. She relocated to Los Angeles in July 1946 to visit Army Air Force Lieutenant Joseph Gordon Fickling, whom she had known from Florida. Fickling was stationed at the Naval Reserve Air Base in Long Beach. Short spent the last six months of her life in Southern California in the Los Angeles area. Short has been variously depicted as an aspiring or "would-be" actress. According to some sources, she did in fact have aspirations to be a film star, though she had no known acting jobs or credits.
On January 9, 1947, Short returned to her home in Los Angeles after a brief trip to San Diego with Robert "Red" Manley, a 25-year-old married salesman she had been dating. Manley stated that he dropped Short off at the Biltmore Hotel located at 506 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, that Short was to meet her sister, visiting from Boston, that afternoon. By some accounts, staff of the Biltmore recalled having seen Short using the lobby telephone. Shortly after, she was seen by patrons of the Crown Grill Cocktail Lounge at 754 South Olive Street one-half mile away from the Biltmore Hotel. On the morning of January 15, 1947, Short's half-naked body was found severed into two pieces on a vacant lot on the west side of South Norton Avenue, midway between Coliseum Street and West 39th Street (at 34.0164°N 118.333°W / 34.0164.
OneUnited Bank
OneUnited Bank is an African-American-owned and managed Massachusetts-chartered trust company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is registered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, certified as a community development financial institution by the United States Department of Treasury; as of April 30, 2018, OneUnited Bank maintained $661.2 million in total assets. The bank was founded in 1968 as Unity Bank & Trust Company with $1.2 million in capital in the Dudley Square neighborhood of Boston, aiming to revitalize the area by lending to local businesses and homeowners. Unity Bank failed after nine years of operations, a newly organized bank, Bank of Boston Commerce, was formed. Boston Bank of Commerce expanded the model of community development to include partnerships with large corporations and government agencies, its chairmen included United States Senator Edward Brooke. With total assets of $157,183,000 and total deposits of $125,216,000 as of 31 December 2000, Boston Bank of Commerce filed for application to merge with Founders National Bank of Los Angeles, its four offices in operation and total resources of $107,009,000 and total deposits of $98,659,000 as of December 31, 2000.
"Favorable" statutory factors, other relevant information and Comptroller of Currency reports led to the approval of the merger transaction application from Boston Bank of Commerce, by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Attorney General of the United States. In the mid-1990s, following the economic downturn that adversely affected other northeast-based regional banks, Boston Bank of Commerce was placed under a cease-and-desist order by the FDIC and charged to increase capital and improve the quality of its loan portfolio. In 1995 a significant capital infusion was made under the current Chairman and CEO Kevin Cohee and President and COO Teri Williams, along with a new strategy of acquiring African American-owned banks and thrift institutions in major metropolitan markets; when the bank’s current senior management team assumed control of Boston Bank of Commerce, the institution temporarily had negative equity and significant asset problems.
Its management subsequently acquired three African-American owned banks over several years that were troubled or on the verge of failure. Boston Bank of Commerce became the first interstate African American-owned bank in the country through its acquisition of Peoples National Bank of Commerce, South Florida’s only African-American-owned bank. In 2001 the institution merged with Founders National Bank of Los Angeles, of which the majority owners were former professional basketball player and businessman Earvin "Magic" Johnson, musician Janet Jackson, former Motown Records President Jheryl Busby. Boston Bank of Commerce rebranded as OneUnited Bank. OneUnited Bank offers an annual financial literacy essay contest for youth, President Teri Williams wrote a children’s book, I Got Bank! What My Granddad Taught Me About Money, to teach financial literacy to urban youth. In the latter part of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, OneUnited experienced financial problems as their equity investment in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae became worthless.
In order to stabilize the institution, the Bank applied for and received $12 million from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Since 2009, the bank has demonstrated sustained profitability. OneUnited Bank's branch staff use customer relationship management software from Salesforce.com on iPads, in its Boston, Los Angeles and Miami branches. In 2013, regulators from the Massachusetts Division of Banks and the FDIC said there has been “minimal lending activity” in Boston, they cited a lack of lending in the Miami market that amounted to "substantial noncompliance". OneUnited had purchased 34 loans in Massachusetts in three years, according to the report. Of those, 26 took place in Suffolk County; the bank expanded lending and refinancing for multi-family properties in Los Angeles, issuing 78 loans. But it made just eight loans in three in Miami. Nationally, only nine of the bank’s loans last year were made to low- or moderate-income borrowers. In January 2014, OneUnited introduced the UNITY Visa secured credit card called the "Comeback Card", for customers with low credit scores.
The card includes training for customers to improve their credit score. OneUnited Bank received recognition as a Notable IT Initiative from Community Banks by American Banker for the UNITY Visa Card's "Me" app, which allows consumers to apply for the card and, if they are approved, it allows them to open a deposit account to fund it. Beginning November 1, 2014, OneUnited removed online and over-the-phone credit card balance pay services. Bank branches that provide these services over-the-counter are now only located in the metropolitan areas of Boston and Los Angeles. Sending a check by mail is the current de facto payment method for Unity Credit Card holders who live at long distances from bank branches. In 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, OneUnited Bank won the Treasury Department's highest award – The Bank Enterprise Award. Carver Bancorp Freedman's Savings Bank Credit One Bank Official website
Metro Rapid
Metro Rapid is a local express bus service in Los Angeles County, California with bus rapid transit characteristics. It has fewer stops than the Metro Local service; the system is operated by Metro. Two routes are operated by one by Culver CityBus and one by Torrance Transit; the Rapid program speeds up travel time for passengers, complementing the Metro Local bus network operated by the Metro as well as other bus routes operated by smaller agencies. Metro Rapid buses are distinguished by their prominent red color. Based on availability of equipment, units in non-Metro Rapid livery may be placed into service on lines that use Metro Rapid buses. To speed up travel times, buses are equipped with special transmitter devices that send a signal to traffic lights, which cause them to favor the bus by holding green lights longer and shortening red lights. Metro Rapid buses stop less than Metro Local buses, with Rapid stops located only at major intersections and transfer points; the frequency of Metro Rapid buses is increased as well, as more buses on a line translates to less wait time at each station.
All Metro Rapid buses are low-floor CNG buses for alighting. As a result of a recent federal court consent decree ruling, beginning in June 2006 all Rapid routes began operating from at least 5 am to 9 pm, five days a week, with a maximum of 10-minute peak headways and 20-minute midday and evening headways; some Rapid routes operate on weekends as well. The Metro Rapid Program was implemented in June 2000-December 2002 with the goal of improving bus speeds within urbanized Los Angeles County. Lines 720, 745, 754 and 750 were the pilot routes of the program. Metro claims travel times were reduced by as much as 29%. Metro Rapid buses are distinguished by their silver livery; some Rapid stops are equipped with "NextBus" technology which indicates the wait time before the next bus arrives. NextBus displays were installed at stops on Lines 720 and 750. Metro Rapid Lines 720, 770 and 780 are the only lines, they take 2 hours from start to end during rush hours. Line 720 is the most frequent of all Rapids.
In the morning rush hour, the Rapid 720 ranges from every 2–10 minutes. A year after Metro introduced SmartBus technology on most of their buses, marquees were modified on most Metro Rapid buses in which the "STOP REQUESTED" portion scrolls across the marquee instead of staying in place and "PLEASE USE REAR EXIT" scrolls slowly. Months marquees were switched back to their original format; the fare is the same as other Metro rail service. Routes are numbered in the 700 series. Critics see the Metro Rapid system as not sufficient to meet Los Angeles' growing transit needs. Limited funds, would be better spent on extending the region's rail network. Rapid buses do not have efficiency of light - or heavy-rail technology. Other critics claim. For many years and its predecessor, the SCRTD, operated limited-stop routes, which were similar to Metro Rapid service in the middle of their routes, but made local stops at each end. Rapid buses do not change traffic signals outside of the City of Los Angeles because only the City has tied the transponders to the signal network.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works is working on rectifying the problem for all the other cities where Rapid buses pass through, but individual signals have to be reprogrammed to give signal priority to Rapid buses. In addition, only Rapid-branded buses have transponders, which causes problems when not enough Rapid buses are available. Another complaint concerns the placement of Local and Rapid stops at separate locations at the same intersection; this was done to eliminate the backing up of buses at stops, but has resulted in a dangerous move called the "Rapid Bus Shuffle", in which a rider waiting at a Local stop runs to a Rapid stop, or vice versa, if the other bus arrives first. In response, some Rapid stops are placed adjacent to Local bus stops. In addition, civil rights organizations like the Bus Riders Union complain about cutbacks in Local service required to implement Rapid service. Between 25 and 50% of Local service is cut and replaced by Rapid service. Thus, riders not living or working near a Rapid stop must walk a longer distance to an intersection with both Local and Rapid stops, or wait longer for a Local bus.
The Special Master of the consent decree between Metro and the BRU has ordered that no more than 33% of the resources for Rapids come from Local service. It should be noted that Metro staff has never considered Metro Rapid a substitute for rail service, but is instead a pragmatic interim measure given current budgetary constraints. Another major complaint is the lack of Saturday and holiday service on several of its high-volume routes like the 705, 710 and 740 where many patrons commute from inner-city suburbs, Downtown LA, or the South Bay to major cities for their jobs and local shopping; the Metro Rapid fleet consists of low-floor buses manufactured by both North American Bus Industries, New Flyer. Foothill Transit's Silver Streak made its debut on March 18, 2007, using the El Monte Busway and the San Bernardino Freeway; this route is not part of the official Metro Rapid program. Metro Rapid Homepage Metro Rapid timetable page Rapid Bus increa
Atlantic station (Los Angeles Metro)
Atlantic is an at-grade light rail station in the Los Angeles County Metro Rail system. It is located at the intersection of Pomona Boulevards in East Los Angeles; the station is served by the Gold Line. It is the southeastern terminus of the Gold Line; this station opened in 2009 as part of the Gold Line Eastside Extension. A new parking structure for this station opened on April 22, 2010, it has reserved parking spaces. Gold Line service hours are from 5:00 AM until 12:15 AM daily. Gold Line Atlantic Parking Structure 255 S Atlantic Blvd, Los Angeles 90022 Paid Daily On-site Parking – 238 Spaces Paid Reserved On-site Parking – 24 Spaces Northeast Lot 255 S Atlantic Blvd, Los Angeles 90022 Paid Daily On-site Parking – 22 Spaces Media related to Atlantic at Wikimedia Commons Official Eastside Extension page LACMTAhttps://www.metro.net/riding/paid_parking/gold-line/
Mixed-use development
Mixed-use development or simply Live-work space is a type of urban development strategy for living spaces that blends residential, cultural, institutional, or entertainment uses, where those functions are physically and functionally integrated, that provides pedestrian connections. Mixed-use development can take the form of a single building, a city block, or entire neighbourhoods; the term may be used more to refer to a mixed-use real estate development project—a building, complex of buildings, or district of a town or city, developed for mixed-use by a private developer, governmental agency, or a combination thereof. Traditionally, human settlements have developed in mixed-use patterns. However, with industrialisation as well as the invention of the skyscraper, governmental zoning regulations were introduced to separate different functions, such as manufacturing, from residential areas. In the United States, the heyday of separate-use zoning was after World War II, but since the 1990s, mixed-use zoning has once again become desirable as the benefits are recognized.
In most of Europe, government policy has encourage the continuation of the city center's role as a main location for business, retail and entertainment activity, unlike in the United States where zoning discouraged such mixed use for many decades. As a result, much of Europe's central cities are mixed use "by default" and the term "mixed-use" is much more relevant regarding new areas of the city, when an effort is made to mix residential and commercial activities – such as in Amsterdam's Eastern Docklands – rather than separate them. One of the earliest cities to adopt a policy on Mixed-use development is Ontario; the local government first played a role in 1986 with a zoning bylaw that allowed for commercial and residential units to be mixed. At the time, Toronto was in the beginning stages planning a focus on developing mixed-use development due to a growing popularity of more social housing; the law has since been updated as as 2013, refining much of its focus outside the downtown area, amalgamated into the main city since 1998.
With the regulations in place, the city has oversaw the development of high-rise condominiums throughout the city with the supply of amenities and transit stops nearby. Toronto case of developing Mixed-uses has expand to encompass other North American cities in Canada and The United States to bring in similar changes. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency collaborates with local governments by providing researchers developing new data that estimates how a city can be impacted by Mixed-use development. With the EPA putting models in the spreadsheet, it makes it much easier for municipalities, developers to estimate the traffic, with Mixed-use spaces; the linking models used as a resource tool measures the geography and land use characteristics in a city. The Environmental Protection Agency has conducted an analysis on six major metropolitan areas using land usage, household surveys, GIS databases. States such as California, New Mexico, Virginia has adopted this standard as statewide policy when assessing how urban developments can impact traffic.
Preconditions for the success of Mixed-use developments is employment and consumer spending. The three preconditions ensures that a development can attract quality tenants and financial success. Other factors determining the success of the Mixed-use development is the proximity of production time, the costs from the surrounding market. Mixed-use zones has been implemented in Portland, Oregon since the early 1990's as the local government was trying to figure out how to lower auto oriented development, prominent in the city at the time. In the state of Oregon alone, that housing must provide a clear objective towards design review; the city of Portland bureau of Planning and Sustainability has released a report in 2014 discussing the development trends in the city. The report eventuates the development of mixed-use spaces by focusing on the city center and its corridors. Portland's light rail system, MAX provides the encouragement of mixing up residential and work spaces into one zone. With this one zoning planning system, the use of land at increased densities provides a return in public investments throughout the city.
Main street corridors provide flexible building heights and high density uses to provide opportunities for gathering places. Mixed-use development allows the creation of plazas and outdoor corridors between buildings and sidewalks. Street facing facades have a maximum setback to how much space is allocated for pedestrians to gather in. Landscaping another feature in outdoor spaces allow trees and plants to grow on buildings vertically rather than being faced out in a front row. Public Infrastructure Mixed-use in centers that have increased in population density has allowed people to access places through public transit and has helped encourage walking and cycling to places of work and errands. Transportation has played a role in mitigating climate change by reducing congestion on roads and building up freight movement for goods and services. With street-level design in place in cities like Boston and Denver Mixed-uses allowed the designs of pedestrian walkways and eye distances to shops and workplaces.
This in turn has reduced parking lots in garages. Historic Preservation Older cities such as Chicago and San Francisco landmark preservation policies to allow more flexibility on older buildings being reused as third spaces. Benefits of mixed-use development include: greater housing variety and density, more affordable housing, life-cycle housing (start
