The Natural History Museum and Pendersleigh & Sons Cartography's map of South LA's Westside

In one week I found myself heading to the Exposition Park neighborhood in South LA’s Westside to visit the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County – a stately structure built in 1913 with Romanesque and Beaux Arts elements that film and TV-viewers might recognize it from such films as A Lot Like Love, Bonfire of the Vanities, Buddy, Clean Slate, Continental Divide, Escape From the Planet of the Apes, Madhouse, Mame, No Place to Hide, Pretty Woman, The Monster Squad, Spencer’s Mountain, Spider-Man, The Three Trials and Two Minute Warning. It’s also appeared in episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and How I Met Your Mother. On TV's Bones it’s the fictional Jeffersonian Institute.

Los Angeles' black population is relatively small compared to the city's other major racial and ethnic minorities. The LA metro area is only 8.7% black as compared to 47% Latino (of any race), 28.7% non-Latino white, and 14% Asian/Pacific Islander. However, since its inception, black Angelenos have always played a major role in LA's history and culture. Los Angeles is one of the only major US cities founded largely by people of black African ancestry. When it was still a Spanish colony, Los Angeles began life as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles on September 4, 1781. Of the 44 pobladores who ventured over from nearby San Gabriel, a majority of 26 were identified as having African ancestry.

BLACKS IN MEXICAN AND EARLY AMERICAN LOS ANGELES


During the period that Los Angeles was part of Mexico (1821-1840), blacks were fairly integrated into society at all levels. Mexico abolished slavery much earlier than the US, in 1820. In 1831, Emanuel Victoria served as California's first black governor. Alta California's last governor, Pío de Jesus Pico, was also of mixed black ancestry. The US won the Mexican-American War and in 1850, California was admitted to the United States. Although one of America's so-called "free states," discriminatory legislation was quickly enacted to restrict and remove the civil rights of blacks, Chinese, and Native Americans. For example, blacks (and other minorities) couldn't testify in court against white people. 

A TALE OF TWO WESTSIDES

Just as Los Angeles has two Eastsides (one being the Latino enclave east of the LA River and the other being South Los Angeles east of the 110 and/or Main St) it also has two Westsides. One Westside is a collection of LA's westernmost neighborhoods (such as Bel Air and Brentwood) and the surrounding cities (like Santa Monica and Beverly Hills). The other is the area of South Los Angeles (and the surrounding communities) that lie west of the 110, south of the 10 and east and north of the 405.


The region of South LA's Westside is a large area bounded by South LA's Eastside to the east, The Harbor to the southeast, The South Bay to the west and south west, The Westside to the northwest and Midtown to the north. Definitions differ of exactly what communities constitute the region with several also claiming the South Bay and/or The Harbor. No doubt part of the reason these neighborhoods are in question are due to residents of and developers in those communities eager to disassociate themselves with South LA, which carries negative connotations for many.

This here entry’s about Gardena. To vote for other Los Angeles County communities to be the subject of future entries, click here. To vote for Los Angeles neighborhoods, click here. To vote for Orange County neighborhoods, vote here.

 
                                                                                                Pendersleigh & Sons' Official Map of South Los Angeles

Gardena is located in the South Bay or South LA region, depending on your definition. It's a bit odd to consider it South Bay, since it's not on the water. However, there's a perception that it's unlike the rest of South LA, which is erroneously thought of as being much more homogenous than it is.