South-Central Los Angeles, California

South-Central Los Angeles, California is a neighborhood mainly within the City of Los Angeles. While the neighborhood has no legally defined boundaries and is sometimes considered to include a vast area extending south to the community of Watts and west to La Cienega Boulevard, this article will focus mainly on the area known as Historic South-Central Los Angeles and adjoining communities immediately to the west. Historic South-Central Los Angeles, which encompasses approximately 2.5 square miles and has roughly 49,000 residents, is south of downtown Los Angeles. Washington Boulevard is generally considered its northern boundary. Its western boundary is Flower Street or the Harbor Freeway (Interstate 110). Vernon Avenue marks the area’s southern boundary and Central Avenue (the epicenter of Black cultural life in Los Angeles from the 1920s to the 1950s) is the eastern boundary.

Founded in 1925 as the Frank Wiggins Trade School, Los Angeles Trade-Technical College (LATTC) is the oldest community college in the Los Angeles Community College District. LATTC has a full-time and parttime faculty and staff of over 1,000 and a student enrollment of approximately 16,000. LATTC offers 58 degrees and 68 certificates. LATTC adds approximately $700 million in income to Los Angeles County’s economy and supports over 8,000 jobs. Annual payroll is more than $74 million and annual day-to-day expenses not related to payroll exceed $45 million.

Just west of Historic South-Central Los Angeles is the neighborhood of University Park. University Park has one of the highest concentrations of historic buildings (mostly built between 1885 and the 1920s) in the Los Angeles area. University Park is also home to one of the city’s most well-known universities, the University of Southern California (USC). USC was established in 1880, at which time Los Angeles lacked paved streets, telephones, and electric lights. In 1885, USC established the first medical school in the region—now known as Keck School of Medicine of USC. Approximately 21,000 undergraduate students and 28,000 graduate students attend USC. USC employs approximately 4,600 full-time faculty, 2,000 parttime faculty, 70 librarians, 16,000 staff, and 6,000 student workers. An analysis conducted by Beacon Economics (a Los Angeles firm that publishes a variety of objectively based analyses and forecasts) found that in the 2015-2016 fiscal year USC’s operations created over $6 billion in economic output in Los Angeles County and over $2 billion in worker wages. The study also found that USC’s operations created over $150 million in tax revenues for local government in Los Angeles County. For purposes of the study, USC’s operations included operations at its university based medical facilities in Los Angeles County: Keck Medical Center of USC (a 401-bed facility) and USC Verdugo Hills Hospital (a 158-bed facility). USC supports the surrounding community through such programs as the USC Housing Law Clinic.

Just south of the University of Southern California is a 160-acre park called Exposition Park. The Southern District Agricultural Society purchased the site in 1872, which was dubbed “Agricultural Park” and used as a farmers’ fairground and racetrack. Modern-day Exposition Park features a 7-acre sunken rose garden; BMO Stadium, a 22,000 seat, soccer-specific stadium; and a collection of museums.

The California African American Museum spotlights the important role African Americans have played in the West Coast’s cultural, economic, and political development.

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (featuring an 11-acre campus with over 200 trees, a hanging garden, an amphitheater, a pedestrian bridge, and a 300,000 square foot museum building on the site of a former asphalt parking lot) is currently under construction. Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will focus on storytelling through visual images ranging from ancient Roman mosaics to contemporary photography. The $1 billion building project has provided employment for at least 4,200 workers.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in Exposition Park opened in 1913 (as the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art) and contains a large natural and cultural history collection.

The California Science Center (formerly the California Museum of Science and Industry) is a hands-on science museum, which includes the California Science Center IMAX and the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which completed 25 missions into space.

Most famously, Exposition Park is home to the iconic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which still serves its original purpose as an arena for local college football games as well as other major sporting events and large-scale musical performances. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was designed be the same architectural firm that would later design Los Angeles City Hall, Bullock’s Wilshire Building, and the Los Angeles Union Station. Commissioned as a memorial to veterans of World War I, the Coliseum opened in 1923. The Coliseum served as the homefield for University of Southern California Trojan football team. The first film was screened at the Coliseum in 1927. The opening and closing ceremonies for the 1932 Summer Olympic Games were held at the Coliseum. In anticipation of the 1932 Summer Olympic Games, the coliseum was expanded to seat more than 100,000 spectators. The Coliseum became the home of former National Football League (NFL) team, the Cleveland Rams, when the team moved to Los Angeles in 1946. The Coliseum was the site of the first NFL championship Super Bowl game in 1967. The Coliseum was hosted opening and closing ceremonies, as well as track and field events, for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. The Coliseum is slated to co-host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2028 Summer Olympic Games along with SoFi Stadium at Hollywood Park.

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