Watts, Los Angeles, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Watts is a residential district in southern Los Angeles, California. It is considered part of South Los Angeles.
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[edit] History
A definitive story of this historic community is The City of Watts, California: 1907 to 1926, by MaryEllen Bell Ray, published in 1985 by Rising Publications.
The area now known as Watts began its modern history, after the arrival of Spanish-Mexican settlers, as part of the Rancho La Tajauta, which received its land grant in 1820. As on all ranchos, the principal vocation was grazing and beef production.
With the influx of white Americans into Southern California in the 1870s, La Tajuata land was sold off and subdivided for smaller farms and homes. In those days each Tajuata farm had an artesian well. The arrival of the railroad spurred the development of the area, and in 1907 Watts was incorporated as a separate city, named after Charles H. Watts, a landowner and civic leader. The city voted to annex itself to Los Angeles in 1926.
Along with more white Americans, Mexican and Mexican American railroad workers ("traqueros") settled in the community. Blacks came in later (many of the men were Pullman car porters and other railroad workers); schoolroom photos from 1909 and 1911 show two or three black faces among the 30 or so children pictured. By 1914, a black realtor, Charles C. Leake, was doing business in the area.
Watts was predominantly black by 1940. During World War II, several large housing projects (including Nickerson Gardens, Jordan Downs, and Imperial Courts) were built to house workers in war industries. These projects were nearly 100 percent black by the early 1960s as whites moved to new suburbs outside the central city.
Longstanding resentment by Los Angeles' working-class black community over treatment by police and what was seen as inadequate public services (especially schools and hospitals) exploded on August 11, 1965, into what were commonly known as the Watts Riots. The event that precipitated the disturbances, the arrest of a black youth by the California Highway Patrol on drunk-driving charges, actually occurred outside Watts, but the district was by far the area most damaged in the turmoil.
Watts suffered further in the 1970s, with gangs—not very active before the riots—gaining in strength. Between 1989 and 2005, police reported more than 200 homicides in Watts, most of them gang-related. Three of Watts' most notorious gangs—Grape Street Watts Crips, Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods, and PJ Watts Crips—formed a cease-fire agreement after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, a pact that may have been tied to a decrease in crime in the area between 1992 and 2000.
Beginning in the 1970s, many African Americans left Watts for other parts of South Los Angeles, and later the Antelope Valley, the Inland Empire, Orange County, and even the San Joaquin Valley; they were largely replaced by immigrants of Mexican and Central American ancestry. This process accelerated after the 1992 riots, which saw numerous instances of fights between blacks and Hispanics.
Neighborhood leaders have begun a strategy to overcome Watts' reputation as a violence-prone and impoverished area. Special promotion has been given to the museums and art galleries opened in the area surrounding Watts Towers around on 1765 East 107th St which is towards Imperial Highway towards surrounding suburb of Lynwood, CA. This sculptural and architectural landmark has attracted many artists and professionals to the area.
In July 2005, Watts returned to the news when a police SWAT team accidentally killed 18-month-old Suzy Peña who was held hostage by her father at a used-car lot in the area. Reaction in the community was divided between condemnation of Peña's father and calls for disciplinary action against the SWAT team, but surprisingly the division was not along racial lines: black and Latino activists could be found in both camps which in around 62% Hispanic, 32% African-American, 0.27% Asian, 8% White and 18% mixed races.[citation needed]
[edit] Geography and Transportation
Watts is bordered by the cities of South Gate on the east and Lynwood on the southeast, and the unincorporated areas of Willowbrook on the south and Florence on the north.
The district's boundaries are Century Boulevard on the north, Mona Boulevard on the east, Imperial Highway on the south, and Central Avenue on the west. Principal thoroughfares through the district include Santa Ana Boulevard; Compton and Wilmington Avenues; and 108th Street. In addition to buses, mass transit is provided by the Blue and Green light rail lines of the Los Angeles Metro system, at the 103rd Street/Kenneth Hahn station on the Blue Line and the Imperial/Wilmington/Rosa Parks station where the Blue and Green lines meet.
Watts is split between ZIP Codes 90002 and 90059.
[edit] Demographics
Watts covers U.S. Census tracts 2420, 2426, 2427, 2430, and 2431. As of the 2000 census, total population in the district was 22,847. Racial breakdown was as follows: 14.9% white or Caucasian, 36.9% black or African American, 0.8% American Indian or Alaska native, 0.2% Asian or Pacific Islander, 43.3% some other race, and 3.9% two or more races; 61.7% were Hispanic or Latino of any race. The community has the lowest household income in all of Los Angeles County at $17,987. Per capita income stood at $6,681; 49.7% of families and 49.1% of individuals were below the federal poverty line.
[edit] Education
Watts is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District within Local District 7. Its local secondary public school is David Starr Jordan High School [1], which includes a math-science magnet component [2]. It has a student body of 76.5 percent Hispanics, 23 percent African Americans and 5 percent other and, according to its website, is "located in a high crime area."[3] Its athletic teams are known as the Bulldogs. The adjacent Simon Rodia High School is a continuation school for students who can't attend Jordan [4]. [Edwin Markham] Middle School has sixth- through eighth-grade students [5].
San Miguel School provides a Catholic education for about 200 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. Most of the families come from Latin America. Tuition is $145 a month, but many parents cannot pay on time, according to The Tidings online at [6].
[edit] Trivia
On the 1972 sit-com "Sanford & Son", there was often reference to problems in Watts. In one episode, "Fred Sanford" (Redd Foxx) discusses this with a Los Angeles policeman. Officer Hopkins: "When we're finished, people will be able to walk down the streets safely in Los Angeles". Fred Sanford: "Yeah they can walk in Los Angeles, but they'll still be running in Watts".
The television sitcom Two and a Half Men includes a reference to Watts: "Charlie Harper" (Charlie Sheen) is importuned by his nephew to find a "Clucky's" fast-food restaurant. They end up at one in Watts, where Charlie is clearly in distress and tells Jake to stop talking and to "eat faster," after which he exchanges glances and a cautious word with the predominantly black and poor crowd around him.
The district is also refrenced in the song "West Coast Pop Lock" By Ronnie Hudson, which was later covered in the rap song California Love.
[edit] Nobel Prize-winning high school graduate
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Los Angeles Almanac: Watts (City of Los Angeles)
- Experience LA: Watts Metro Adventure
