Rabin Woods has seen his community change over the last few years. Neighbors have left their homes as rent continues to climb. Black property owners have sold their buildings for profit as housing prices in South Central Los Angeles rise. “For the people that move out — if they ever move out — they probably won’t be able to move back in,” said Woods, 56, of Leimert Park. “Prices of the rent are going up. What was $1,300 is going to probably be like $2,000 or $1,800.” As construction of LA Metro ...

Laura Juarez is proud to say she knows nearly all the students at Twentieth Street Elementary School. As the full-time library aide at the South-Alameda elementary school, she enjoys visits from the more than 600 students. Juarez reads to students in kindergarten through third grade and helps the kids select new books to read. Tuesdays are Juarez’s busiest days. In the mornings, she gets to school at 7:45 a.m. Her first class arrives half an hour later and about six other classes visit her ...

During a Los Angeles Football Club home game, Exposition Park is blanketed in black and gold. Fans crowd the Banc of California Stadium decked out in jerseys, caps and face paint. Men and women raise large flags emblazoned with team logos as fans chant through megaphones. “We’re here to show the rest of the world that MLS can be as passionate as European league,” said Ryan Romero, a fan from Exposition Park. “MLS can stand right along ...

Nipsey Hussle remembered as a South Central icon. ‘He was a voice among our people’ Power 106 radio personality Cece Valencia recently spoke with rapper and activist Nipsey Hussle in an interview about two weeks ago. She saw Hussle as a “hometown hero” and remembers showing him her support. “When you win, we win,” she remembers telling Hussle. On Monday morning, Valencia joined more than 50 others who gathered in front of The Marathon Clothing to remember Hussle. Some cried, others drank as ...

South Central residents stand up for better living conditions through new LA Tenants Union chapter Residents of Baldwin Hills, Leimert Park and Crenshaw — South Central communities rich in black culture — have witnessed a number of neighborhood changes in recent years. Leimert Plaza Park, once home to vendors and African drums, has been fenced off by gates and is awaiting renovation. Along Crenshaw Boulevard, which extends through all three neighborhoods, the construction of a new Los Angeles ...

Zerita Jones and her family are a tight-knit group — so much so that most of them live within a 10-minute walk. They call Baldwin Hills home, where she lives with her mother, Jesse, at Chesapeake Apartments. Her grandson lives in the same complex, while two of her six children, both in their 30s, live a mere two blocks away at the corner of Coliseum Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. “We’re close,” Jones said in an interview. “Me and my mom are right there. You lose all of that [when ....

Stuffy from weeks of closed doors, La Michoacana Cold Delights had its front door propped open to let in the fresh breeze from outside. The owners, who were busy dusting off counters and organizing ingredients, weren’t expecting any customers. They technically hadn’t opened yet. “Oh my gosh,” a surprised passerby said gleefully as he stooped in the door frame. “You guys opened.” Surprised but excited, the ....

A bleary-eyed Monique Webb pulled off the Interstate 10 late night Friday, Oct. 20, after the long drive south from Sacramento. The owner of the Northern California food truck, Mo’Betta Finger Foods Food on Wheels, got to the 12th annual Taste of Soul festival site around 11 p.m. She arrived with three cars packed to the gills with ingredients for the long Saturday ahead; working through the night, she set up ....

Five young women from South Los Angeles and Boyle Heights spoke about the rising effects of gentrification in their communities on Saturday, Sept. 30. The event, “Youth Voices: Gentrification,” was hosted by Las Fotos Project, a nonprofit organization that provides mentorship for teenage girls through forms of self-expression, as a part of their “City Rising” exhibit. ...