South Central

Starbucks in South LA

There are many ways to meander from Crenshaw to Orange County, and when time is not pressing, I'll explore the surface streets.

Today I headed south down Crenshaw and meandered south-east until I hit Imperial Highway in Lynwood.

Unintentionally I passed Florence and Normandie, an infamous intersection where a white trucker was hauled from his rig and beaten. This was caught on camera from one of the swarm of newscopters that encircle LA.

In LA, we spend a lot of time mythmaking, repackaging real neighborhoods and real people into symbols, meanings, and shorthand. It is what we do in the SouthLand. (I am no better, filling up bytes in cyberspace repackging my boring life.) This intersection is a symbol, as well as being the Florence and Normandie that has gas stations on three corners and an AutoZone on the other.

For the unitiated, it might be surprising how suburban and pleasant the residential neighborhoods are. The yards are well tended, and the houses are well maintained. There is money here, too. I watched many well-heeled families walking to church.

The business districts are another story. There are many sad, unmaintained storefronts. The businesses that do exist tend to be those that require little startup capital and little corporate backing: barbers, liquor stores, small markets, small restaruants.

I have been living for two years at the extreme north-west corner of South Central, and, to be honest, I've been something of a failure at finding community or creating community. I've met all the neighbors yet barely know them, and they probably all hate me for never mowing the lawn. Here, just as in Fullerton, my community is divided between people from work and lifetime friends.

I have changed somewhat. I've certainly become less skittish. I've learned to judge neighborhoods not by their commerical districts, over which people have little control, but by the houses and gardens. I've learned to say hello to my neighbors, when, in Orange County, not saying hello and letting people get on with their lives is actually more polite.

Old Navy stores near South LA

But, the fact remains that any outsider that gets lost coming off the 110 and drives around the main streets, looking at the sad storefronts crammed with churches and liquor stores, and barber shops, with nary an Old Navy or Starbucks to be seen, will have the legend of South-Central reinforced by the vista of it.