Destination Crenshaw Showcases the Cultural Soul of Black Los Angeles
The Crenshaw district has long been known as the cultural soul of Black Los Angeles – a place rooted in the civil rights movement, alive with creative music and art and bustling with the entrepreneurial energy of nail salons, eateries, clothing boutiques and other small businesses.
But constant change has battered the area for years. Gentrification and rising housing costs have pushed out many long-time residents. Metro’s new light-rail K Line initially took out 175 trees and split Crenshaw Boulevard down the middle. Economic disinvestment, exacerbated by the pandemic, contributed to unemployment and business failures.
But a major revitalization is underway, aiming to transform Crenshaw into a top destination rather than a “pass-through” segment between LAX and downtown L.A. That expansive vision, most famously articulated by the late rapper Nipsy Hussle, is coming to fruition in Destination Crenshaw, an initiative to showcase the nation’s largest collection of Black public art, revitalize the economy and help cement the area’s cultural status.
The California Community Foundation is supporting the initiative, amplifying financial contributions by the city, state, philanthropists and other nonprofit partners. A final push is underway to raise the $35 million needed for completion of the $150 million project, according to Joanne Kim, chief of staff for L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson. The funding will allow the project to restart the construction, which was paused last year, in time to showcase Crenshaw’s vibrant culture to the world, including visitors who will flock to Los Angeles for the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics.
The idea for Destination Crenshaw began germinating after the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority began plans for a new light rail line at ground level, cutting through South Los Angeles and its historic neighborhoods like Leimert Park to connect it with LAX and the larger Metro system. Many community members feared it would accelerate gentrification and leave Black residents and businesses behind, as had happened so often in the past.
Harris-Dawson, who took office in 2015 and represents much of the Crenshaw corridor in the Eighth District, began envisioning the K Line as an opportunity rather than a problem. He launched Destination Crenshaw as both a public art project and a way to bring economic vitality to the disinvested area, working closely with community members, civic leaders, cultural institutions and artists.
Prophet Walker, a prominent community developer, recalled that he got goosebumps after he first heard about the “really big vision” from Harris-Dawson and Jason Foster, Destination Crenshaw’s president and CEO.
“The thing that stuck with me is Marqueece said, “To date, Leimert Park and Crenshaw as being a Black district has mostly been in the hearts of us. I now want to create something that signifies space and cements it once and for all.
“And that just blew my mind,” Walker said. “I said, ‘I want to follow this.’”
Walker said Crenshaw needs the permanency of structures – like the government monuments in Washington D.C. and the pyramids in Egypt – to cement the district’s Black cultural legacy. The project will feature a 1.3 mile corridor of 10 pocket parks, with landscaping reflecting California and African indigenous plants. The project’s motif plant is the African Giant Star Grass, historically used as bedding on slave ships and now transformed into a symbol of resistance and resilience to “Grow where you’re planted.”
The project’s heart is a collection of stunning art work by renowned Black artists with roots in Los Angeles who have created pieces rich with meaning and resonance.
Sankofa Park, the largest gathering spot, features an elevated ramp shaped as the turned head of a mythical African bird known as Sankofa, which signifies the importance of looking to the past to nurture and shape the future. The structure offers prime viewing spots of some of the art. One striking piece is a 100-foot mural featuring a mother holding her son, created by three members of United to Inspire Collective as homage to the great Los Angeles artist Charles White and his “mother and son” series.
Charles Dickson has created “Car Culture,” a sculpture symbolizing cars and three elongated figures resembling West African objects traditionally used ritualistically to connect the living and spirit worlds. Maren Hassinger’s “An Object of Curiosity, Radiating Love,” is a large pink fiberclass orb that glows softly when visitors approach. Kehinde Wiley’s “Rumors of War II” will feature a West African woman atop a horse, a piece described as an indictment of the ways African women have been traditionally viewed and a corrective to the fact that 88% of all monuments in the United States portray men. Melvin Edwards has created a 36-foot-high chain sculpture, “Column,” expressing collective unity, resistance and fortitude.
“Emerging First Man” by Artis Lane celebrates what the artist regards as the perfect Black body symbolizing universal humanity and a beacon of hope. Gerard Basil Stripling has created the area’s landmark placename: A Cor-ten steel sculpture spelling out CRENSHAW with African inspired symbols, colored in deep red with LED lights.
The pieces are among several that project supporters hope will cement Crenshaw’s legacy as the preeminent destination for Black art, culture, business and community. Murals, a bike path and a CCF-supported project to develop public WiFi access will celebrate art, mobility and connected community.
“This project started as an idea, as a hunch that…public art gives you a way to make sure that we are providing a sense of hope amidst the train coming in, amidst all the changes in the community,” Foster said.
But Destination Crenshaw will not only offer public art. It is also aimed at spurring jobs, entrepreneurial ventures and career training. Other goals include increasing public safety and building community pride, self-determination and land ownership.
The Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation projects that Destination Crenshaw will generate 1,029 jobs, $63.6 million in labor income and $147.4 million for businesses in the surrounding community. Local hires on project construction jobs account for 67% of workers, 80% of their hours and 81% of wages.
Foster said project planners also expect gains for the area’s creative economy, which are not always fully counted in government estimates. They include revenue boosts and job growth in entertainment, digital media, fashion, culinary arts, personal care, wellness, fine and performing arts and fashion and design.
Destination Crenshaw is working with partners to train small businesses in tourist services to prepare for the flood of visitors expected for the upcoming global sports events.
Foster said project backers met with hundreds of community members to gather feedback; most was positive with some ambivalence. That sentiment was also expressed at Ora Cafe in Leimert Park, where one barista said the project was “exciting but frightening” because she was unsure what changes it would bring to the neighborhood in which she’s lived her entire life. But if the project planners turned out to be trustworthy, she said, it would be “beautiful.”
One question raised is how to maintain the public art and parks over the years. The Getty Foundation provided a grant to create a training program for people to clean, maintain, restore and preserve the art and surrounding landscrapes, integrated with community education on environmental art awareness.
Other early funders include METRO, the Weingart Foundation, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation and Steve Ballmer.
Kim noted that Crenshaw already is attracting investment, with Black-owned commercial parcels increasing to 172 today from 119 in 2015. And more than 11,000 units of housing, much of it affordable, has been added since 2015 or is in the pipeline.
Walker, for instance, has purchased a multi-unit building for affordable housing across from Sankofa Park. He is also developing a “resiliency hub” in Leimert Park featuring green space, a restaurant, art gallery and other amenities.
“Crenshaw is that spark for healthy development for community engagement,” Walker said. “It’s the spark for a revitalization of entrepreneurial thought and commitment into the area. It’s a spark for safety and care. We’re finally seeing this moment where it’s all coming together.”
– Teresa Watanabe