Blogging Social Difference Week 10: Highland Park

This week I decided to go to Highland Park to highlight the gentrification, which according to a study by Wyly and Hammel, is an aspect of neoliberal urban policy. They define gentrification as “spaces and places created by diverse and often countervailing processes, by artists and architects, builders, buyers, and speculators, whose collective decisions inscribe new environments into widely divergent metropolitan settings.” The gentrifiers themselves are not to blame, but are enabled by neoliberal investment policy. This produces “capital expansion at a rate more than twice the suburban rate.” What gentrification also brings is an increased exclusion of lower class minority groups who  had previously inhabited these neighborhoods. Highland Park has been cited as one of the most recent gentrifying neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

Looking at Simply Maps, I found that much of the population of Highland Park is over 60% Hispanic, and some census tracts are over 80%. The LA Times “Mapping LA” project states that the overall Hispanic population of this district is 72.4%, with most of the other population split evenly between white and Asian. Also looking at Simply Maps, I found that the EASI Total Crime Index in Highland Park is normally above 119, well above the average of 100. Some of the census tracts were above 154.

Crime rate in Highland Park, Simply Maps

Hispanic Population in Highland Park, Simply Maps

I began my trip into Highland Park from the 110 freeway exit onto Avenue 64 and then down Figueroa Street. My route also took me down York Boulevard. As I drove through, I noticed many Mexican and Salvadorean restaurants and Spanish language stores, including a Fallas Paredes. Off of Figueroa St, I found a small Vietnamese restaurant and stopped to get lunch. The Vietnamese fare was contrasted with the decidedly American diner atmosphere and furnished with Mid-Century American furniture. The crowd was much different than the people walking outside.

A Pupuseria on Figueroa

Good Girl Dinette

The inside of Good Girl Dinette

After lunch, I went looking for more signs of gentrification. I stopped by an art gallery I knew of but it was closed. However, there was a record store next door that caters to a younger, hipper crowd, with industrial and neo-folk music playing. I found other art galleries, vintage furniture shops, and vintage stores pressed up against exclusively Spanish language businesses. Most of these places were newer establishments, and reflected the ongoing gentrification of Highland Park.

The record store on Figueroa, right next to a Spanish language business

Another record store on York

Cluster of Art Galleries in Highland Park, via Google Maps

The houses in Highland Park are older than ones seen on the Westside of Los Angeles, owing to Highland Park’s long history. They are comparable to what one would find in the Angelino Heights neighborhood of Echo Park or other older neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Most of the ones I saw around Figueroa, however, were much more rundown than in Echo Park. This most likely will not be the case in a few years; with capital investment and a foreseeable housing boom the area will most likely see a rapid increase in upkeep as people revamp and sell or rent these historical homes. However, this will most likely bring an increase in home prices and as Wyly and Hammel predict, an increase in exclusion of the lower class minority residents of Highland Park.

What I found in Highland Park was gentrification happening before my eyes. The hipper shops, art galleries, and cafes were all new, yet investment still hasn’t taken advantage of the many homes in the area. But this will change, as it did in Echo Park and Brooklyn. Neoliberal urban policy will bring rapid investment to this gentrifying neighborhood, and the boom in the housing market will marginalize those who lived before.