Negative Effects of Gentrification in Los Angeles

 By: Divine Rodriguez

Photo by: RDNE on Pexels

What is Gentrification?

Have you ever wandered into a familiar neighborhood where buildings you once knew were painted over with new paint? Have a new name? A different look? Are the same faces you would see in this neighborhood no longer there?  That loss, but the wandering feeling, is caused by gentrification. Many questions and emotions flow through you as you try to find answers in the "new" environment you have experienced.

Gentrification can be defined in multiple ways depending on the individual and perspective. According to National Geographic, it may be described as a " demographic and economic shift that displaces established working-class communities and communities of color in favor of wealthier newcomers and real estate development companies." 

While it is essential to acknowledge the benefits of gentrification for major and individual development corporations, it is also crucial to observe those displaced from generational communities. 

(Displaced (verb): cause (something) to move from its proper or usual place)

What is the Problem?

While the city of Los Angeles is well known for its entertainment and tourist hotspots, the town's urban development affects the long-term residents. This means the long-time residents of Los Angeles are being displaced as property values rise and developers move in, driving low-income residents out. As a result, many families are unable to find affordable housing elsewhere in the city, so they are forced to leave the places they’ve called home for generations or become homeless.

According to the Soumya Karlamangla a culture reporter for the New York Times mentions that "Though California accounts for 12 percent of the nation’s population, the state is home to 30 percent of all homeless people in the United States." 

Generative map by: Urban Displacement Project

Additionally, gentrification is erasing Los Angeles’ cultural and historical landmarks. Buildings and businesses already there are often overlooked by developers trying to rebrand and revitalize neighborhoods. Historic sites that value communities significantly are being demolished for new luxury apartments and trendy shops. These areas are affected by residential neighborhoods and many small communities/businesses in Los Angeles, such as Little Tokyo, Chinatown, Boyle Heights, South Central LA, and many more.

A well-known Japanese restaurant called Suehiro was recently forced to evict its location after 50 years. Mia Glass, a reporter and journalist for Japanese culture in Tokyo and Los Angeles for Bloomberg, mentions, ".. Before taking the case to court, the landlord hiked Suehiro’s rent from about $6,000 to $10,000 overnight, said owner Kenji Suzuki." Many locals were angered by the decision and protested against it for months, but unfortunately, Suehiro had been closed as of January 9th, 2024. However, they have moved to another location in downtown LA. While they are fortunate to stay in business, moving long-time residents for another dispensary when there are many more in Los Angeles proves that landlords and developers drive communities out of their original locations for financial gain. 

Suehiro in the early 2000s on 1st Street

Another shop called Little Tokyo Arts & Crafts was forced to close out after 70 years of business. Little Tokyo/Arts District recently opened its metro station last summer of June 2023. Developers and landlords have jumped to revitalizing the neighborhood to bring in trendy businesses and high-end tenants. Little Tokyo holds history within its neighborhood as it was home to the first Japanese migrants to the US in the 1800s. Like other communities, it happens in residential and small communities where history has been deeply rooted for generations. While some small businesses are fortunate to relocate within the same city, many are less lucky and have to close out entirely. 

Why is it important?   

As an individual who still lives with my family, I have seen the rent rise when bills come in, changes in my neighborhood, and being unable to see distant family/friends because of gentrification. I live in South Central LA, in the small district where USC and Exposition lies. We have many urbanized buildings for the students who live in the area, from developed buildings to those in development. Many include the metro station that takes you all the way to Santa Monica or Little Tokyo, the Science Center, the Natural History Museum, BMO Stadium, the Memorial Coliseum, and much more. I have lived in this area for over 10 years, and while that may not be a significant amount in years, the rent in my area has risen in the past three years, which has caused some changes in my neighborhood.

Many changes include building new townhomes for students or wealthy tenants and implementing a new museum along the Exposition, which is rumored to be labeled under George Lucas. We also had a high school move in the corner when entering our block; it was not there before. 

While my family and I are not wealthy, we are thankful and blessed to continue living in this neighborhood. Long story short, we all have jobs to maintain ourselves. However, we now have loud students having parties every other day, when before, all parties would be during the weekend, and the community would know of it out of courtesy. Now, you can get rest for early Monday morning but are hit with music or fireworks on a Sunday night. There is a lot of tension between the older and newer tenants, so there are a lot of local authorities patrolling the neighborhood, which causes more safety and precaution for those walking at night, but the feud is not helpful, nor is it a community. Furthermore, the neighborhood used to be different from what it used to be. 

I can still not visit my family, who now have broken up in Ohio, Nevada, and Downey, California. Unless we are going in those directions or planning to visit. While trying to survive in the hotspot of inflation, a minor is left to plan these trips to see them every weekend.  

Community Insights

I have gathered a few of my friends and family members' perspectives on gentrification in Los Angeles and how it has affected them below. 

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Miranda M. (22)

"During my childhood, I’ve never found a place to call home, living with between households divorced parents and moving between states. It was pretty brutal, with my parents living on opposite sides of the country. However, as time passed, my father established himself living in south Los Angeles. We lived peacefully together in a small house with my grandparents until we noticed that new people had moved in slowly. At first, the changes weren’t significant, but we all saw that everything became expensive. Suddenly, we couldn’t afford our Friday night outings to the movies or buy from our local food vendors. Slowly but surely, everything was being overtaken by "rich" people who had just purchased a so-called vacation home in a county that was previously always called dangerous to even step foot in. We got the news that the house we were all renting was sold to another wealthy family."

 

Devan R. (19)

"It sucks that I cannot see my only grandmother every weekend. She used to live on the corner of 37th and Grand by the DMV. It has been taken over by USC student housing, and she now resides in Riverside with my aunt. They didn't even compensate her a reasonable amount for them to look for something much closer. Gentrification not only helps those developers fill their pockets with money but also tears apart families, businesses, and communities because they financially gain from it all. It is just not fair but many think otherwise. "

Resources 

Geographic, N. (n.d.). Gentrification. Education. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/gentrification/ 

Glass, M. (2024, April 3). In Los Angeles, Little Tokyo Businesses Fight to stay after new Metro opens. Bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-03/in-los-angeles-little-tokyo-businesses-fight-to-stay-after-new-metro-opens 

Karlamangla, S. (2024, March 27). How Los Angeles is approaching homelessness. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/27/us/los-angeles-homelessness.html 

Los Angeles – gentrification and displacement. Urban Displacement. (n.d.). https://www.urbandisplacement.org/maps/los-angeles-gentrification-and-displacement/