Just Don’t Call It South-Central

They shrugged when their neighborhood was mistakenly labeled Watts after the 1965 riots. They seethed when it was characterized as South-Central Los Angeles following the 1992 riots.

So now residents of a 3-square-mile section southwest of the Coliseum want to put an end to that kind of confusion by returning to a name coined by early Los Angeles subdividers to describe their neighborhood.

“Vermont Square” is what homeowners say they would like to see placed on street signs and maps for an area approximately bounded by Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Hoover Street and Arlington and Slauson avenues.

That designation is one of 23 original tract names picked by developers whose Craftsman-style homes are now considered part of the largest turn-of-the-century housing stock west of the Mississippi, according to urban historian Gregory Fischer.

“Los Feliz, Westwood, Brentwood and Encino have kept their names. Why not you?” Fischer asked about 70 residents who met with him Monday night to discuss their area’s past.

Why not, indeed, said homeowners.

Residents said South-Central Los Angeles has become a buzzword for crime and other urban ills. They said they do not like it that their neighborhood is commonly referred to as being part of the South-Central region by those who use Western Avenue as that area’s border.

In reality, said longtime neighborhood activist Helen Johnson, residents consider areas west of Figueroa Street to be part of Southwest Los Angeles.

“I hate it when people call us South-Central L.A.,” Johnson said. “They’re putting us in a box and keeping negativism going when they do that.”

Fischer, a researcher with the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, agreed. He is a specialist in early Los Angeles subdivisions.

The Southwest Los Angeles area is bordered by Jefferson Boulevard on the north and Figueroa on the east and includes their community, he said.

He said too many Los Angeles residents have come to describe where they live by using nearby street corners.

“Don’t say, ‘I live at 48th and Western.’ You don’t live in the middle of an intersection,” said Fischer--himself a lifelong Westwood resident. “Neighborhood identity gives you a sense of place you desperately need in a city this size.”

He said the “Vermont Square” name is appropriate because it already identifies a 47th Street park surrounded by vintage Craftsman bungalows. The park is home to the city’s oldest public library branch.

The old Vermont Square subdivision was one of nearly two dozen constructed between 1905 and 1914 in the area. They replaced truck farms and dairy grazing land that covered the area at the turn of the century--something old-timers in Monday night’s crowd remembered hearing about from original home-buyers.

Nearby subdivisions had such names as Clawson Villa, Derby Ranch Tract, St. Vincent College Tract, Kendall’s Berry Tract and Cottage Home Tract, he said. Fischer displayed copies of 90-year-old parcel maps to show the original street layouts and crisscrossing trolley and train lines that could take residents anywhere in Los Angeles for a nickel.

He told homeowners that the 1992 riots were the motivation for him to begin researching the city’s subdivision roots.

“We have lost the sense of neighborliness that makes neighborhoods,” he said. “It’s important to get some of that back.”

Streets around Vermont Square Park are lined with classic examples of early 20th century American housing, he said.

“These single-family, single-story homes are important to the city of L.A.,” he said. “The California Craftsman bungalow style is the one unifying element within each of these neighborhoods. It’s part of the largest turn-of-the-century housing stock west of the Mississippi.”

That housing style was popular with white middle-class home buyers until about World War I, he said. After that, subdivisions featuring Spanish revival-style homes began opening in new areas being annexed into Los Angeles.

The area around Vermont Square Park became home to lower-middle-class whites in the 1920s. After World War II, black families leaving the Central Avenue area began moving into the neighborhood, Fischer said.

That trend continued until the 1980s, when Latin American families began moving in, he said.

“You’ve seen plenty of changes. This is a very busy city,” he added. “It isn’t going to be the same in 30 years. That’s just the way this city is. If you don’t plan, you will be run over by all the other changes. This is not a static city.”

Fischer said help is available if residents want to acquire “Vermont Square” street signs for the area. He explained that two years ago he helped residents of Victoria Park in the Mid-City area rename their neighborhood and mark it with signs approved by the city that carried a stylized logo taken from that community’s original subdivision advertising.

Homeowners said a new identity could help give their own community a new attitude.

“People would have more pride in their neighborhood if they could say they live in Vermont Square,” said Vivian Rhone, a resident since 1949. “Just saying you live in L.A. doesn’t mean much, this place is so big.”

Ruben D. Smith, a 41-year resident, said he remembers being called a resident of Watts during the 1965 rioting there. It’s about time his neighborhood has its own name, Smith said. “There’s a lot of confusion. I don’t live in South-Central,” added neighbor Jack Solomon, a resident since 1974.

“To me, ‘Vermont Square’ sounds beautiful.”

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New Name Sought

Homeowners in a 3-square-mile section of Los Angeles are seeking street signs and city recognition as Vermont Square, an original turn-of-the-century tract name.