Strong Sense of Belonging Found in Crenshaw Area

A former-cop-turned-barber named Tresvan didn’t need university researchers to tell him what he already knew: The Crenshaw district has a deep sense of community probably unmatched in Los Angeles.

He walked the Crenshaw area as an LAPD patrol officer for years. An African American, Tresvan decided to return to the traditionally black neighborhood after he left the Police Department because of its togetherness.

“I was amazed then by the community spirit,” he says.

He was also astonished at how the neighborhood grapevine operates.

“If you don’t hear it at home, the church, the school or the barbershop, it must not be happening in Crenshaw,” Tresvan, who goes by the single name, said in his one-chair shop on 43rd Street.

His observations were echoed Tuesday by a new USC study of seven distinctive ethnic neighborhoods within 10 miles of the Los Angeles Civic Center. The report showed that Crenshaw, which is predominantly African American although increasingly Latino, has the strongest sense of community or feelings of belonging.

That can motivate everyday acts of neighborliness, an important part of keeping a community vital in the transient and confusing urban landscape, researchers said.

According to the “Metamorphosis” survey at the university’s Annenberg School for Communication, the Crenshaw area rated the highest because of its “storytelling” system of individuals, community organizations and local media groups that engage residents.

Of the seven communities surveyed, the lowest-scoring was Monterey Park, where Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking residents live in substantial numbers but are still rooted to concerns in their country of origin.

The director of the study said the results are significant because storytelling and the sense of belonging are crucial in a sprawling place like Los Angeles, where newcomers, as well as some natives, have trouble putting down roots.

“I think a lot of people feel that they don’t belong to anyone,” said Sandra Bell-Rokeach, a professor of sociology and communication at USC. “At work, relationships are changing. Basically, there’s little loyalty between employer and employee. Many of us end up focusing on family and friendship networks.

“If the stories we tell create the sense that we are home when we enter our neighborhood, then we have much more than just a shared physical space,” she said.

In carrying out the study, researchers initially gathered data over the telephone with individuals and focus groups in English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin and Korean.

They purposely focused on one of the main ethnic groups in each of the seven areas.

After Crenshaw, the survey ranked the rest of the communities and the ethnic group in descending order of that sense of belonging: South Pasadena (white Protestant population); East Los Angeles (Mexican origin); Los Angeles’ Westside (Jewish); Pico-Union (Central American origin); Koreatown (Korean origin), and Monterey Park (Chinese origin).

Glendale is also being surveyed because of its large Armenian and Latino communities. But those results may not be available until the fall, Bell-Rokeach said.

In the case of Crenshaw, the traditional leadership of African American churches played a big role in the survey results. That didn’t surprise community activists.

“I think the black churches are unique in being the glue for that community,” said the Rev. Madison Shockley of the area’s United Church of Christ, citing the influence of such other congregations as the First AME Church or the West Angeles Church of God in Church.

Researcher Phil Harris, a doctoral candidate at USC, noted that even such groups as the Baldwin Village Tennis Assn. provide important meeting places for Crenshaw residents.

Local media outlets, like the weekly Sentinel and the Wave, are also important because they prompt conversations about local issues. And mainstream outlets, like The Times, provide a similar function when they focus on neighborhoods, researchers said.

Out on Crenshaw Boulevard, in southwestern Los Angeles, the locals said that coming out on top in the survey was no surprise to them, even if some outsiders stereotype the neighborhood as unsafe.

“A lot of people hang out here all the time,” said architect Ros Karl, who takes daily walks near his office, swinging a container of burning sage to combat what he calls evil spirits in Crenshaw. “We tend to congregate where we’re comfortable.”

Across the way from Karl’s office, Tresvan nodded in agreement. “I’m amazed by it now,” he said.

Part of the togetherness found in South Pasadena, researchers said, has been fostered by that community’s nearly 30-year fight against the proposed extension of the Long Beach Freeway.

Regarding the results involving the Chinese communities in Monterey Park, researchers said the first- and second-generation residents seemed more focused on events in Asia than what is going on in their own backyards.

Catherine Hsieh, a reporter for the Los Angeles-based radio station KMNY-AM (1600), which broadcasts 22 hours a day in Mandarin, said it carries few stories on local affairs, preferring to concentrate on Taiwan and China.

Researchers said the same holds true for the Chinese Daily News, a major print source of news that is popular in Monterey Park and other areas populated by Chinese immigrants.

But Monterey Park Mayor Frank Venti took issue with the study’s findings.

Though acknowledging that language is a problem, he said that doesn’t stop local residents from participating in many of the city’s activities, including the Japanese-oriented Cherry Blossom Festival, the Mexican-based Cinco de Mayo celebration or the Chinese-flavored Lantern Festival. They also participate in the city’s Neighborhood Watch program, he said.

“We do have a language barrier, but it isn’t a participation barrier,” Venti said.

The findings released Tuesday are the first in a series to be offered by the Metamorphosis project, director Bell-Rokeach said. The Internet’s effect on everyday life and the level of comfort or fear felt about some communities will soon be examined, she said.