Gentrification, Displacement, and the Right to the City

Examines the impacts of the sharpening gentrification process in Northeast Los Angeles and its socioeconomic and racial overtones as immigrant working class Latino/a families are increasingly threatened by displacement through rent increases, evictions, and socially traumatic uprooting of multi-family networks. Gentrification is tied to neoliberal local state efforts in Los Angeles to incentivize private investment through urban policy strategies like transit-oriented development, transit villages and small lot housing development. I argue the creative frontier of urban restructuring in Northeast LA also generates social violence expressing capitalism’s tendency to foster “accumulation by dispossession” that has been countered by neighborhood “right to the city” movements. I examine the rise of the urban social movements like Friends of Highland Park and Northeast LA Alliance that advocate for the rights of those threatened by housing displacement and eviction, address community and environmental impacts of new high-density housing projects, and campaign for more socially just housing and urban planning policies in Los Angeles. There is also examination of the plight of the homeless and rehabilitating gang members

From Arroyo Culture to NELA Arts

Examines arts culture in the Arroyo Seco from the Arts and Crafts movement colony of the “Arroyo Culture” to the contemporary NELA art scene. It chronicles the major figures of this bohemia which waned with the decline of the region during decades of suburban outmovement and white flight. The significance of art collectives in the revival of the Northeast Los Angeles art scene is discussed, with Chicano(a)/Latino(a) art collectives emerging in the 1970s and white artists through the Arroyo Arts Collective in the 1980s. The central figures and themes of the Latino/a arts renaissance are explored in depth. The contributions of the arts to community development and cultural revitalization are identified. Finally the growing role of arts entrepreneurs in economic development is discussed, with reflections from arts leaders on the gentrification process and their growing role in local politics and cultural policy

Neighborhood Activism and Slow Growth

Introduces the rise of neighborhood activism in Northeast Los Angeles in the 1980s against the backdrop of “slow growth” preservation and local control movements in California and around the nation. Case study of Eagle Rock, where The Eagle Rock Association (TERA) led a series of protests against mini-malls, condominiums, mansions and “big box” chain stores, in favor of better coordinated land-use planning preservation of natural and architectural landmarks, and “Take Back the Boulevard” for bikers and pedestrians. The case of Highland Park, where citizen activists and preservationists worked to create a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ) to save historic buildings and better regulate land-use planning. It chronicles the rise of the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition to oppose the veritable warehousing of the Southwest Museum and storage of the collection in Burbank by its new owner, the Autry National Center of the West. Examines the internal politics of neighborhood activism, the significant participation of women leaders, and the question of minority participation. The chapter finishes with the political legacy of the slow growth movements of Northeast Angeles, which are expressed through a progressive coalition of neighborhood activist organizations with Democratic Latino city councilmen.

The Stages of Neighborhood Transition

This chapter outlines the “stage model of gentrification” and neighborhood transition in Northeast LA through historical periods of emergence of the streetcar suburbs, then decline with the rise of outer freeway suburbs and white flight followed by residential succession by incoming Latin American and Asian immigrants. The presence of a revitalization stage involving immigrant pioneers and homesteaders, followed by speculator investors and more affluent gentrifiers is outlined. There follows analysis of U.S. Census of Population and Housing data on racial/ethnic transition and the recomposition of the household structure. Business data are presented that explores the sectoral profile of enterprises and identify growth trends.

Boulevards, Gentrification, and Urban Culture

Chronicles the recent commercial and cultural revitalization of boulevard life throughout Los Angeles and examines more closely the transition in Highland Park and Eagle Rock in relation to local preservation and slow growth movements. Depicts the Northeast LA art scene and hipster culture as a convergence of Latino/a and Asian immigrant culture and vintage Americana. Features public characters and neighborhood leaders as they reflect on small business authenticity, safety, community building, community gardening, bicycle culture, economic development, gentrification and racial/ethnic transition. There is literature review of sociological studies of streets, bohemia and the creative economy in urban culture.

Introduction

The introduction features scenes from Northeast LA including a poem titled “Taco Truck” by Lisa Marie Sandoval that describes a nocturnal interaction between a college student and a Latino taco vendor and his family. The scene at the annual Lummis Day Festival is described by the author with respect to Northeast LA regional arts culture and community organizations and the mixing between established residents and newcomers. There follows a vignette on anti-gentrification protestors for housing rights who disrupt the Figueroa Jam a public arts and community engagement event sponsored by the LA Mayor’s Greet Streets program. Research method’s and the author’s positionality is discussed along with a profile of the book plan along with brief chapter reviews.

Conclusion

Examines prospects, implications and final comparisons. Considers the challenges of neighborhood activism in Northeast LA as an older cadre of artists and activists makes way for a new generation of movement leaders who confront a shifting racial and socioeconomic landscape in the transition from suburbanization and white flight to gentrification and white return. Attention to conflicts in the Latino/a experience in Boyle Heights and Northeast L.A. and the power of processions and rituals to cope with the social trauma of eviction and displacement. The struggle to save imperiled cultural landmarks and the promise of new cultural festivals and music scenes is addressed. NELA is viewed as an illustration of going “back to the future” in regional transit policy turns away from the failures of the postwar auto-centered metropolis towards smart growth and green alternatives. Urban policy solutions are considered with respect to transit oriented development, affordable housing development and supporting tenants’ rights and programs for the homeless. Reflections are given on meanings of taking back the boulevard. The significance of looking at the neighborhood scale in metropolitan change is addressed. Addresses the book’s contribution to interpretive, public and critical sociology.