Recent Streetsblog LA posts about Leimert Park

Cortez Wright, at right, first joined the guys he looked up to from BKoB in the King Day Parade when he was 13. Now 17, he and friends Prince (left) and Jacob (center) are the ones inspiring the next generation of riders. Sahra Sulaiman/Streetsblog L.A.

Community Service Comes Full Circle for Members of Black Kids on Bikes at King Day Parade

By Sahra Sulaiman | Jan 23, 2019 | 2 Comments

Youth BKoB inspired to join in the parade years ago now serve as inspiration for the next generation

This (in-progress) detail by artist Jaime Scholnick will feature in a larger panel of scenes running along one of the underground walls at the Expo/Crenshaw station. Source: Jaime Scholnick

Art, the Crenshaw/LAX Line, and the Stories We (Don’t) Tell at Train Stations

By Sahra Sulaiman | Nov 1, 2018 | No Comments

Given the role public investment can have in reshaping marginalized communities, what responsibilities does Metro have as an entity that seeks to tell stories about the places it moves people through?

Untokening Co-founder Naomi Doerner listens to a participant during the Policy/Advocacy/Power workshop at the Untokening California convening November 4. Sahra Sulaiman/Streetsblog L.A.

Mobility Justice Advocates Gather in Leimert Park for Untokening California

By Sahra Sulaiman | Nov 10, 2017 | 20 Comments

She had had enough of hearing her community spoken about in offensive ways by well- (and not-so-well-) meaning planners and advocates, enough of giving 110 percent of herself only to realize a fraction of what she put forward was being seen as having value, enough of how disinterested those with power over what happened in marginalized communities remained in the larger picture, and enough of being tokenized.

The plans for the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza include 961 residential units (in green and orange), a hotel (purple), new retail (blue and under the green residences), an office tower (pink), and 7 acres of open space and walking paths. Numbers on the buildings indicate heights. Rendering source: RAW International

Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza Offers Window into History of Redevelopment, Legacy of White Flight

By Sahra Sulaiman | Jul 28, 2017 | 7 Comments

The new complex would be a far cry from the open-air mall first built there in 1947. But it’s not the first major intervention the site has seen, either. Nor is it the first time the city is looking to the mall as having the potential to give the area an economic boost.

Beauty, grace, power, and spirituality led the way in celebration of the ancestors in Leimert Park Village. Sahra Sulaiman/Streetsblog L.A.

Ancestors v. Polka Dots: Some Thoughts on Approaches to “Place-Making”

By Sahra Sulaiman | Jun 27, 2017 | No Comments

In many historically marginalized urban neighborhoods, decades of disenfranchisement and the repressive policing that accompanied it created great insecurity in the public space and, over time, eroded bonds of social trust between neighbors. With the public space essentially rendered off limits for too many, community had to be nurtured in private spaces.

A visitor alights from an autonomous micro shuttle in front of the Vision Theater. Screenshot from video produced by Karl Baumann and Ben Caldwell.

Leimert Park Envisions Infusing Culture into Autonomous Micro Shuttles

By Sahra Sulaiman | Apr 4, 2017 | 10 Comments

Autonomous vehicles and other emerging technologies are just one more landscape into which community stories can and should be woven. And rather than wait to have to adapt their complex realities to technology that was not made for them or with their needs in mind, artist Ben Caldwell tells me, there is a unique opportunity for communities of color to leave a significant mark.

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