Scenes From The Hood

I have neglected this space, but it really has been an adjustment here. More than I expected, really. I mean, the weather's great - there's none of the sticky heat from Fresno - and yet, just the process of moving, with boxes everywhere - and not having loads of energy to do much.... causes some stress.  I have had requests for lunch meetings and brunch networking, but the social anxiety has prevented me from doing much at all.
B and I are doing day trips, though, which is nice.  Sometimes just a few mile car ride to the Pacific Ocean.  It's like a double-edged sword, really.  With me working, I'm too tired at night to do anything - but with me not working, there's the stress of $......
But what I have been doing is take some photos of some weird and wacky things I see as I live and wander in South Central Los Angeles. It is a much different place than it was, say, from what one might remember from the films "Colors", "Boyz N the Hood" and "Menace II Society" , which did portray the 80s and 90s drug use and gang violence of the neighborhood where we live and the immediate surrounding areas.  South Central was one of the worst parts of the state and the nation to live. But apparently in the past 10 years, violent crimes has decreased by 57% and overall crime by 43%, according to the Inglewood Police Department.

I mean, there are certainly still gangs here, and I keep looking for which territory is where, but for the most part, it's just a gritty inner city.  I haven't heard gunshots, though there is a lot of fire truck and ambulance activity, which could very well be because we're on a main thoroughfare to a hospital - and is totally not gang-related at all because I don't see the reports on the news.
So....  herewith.... (and remember, click on any photo to increase its size!!)

On Century Blvd in Inglewood - near Jesse Owens Park and Western,  I think

Now I don't know what all the tagging is, but here are some thoughts:  There's a Crip gang called the Rollin 100s...you can see the word Crip marked out on the left and Hard Time.... 104 Hard Time Hustlers..... and there's a lot of crossouts to the letters, but the Ks are still visible. So what does this mean? It kinda looks like some Crip gang is challenging lots of the others that are listed on this wall. When K is added to some other identifying mark, it stands for Kill. So it's a threat. Nice, huh? 

Moving right along then....

I had to take a shot of this bench. This "books n' things" store ships to prisons and it wants you to know about it.  It just really makes a statement about the surroundings when the advertisement shouts such a thing.  While the store is about 2 and a half miles from where I live, the bench is near a bus stop about a mile closer to me, near a Walgreens I wanted to check out.

Want another? 

 

This former Academy Theater is now a church. This is almost at the corner of Manchester and Crenshaw. Lots of old theaters in lots of inner cities have become churches.  I went to a drama performance once in Oakland where this happened, and there are churches in downtown Fresno like this, as well. There is a church on almost every block in Inglewood. Either that or a psychic. And it's not just Inglewood - it's South Central and beyond into other parts of LA.

Which brings me to Crenshaw. Oh, everyone's heard of Crenshaw. A virtual free-fire zone in the 80s, this strip of road and it's neighborhood (with Leimert Park) was one of the 80s most violent in all of LA, dominated by gangs and crack. Now, however, it's home to the only 3-story WalMart anywhere and let's just

say you better bring a cart in from outside 'cause otherwise you're carrying stuff around all over the store and through the rest of the mall because it's your first time there and you obviously didn't know where to park.  The area is soooooooooo much safer now, so there's no problem in going there at all, at least during the day!  I mean, after all,

Crenshaw is Obama country!

Hope you're well. xxxoooxxx