Losing Los Angeles

AS I SEARCHED searched Yelp for the hours of a frozen yogurt place in Culver City that I always have wanted to try, I saw a comment that caught my eye. Yelp user Robert H. writes, “Culver City is officially gentrified.” Though this is an area I have frequented over the past two years, I admit that at one time the only thing I knew about Culver City was the Fox Hills Mall which before the remodel, I was told, was not a good area.

On the surface, it’s hard to believe that gentrification is not always positive as it results in the cleaning up and modernizing of areas. For example, I live in an apartment complex in Playa del Rey that I love. It’s new, has wonderful amenities and is close to the beach. Yet recently I learned that my own area was a center of gentrification and many people were unhappy about this change.

Looking deeper it makes sense. Bringing in popular chain restaurants pushes out small family-owned restaurants. Building large infrastructures changes the view that residents loved about their home. Tearing down old apartment buildings to make space for new ones removes thousands out of rent-controlled apartments.

Although these changes may be good for some, mostly the more affluent, what happens to the rest of these Angelenos? After being kicked out of their homes and losing their neighborhood, they are forced to move somewhere that is often dramatically smaller and further from everything they know because they can no longer afford their area. Gentrification also means that Los Angeles is quickly losing its character and history. By ridding L.A. of establishments and housing that show the real L.A., we end up with track homes and apartment complexes and a general world that all looks the same. Yet, as someone who lives in a gentrified area and frequents Culver City establishments, I’m certainly not the poster child for saving historic L.A. But I am one citizen who is starting to see that I don’t want to lose the things that I love about my city.

-- Emily Day

(photo caption top: "Art Tower," Hayden Tract, Culver City, photo credit, lavocado; bottom caption, "Ghost Phantasim -- "Boo Yuppies" Traction Avenue, Omar Omar flickr creative commons)