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Real Estate Appraisers and Appraisals In
Los Angeles County, City of Watts
| Longstanding
resentment by Los Angeles' working-class black community over treatment by
police and what was seen as inadequate public services exploded on August 11,
1965, into what were commonly known as the Watts Riots. The event that
precipitated the disturbances, the arrest of a black youth by the California
Highway Patrol on drunk-driving charges, actually occurred outside Watts, but
the district was by far the area most damaged in the turmoil. The crack cocaine
epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s hit Watts especially hard: between 1989 and
2005, police reported more than 200 homicides in Watts, most of them
gang-related. Three of Watts' most notorious gangs Grape Street Watts Crips,
Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods, and PJ Watts Crips formed a cease-fire agreement
after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, a pact that may have been tied to a decrease
in crime in the area between 1992 and 2000. Beginning in the 1970s, many
African Americans left Watts for other parts of South Los Angeles, and later
the Antelope Valley, the Inland Empire, and even the San Joaquin Valley; they
were largely replaced by immigrants of Mexican and Central American ancestry.
This process accelerated after the 1992 riots, which saw numerous instances of
fights between blacks and Hispanics. Neighborhood leaders have begun a strategy
to overcome Watts' reputation as a violence-prone and impoverished area.
Special promotion has been given to the museums and art galleries opened in the
area surrounding Watts Towers that is towards Imperial Highway towards
surrounding suburb of Lynwood, CA. This sculptural and architectural landmark
has attracted many artists and professionals to the area. |
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