I have been living in this area for about 3 years. Already I've been noticing some changes. Not that I'm an expert or anything, but about 10 years ago the thought occurred to me: "people can't keep coming to Los Angeles and commute in from a continually expanding periphery. They'll eventually have to come back in."
So, according to Anthony Bourdain gentrification goes something like this. In a neighborhood were mostly immigrants and low income families live, and were rents are usually lower than average, first come the craftsmen and artists followed by the hipsters. Then a handful of galleries and coffee shops open. After that, the middle class is attracted to the area by it's artsy, eclectic feel (just look up Echo Park and Silver Lake), and the rents skyrocket, leaving people that have been living in these areas for generations no choice than to move out. It all culminates with a quick one-two punch, a banh mi / cup cake shop combo open up next to each other followed by a deadly body blow of a Whole Foods (check out Lincoln/Rose in Venice CA).
I've known people who lived in this area way longer than myself, so by no means do I consider myself a trailblazer. I'm also neither a an artist, nor consider myself a hipster. I have no tattoos and wearing "product" on my hair doesn't really help that much.
That said, in addition to the recent new businesses like Delicious Pizza / Delicious Vinyl, the art gallery across the street and the fact that I recently saw a white girl with blue hair walking a poodle and a man mowing the lawn with an electric lawnmower, I'll say West Adams is somewhere between stage 2 and Stage 3 of this transformation. I believe the crucial surge will occur when the Expo Line hits the Ocean in a couple of years.
My intention is to capture the minute details of this transformation of West Adams Blvd. between La Cienaga and Crenshaw Blvds. with emphasis between Crenshaw and La Brea for as long as I live in the area.
Some of the following posts will include photos taken in the past 3 years along with current ones.
