A study of the growth of Negro population in Los Angeles and available housing facilities between 1940 and 1946

417 72 5MB

English Pages 121

Report DMCA / Copyright

DOWNLOAD FILE

Polecaj historie

A study of the growth of Negro population in Los Angeles and available housing facilities between 1940 and 1946

Citation preview

A STUDY OP THE GROWTH OF NEGRO POPULATION IN LOS ANGELES AND AVAILABLE HOUSING FACILITIES BETWEEN 1940 and 1946

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of History University of Southern California

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts

by Mignon E. Rothstein February 1950

UMI Number: EP59617

All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.

Dissertation Publishwg

UMI EP59617 Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code

ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 4 8 1 06- 1346

This thesis, w ritte n by

....... M i-Snon..£...Ro ths t ei n ....... under the guidance of h®JP.... F a c u lty Com m ittee, and approved by a l l its members, has been presented to and accepted by the C o u n c il on G radu ate S tudy and Research in p a r t i a l f u l f i l l ­ ment of the requirements f o r the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Dean Date

Januajgr..l9-$.Q...............

Facultu-Committee

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER

PAGE

P R E F A C E ...................................... .1*

vii

THE NEGRO IN THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF LOS ANGELES

............................

1

Spanish California became Anglo-American California

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4

Early Negro Immigration . . . . . . . . . .

6

The political and social position of the Negro in the early California period II.

. .

10

THE GROWTH OF NEGRO POPULATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO COMMUNITIES, 1940-1946... ...... ...................... General increases after 1900

19 .

19

Increases of Negro population during the first WorldWar

...........

20

Accelerated growth of Negro population during the second World War . . . . . . .

23

^Problems of expansion and the formation of Negro communities . . . . . . . . . . . .

26 I

The SentralAvenue A r e a ...................

30

The Temple Street Area

30

The Boyle Heights Area * .......... .

31

The Holmes Avenue Areaor Furlong Tract * .

31

The West Jefferson Area . . . . . . . . . .

32

iii

CHAPTER

III.

PAGE The Watts A r e a .......... . . . » ..........

32

Summary

33

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

AREAS OF NEGRO CONCENTRATION AND AVAILABLE HOUSING FOR NEGROES INLOSANGELES,1940-1946 .

35

Population expansion in the existing Negro \

communities

..............

. . .

35

. .

36

.

42

The Central Avenue Area

.

The Temple Street Area.

. . . ..........

The Boyle Heights A r e a ....................

44

The West Jefferson A r e a ..................

44

The Watts Area

46

. . . » . • • » ..........

The Harbor A r e a ................

48

Brief historical survey of housing in Los Angeles

. ..............

. . . . . . . .

#9

Certain areas of Negro housing based on rentals andlocation. . . . .

...........

33

\Condition of housing for Negroes in 1940 . » Summary IV.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

39

THE HOUSING OF NEGROES IN PUBLIC HOUSING PROJECTS

..........................

Public housing in the United States

....

61 6l

JThe interest of Los Angeles in public

60

housing Finding of the surveys conducted by Los Angeles Housing Authority

. . . . . . . .

68

iv CHAPTER

PAGE The housing of Negro families in public housing developments

?3

General analysis of number of applications and admissions into the public housing developments between 1940 and 1946 * * . . Policy governing admissions

..........

*♦*

81

Distribution of Negro families in public housing developments • * . , » » * « * • * Developments in which there were no Negro residents

Sg

Developments in which there were Negro residents

.

8$

Housing in Los Angeles during the war years.

95

Number of war housing units

9&

constructed

# .

War housing unitsfor Negroes

98

Surveys of war housing reveal acute

99

shortage Summary BIBLIOGRAPHY

....................

l$© 103

V LIST OF TABLES TABLE I*.

PAGE The Total White and Negro Population of Loe Angeles, from 1850 to 1946 • • • • • » » • »

II*

Tracts Representing at Least 10 Percent of Negro Population in 1946 Census

III*

24

• * • • • •

58

Total Number of Applications in Public Housing developments for the Year of June 1943 and May 1944, Distributed by Race

IV*

. . . . . . .

76

The figures for the Six Month Period Between June 1944 and January 1945 for all Public Housing Developments • . • * • . • • . • » •

V.

76

Summary of Racial Occupancy in Public Housing Projects, December 1944 - 1945 . * * . . . *

VI*

7$

Breakdown of Applications on a Monthly Basis for the First Six Months of 1945 * * * * * *

VII*

5G

General Figures for Overall Applications for the Year of June 1945 to June 1946 * * * * *

VIII. IX.

Applications for the month of May 1946 . . .

*

82

Group Breakdown of City Housing Authority Developments, February 1947

X.

82

*

86

Public Housing Developments showing units in Which Negro Occupancy Ranges from 85 to 100 Percent

XI.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Actual Number of Dwelling Unite Built Between 1941 and 1946

.

........................

$$

Vi LIST OP FIGURES FIGURE

PAGE

1« Increase in Population of Negroes and Whites on Percentage Basis, 1850 - 1946 • • » • • • »

25

2* Map Showing Distribution of Negroes, United States Census Data, 1946

4.3

3. Chart showing Transition from White to Negro in Three Typical Areas 4. Map Showing Distribution of Negroes, United States Census Data, 1940 • * . . » • • • « . ,

4$

5* City Planning Commission - Living Units Constructed, 1921 - 1946 6* Main Negro Areas in Los Angeles

52: .

...........

6q

7. Lease Agreements for Use in Aided Developments .

Sfe

8. Letter to Resident - Housing Authority, City of Los Angeles

85

9. Map Showing Public Housing Developments in the City of Los Angeles, April 1947

*

$4

PREFACE In viewing the tremendous growth of the city of Los Angeles, one becomes aware of the many factors that have contributed toward the development of this metropolis. The transition from a leisurely, resort-like and semi-rural community to a leading commercial and industrial center took place within the short span of less than two decades#

The

growth of population in Los Angeles, due to in-migration from the eastern parts of the country began earlier in the century.

However, this growth was greatly accelerated

immediately prior to, and particularly during, the years of World War II. Among the many thousands who came to work in the war plants, a substantial percentage of the war workers was represented by Negro workers.

Based on several surveys

conducted during the war, the Negro in-migrant families, along with many other groups, intended to make Los Angeles their permanent home, thus adding to the new cosmopolitan form of the city* This study was undertaken because of the writer's interest in the population pattern of this city that developed since the war.

The Negro, at this time,represents

one of the major minority groups in Los Angeles.

According

to the Census Bureau figures, the Negro population in Los

viii Angeles more than doubled in each successive decade since the beginning of this century*

Although the percentage of Negro

population to the total population remained small during the early decades in the history of Los Angeles, after 1910 the percentage increases for Negroes exceed that of the white population, regardless of the fact that in actual numbers the white population is much greater.

It was very interest­

ing to consider the above, in view of the fact that the Negro represented one of the smallest minority groups in the early growth of Los Angeles. The scope of this study includes the population growth and available housing for Negroes for the period of 1940-1946.

It does not include the very Important aspects

of economic and social life.

The study of these aspects

would present a more truly representative whole of the significance of the Negro in the life of this community* However, this study reveals partially, at least, the sociological pattern of the Negro in Los Angeles through the description of general areas, housing and rentals paid by the Negro family. This study was divided into four units.

The first,

a chapter on the background of the Negro in Los Angeles, deals with the original Spanish settlement of this city; tells of the small beginnings in Negro immigration into Los Angeles, and about the social and political position of

ix Negroes in the early history of this state*

The following

chapters deal with the heavy growth of Negro population as shown by the decennial figures of the United States Census Bureau; the problems of expansion in view of racial opposition, and the description of new communities, which were formed between 1900 and 1946.

Several of these areas

finally became greatly overcrowded, causing the formation of slums*

Many dwelling units were listed as substandard

and were in very poor condition.

Because of zoning for

commercial use and the need for major repairs, because of the age of these units, housing in many Negro communities represented the poorest quality and lowest rental areas* The last chapter deals with the housing of Negro families in public housing developments.

A brief historical

description of public housing, both in the nation and in Los Angeles, is given in this chapter# There are a great number of general works on the Negro, describing the various aspects of Negro life throughout the different parts of the country*

Regarding the Negro in Los

Angeles, a number of unpublished papers give the early history of the Negro population in this city.

Among these,

Bond!s study on ,!The Negro in Los Angeles11 gives an excellent presentation of the development of the early communities, as well as the social and economic aspects of Negro life in this city, from the early days of Los Angeles up to 1930.

In

discussing the subject with several members of the Community Relations Committee of the Welfare Council of Metropolitan Los Angeles, the writer obtained an insight into the social and economic phases of the problem.

Most of the factual

data were obtained from government publications, including Census data, the publications of the National Housing Agency and the Housing Authority of Los Angeles, as well as from several important studies conducted by the Haynes Foundation. The writer desires to express her indebtedness to the Committee members, Doctor Owen C* Coy, Doctor Francis Bowman and Doctor Bessie McClenahan for the reading of the manuscript, with particular appreciation for the kind and ready assistance given by Doctor Coy.

A great deal of

valuable information was obtained by personal interview with Mr* Frank Wilkinson of the Los Angeles Housing Authority.

CHAPTER I THE NEGRO IN THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF LOS ANGELES The historical origin of Los Angeles has its roots in Spanish culture.

The Spanish and later the Mexican

influence was predominant in California for several decades after California became an American state and Los Angeles became an American city. The pueblo of Los Angeles was founded on September 4, 1781, under the capable leadership of Governor Felipe de Neve who carried out specific instructions of King Charles III to establish this city*

It was a unique group that

laid the foundation of Los Angeles.

A prominent California

historian, J. M. Guinn1 lists the racial composition of the first families who came from Mexico as follows: Jose Antonio Navarro, a mestizo; wife, mulatto— three children. Basilio Rosas, an Indian; wife, mulatto— children. Antonio Mesa, a Negro; wife, mulatto— children. Jose deLara, a Spaniard; wife, Indian— children.

two

two three

J. M. Guinn, Historical and Biographical Record of Southern California. Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company,

I505I

J Antonio

Felix Villavicencio, a Spaniard; wife, Indian-- one child.

Jose Vanegas, an Indian; wife, Indian—

one child.

Alejandro Rosas, an Indian; wife, Indian— children,

no

Pablo Rodrigues, an Indian; wife, Indian—

one child.

Manuel Camero, a mulatto; wife, mulatto— children,

no

Louis Quintero, a Negro; wife, mulatto— children.

fire

Jose Morena, a mulatto; wife, mulatto—

no children.

As oan be noted from the above racial composition, they were about forty percent Negroes or persons of mixed racial origin.

Seventy percent of the children of the first

generation had at least one parent of Negro descent.^

Nine

years later, in 1790, this young pueblo had a population of one hundred and forty-one persons entirely mixed racially, consisting of Spaniards, Indians, Mexicans, Negroes, mulattoes and mestizos,3 The first community of these settlers was formed around the plaza designated as the size of 111 feet x 55 feet.

In addition, land was given by the government to be g

J, Max Bond, ”The Negro in Los Angeles”, unpublished Masterfs thesis, The University of {Southern California, Los Angeles, 1936, p. 2 John Steven McCroarty, Los Angeles From the Mountains to the Sea, I. Chicago; New Xork:. The American Historical Society, 1921, p.

held in common, for pasture.

4

Five years later, in 1786,

each family received a deed for its home.® During the early years of life in the pueblo, there is no evidence of difficulties based on racial differences. The group lived harmoniously together, but repudiated those who refused to share in the responsibilities of the community.

We find that DeLara, Mesa and Quintero were 6 expelled because of their uselessness. In this early community, Jose Vanegas, the Indian,

became the first alcalde or mayor in 178S* reelected in 1796.

He was

Two regidores or councllmen completed

the city government.

Their duties were both legislative

and executive*7 In 1790 the census gives us the following racial composition: Spaniards......... 72 Mestizos.......... 30 Mulattoes......... 22 Indians...........

4

7

Charles Dwight Willard, The Herald^ History of Los Angeles City. Los Angeles: Klngley, Barnes and Neuner Company,“T§0i, p. 70. 5 Ibid.■ p. 97. ibid., p. 98. 7 Ibid., p. 121.

There were aboat thirty adobe houses surrounding the public square and others scattered on the outskirts.

8

The Negro became an integral part of the community and was merged racially with the other groups*

In the

successive tabulations of the cityts population, none of the original Negro settlers1 names appear, outside of Moreno and Rodriguez, commonly found Spanish names*

It

may be said, then, that the Negro became a part of the Latin-Amerlcan stream which forms the background of early California*s history* Spanish California became Anglo-Amerlcan California* The modern story of California began with its entry into the Union as a free state in September, 1850.

Earlier, the

same year, on April 4, Los Angeles was Incorporated as a 9 city, with an area of four square miles* At the time the Americans took over California, most of its people were either native Californians or had come from Mexico* had a Spanish and Mexican heritage*

They

There had evolved,

from the early days in California, a proud class of Californians who represented the economic and social Q

Willard, The Hegaldfs History of Los Angeles City,

p. 102* 9

Guinn, Historical and Biographical Record of Southern California, p* 118*

5 pattern of the Spanish Americans in California.

Ranchos

were extremely large tracts of land, many of which were originally granted by the Mexican government to retired army men. grazing.

These ranches were given over primarily to cattle Thousands of Indians and mestizos lived and worked

on the ranches. The upper class rancheros became extremely wealthy through cattle raising and trade in hides and tallow, which they sold to the Yankee traders.

American ships began to

come early to the port of San Pedro* where they exchanged the products of the ranchos for the ready-made goods of the industrial East. California had been a Mexican province from 1827 to 1846.

During this period the territory was administered by

governors from Mexico. republic.

In 1846, California became a

By that time* Americans, settled in California

following the explorations of Captain Fremont and others, have become dissatisfied with the Mexican regime. later, California became an American Republic. the discovery of gold brought thousands here.

A year

In 1848, From that

time on, Americans began thinking in terms of becoming a state in the Union. These newcomers were responsible for the rapid changes in the economic pattern of California.

The

agricultural unit, the rancho which supported many persons

6 on widely scattered areas, gave way to urban communities where people lived in closer proximity* Of the thousands who came to California because of the lure of gold, most of them remained in the central and 10 northern part of the state* However, those who wandered farther south found their fortune in cattle raising*

11

The

southern part of the state experienced a very slow increase of population after California became a state.

The

fertility of the soil in Southern California had not yet been discovered*

Industry and trade had hardly begun.

The

greater number of new settlers in Los Angeles were people from the adjoining Southern states such as Texas and Oklahoma*

Many ex~Confederate soldiers wanted to start

life anew in California* Early Negro immigration.

In a period when many

thousands of people came to California, there were only a few Negroes In Los Angeles*

At the time of the oensus of

1S50, only twelve Negroes were living in Los Angeles, representing *07# of the total population of the city, 12 which was 1,610. The fact that these Negroes were living

10

Willard, The Herald1s History of Los Angeles City,

p. 254* 11 Ibid,*. P. 185. United States 7th Census. 1850, p. 970.

with the white families may Indicate that they came to California with the white families as servants.

Evidently,

few Negroes sought their fortune in California*

In 1860,

there were 3*955,760 Negroes In the United States.

Of this

number, only one-ninth or 487,970 were free Negroes and 13 these were living In the North. In the same year, 1860, 14 Los Angeles had only 66 Negroes. During the following two decades, the rise of Negro population was so small as to hardly make any difference In the population of the city. By 1880, the total population of the city has risen to 11,183, while the Negro population constituted only .9% or 15 102 persons of Its entire population. However, in the next decade, by 1890, there was the first marked Increase in the Negro population. From 102 In 1880, the number rose 16 to 1,285 in 1890. This number was still rather small in comparison to the total population of 50,395, which was an increase of five and one-half times the population in one decade.

By 1900, the Negro population almost doubled in 13

Negro.

Benjamin Brawley, A Social History of the American New York!: The McMillan Company, 1921, p. 23&.

14 United States 8th Census. 1860. 15 United States 10th Census, 1880. 16 United States 11th Census, 1890.

number, rising to 2»131 or

*2%

of the total population of

102,479.17 In 1900, Los Angeles was a growing metropolis on the West Coast*

It increased a hundred times in population

between 1850 and 1900 and attracted thousands of tourists. By the end of the century, Los Angeles was connected with the remainder of the country by several major railroads*

It

became a thriving business center, shipping citrus fruits to all points Bast.

The Negro membership of this community

began In 1850 with a dozen persons, all except one serving and living In houses of whites*

By 1900, the Negro

community augmented by Increasing numbers, occupied definite areas and became an Integral part of this growing city*

The Increase of population was based on Immigration

rather than birth rate, the number of females of childbearing IS age exceeding markedly the number of males. In the eighteen sixties and eighteen seventies, Negroes were found to be living everywhere In the city* Many of them bought or rented little ranches on the outskirts 19 of the city. According to the Census of 1890 and 1900, when Los Angeles was organized on basis of wards, a number of

^

Efnlted States 12th Census, 1900.

18 Dnlted States 12th Census,, 1900, Vol. II, p. 134, cited by J. Max Bond* The Negro in Los Angeles. p. 43. 19 Bond, 0£. elt.t p. 47.

Negroes were found to be living in each one of the cityfs nine wards.

However, by 1900 there is an emergence of

Negro concentration in wards 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8.

Bond, in

hie study of the Negro of Los Angeles, interprets the fact that Negroes were found in all parts of the city to indicate that there was an absence of racial segregation 20 up to 1900. The voluntary concentration in certain areas might be due to price of land and reasons other than race. The Negro community had its inception in the present downtown district around First and Los Angeles Streets in the 1eighties.

21

It was In that general area that the well

known early settlers such as Biddy Mason and Robert Owen first settled.22

Later, they and others bought property

and accumulated much wealth in real estate dealings* Biddy Masonts property was located on Spring Street in the 23 400 block. It brought great profits. As newcomers came, the community began expanding south along 3rd, 4th and 5th Streets and east along Central Avenue.

By 1910, 9th Street

was the southern boundary of this community.

20

Centers of

Bond, The Negro in Los Angeles, p. 50.

21 Ibid.. p. 65. 22 Ibid., p. 23. 23 Ibid.. p. 25

other communities were begun after 1900 in Boyle Heights and Temple Street areas.

*

Early immigration was limited to small numbers of Negroes*

Most of the Negro people consisted of unskilled

workers and lived in all parts of the city. Although the Negro population constituted only a fraction of the total population at the time of California’s admission into statehood, anti-Negro feeling ran high, particularly in Southern California.

Its repercussions

were felt in the state legislature and in the laws that were enacted for the Negroes. The political and social position of the Negro in the early California period.

Congress was struggling with the

question of free versus slave states at the time when California applied for admission.

Based on a compromise

worked out by Clay, there were at the time 15 free states and 15 slave states. admitting new states.

That balance was to be continued in 04

California had been eager for admission to statehood. She was eager to trade with the industrial North and East, and she had grown in wealth and population since the

24

Allen Johnson, Editor, The Chronicles of America Series, 50 volumes. New Haven: Yale University ¥ress, 1919. Jessie Macy, “Anti-Slavery Crusade", 28, pp. 16-17.

11 discovery of gold in 1848.

The general feeling of the

people was in favor of a free state, a fact which is not to be considered synonymous with the desire to grant the Negroes equal rights and opportunities with those of the white man, as will be shown later. In view of the fact that many of the early settlers were from the Southern states, it is noteworthy that most Californians were in favor of the admission of their state as a free state.

This contradiction was explained by some

students of California history that many of the people who came to California from the South were ready to break with the tradition of the South. anew.

They wanted to start life

In the South, these people were not wealthy enough

to own slaves, but they could not live by the work of their own hands, as doing so would be degrading to a white person, and would put him on the level of a slave. White persons in the South, without the means of owning large estates and slaves were considered 0shabby genteel0.

In California, they did not find it disgraceful

to live by their own work.

Here the status of work was not

degrading, but to the contrary, the 0self-made0 man was considered with respect.

A member to the California

Constitutional Convention expressed himself thus on the subject:

HWe left the South because we did not care to

12 bring up a family in a half-dependent sort of fashion**

25

In the United States Congress, California had pwerful champions from other states, such as Senator Benton and Senator Seward, who favored her entry into the Union as a free state.

Later, Senator Broderick from California

became a champion of the Negro rights in the state*

The

constitution of California presented to Congress in April, 1849, excluded slavery from the state, as indicated by Article I, section 18:

"Neither slavery nor involuntary

servitude, unless for the punishment of crime, shall ever ng be tolerated in this state*. The Congressional Act of 1850 admitted California as a free state into the Union. As indicated above, Californians wanted a free state, but many of the early settlers were not without prejudice regarding the social and economic position of the Negro in the new state.

Several individuals who brought Negroes with

them or those who planned to settle here, tended to disregard the laws of the state in that they considered the Negro their property.

25

Delilah L. Beasley, Negro Trail Blazers of California* Los Angeles, 1919, p. 6. 26 Constitution of the State of California, 1846, p. 5.

We find evidence of this situation in a petition presented to the California legislature by a Mr. Archibald C. Peachy from North Carolina ntxo asked permission to settle 27 in California with his “property*. Additional evidence that traces of slavery remained in California after it became a state was found by Doctor Coy in official records of the eighteen sixties in £1 Dorado, Placer and Mariposa Counties.

In these cases, individual Negroes were either 2d sold or given their liberty. This occurred more than a

decade after California was admitted as a free state. In Los Angeles, a certain Robert Smith tried to remove his slaves to Texas. from 1851 to 1854.

He had been in San Bernardino

On January 19, 1854, he was camping in

Santa Monica Canyon preparatory to leave for Texas.

A writ

was issued by the local sheriff preventing him from removing Negroes against their will from a free state.

On January 1,

1856, Judge Benjamin Hayes declared the thirteen persons in 29 Smithfs service to be free persons. Among Smith's slaves was a certain Biddy Mason with her three daughters.

27

Francisco*

She

Theodore H. Hlttell, History of California. The McMillan Company, 1921, IV, p. 98.

San

28 owen C. Coy, “Evidences of Slavery in California", The Grizzly Bear. October, 1916, XIX, p. 1. 29 Beasley, Negro Trail Blazers of California, p. 88.

14 later became a leading member of the Negro community and acquired property in the downtown business district which became valuable business property. When the State legislature convened for the second session at San Jose on January 6, 1851, fovernor Pete Burnett made the following statement re the position of 30 the Negro: "Although it is assumed in the Declaration of Independence as a self-evident truth that all men are born free and equal* it is equally true that there must be acquired as well as natural abilities to fit men for self-government without considering whether there be any reason for the opinion entertained by many learned persons that the colored races are by nature inferior to the white* and without attaching any importance to such opinions* still it may be safely affirmed that no race of men under the precise circumstances of this class in our state* could ever hope to advance a singel step in knowledge or virtue." In the above statement* the first governor of California recognized the position as inferior* but did not indicate any desire or plan for the change in the Negro*s position in the state.

That this same legislature was

anti-abolitionist in spirit may be seen from the fact that it passed the Fugitive and Slave Act in April* 1852.

This

statute demanded that escaped slaves be returned to owners*

30 Journals of Legislature. 1851, p. 19; Burnettfs Recollections, pp. 354-356.

15 the same as la slave states.

31

An attempt was made In the legislature of 1858 to exclude the further Immigration of Negroes to the state, hut this hill failed to pass*

The legislature of 1851 also

forbade the nRlght of Testimony11 to Negroes and Indians* This later Included the Chinese*

These statutes forhade

colored persons from giving evidence for or against a white 32 person* This law was finally repealed hy the legislature of 1863 under the pressure of national activity on the 33 subject during the civil war* Southern sympathizers were active during the Civil War when a group that was ready to join with the Confederates was overtaken hy the loyal troops*34 Just prior to the opening of the Civil War in 1859, when pro-slavery tensions mounted, the California legis­ lature permitted the Southern counties to vote regarding their separation from the Northern part of the state*

Two

thirds were in favor of separation and in sympathy with the Confederate causes*

However, at the beginning of the Civil

31

Assembly Journal, pp« 95, 146, 14?; Senate Journal. 1852, pp. 257, 285; Ibid*, p. 98. 32 Assembly Journal, 1854, pp. 265, 496, 498; Ibid.. p. Ill* 33 Statutes. 1863, pp. 60, 69; Ibid., pp. 240, 241. 34 Richard H* Orton, Record of California Men in the War of the Rebellion* Sacramento: 1890, pp. 5-12.

(

16 War, these matters were laid aside and California joined 35 with the Cause of the Union, The Los Angeles press was at first in favor of raising the educational and social level of the Negro, but such was the pressure of antl-abolltioniste, that one of the newspapers, The Pally Hews of Los Angeles, which was at first in favor of the Negroes, was forced to change its policy.

In an editorial dated Friday, January 25* 1867,

there was the following statement: as black and putrid as his body.

“His (Negro’s) soul is Should such a creature

vote in these enlightened United States*

He has no more

36 capacity for reason than his native hyena or crocodile.# This anti-Negro feeling permeated all phases of life* children were segregated from others in early schools.

Negro 37

In the same spirit as the above discriminatory legislature of California, (although the 13th Amendment was 38 acceptable to the legislature in 1865), Negro suffrage was bitterly opposed in the legislature.

Governor Haight, in

1867, stated that the Negro's background represented “brutal

35 Orton, Record of California Men in the War of the Rebellion, p, 300, 36 The Los Angeles News. Friday, January 25, 1867, cited by Bond, op. clt., p. 18. 37 Bond, 0£. olt., p. 35. Statutes., 1865-6, p. 896; Assembly Journal. 1865-6, p. 149, cited by Hittell, op. clt. , p. 397.

17 ignorance and barbarism11, and that he was not ready for 39 suffrage. In January, 1870, Governor Haight presented the 15th Amendment which had already been ratified by two^thirds of Congress and had to be ratified by threefourths of the legislature to become a constitutional amendment*

He openly expressed his hope that this

amendment would be rejected, as definitely encroaching 40 upon state's rights. Both houses of the legislature rejected by vote the 15th Amendment, but twenty four states had already ratified it and it became a part of the Constitution on March 30, 1870, binding to all states.

41

Gradually, there was some easing of pressure and there was a hope for the improvement of the social status of the Negro.

Governor Booth was interested in public education

and general improvement of the state.

He stressed that the

words “white9 and “black" pertaining to school children be discontinued in the school laws and that both groups have 42 equal opportunities in education.

39 State Journal. 1867-8,jp. 96-107; Ibid., p. 412 40 Senate Journal» 1869-70, pp. 56-58; Ibid., p. 429 41 Theodore H. Hittell, History of California. Francisco: The McMillan Company, 1921 ,"~IV, p . 431.

San

42 Senate Journal, 1873-4, pp. 60-73; op> cit., p.426.

The legislative history dealing with the Negro in California indicates that the Negro had a very difficult position to fill, chiefly due to the fact that many settlers of 19th century California came from the South and were not in favor of giving equal rights to Negroes. This attitude was shown in the press, the legislature and in the segregation of school children.

In Los Angeles,

discrimination against the Negro was gradually eased and the people's energies were turned to the great industrial and commercial development of this city, which became the fastest-growing city in the United States*

CHAPTER II THE GROWTH OF LOS ANGELES AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO COMMUNITIES 1940 > 1 9 4 6 General Increases after 1900»

The first and second

decades after 1900 shov the mounting numerical increases in Negro population to be greater than that of any other racial group.

Outside of the Mexican minority group, who settled

this city and later came in large numbers, no other racial or minority group can compare with the growth of the Negro population in Los Angeles. The increase, in terms of percentages based on the total population, remained small for the earlier decades, but the numerical Increase multiplied several times in each successive decade.

The immigrants usually tried to enter

the already established areas.

These areas soon became too

crowded to receive the large numbers which exceeded by far the housing facilities for Negroes in the established communities.

Pressure of population forced expansion from

the existing areas in all directions, which eventually brought opposition even from the white community. Early in the history of the Negro in this olty, conditions forced him to live in congested and overcrowded areas which led to the development of slums and resulting physical and social evils.

The census figures present an

interesting picture of the growth of the Negro population in Los Angeles* In 1900 the total population of Los Angeles was 102,479 persons, of which the Negro population was 2,131 p e r s o n s I n 1910 the total population rose to 319,198, an increase of 216,719, or 211.5 percent.

During the same

period, the Negro population increased to 7,599, an increase of 256.6 percent.^

In 1910 this racial group represented

2*3 percent of the total population. In the next decennial count, the Negro population doubled again, rising from 7,599 in 1910 to 15,759 in 1920. The total population figures in 1920 were 576,673, or an increase of 257,475 persons.

The percent of Negroes to

the total was 2.7 in 1920. Increase of Negro population during first World War. The steady Increase of Negro population received an even greater impetus during the first World War, which broke out in 1914.

European immigration to the United States ceased

during the war, thus cutting off the customary sources of unskilled labor. X

In the years prior, Southeastern and

United States Census, 1900.

2 United States Census, 1910, I, p. 178. ® United States Census. 1920.

21 Southern Europe had supplied United States with most of its unskilled and semi-skilled labor.

Simultaneously, the war

brought a greater need for industrial workers, as the United States became the leading producer for both war and civilian goods for all the Allies.

As an HArsenal for

Democracy11, United States Industries greatly expanded their productive capacities.

The resultant need for workers was

met in large numbers by a new supply of industrial labor, the American Negro. Between 1915 and 1918, 500,000 Negroes left the South and moved to the new industrial centers in the North, such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.4

The great

increase of Negro population in Los Angeles during this period would indicate that this large exodus from the South brought a number of them also to the West Coast. In 1930 this fast growing city showed an overall increase in population of 114.77 percent.

The phenomenal

growth of population placed Los Angeles among the leading cities in the country.

The city now had 1,238,048 persons.

The Negro population rose by two and a half times of its former figure.

From 15,579 in 1920, the figure rose to

38,894 in 1930.

The Negro minority now represented 3.1 5 percent of the total population in Los Angeles. 4

Benjamin Brawling, A Short History of the American Negro, p. 170. ~ 5 United States Census, 1930.

22

In 1940 the Negro population of Los Angeles numbered 63,744, indicating a 68 percent increase in ten years*

This

figure becomes more significant in view of the fact that the total rise of all other groups was only 21*5 percent*

6

The special Census taken in Los Angeles on January 28, 1946 indicates an unprecedented rise in Negro population. In a little over a five year period, between April 1* 1940 and January 28, 1946, the figures were 133,032, an increase of 69,258 persons, or a total of 108 pereent increase in Negro population*

The figures of the total population rose

from 1,504,277 to 1,805,687 during the same period, showing

n a total of 20 percent increase*

(See Table I, page 24).

According to the 1946 Special Census, the Negro population was represented by 7*36 percent of the total population. This figure will probably exceed ten percent in the next decennial census*

8

In another study made of the Negro in Los Angeles up to the period of 1930, it was found that the increases in Negro population in Los Angeles were due to heavy inmigration rather than to Increases in births*

The special

population survey of 1946 revealed a total of 25,311

® United States Census, 1940 7 Onlted States Census, Series/ P-SC, Number 188, January 26, 1946. 8 Loc. olt*

23 children up to 14 years of age, indicating that the majority of people were adult in age and probably came here from other states. 9 years.

The median age given for the Negro was 31.3

Accelerated growth of Negro population during the second World War.

The reasons for the great increase of

Negro population during the second World War can be traced to the great Industrial expansion in which Los Angeles participated during the second World War.

As was the case

in the first World War, there was a need for a large, additional number of Industrial workers.

Due to restricted

European immigration, as before, the esqpanded industry now opened its doors to all other available labor.

During the

war years, Los Angeles became a part of the Pacific Coast Defense Area, one of the nine major industrial war production centers into which the nation was divided.'*’® During this time Los Angeles added several hundred thousand persons, many of whom filled the need for the industrial jobs, while New York State lost a million people.

United States Census. 1946, Series P-SC, Number 186. K. C. Stokes, “Regional Shifts in Population Production and Markets11, Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Economic Series 30, II, November 1943.

24 TABLE I THE TOTAL WHITE AND NEGRO POPULATION OF LOS ANGELES FROM 1850 TO 1946*

PERCENTAGE OF NEGROES TO TOTAL

YEAR

TOTAL

WHITE

NEGRO

1850

1,610

1,598

12

.07

1860

4,385

2,280

66

1.50

1870

5,728

5,349

93

1.60

1880

11,183

10,379

102

.90

1890

50,395

47,205

1,285

2.50

1900

102,479

98,082

2,131

2.00

1910

319,198

305,307

7,599

2.30

1920

576,673

546,864

15,579

2.70

1930

1,238,048

1,073,584

38,894

3.10

1940

1,504,277

1,406,430

63,774

4.23

1946

1,805,687

1,654,866

133,032

7.36

The earlier stages shown hy this chart are not significant hut are shown for interest only. However, the curve from 1910 on indicates a definitely greater rate of increase among Negroes than among Whites* * The United States Census for Los Angeles from 1850 to 1946.

25

It is an important fact that during the nineteen thirties* the number of Negro in-migrants was higher than the overall number of all other groups.^" people came from the South.

Most of these

The great need for labor

helped to undermine the employment barriers against the Negro workers.

To the Negro* the need for more labor

during the first World War, but particularly during the seoond World War* opened new employment opportunities which he had enjoyed to only a limited degree in the past.

He

came in greater numbers than any other minority group* and will probably remain here* adding his cultural pattern to a cosmopolitan Los Angeles. Problems of expansion and the formation of Negro communities.

At the time of the drafting of the California

first constitution* many Californians* although originally from the South themselves* were opposed to the political slavery of the Negro in California.

These same people were

conditioned* however* by traditions and habits not to consider the Negro their social or Intellectual equal. Regardless of this situation* the early Negro migrants into Southern California met with little difficulty in finding

^ Sari Hanson and Paul Beckett* Los Angeles: People and Its Homes, ibid., p. 9. #

Its

homes.

As long as the Negro population remained small, the

Negroes encountered very few housing restrictions. 1900 they lived in all parts of the city.

Before

A number of Negro

families owned small ranches on the outskirts, and homes in the city.

A number of early Negro pioneering families were

successful in the building industry, in trades, in real estate dealings, and in other kinds of business enter12 prises. With the increase in number of families, the first permanent Negro community began forming about I860 around IB First Street and Los Angeles Street. This community soon began to expand south and east in the direction of Central Avenue. The area eventually became the largest Negro community in Los Angeles.

By 1910 it was well established

and had acquired its own hotel, stores, restaurants and 14 churches. Although the figures of the 1910 Census revealed Negroes living in all of the cltyls eight assembly districts, this area was admitting many more families than 15 it could comfortably accommodate.

12 Hittell, History of California, p. 431. 13 John W. Fowler, *A History of the Negro in Los Angeles! The Story of the Negro Family and Community Life”, p. 7. ^

Bond, "The Negro in Los Angeles", p. 66.

15 United States Census. 1910, II, p. 185.

Greater concentration and overcrowding in this community resulted from the doubling of the Negro population within the next decade*

A strong drive began

to manifest Itself, that of breaking through the boundaries of the occupied area*

As the Negro community tried to

acquire new homes, the white landlords in the Central Avenue district began to organize formal opposition toward further Negro expansion*

In addition many Negro families

sold their land at a profit only to find that they would find it difficult to get a new home*

Shortly after the

turn of the century, Los Angeles increased greatly her commerce and trade with the East.

The area which had been

occupied by Negro families became valuable because of its central location and its proximity to railroads and industrial plants.

The Negroes were then urged to sell

their homes for a good return* The opposition to Negro expansion took on several forme*

The formation of a defensive league, in which a

number of landlords agreed voluntarily not to sell or rent to a Negro family, was one of these measures. usually upheld in court.

They were

The block and deed restriction,

another measure of opposition, included a clause in the deed, relating to property in given city blocks, which forbade the property owner or his heirs to sell the property to a Negro or anyone else so designated in the deed.

29 This racial opposition checked expansion for a limited amount of time, but it did not stop it for long. Frequently, a home was purchased at the time a restrictive covenant expired, or when a covenant became invalid because 16 the landlord did not hold clear title to the property. Thus, the first few Negro families opened a new section to the occupancy of their people.

During the depression period

further expansion into the white community took place, when white landlords could not maintain their property and were 17 glad to 8ell at a profit. This situation was particularly true in the expansion of the West Jefferson area. Expansion continued in two ways; first, through pressure on the white community, new areas adjoining the older ones were taken over, continuing the line of the older community.

This was the case in the Central Avenue district

expanding south and west.

Secondly, entirely new

communities were formed in other parts of the city.

Land

was very valuable in this rapidly growing metropolis.

The

incoming Negro families, who for the most part belonged to the unskilled labor groups, could afford only the less expensive, marginal lands not desired by the white people.

Bond, "The Negro in Los Angeles", p. 90. 17 Ibid.. pp. 91 - 103.

\

i

30 The newcomers who wanted to join their friends and families soon filled these lands to capacity* In this manner several is new communities came into being* Following is the description of the Negro communities* The Central Avenue Area.

This area, which began

forming at First and Los Angeles Streets in the decade of 1830, continued to extend in all directions until, by 1940, its southern boundary was Jefferson Boulevard; its northern boundary was Pieo Boulevard, for one section; Maple Street was on the West; and Central Avenue, on the East* The Temple Street Area.

This community began to form

about 1902, soon after the older community became too 19 crowded* It was a muddy undesirable area in the vicinity of oil wells*

It comprised at first three blocks*

Its

boundaries were Hyans Street on the North, Beverly Boulevard on the South, Beno Street on the West and Rampart Boulevard on the East*

The people in this community came from the

rural South.

Their manner of living was based on rural

traditions*

They were knit closely into a pattern of family

18 Bond, “The Negro in Los Angeles11, p* 68 19 Bond, oj>* clt*, p. 70.

31 life and most of their activities were centered about the , ^ , 20 local church* Later this community changed as it began receiving people whose background was different from their own*

The

boundaries extended later north along Temple Street to Union Avenue on the East, along Union to Third Street, along Third Street to Hoover on the West* north on Hoover to Micheltorena and back to Temple Street* The Boyle Heights Area. also shortly after 1900.

21

This community began forming

It was originally a small,

undesirable community near the Evergreen Cemetary*

Its

boundaries were Brooklyn Avenue on the North, east to Evergreen Cemetary, south to Michigan Avenue, and west to Mott Avenue* The Holmes Avenue Area or Furlong Tract *

This area

began forming about 1903 at the southernmost tip of the Central Avenue Area*

22

Its original boundaries were 51st

Street on the North, Alameda Street on the East, 55th Street on the South and Long Beach Avenue on the West*

By 1930

this area Joined with the community to the North*

20 Bond, “The Negro in Los Angeles", p. 129, based on conversations with individual members in the community* 21 Ibid-> P- 90. 22 Ibid.. p. 70.

32 The Vest Jefferson Area,

A newer community, this

area became a Negro community during the early twenties and 23 grew steadily during the depression period. The fuller movement into the community began about 1926 and is still continuing.

The first entries by Negro families were

accompanied by law suits brought by individual white landlords. homes.

This was a community of large and spacious

It later became the home of the upper middle class

Negroes, such as actors, businessmen, civil service workers and teachers.

The original boundaries of this area extended

along Jefferson Boulevard between Normandie and Western Avenues* south to 35th Street.

It continued to extend to

37th Street and Western Avenue.^* The Watts Area.

This community opened at approx­

imately the same time as did the above area.

The large

group of migrants between 1920 and 1930 settled south of 25 the older community. Its boundaries were 92nd Street on the North, Imperial Highway on the South, Central Avenue on the West, continuing to 108th Street and Success Avenue, east to Mona Boulevard along 103rd Street and continued with Croesus Avenue to 92nd Street.

^

In the 1940 Census, Watts

Bond, “The Negro in Los Angeles", p. 90.

24 I b ia . ■ p. 91. 25 Ibid., p. 92.

had a population of 5,888 Negroes, representing 94 percent of the total population of the area* The majority of the above described areas eventually extended far enough to Join with the older community, as they extended in all directions*

New communities, north of

Temple Street and far south in Wilmington and San Pedro have formed since 1940. Summary*

In the past the growth of Negro population

in Los Angeles was greater than that of any other racial group.

The increase was especially large during the two

World Wars, when Negroes migrated to the coast to fill additional Jobs* A brief survey of the causes for general increase in the population of this city shows that there were three major movements responsible for its unprecedented growth. The first large Increase in population came soon after the turn of the century and continued until the early twenties. Nfhis influx consisted primarily of investment bankers, retired businessmen and white collar workers*

In the

thirties there was a second wave of newcomers, representing the construction and industrial workers, who were needed to help build this ever expanding city, z7Another large movement into Los Angeles in the late thirties and early forties brought the "depression11 migrants seeking employment and the

more clement weather of Southern California, and the "dust bowl" families from Arkansas, Oklahoma, the Dakotas, Western 26 Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. Early in the century, the Negro family was found living in all parts of the city., but at the same time we find the inception of the earliest Negro community in about 1880 at First and Los Angeles Streets.

Later, as opposition

to the Negro expansion arose, new communities were formed, one to the North, the others to the South, East and West. Gradually these communities expanded to Join with the older Central Avenue Area.

26 Hanson and Beckett, Los Angeles: Homes, p. 8.

Its People, Its

CHAPTER III AREAS OF NEGRO CONCENTRATION AND AVAILABLE HOUSING FOR NEGROES IN LOS ANGELES, 1940-1946 Population ♦expansion in the existing; Negro communities*

In the six year period between April 1, 1940

and January 28, 1946, the tremendous increase in Negro population in Los Angeles swelled the already overcrowded Negro communities, and forced the opening of new areas for settlement throughout the city, in the Harbor area and in the San Fernando Valley* This problem may be studied closer through the analysis of the population census tracts* X Census defines the census tracts as:

The Bureau of

9Small areas having a population usually between 3000 and 6000 into which certain large cities and sometimes their adjacent areas have been subdivided for statistical and local administrative purposes*9 Beginning with 1940, the Federal Census compilations were made by tract enumeration.

The city of Los Angeles was

divided into 303 tracts for the purposes of the census*

In

1940 there had been 23 census tracts in which the Negro population constituted 10 per cent or more of the total

United States 16th Census, Population and Housing Statistics for Census Facts, Los Angeles, Long Beach, California, p. 1*

population*

In 1946 there were 41 tracts In which the Negro

population ranged from 10 percent to 100 percent. page 38).

(Table II,

The majority of Negroes came Into already

established communities*

A study of these communities will

show how they expanded to accommodate the Incoming groups* The Central Avenue Area.

This oldest Negro

community, which originally formed at First and Los Angeles Streets, was located In tract 186.

As It expanded In the

direction of Central Avenue, It became the hub of the Negro activities*

Expansion continued In all directions from this

center, llkethe radiation of spofces In a wheel, to accommodate the incoming thousands pressed for living space. In this process the core of the area deteriorated as a result of overcrowding and neglect of property.

This condition was

speeded up by the fact that the Central Avenue Area was zoned early for industry.

It eventually became a slum area with a

high percentage of substandard dwellings, a high rate of delinquency and low standard of living.

As it expanded, this

community reached out to enclose other established communities, which were described separately. The congestion of the Central Avenue community can be seen in that In 1930, out of a total Negro population of 38,894, 27,227 were living there.

In 1940 the northern

part of this area Included tracts 117*119 and 121-122, which enclosed an area bounded by Sunset Boulevard on the North* Figueroa Street on the West, Boyle Avenue on the East* and south to the city limits*

These boundaries are directly

adjacent to the Boyle Heights Area,

In 1940 this area had

a small Negro population, consisting of 313 persons.

The

overall population of the community numbered 24*695 persons. In the next six year period the total population rose to 27,211 persons,

showing an Increase of 2*516*

During the

same period, the Negro population for this area rose from 318 to 4,041 persons.2 Another group of tracts to the South of the original area* and continuous with the area to the North of It* were tracts 221 to 227 inclusively. were:

The boundaries for the area

Maple Avenue on the West, Jefferson Boulevard on the

South, Alameda Street on the East and Pico Boulevard on the North.

Tract 222 extended west of Maple Avenue to Figueroa

Street*

In 1940 there was a total population In this

community of 37,612 persons; of this number* 14*136 were Negroes*

In 1946 the total population rose to 42*657,

showing an increase of 5000 persons.

The Negro population,

however, rose to 21,474, an increase of 7,355 persons.

^ Pnlted States 16th Census, 1940.

38 TABLE II TRACTS REPRESENTIMS AT LEAST |0 PERCENT OF THE NEGRO POPULATION TO THE TOTAL POPULATION fN THE tykt CENSUS

Tract 87 -

Tear

1946 1940 167 1946 1940 117 ~ 194'6 1940 116 ■? 1946 1940 119 «• 1946 1940 121 1946 1940 IBS'- . 1946 1940 186 ■» 1946 1940 leT1$46 1940 188 1946 1940 189 1946 1940 202 1946 1940 £03 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 j&os -» 1940 1946 214 1940 £15 1946 1940 222 ~ 1946 1940 %%r1946 1940

All Classes 4397 4196 5820 5062 5772 6769 4977 4035 3340''' 3074 5232 3766 3806 3573 8227 5031 8088 6479 4499 4548 3833 3492 6739 6167 3196 2644 2870 2866 3856 3414 4126 3724 4165 3904 6337 5183 7566 7032

White 3906 3668 5143 4467 4832 5550 3970 3606 2640 2738 4069 3605 3046 2926 3076 3559 4892 5456 3551 3737 2181 1856 54&8 6126 2105 2542 524 1214 633 2391 373 474 2137 2232 5478 5104 4600 5012

Negro

Other Races

398 93 239 289 625 52 467 128 578 358 227 992 917 90 412 17 893 207 55 281 1093 70 7 154 731 29 511 136 4104 1047 26 1446 2728 468 415 608 716 232 150 661 667 985 1258 378 1674 ~ 25? 3 38 30 361 41 61 325 2021 704 948 136 3087 215 808 411 3342 1076 2174 293 1735 563 1109 153 706 55 24 '428 2538 639 1361

Percent Of Negro To Total

Percent Of Negro To White

9.0 5.69 10.7 9.2 10.0 3.3 18.5 0.4 23.8 1.7 20.8 0.18 19.7 14.3 49.7 0.5 55.7 6.4 16.0 32.0 26.0 11.0 16.0 0.5 11.0 2.3 71.0 33.0 80.0 24.0 81.0 58.0 42.0 28.0 11.0 0.46 33.0 20.0

10.2 6.2 12.1 10.4 11.9 4.0 23.0 0.47 35.8 2.0 26.6 0.19 23.9 ' " 17.4 133.3 0.7 55.7 7.4 20.0 4.0 45.0 20.0 20.0 0.5 13.0 2.4 390.0 78.0 490.0 34.0 900.0 460.0 81.0 50.0 17.0 0.47 55.0 27.5

Percent Of Other To Total 2.1 6.8 0.8 2.5 6.2 14.6 1.8 10.2 5.5 9.1 1.3 4.0 V.T

3.8 12.7 28.7 5.7 9.5 5.1 14.5 17.0 36.0 M..6

0.6 0.94 1.55 11.3 24.0 3.5 6.3 10.0 29.0 7.0 14.4 2.4r

1.06 5.6 9.1

m

39 i

TABLE II (continued) TRACTS REPRESENTING AT LEAST 10 PERCENT OP THE NEGRO POPULATION TO THE TOTAL POPULATION IN THE 1946 CENSUS

Tract

Tear

224 -

1946 1940 1^46 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940

225 •• 226 £27 £45 246 H f -

248 £49 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 284 285 -

All Classes 4580 4043 0606 5895 7351 6429 5764 4938 5377 5221 4116 4037 6856 6097 5498 5218 7S12 6403 6253 5898 5890 5339 5661 4759 6537 4934 6658 5531 4923 3636 6941 5090 6903 4330 9740 5685

White 1291 1571 2254 2962 627 @06 1545 2077 4373 5181 3586 3948 2557 5481 632 1981 766 2856 1140 3391 1924 2943 144 284 1425 2185 136 504 580 839 1019 1489 5149 4223 3911 4893

Negro

Other Races

3272 17 2385 86 3795 557 2161 772 6694 30 5575 48 4190 229 2657 204 956 48 18 22 493 37 47 42 4210 ' 89 510 106 4828 58 3167 70 6512 34 3441 106 5079 34 2460 47 13 3953 2341 55 21 5496 4447 28 5098 14 10 2739 40 6482 4979 48 4337 6 31 2766 5900 22 3568 33 15 1739 69 38 5762 67 750 62

Percent Of Negro To Total

Percent Of Negro To White

71.0 253.0 59.0 152.0 168.0 57.0 37.0 73.0 91.0 1003.0 87.0 690.0 "“‘"73.0 ■ 312.0 128.0 54.0 22.0 17.7 0.38 0.35 13.8 11.9 0.12 0.12 62.0 165.0 9.3 8.4 86.0 760.0 160.0 61.0 850.0 89.0 121.0 54.0 445.0 81.0 73.0 42.0 206.0 67.0 79.0 44.0 38Q0.Q 97.0 1570.0 93.0 556.0 78.0 125.0 55.0 4760.0 1 98.0 990.0 90.0 750.0 88.0 330.0 76.0 580.0 85.0 240.0 70.0 34.0 25.0 1.6 1.6 148.0 59.0 15.0 13.0

Percent of Other To Total 0.37 2.15 6.4& 13.1 " 0.41' .. 0.75 3.96 4.15 ~b.9 0.4 U.9 1.0 1.3 1.7 0.7 1.3 0.5 ' 1.7 0.5 0.8 0.22 1.0 0.37 0.59 0.21 0.2 0.6 0.87 0.12 0.85 0.23 1'' 0.65 0.22 0.88 0.69 1.1

TABUS II (continued) TRACTS REPRESENTING AT LEAST 10 PERCENT OP THE NEGRO POPULATION TO THE TOTAL POPULATION IN THE 1946 CENSUS

Tract

Tear

All Classes

286 -

1946 1940 1946 1940 1946 1940

9484 5613 7796 5652 24243 5393

28? 2§0 -

White

Negro

2446 2553 3432 3999 20864 5010

6999 2943 4377 1610 3135 6

Other Races

Percent of Negro To Total

Percent Of Negro To Ihite

Percent Of Other To Total

39 112 20 43 244 377

74.0 52.5 56.0 28.5 12.9 0.11

286.0 116.0 12? .0 40.0 15.0 0.12

0.41 2.0 0.26 0.76 1.6 7.0

Tract number 37 is the only one which does not represent at least 10 percent of the Negro population in the 1946 Census.

#

The extreme southern part of the Central Avenue Area contains still another group of twelve tracts, numbered from 245 to 256. this area.

Central Avenue runs through the very center of The boundaries of these tracts are Jefferson

Boulevard on the North, Slauson Avenue on the South, Figueroa Street on the West, and the city limits on the East* In 1940 this area had a population of 62,163; almost 3 half of this number, 30,483, represented the Negro people. In 1946 the figures for the total area were 72,022, showing an increase of 10,000 persons; the figure for the Negro group 4 was 53,388, showing an increase of 22,816 persons. The overall picture of this great Central Avenue Area is shaped not unlike a huge triangle, its northern point touching the area where Sunset Boulevard and North Broadway meet*

The western arm of this triangle is rather Irregular,

its longest lines extending along Figueroa Street,

In

several places the western boundary beoomes Maple Avenue and Los Angeles Street*

At one point, the western arm extends as

far west as Arlington Avenue and 10th Avenue.

At this point,

the community becomes a part of the West Jefferson Area, s

United States Census, 1940, oja. clt.

4

United States Special Census. 1946.

The

eastern arm of the great triangle runs down Alameda Street to Slauson Avenue*

Beyond Alameda, the area extends east to

Boyle Avenue and Mission Hoad to the North* of the triangle is formed by Slauson Avenue* between 20 and

25

The broad base i

The area covers

city tracts, ranging in Negro population

from 10 percent to 95 percent* The Temple Street Area. tracts 106 and 107*

In 1940 this area comprised

The community formed originally in 1902

was located in tract 106.

As stated in Chapter II, its

boundaries were between Hoover Street on the West, Temple Street on the North, 3rd Street on the South and Union Street on the East*

Tract number 106 had a total population of

2,926 persons; of this number 511, or 14 percent, were Negroes.® Tract 107 had a total number of 5,062 persons, of whom 467, or 9 percent, were Negroes*

Between 1940 and 1946

both tracts showed a combined increase of 578 Negroes*

This

community remained small, but as it continued to extend south and east, it reached the boundaries of the great Central Negro district* In the 1946 Census, a small community of 598 Negro people was found in tract number 87 directly north of the

5 Pnlted. States Census. 1940.

\

i i---- i

43

r -~h. ■\ \ _ £ L E 5 D A J.E

''X

\ ___ ,

1

i- \ / il£ VCl'LVEF

r PI ay a Del Re

IF EL SEGUNDO

Loi 5 Beach

DI/TMBUTIOn

Of

n£GRO£/ U.S. C £ n / U S

DATA 1946 Figure 2

id

L£G£ n D

' • * io o o K t r o n / • = *)00 K R / O n / • = i o o P C R /o n s 2 5 tc n s o n s M= DECKCRSE

citv

t '

i ♦ Jr

1

PLflnnmo commu/ioht LOS ANGELES.CALIFORNIA. •JAnUOKV«l946*

|

TOTAL NEGRO POPULATION IN LOS ANGELES - 133.082 - 1946 83!774 - 1940

W itak

Temple Area*

It covers a small area*

Its boundaries are

the junction of Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard on the North, Hoover Street on the East, Santa Monica Boulevard on the South and Vermont Avenue on the West* The Boyle Heights Area,

This small community, which

was formed shortly after the turn of the century, between Brooklyn Avenue on the North, Michigan Avenue on the West, was located in tract 129*

It eaqpanded later to include

parts of tracts numbered 123, 124 and 127*

In 1940, this

area contained 770 Negroes in a community of 25,020, which consisted of several minority groups.

In 1946, the Negro

community still formed a small part of this area in a total community of 30,032 persons*

This area did not expand

greatly in population, as did the other communities*

The

boundaries, however, expanded to Mission Hoad on the Northeast, city limits on the East, 6th Street on the South and Soto Street on the West* The West Jefferson Area*

In the Census of 1940,

this area included tracts numbered 204, 205, 214 and 215* Its boundaries were 29th Street on the North, Arlington Avenue on the West, Exposition Boulevard on the South, continuing north on Vermont to 29th Street*

This area

grew as rapidly in population as did the Central Avenue Area*

N N N

! \ N

In 1940 the total population in these tracts was 13,908; in 1946 it was 15,017, showing an increase of 1,109* However, during this period, the Negro in-migration into the area more than doubled, having risen from 5,103 persons in 1940 to 10,620 persons in 1946* parts of tracts 202 and 203.

In 1946 this area added

At that time, part of the

boundary on the North, mainly for tract number 203, reached Washington Boulevard between Arlington Avenue and Western Avenue*

On the West, tract 202 extended to 10th Avenue

between Montclair Street on the North and Rodeo Drive on the South.

The boundaries otherwise remained the same as

they were in 1940*

It is logical to deduce then, that twice

as many Negro people lived in the West Jefferson Area in 1946 as did in 1940. The Watts Area*

This area, which opened in the

twenties for Negro occupancy, was located in tracts 285, 286, and 287*

Later tract 284 was to be added*

Its boundaries

are 92nd Street on the North, Imperial Highway on the South, Central Avenue on the West and city limits on the East. The total population in 1940 was 21,294; in 1946 it was 33,923*

In 1940 the Negro population in Watts numbered

5,288 persons; in 1946 the figure was 17,138 persons, or more than half of the total number* year period was 11,817 persons*

The increase in a six

/ \

Y •

ALHAM BRA

s& t

\C U LV E R C IT Y f

WtV

"“ J $

V e n ic

G L E W C OD

M t v y a W e l

r~

g B each

HERMOSA

DI/TMBUTIOn

Of IggS^CE I

n

t o

R o t

_r U./. CCnJU-T DATA 1940

\i ' •

- Figure 4 L£G£ nd

• - iooo >£ii/on/

•= 500 pea/onx •= 100 PCftj’ons * 2| >pcpronr

L jXG TBEv

!

citv

PLonninG com m im oh1 LOS ANGELES,CALIFORNIA. •J«nUflftVM94V

I

TOTAL NEGRO POPULATION IN LOS ANGELES - 63,774

The Harbor Area.

During the war years, the need for

more housing and the proximity to their work in the harbor, brought many Negroes Into this area*

It was located in

tract number 290 and bounded by Avalon Boulevard and Wilmington on the East, the harbor on the South, the city limits on the North and West.

In 1940 there were 5,393

persons living in that tract; in 1946 the number Increased to almost five times this figure, 24,243.

In 1940 there

were three Negroes listed in this tract; in 1946 there were 3,135.

This area, as one of the vital war area6, continued

to receive both white and Negro persons, and soon developed an aeute housing shortage. Another new Negro area was opened in the San Fernando Valley, but this group Is still very small. Several additional Negro communities have been developing, adjoining the older areas.

One such community

is located between San Marino Avenue on the North, Pico Boulevard on the South, and between Western Avenue on the West and Vermont Avenue on the East.

This last named

community, and other similar communities, are still very small, but are steadily growing in numbers. From the description of the above areas, it may be seen that the established communities received the increasing thousands of newcomers, doubling or even tripling their population with very inadequate increases in housing

facilities.

Several new communities were established and

others were in the process of being created.

The coming of

the war workers forced the opening of new areas. In order to understand better the housing needs of the Negro population in Los Angeles, it is important to present a general picture of housing for the entire city.

An important

source of housing data for Los Angeles can be found in the survey conducted by the Los Angeles Housing Authority. Brief historical survey of housing in Los Angeles. In 1800 Los Angeles displayed about thifty one room adobe g houses surrounding the old plaza. These homes housed a population of about 70 persons.

In the 1850*8, after

California became a state, materials for home building were brought by boat to Los Angeles around Cape Horn.

No

particular set of regulations governed the building of homes until provisions were written into the Freeholder's Charter of this city in 1889.

Not until 1909 was the first 7 residential zoning ordinance formulated. These rules were not enforced until 1921.8 6

Annual Report Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles - nFirst Annual Report", June 30, 1939, p. 20.

7 Q

»

P • 2.

Hanson and Beckett, Los Angelest Homes,.p. 14.

Its People, Its

Building of homes in Los Angeles was not very rapid during the first two decades of this century*

Statistics

indicate that less than four percent of the total housing in 1940 was built before 1920*

Before 1900 Los Angeles had

20,377 dwelling units, or 3*8 percent of the total housing units*

A building boom during the first World War,

following the heavy flow of migration to the West Coast, brought the number of dwelling units up to 158,510 for the first two decades of the century.

This figure represented 9 a total of 30*8 percent of the 1940 housing* For a brief period there was a surplus of housing, but by 1921 all housing was absorbed by newcomers, and the city experienced its first housing shortage.

10

It will be

remembered that during the decade of 1910-1920 there was an increase in Los Angeles population of over 257,000 persons, and that the Negro population more than doubled* continued at a high rate*

Building

In 1923, 43,842 units were built,

the highest record in the history of the city; however,

* there was still a need of 30,000 units more to take care of o Hanson and Beckett, Los Angeles: Its People* Its Homes* p* 14.

^ Security First National Bank, "Figures on Residential Construction in Los Angeles Area"*

the basic housing needs*

After 1923 building of dwelling

units dropped to under 30,000 units for the next year. Between 1925 and 1928 construction varied between 21,000 and 22,000 units*

In 1928 there was again a surplus of

15,000 units for a brief period of time* absorbed during the next year, in 1929*

These units were For the decade of

1920-1929, the city had 232,526 dwelling units, or 45*3 percent of the 1940 figure. During the depression years, for a ten year period between 1929 and 1939 the building of dwelling units sank *

to the lowest ebb, as may be seen from Figure 5, with the fewest dwelling units built between 1932 and 1935. same period, the decade between 1930 and

For the

1940, Los Angeles

received an increase of 266,227 persons, including an addition of 24,880 Negroes*

There was again a gradual rise

in building between 1938 and 1941.

In 1941, 17,960 dwelling

units were constructed as against a low number of 1,647 units in 1934, the lowest year of construction*

Thereafter

there was a gradual upgrade, showing a figure of 20,556 units for 1946*

12

11

City Planning Commission, Department of Building and Safety Chart: Living Units Constructed 1921-1946 inclusive* 12 Ibid., p. chart.

H o u /in G - c r rv o f LOJ fln&£L£J CITY PLANNING COMMISSION

DATA - DEPT OF BLDG. & SAFETY

LlUinG UniTJ COn/TRUCT£D 45,000

1 9 2 1 t o I9 4 (i inc. 40,000 YEAR

35,000

UNITS

30,000

II

NUMBER

OF

25,000

S IN G LE

1921 13303 1922 15373 1923 19509 1924 1469 9 1925 12482 1926 999 9 1927 82 13 192 8 6593 1929 530 1 1930 4207 193 1 343 7 1932 18 19 1933 16 16 1934 13 00 193 5 29 19 193 6 6484 1937 6845 1938 846 1 1939 9949 1940 11328 194 1 1132 1 1942 425 6 1943 14 12 1944 670 8 1945 6 19 2 1946 13819

20,000

MULTIPLE

3302 5648 9706 69 14 3424 2390 2352 25 18 2222 1864 1260 4 18 288 2 16 436 842 12 16 1472 1526 1742 I 960 1098 9 05 828 833 2 17 8

APTS.

2967 70 12 14627 82 8 1 6 166 7628 10236 119 70 77 11 5366 1903 466 30 2 13 1 4 89 1598 17 11 2449 46 79 33 77 4679 7402 75 900 1048 4559

LEGEND SI NGLE M U L T IP L E APARTM ENTS

~

15,000

10,000

5,000

1921

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29 1930 31

37

38

39 1940 41

42

43

44

45

46

During the five year period between 1941 and 1946 there were only 70,173 units built for this city, which in growth in population and geographic area was leading all the other metropolitan centers in the United States. In the 1940 Census the occupancy was 3.05 persons per dwelling unit*

In 1946 it was raised to 3*16.

In these six

years the number of dwelling units increased by only 79,179, or 16 percent, having risen from 493,087 in 1940 to 572,666 in 1946.13 Certain areas of Negro housing based on rentals and location*

In a basic study about Los Angeles housing it was

found that more congested areas represented simultaneously the oldest structures in the city and lowest rentals* Furthermore, the study indicated that the rentals were a valid index to the social and housing conditions of the 14 tenants* Although the scope of this paper does not include the study of the social and economic status of the Negro in Los Angeles, it was felt that the findings of the above named study will indicate the hind of housing that was available

^ United States Census, "Dwelling Units in Los Angeles", Series P-SC, Number 188, January 28, 1946. 14

Hanson and Beckett, Los Angeles, op. clt*, p. 23.

to the Negro in relation to the rental and area in which he was living* In the above named study, the city was divided for statistical purposes into seven districts, ranging from the harbor to the San Fernando Valley,

In reviewing these

districts, the writer found that a majority of Negroes were living in districts numbered I, II and III, with a heavy predominance in district II,

The rentals in district I

ranged from $10,00 to $18*00; in district II, from $18.00 to $25,00; and district III, from $25,00 to $35*00. District I, the lowest rental area, was also the oldest of the districts.

It consisted of three groups of

census tracts, all contained in the largest Negro area.

Of

the eighteen tracts in the first group, eleven tracts were heavily ocoupled by Negroes; this was the area bounded by North Broadway Street and the city limits, and between Alameda Street, Boyle Avenue and Mission Boad,

The second

group of tracts represented the oldest Negro area between Temple Street and 20th Street, and between Maple Avenue and Alameda Street,

The third group of tracts, in which the

lowest rentals were paid, was in Watts, In 1940, district I contained 89,826 persons in an area of 5,750 acres.

It included eight to nine miles of the

downtown business district, in which were located the Civic Center and the Transportation Terminals, including Union

Station.

15

The area between Pico Boulevard and 21st Street,

and between Central Avenue and Maple Avenue, was zoned for manufacturing in 1922. built before 1919.

Of these buildings, 92 percent were

They were in need of major repairs and

were no longer considered residential property.

The area

was becoming a slum and sub-standard dwelling area* occupied 60 percent of the housing in this community.

Negroes 16

District II, or the second low rental area, which ranged from $18.00 to $25*00, covers a large section of the city, being twenty two miles in length in a fifty-one mile square area.

It extended from the northeastern part of the

city south, to include the northern tip of Watts, branched off to enclose a strip south of Santa Monica Boulevard and 17 Sawtelle Boulevard below the Veteran*s Hospital. In 1940 the Negro groups in this district occupied about sixteen tracts, particularly in the southwestern part, adjoining district I.

These tracts were located between Adams

Boulevard and Slauson Avenue, Figueroa Street and Alameda Street. area.

Further south a part of Watts was included in this The Negro population in the district, which for the

15

Hanson and Beckett, ibid., p. 24.

16

Housing Authority of Los Angeles, “Housing Survey11, April 1940, Los Angeles, II, p. 110.

17 Hanson and Beckett, ©£. cit., p. 25.

most part represented older homes, outside of Watts, numbered 43,713*

In the decennial period between 1930 and

1940, the population for the entire area Increased by 12*7 percent. District III represented the higher rentals in a strictly residential area, which extended from Griffith Park in a narrow strip south to the city limits, and then followed an irregular line as far as Sunset Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, as far west as Hollywood Boulevard 18 and Vine Street. This area comprises 115 census tracts* Only five of these tracts showed a majority of Negro inhabitants*

The Negro area was located between 27th Street

on the North and Exposition Boulevard on the South, and between Arlington Avenue on the West and Normandie Avenue on the East side*

Another small community was located between

Vernon Avenue and Slauson Avenue, and between Figueroa Street and Main Street*

This area of higher rents was

found in the so-called better community, the Jefferson Street Area*

Only 3,995 Negro families were in this rental

group, as compared with a non-Negro total population of 19,262 for the same five tracts.

There was a 15*2 percent

increase in population for the entire district during the 1930-1940 period. no

Hanson and Beckett, Los Angeles? Homes, p. 25.

Its Pe&ple, Its

Districts IV and V, outside of one tract, were predominantly occupied by the middle and hpper classes of the white population, and represented valuable residential and commercial property.

These districts extended from

Griffith Park to Culver City, including the commercial district of Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, the Pacific 19 Palisades, Bel Air and parts of Brentwood. The above analysis of city districts revealed that the low rentals were usually accompanied by great congestion and low quality housing.

For the decade between 1930 and

1940, the density of population ranged from 0.8 per person per gross acre in the San Fernando Valley to 15.6 per person per acre in district I.

The Bunker Hill Area near downtown

district contained afeout sixty persons per gross acre. Condition of housing for Negroes in 1940.

20

Of the

total of 493,087 dwelling units enumerated by the 1940 Census figures, 109,200 units were found to be substandard; 19,039, or 3.9 percent, occupied by white Inhabitants, were considered overcrowded, as they contained 1.51 or more persons per room. families.

There were 27,465 units occupied by Negro

Here the overcrowded conditions may be seen in

19

Hanson and Beckett, Los Angeles: Homes, p. 26. 20

_

on

Its People, Its

the fact that there were 1,575 overcrowded units containing more than 1.51 persons per room.

The total substandard 21 Negro dwellings numbered 7,077, or 21.6 percent. The substandard conditions of Negro housing in 1940 were found

particularly in districts I and II described earlier, where overcrowding was heaviest.

At that time the Negro population

numbered 63,744 persons; 98 percent were crowded into the densest central section which contained 66.2 percent of the

22

total number for the city."' Summary.

Los Angeles housing has not kept pace with

the tremendous industrial and commercial development of the city, which brought hundreds of thousands of newcomers each decade.

The problem of housing for Negro families, not

unlike the problem in other American cities, shows traditional segregation, both voluntary and compulsory.

As

a result of this situation, the Negroes were found to occupy the low rental areas in dwelling units that were substandard. The older Negro communities have been re-zoned for industrial uses, thereby reducing further the desirability on the part of the landlords to effect major repairs on housing, which was no longer residential.

The plight of Negro families1

housing increased during the war years.

It was partially

21 Hanson and Beckett, based on United States Census.

22

United States Census, 1940.

59 ameliorated by their admission into the public housing developments erected with the support of the Federal Government. General housing in Los Angeles, however, is younger than that of many cities, and therefore its substandard areas are not as great as those of the large eastern cities* This fact Is easily explained on the basis that less than four percent of Its dwelling units were built before 1900, and that almost twenty percent of Its units were built between 1920 and 1930, In comparison with only 11*5 percent of housing for Hew York, and 10.7 percent of housing for 23 Detroit for the same period.

23

Hanson and Beckett, Los Angeles; Homes, p. 14*

Its People* Its

CHAPTER IV THE HOUSING- OF NEGRO FAMILIES IN PUBLIC HOUSING PROJECTS Public housing In the United States*

The thought

behind public housing is the result of many years of social thinking by many interested agencies*

Facts have been

gathered which proved that inadequate housing turns whole areas into slums and disease breeding areas; that as a result, the entire community eventually becomes responsible, both financially and morally for the delinquency and crime In such areas* In 1934 a national survey of real estate property revealed that a third of the nation's homes Nwere below the »1 standards of health, safety and decency.* Extensive slum areas and substandard dwellings were found in all large metropolitan areas as well as in farm dwellings*

A similar

situation was disclosed by the National Conference on Home 2 Building and Home Ownership, held In 1931. The Federal government had built, during the first World War, a limited number of emergency housing units* However, the first attempt to rehabilitate slums on a

The National Housing Agency, p. 27. 2

L°c. clt*, Housing, p* 27.

larger scale did not materialize until the results in quality of housing were obtained from the 1950 Census* Surveys established the reason for housing shortages and substandard dwellings*

First, the high cost of building

homes made home ownership inaccessible to the hundreds of thousands of families whose annual earnings were $1000.00 or less*

Secondly, low rent housing was frequently permitted

to fall into disrepair because of the low returns on such property*

Recommendations based on the housing surveys

indicated the Immediate need for the Federal government to subsidize the building of good housing and slum clearance throughout the country.

Public housing was not intended in

any way to substitute for private housing.

Its purpose was 5 to meet needs that were not met by private enterprise* The first Federal aid to housing was given by the Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1952, which empowered the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to make loans for housing to private companies under a state or 4 local regulation. In 1955, during the depth of the depression, the Federal government set aside funds to aid in national recovery through the building of public projects

Housing Authority of Los Angeles, “Housing Survey April, 1940. 4 Public Housing, op. clt* * p. 26.

6%

under the supervision of the division of Public Works Administration.

This agency made loans to private builders

that built housing projects under the National Industrial 5 Recovery Act of 1933. On a larger scale, however, the Public Works Administration, in conjunction with the Emergency Act of 1933* was to start immediate work projects toward the rehabilitation of the millions of enumployed through public works*

The first large project of Public Works Adminis­

tration was to build fifty housing projects containing 21,612 units in thirty seven cities, at a cost of „ 6 1127,000,000.00. The Wagner Housing Act of 1937 established the responsibility for the actual building of dwelling units with state or local authorities.

The Federal Housing

Authority supplied up to 90 percent of the cost of public dwelling units, as well as technical assistance*

The funds

were raised by means of bonds, which were floated for a sixty year period at a 3-1/4 percent interest.

Ten percent

of the funds were to be raised by the local community in the 7 form of bonds, lands, improvements or tax exemption.

&

The Federal Public Housing Authority, p. 26.

6 Ibid* , p. 27. 7 First Annual Report, Housing Authority of Los Angeles, June 30, 1939, p. 3b.

In February, 1942, the National Housing Agency was established* which combined three major departments, the Federal Home Loan Administration, the Federal Housing Administration and the Federal Public Housing Authority. This merging of agencies was both to promote low cost housing and coordinate war housing.

By 1945, forty states

had passed enabling legislation and were able to participat 3 in Federal aids to local housing, A gigantic task was carried out by the National Housing Agency in building and finding shelter for four million war workers, representing nine million persons. More than half of these shelters were found in the existing housing through registration offices.

One hundred seventy

war shelters were built; 1,900,000 housing units were built both with private capital and the financial guaranty of the National Housing Agency* which in addition had spent |38,775,000 on low cost permanent housing by December 31, 9 1944. However, many workers have received work under this plan from the Works Progress Administration.^*0 Q

First Annual Report, Housing Authority of Los Angeles, June 30, 1939, p, 5, 9 ibid., p. 3 5 . The Federal Public Housing Authority, p. 7.

The Interest of Los Angeles in public housing. Historically, this city reveals a civic interest in good housing since the early days of this century.

The interest

in good housing on the part of the city administration goes back to 1906, when the first Housing Commission was established by Mayor MeAleer.

This Commission was

re-established by city ordinance in 1908.

Between 1913

and 1922, the Housing Commission acted as an independent bureau, but was affiliated with the Health Department of the city*

During these years, the Housing Commission acted

primarily in an advisory capacity, directing its efforts toward enforcement of standards of health and sanitation.

11

In 1925 a Housing Commission was created by Mayor Cryer with additional responsibility to clear slums and help build low cost housing for low income groups.

A billion

dollar bond, undersigned by William Meade, the president of the Commission, was voted toward that goal*

The charter

stipulated that these funds must be raised by private funds; the city could not assume financial obligation for this type of a project*

This worthy plan did not materialize due to

the untimely death of Mr* Meade.

^

12

12

The Federal Public Housing Authority, p. 3.

Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, Housing Survey, p*_l.

Later* in order for this city to participate in the slum clearance project supported by the Federal Government, Los Angeles had to assume a financial responsibility up to 10 percent* In March 1938, the Special Session of the California Legislature passed the four enabling acts which qualified Los Angeles to receive Federal assistance in low cost housing*

These laws were:

(1) The Housing Authorities Law,

(2) The Housing Cooperation Law, (3) The Tax Exemption Law, 13 and (4) The Eminent Domain Amendment* The enabling acts established a Housing Authority for the city of Los Angeles, and provided it with the power to clear slums and build low rent housing units in cooperation with the National Housing Authority.

After the approval of

the City Council, in June 1938, the mayor appointed a five-man committee under the chairmanship of Mr* Nicola G-iulli. In order to establish valid proof of the city*s housing needs, the newly created Housing Authority conducted a housing survey.

13

Two surveys, a ‘‘Dwelling Survey11 and a

First Annual Report, Housing Authority of Los Angeles, op. clt,, p* 4.

11Low Income SurveyM were completed in the latter part of 15 1939. They gave a comprehensive picture of housing needs In Los Angeles. The cost of the surveys was shared by the city, state and federal funds*

The State Relief Administration

paid half of the cltyfs share In the form of salaries to the supervisory personnel working under the authority of the Works Progress Administration. The Federal Government ^ 16 supplied |127,000.00 for relief labor of the survey. In these surveys, the area under consideration was confined to the old Spanish pueblo, covering about a 28.6 square mile area*

The study was divided into sections.

Section nD M represented the downtown area. dated back to the period of 1895-1904.

Its housing

It included parts

of the oldest Negro community and a part of District I, lowest rental area described in Chapter III.

In this

section, 45 percent of the homes were found to be 17 substandard. Sections wB tt, 11G* and ‘•FF11 extended in a southerly direction to include the ‘Shoestring11 area in Watts, San

The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, Housing Survey, p. 29. 16 Loc. cit. 17 Ibid, . p. 43.

Pedro and Wilmington*

In areas “B tt and

most of the

housing units were built between 1920 and 1924.

Here, only

15 percent of the unite were substandard.18 Finding of the surveys conducted by the Los Angeles Housing Authority,

The housing Surveys included 234,049

dwelling units, which represented a population of 676,941 persons, of whom 130,017 were children fourteen years of age 19 or younger. Of the enumerated dwelling units, 60,000, or 25 percent, were substandard;

20

33,000, or 63 percent, were

in need of major repairs or unfit for use; 13,000, or 23 percent, were overcrowded.

21

About 176,000 persons,

representing 26 percent of the people in the area, were living in inadequate or substandard dwellings.

22

In the substandard dwellings, 47.8 percent had children living under conditions which were lacking in one

The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, Housing Survey, p. 43. 19

Ibid., p. 13.

20

Housing Survey, p. 11, II. The study defined a wsubstandardM dwelling unit as one that is in need of major repairs or is unfit for use due to: inadequate plumbing, absence of flush toilet, and/or bathing facilities, absence of water or lighting, either by gas or electricity. The term MovercrowdedH is used when more than 1.5 persons occupy one room. 81 Ibid.., p. 81. 88 Ibid.., p. 82

or more basic facilities necessary to maintain good health.**5 Of the dwellings studied, 67 percent were occupied by tenants at an average rental of $31*83; 27 percent were occupied by tenants at an average rental value of $25*02; 6 percent of the units were

vacant.

The Housing Census in 1940 found that 58,419 dwelling units, or 11*8 percent, were physically substandard, in need of major repairs; 19,039 families were living in these 25 ra substandard dwellings* The racial occupancy of surveyed 26 dwelling units was as follows: Dwelling Units

Percent

Race

194,195

82.3

19,404

8.2

Mexican

16,271

6.9

Negro

5,503

2*3

Orientals

738

*3

White

Others

In the low Income survey, there were 15,441 dwelling Of these, Negroes occupied 1,231 units; 224 units

23 Housing Survey, 11, o^* cit«, p. 13. 24 Ibid*, p* 14. 25 Hanson and Becfcett, jog,* clt.* p. 52* 26 £bid», p. 52,

of the Negro dwellings were owner occupied, and 1,007 were „ 27 tenant occupied. 28 The 1939 Real Property Inventory revealed the following figures:

There were 58,709 families, representing

about 176,000 persons living in substandard dwellings in Los Angeles*

The grouping among these families was as follows:

65 percent of the dwellings were occupied by Anglo-Americans; 21 per cent by Mexican-Amerleans; 9 percent by NegroAmericans and 5 percent by Orientals*

In this area, 28*6

percent of all Negroes lived in substandard dwellings*

Two

other surveys were considered at that time; one, in West Los Angeles, to house about 400 low income families; another, in the Central Avenue Area to house about 700 families*

Plans

were laid for several public housing projects* The completion of the survey left no doubt as to the needs of public housing*

The California State Legislature

added two additional housing acts to its statutes, which made bonds issued by the Los Angeles Housing Authority legal investment, and also validated all contracts made by the Housing Authority*

27

Hanson and Beckett, Los Angeles: Homes, Table I, p. 52*

Its People* Its

90

The Housing Authority in the City of Los Angeles, "The 1939 Heal Property Inventory"*

The first housing development was estimated at a cost of $3,090,000,00,

It was to contain 610 units, 29 comprising 2,591 persons. The average rental was to be

$14*50 to $20*50 with $3*93 average rental per room.

After

a number of additional studies, the cost of this project was reduced to $2,771,000.00.

The National Housing Agency

supplied $2,492,000.00 of the funds, while the local 30 authority raised $277,000.00. The first development was completed and ready for occupancy on June 2* 1941*

This

was known as project Cal 4-1, better known as Ramona Gardens, located at 2830 Lancaster Avenue* This was the first of ten projects in low rent housing developments* Income families*

Eligibility was limited to low

A typical example of Incomes can be seen

from the average Incomes of the families living in Ramona Gardens*

The average income for this project was $772*00

for 1941; $1*464.00 in 1943; and $1,881.00 in 1945. The 31 median for 1945 was $1,820.00. As on the national level, Incomes could not exceed five times the amount of rent paid.

29 The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, Public Housing, p. 14. Loc. cit. 31

Facts obtained from Mr* Wilkinson, Special Assistant to the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles*

During the war, over 12j000 units were constructed to 32 house the war workers. Many of these units were temporary shelters and were scheduled to be dismantled as soon as the housing emergency was relieved,

At the end of the war,

veterans were given preference in all three types of public housing! (1) The Veterans1 Emergency Housing Program, which consists of surplus war constructed buildings, converted to temporary housing for the duration of the housing 33 e m e r g e n c y A n Act of Congress limited this form of housing to veterans of World War II, (2) Converted war housing, which, used only by war workers during the war, was made available to veterans of World War II. (3); Permanent low rent housing has also given preference to veterans of World War II. The housing of Negro families in public housing developments.

Public housing in Los Angeles began with the

clearing of slum areas and building of sound dwelling units through the support of the Federal Government.

32

The need for

The Housing Authority of the City Of Los Angeles, Public Housing Developments, Table I. Loc. bit.

low cost housing was established through the various surveys described in the preceding chapters.

The cost of maintain­

ing blighted areas requires a subsidy from the entire city, while the revenues from these areas are much lower than those from the good areas* Two studies were made by the Los Angeles Planning 34 Commission, in 1945 and 1946 respectively. In the first study a comparison was made between a good area, the West Adams district, and a blighted area in Boyle Heights*

It

was found that delinquency in the blighted area was seven times as high as in the good area, and cases of tuberculosis eight times as many in the blighted area as in the good area*

In the second study, a typical blighted area in Watts

was presented.

Characteristics describing bad housing in

this area revealed an indiscriminate mixture of residential and commercial structures; 156 tuberculosis cases per 100,000 population against a city average of ninety seven per 100,000, and 620 Juvenile delinquency eases per 100,000 population as compared with the average of 173 per 100,000.

34

Los Angeles City Planning Commission, MA Study of Blighted and G-ood Areas in Los Angeles11, p. 2, City Planning Commission, Accomplishments 1946, p* 14 - Statistics and Health and Delinquency taken from: Los Angeles Tuberculosis and Health Association and Los Angeles County Probation Department.

The blighted area described above contains a predominantly Negro population. Public housing developments were first built in areas similar to those described above.

When the city began to

build its public projects! Negro families applied for admission in great numbers*

Public housing, as well as

private housing, could only partially meet their need* During the war years, approximately 27 percent of all housing in public projects was occupied by Negro families. General analysis of number of applications and admissions into the public housing developments between 1941 and 1946.

Following the completion and occupancy of

the first development, Ramona Gardens in June 1941, the number of public housing developments rose rapidly*

Both

the low cost housing and the thousands of temporary war housing units were receiving thousands of applications every month.

Between 1941 and 1945 a total of twenty nine

developments were erected, representing 12,429 dwelling units*

By the end of 1946, the number of public housing

projects rose to thirty four with housing facilities for 37 52,650 persons.

36

Personal interview with Mr. McKelvey, Assistant Federal Housing Administrator. 37 The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, 11Annual Statistical Survey of Management Activities for 1946", p. 2.

The number of applications for admissions rose correspondingly#

In 1943 there were 9,556 applications for

admission; in 1944 - 16,593; in 1945 - 21,183 applications* Of the total applications received in 1945, 12,215 or 5.7 percent were from white families; 6,105 or 28 percent, from Negro families, and 2,863 or 13*5 percent from other racial 38 groups. Between June 1943 and May 1944, 11,838 applica­ tions were received. families*

Of these, 3,243 were from Negro

The total number of placements were 3,109, of

which 639 were placements of Negro families, as can be seen on Table III#

The figures for placements along racial

groupings were incomplete for the period prior to June 1943. In a six month period from June 1944 to January 1945, total applications numbered 12,399, total placements made were 3,918.

(See Table IV).

Although 900 more placements

were made than the preceding year, only a little over a fourth of the number of applications were filled.

There

were 5,528 Negro family applicants in this group, of whom only 1,335 were placed.

Table V on page 75 Illustrates the

percentages of admission by race for a one year period, between December 1944 and December 1945.

38

A summary of the

The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, 11Annual Statistical Survey of Management Activities for 1945r, p. 1.

7i

TABLE III TOTAL NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS FOR THE YEAR OF JUNE 1945 and MAY 1944, DISTRIBUTED BY RACE

Applications

Placement

Area

Race

Harbor

White

5,160

1,333

Central

Negro

3* 243

361

Central

White

1,748

773

Central

Others

754

299

Harbor

Negro

705

278

Harbor

Others

228

65

11,838

3,109

TOTALS

TABLE IV THE FIGURES FOR THE SIX MONTH PERIOD BETWEEN JUNE 1944 and JANUARY 1945 FOR ALL PUBLIC HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS Miinvii iiasa.

Applications

Placement

Area

Race

Central

Negro

4,513

1,086

Harbor

White

4,288

1,739

Central

White

1,352

479

Harbor

Negro

1,015

249

Central

Others

934

268

Harbor

Others

299

97

12,399

3,918

TOTALS

Ta b l e v 8UMMARV OF RACIAL OCCUPANCY IN PUBLIC HOUSING PROJECTS DECEMBER 19** - OECEMBER »9*5 PERCENT WHITE DECEMBER 19**

number

DEVELOPMENT AVERAGE AREA8 1 - II

or u n i t s OCCUPIED DECEMBER 191*5 n,209

PERCENT WHITE DECEMBER ... J9*5

PERCENT NEGRO DECEMBER 191*1*

PERCENT NEGRO DECEMBER 15*5

PERCENT OTHER DECEMBER 19**

PERCENT OTHER DECEMBEI 19*5

6*.7

52.0

22.5

27*2

92.2

t*.2

25.5 50.7 1.5 59.9 1*2.2 05.1*

21.6 29.9 0.5 57.2 52.1

15.9 15.7 93.2 21.0 17.2 0.0

1 6 .2

6 1 .6

75.5 92.7 20.9 0.0 1.2 1.1 5.1 0.5 0.0

75.2 96.2 l*.3 12.5 5.0

62.2 55.6 *.9 59.1 *0 . 6 f*.6 23.* 1.5 2*.3 00.9 5.5 1.1 2.2

91.2

69.1*

92.2

27.1

CALIFORNIA AREA 1 *~t Ra m o n a g a r d e n s 601 *—2 F|CO GARDENS 257 *-3 p u e b l o de l RIO 592 *-5 ALISO VILLAGE 700 1*1*0 *-6 MEAD HOMES 210 >1-7 ESTRADA COURTS *-2 ROSE HILL COURTS 99 *-9 AVALONCGARDENS 159 M o HACIENDA VILLAGE 102 >1072 PACIFIC PARK TRAILERS 27 *766 JORDAN DOWNS 506 1*769 PUE8L0 DEL RIO ANNEX 27 1*700 IMPERIAL COURTS 90 *671 CORREGJCOR PARK ANNEX 310 *9*7 IMPERIAL ANNEX | 152 1*71*9 ESTRADA ANNEX 1 , ,,j60

,

AVERAGE AREA 1

1*1*62

1

2 3 .5

0 .0

1.1 0.0 51*.0 0 0 .9

92.9 9 7 .2

12.5 95.2 23.5 2 2 .5

0.0 2.0 0.0 61.5 10.0 9 1 .5 1 0 0 .0

0 .0

2 0 .7

2 9 .2

0 .6

9 7 .2

9 2 .2

9 2 .5

9 7 .2

0.0

0.0

2 5 .5

**.0

0 .0

,

52.0 *.5 59.5 *5.* *6.7 2*. 3 5.2 2*. 2 70.*

1.9 1.5 20.2

5.7 0.0 10.2 0.6 2.2 30.6

27.5

22.1

TABLE V (CONTINUED) s u m m a r y o f r a c i a l o c c u p a n c y in p u b l i c h o u s i n g p r o j e c t s

DECEMBER 19** - DECEMBER 19*5 NUMBER OF UNITS OCCUPIED DEVELOPMENT

DECEMBER 19^5

PERCENT WHITE DECEMBER

PERCENT WHITE DECEMBER

19 **

19*5

PERCENT NEGRO DECEMBER i m

PERCENT NEGRO DECEMBER

PERCENT OTHER DECEMBER

19*5

19**

PERCENT OTHER DECEMBER 19*5

CALIFORNIA AREA II M l RANCKO 8AN PEDRO *1©3 DANA STRAND VILLAGE *10* NORMONT TERRACE *102 CHANNEL HESGHT6 *156 N PORTSMOUTH HOMES 1502 BANNING HOMES *7*6 WtLHALL COTTAGES *230 DANA STRAND ANNEX *2** BATAAN PARK *277 WESTERN TERRACE *931 l u m i n a PARK H931! WILMINGTON APARTMENTS *93* WlLHALL DORMITORIES AVERAGE AREA II

22* 576

7 0 .1

65*2

95*5 9*.2

95*9 92.2

2 0 .3

130 0.0 16.0 0.0

-. v i i

92*5 75*9 79 A 0.0 99*2 93*2 0.0

77*2 100.0 7**2 27*5 67** 2*.* 65.* 100.0 2J. 0 27.2

19.3 16.3 0.0 0.0 *.6 0.0

-7.-.0

67*7

2 7 .0

72*5

9*2

15*5

595 52* 12 * 19*6 16

255 255 922 66 1*5

0.0 20.2

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LOS ANQELE8.

16.2 0.0

16.9 0.0

0 .9

0*5 1**9 0.0 21.* 0.0 2**7 50.5 25*5 0.0 9*0

.

15*7 **5 5*5 6*7 0.0 5.2

17*5 6.1 1*5 7*9 0.0 *.*

7*7 *•2

12.5 7*9 5.1 9*1 0.0 2.0

*.5 0.0 0.2 2.2 0.0 5*2

,

-5ri 6.0

figures shows that in December 1944, the following placements were made:

64*7 percent of white families;

22*5 percent of Negro families; and 12*8 percent of other groups*

In December 1945, the number of white persons

admitted decreased to 58 percent, while the number of Negro 39 families1 placements increased to 27*2 percent. An analysis of applications for the first six months of 1945 reveals an unusual discrepancy between the number of applicants and the number of placements made, as may be seen from Table VI. For the year of June, 1945 to June, 1946, the number of applications rose to a figure greater than in any other year*

The number of applications for the year was 31,812.

Only 5,664 total placements were made for the year of June, 1945, to June, 1946.

The applications by Negroes numbered 40 6,029; the placements for Negroes, 749, as shown on

Table VII* page 79. The year. 1945-1946 seemed to be a period of even greater congestion than that during the war.

At the end of

the war there was still a great scarcity of building

-39

The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, HAnnual Statistical Survey of Management Activities for 1945«, p. 5.

40 Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, ibid.

83 TABLE VI BREAKDOWN OF APPLICATIONS ON A MONTHLY BASIS FOR THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 1945 BATE 1945 January Area I Area II Total February Area I Area II Total March Area I Area II Total April Area I Area II Total May Area I Area II Total Jane Area I Area II Total

APPLICATIONS

ADMISSIONS

White

Negro

Other

Total

251 629 " W

200 164 " m

167 53 “W

178 551 729

155 128 283

826 183 1069

COMMENT

White

Negro

Other

Total

589 326 1424

50 175 223

35 10 45

33 6 39

118 189 30?

126 21 147'

495 700 1159

207 26 48 NO Placements.

231

320 282 ~~6Q2

43 141 184

1189 606 1795

711 140 851

207 457 664

26 138 164

181 539

334 234 618

233 560 793

591 254 845

28l

Total 281

Not available. 424 32 126

74 508 582

944 755 1679

409

63

27

499

No break­ down by race available. Breakdown of Area I not available.

147 61 £08

662 884 1546

33

27

11

71

198 62 260

1022 876 1898

39 277 316

30 113 143

28 34 62

97 424 52l

materials for private construction, and building of homes was at a standstill for many months*

Although there was a

gradual rise in general housing construction, evidenced by a gradual rise from 2,392 units built in 1943! one of the lowest periods of building in this city, to 20,556 units, including both private and public housing, the constant growth of population far exceeded available housing*

The

great need for housing is shown in the number of appli­ cations on Table VIII* Policy governing: admissions*

Applicants to the

housing projects must be American citizens*

Regarding

racial distribution in public housing projects, “non discrimination among races and creeds is a matter of national policy0*

In the 105,600 low rent units, one third 41 is occupied by Negroes* Locally the basis of racial occupancy is based on the

traditional pattern of the community*

There are projects

that are occupied only by Negroes; other projects are occupied by mixed racial groups* Rentals in low rent housing amounts to about a fifth of the family earnings*

41

Large families may have an income

Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, “Annual Statistical Survey of Management Activities for 1945“, p 5*

TABLE VII GENERAL FIGURES FOR OVERALL APPLICATIONS FOR THE YEAR OF JUNE 1945 to JUNE 1946 Race

Applications

Placements

White

22,625

4,319

Negro

6,029

742

Others

3,158

603

TOTALS

31,812

5,664

TABLE VIII APPLICATIONS FOR THE MONTH OF MAY 1946 DISTRIBUTED ON RACIAL BASIS Race

Applications

Placements

White

2,079

361

Negro

361

59

Others

151

42

TOTALS

2,591

462

ACTIVE APPLICATIONS AT THE END OF THE MONTH Race

Applications

White

9,802

Negro

2,342

Others

1,070

TOTAL

13,214

no larger than six times the amount of the rent.

To

equalize the need versus income* a graded rental was developed ranging from $11.00 to $30.00, the latter figure indicating that family earned from $1*351.00 to $1,5550.00 a year.

42

Distribution of Negro families in public housing developments.

Negro families were found to be living in a

majority of the developments.

However, the heaviest

percentage of Negro occupancy was found in developments that were predominantly located in areas occupied by Negroes. Admission by race into public developments in Los Angeles follows the national pattern.

This means a policy

of racial nondiscrimination, based on need, irrespective of race or creed.

In signing a lease, the new resident accepts

the following provision:4^ 11It is expressly agreed that this lease shall be subject to immediate termination for any disturbance caused, aided or abetted by Occupant, including disturbances based on racial intolerance." Also, in a letter to the new resident, there is the following

42

Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, nAnnual Statistical Survey of Management Activities for 1945«, p. 33. 4S Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, "Lease Agreements for Use in Aided DevelopmentsM.

LOT 20 5M 5-46

Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, California LEASE AGREEMENT FOR USE IN AIDED DEVELOPMENTS

Figure 7 Development



........................

Lease No.............................. .................

Name..............................................................................

Dwelling No...........................

Address.

No. B/R ............................................. Effective Date.

This lease made by and between the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, hereinafter called the “Authority,” and................................................................

, hereinafter called the “Occupant,” WITNESSETH that the

Authority relying upon the statements made by the Occupant in his signed application, hereby leases to Occupant the dwelling unit described above subject to the following covenants and conditions: Occupant shall pay to the Authority a monthy rental of $...... in advance on the first day of each month; however, a full month’si rent shall be paid at the time this lease is executed. In addition the Occupant shall pay to the Authority the sum of $.....................................upon execution of this lease agreement as a security deposit. The security deposit will be returned to the Occupant after termination of this agreement provided all rent and charges are paid. Rental charge includes the utilities shown on the schedule of allowances posted in the Management Offices and Occupant agrees to pay for consump­ tion of utilities in excess of allowances. It is expressly agreed that this lease is subject to the schedule of incomes and rents, eligibility requirements and income limitations established by the Authority. Occupant agrees that in the event the income of the family is increased, he will notify the Management within 30 days from the effective date of said increase and if occupant fails to notify Management of increase in income as herein provided, the Authority will, upon verification, charge occupant the applicable increased rent on a retroactive basis from the effective date of the increase in income. All rent adjustments made in accordance with the aforesaid schedule shall be effective on the first day of the month following notice to the Occupant, provided that such notice is given to Occupant at least 10 days prior to the effective date thereof. Use and occupancy of the dwelling is restricted to the specific persons listed on the application for the dwelling. This lease is not assignable or transferable, and Occupant agrees that he will not sublease the dwelling unit. If unit is assigned, subleased or transferred, or if the number of occupants exceeds that shown on the application, or if the family composition is changed so that it ceases to be a cohesive family! group, this lease may be terminated by the Authority. Occupant agrees to give to the Authority any information requested as to family composition, employment and income and he also agrees that in the event he becomes ineligible for occupancy, he will vacate premises upon request of Management. Neither the Management nor any of its representatives shall be liable for damage or loss from theft or from any other cause whatsoever. This lease agreement may be cancelled by the Authority or the Occupant by giving 10 days advance notice in writing to the other party. The Occupant agrees to pay rent in advance covering this 10-day period. Any notice required by law or otherwise will be sufficient if delivered to Occupant personally or sent by mail to the premises or affixed to the door of the premises. Notice to the Management must be in writing and delivered to the Housing Manager at the Management Office. All personal property left on the premises upon termination of lease shall be deemed to be property abandoned by the resident and may be disposed of by the Authority. The occupancy agreement printed on the reverse side hereof is hereby expressly made a part of this lease agreement.

Dated this.............................. day of............................ -

, 19.

Signed.......................................................................................................... Signed....... ............................................... Resident Resident

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES

By........................................ ................... Manager

qq

rp.

3*48

C O M M I S S I O N E R S

1 4 0 1

E A S T

T E L E P H O N E

F I R S T A N G E L U S

S T R E E T 2 - 2 1 2 ,

N IC O LA G IULII, C h a ir m a n L L O Y D A. M A S H B U R N

B O X

V IC E -C H A IR M A N

L O S

J . E. F I S H B U R N , J R . M AU RICE SAETA G E O R G E A. B E A V E R S . J

2 3 1 6

T E R M I N A L

A N G E L E S

54,

8A ^^N

N

EX

C A L I F O R N I A

r.

E X E C U T IV E D IR E C T O R

H O W A R D L. H O L T Z E N D O R F F

Figure 8

Dear Resident: The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles welcomes you and your family and wishes you pleasant residence here. Both management and residents are v/orking together to keep this development the kind of place in which you will enjoy living. Our success depends upon your cooperation. You can do your part by taking care of your premises as though they were your own and by being a good sport about little annoy­ ances. Living in a large housing development may be a new experience to you and your family so it may take a little while to adjust yourselves to it. You will find among your neighbors Americans of various races and creeds. Our facilities are open to all persons without discrimination. The policy of the Authority is to permit no intolerance of arty kind and it will terminate the lease of any persons who disturb the peace with intolerant activity. Let me thank you in advance for your cooperation. Yours very^ truly

NICCLA OiuLII

Chairman

g?

statement!

"You will find among your neighbors Americans of

various races and creeds*

Our facilities are open to all 44 persons without discrimination*" In all developments containing percentages of Negro families living alongside of white families and with other racial groups, there has been a harmonious relationship free from intolerance and discrimination.

In one of the projects, the writer saw a

series of photographs representing the work of clubs, mothers1 groups, nurseries, in which the members of the different racial groups participate on a voluntary basis, 45 with a mutual interest in common problems. Negro residents in public developments were found in largest percentages in the Central Avenue Area and in Watts, ranging from 53 percent to 100 percent in occupancy.

In the

near downtown projects and in other projects, the percentage of Negro residents ranged from 2 percent to 25 percent* This situation prevailed later also in the Harbor Area* Developments in which there were no Negro residents. Before World War II few Negroes were employed in the shipyards or in the aircraft industries. 44

On June 25,1941,

Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, "Letter to Resident". 45 Discussion with Mr. Frank Wilkinson, Special Assistant Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, Wednesday, July 20, 1949.

President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, commonly known as the Federal Fair Employment Act, which eliminated discrimination in employment based on color or creed in all 46 vital defense industries. There were few Negro families in the Harbor Area prior to the above date.

For that

reason, there were a number of developments in which there was an absence of Negro residents.

Dana Strand Village,

located at 401 Hawaiian Avenue, Wilmington, one of the first projects built in the Harbor Area in 1941, had no Negroes living thire.

Another project, Normont Terrace, located at

990 West 256th Street, Wilmington, had only 0.5 percent of Negro families, or two families, as can be seen from Table IX.

Two other developments in the southern part of the city,

Lumlna Park, located at 20210 S. Western Avenue, and Avalon Gardens, located at 701 East 88th Place, had no Negro residents.

Avalong Gardens development is located in a

community which has an almost entirely white population, although it is located between two large Negro communities, the Central Avenue Area to the North and the Watts Area to the Southeast.

It was found that the Lumlna Park development

was occupied predominantly by the employees of the Aluminum

Committee for Fair Employment Practices, **Fair Employment Practices Committee, How it Operates11.

TABLE IX 3REAKD0WN OF CITY HOUSING A UTHORITY DEVELOPMENTS,

NAME OF DEVELOPMENT AREA I RODGER YOUNG VILLAGE Griffith Park ROSE HILL COURTS 4466 Florizi, 32 WILLIAM MEAD HOMES' 1300 Cardinal St.,12 ALISO VILLAGE 1401 E. 1st St., 33 RAMONA GARDENS 2830 Lancaster Ave,, 33 AVERAGE, AREA I AREA II PICO GARDENS 500 S.Pecan, 33 PACIFIC PARK A N N E X ’I 2301 Perlita Ave.23 PACIFIC PARK TRAILERS 910 Rio Vista, L.A* 23 PACIFIC PARK ANNEX II 1370 E. 3rd St., 23 ESTRADA COURTS 3232 Estrada, 23 ESTRADA ANNEXES I (3300 Glenn Ave.) II (1280.Rio Vista) PUEBLO DEL RIO' 1801 E. 53rd, 11 PUEBLO DEL RIO ANNEX CORREGIDOR PARK & A N . I 1700 E. 48th PI., 11 CORREGIDOR PARK AN. II, III 2746 Dixiana Circle, 11 AVERAGE, AREA 11 AREA III JORDAN DOWNS 2151 E. Century Blvd. HACIENDA'VILLAGE 1515 E. 105th, 2 IMPERIAL’COURTS 2200 E.114th IMPERIAL COURTS A N N E X E S ' I. (11121 Gorman Ave.) II (109th & Central Ave.) Ill (2335 E, Imperial Hwy) AVALON GARDENS 701 E. 88th PI., 2 LUMINA PARK 20210 S, Western,Torrance

NO. UNITS OCCUPIED 12-31-46

PER CENT ANGLO

FEBRUARY, 1947

PER CENT NEGRO

PER CENT OTHER

1498

70.5

18.4

11.1

98

72,4

2.1

438

33.1

22,1

28.5 / 44.8

777

36.9

24.6

/38.5

599

19.5

20.0

60.5

49.1

20.1

30.8

i

'

/ /

3410

-

258

28.3

22,9

48.8

22

100

0.0

0.0

197

29.9

31,5

38.6

\ 99

29.3

34.3

36.4

206

82.5

0.0

17.5

157

69.4

0.0

30.6

394

0,2

94.2 -

5.6

87 153

0.0 0.0

100.0 100.0

0.0 0.0

157

0.6

9.6.8

2.6

1730

26,8

53.1

.20,1

506

2.0

91,9

6.1

180

13.3

64.5

22.2

97

UO

85.6

13,4

139

0.0

97.8

157

94,9

0,0

5.1

117

96.6

0.0 •

3.4

p • &

Los Angeles County Committee on Human Relations.

>

2.2

89 Company ofAmerica, whioh was producing vital war materials. There were no Negroes among their employees. Homes development, located at 2323

Portsmouth Hoda, San

Pedro, was occupied by Navy personnel. Negroes among them.^

The Portsmouth

There were no

Estrada Courts and Estrada Annexes

I and II, representing 363 units, have no Negro occupants. They are located at 3232 Estrada Street, '3300 Glenn Avenue and 1280 Rio Vista.

They are located in a predominantly

white community and few Negroes applied for residence in these developments. Developments in which there were Negro Residents. Following the presidential order against discrimination in employment, many Negro families came to work in the Harbor Area.

Later Negro residents were living in Dana Strand

Annex and Wilmington Hall Dormitories at 435 Neptune Street. Of 5> 133 units of public housing in the Harbor Area, the Negro families occupied 17.7 percent.^ Seven housing developments containing about 1,5^0 units were located in heavy Negro population centers of Watts and Central Avenue districts, extending as far douth

hn

' Interview with Mr. Frank Wilkinson, Special Assistant Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles. Aft The Los Angeles Committee on Human Relations, “Group Breakdown of City Housing Authority Developments11, pp. 2-3*

as Slauson Avenue and as far east as Vernon Avenue*

Negro

occupancy in the public developments of these areas ranged from 85*6 peroent to 100 percent, as shown on Table X*

The

developments in the Central Avenue Area ranged In percent­ ages of Negro occupancy from 55 percent to 100 percent*

In

the Watts Area, Negro occupancy of units ranged from 64*5 49 percent to 91.9 percent. There was a proportionate number of Negroes in temporary emergency war housing units* demolished at the end of the war.

These were to be

The Pacific Park

Trailers, located at 910 Rio Vista, and Pacific Park Annex II, located at 151? East Third Street, had a 51*5 percent 50 and 54*5 percent Negro occupancy, respectively. At the end of the war, these units became a part of the Veterans 51 Converted War Housing Project. Rentals in war emergency units were similar to the amounts paid in private housing under the regulations of the Office of Price Administration. The public housing units in the near downtown area Include the first low cost housing units to be erected in this city.

The ten developments represent a total of 1,679

49 The Los Angeles County Committee on Human Relations, "Group Breakdown of City Housing Authority Developments*, pp. 2-5.

loc* clt.

The Los Angeles Committee on Human Relations, Loc* clt.

TABLE X PUBLIC HOUSING- DEVELOPMENTS SHOWING UNITS IN WHICH NEGRO OCCUPANCY RANGES PROM 85 PERCENT TO 100 PERCENT*

Number Units Occupied December 31, 1946

PerCent White

PerCent Negro

PerCent Other

97

1.0

85.6

13.4

Jordon Downs

506

2.0

91.9

6.1

Pueblo Del Rio

394

0,2

94.2

5.6

Corregidor Park Annexes II, III

157

0,6

96.8

2.6

Imperial Courts Annexes I, II, III

139

0,0

97.8

2.2

87

0.0

100.0

0.0

153

0.0

100.0

0.0

Name of Development imperial Courts

Pueblo del Rio Annex Corregidor Park and Annex I

*Los Angeles County Committee on Human Relations, Group Breakdown of City Housing: Authority Developments, February 1947 .

units, of which Negro families occupied from 2.1 percent to 24#6 percent, with an average of 20 percent for the total 52 number of units. In twenty five developments out of thirty four developments completed by 1946, Negro families shared the housing with other racial groups*

In twenty one projects,

occupancy by Negroes ranged from 13.5 percent to 64.5 53 percent. The total occupancy of units in all public projects occupied by Negro families averaged 27.7 percent; 57 percent of the units were occupied by white families and 15.3 percent by other groups, which included Mexican and Oriental families. After the war ended all of the Public Housing Developments were reclassified to provide housing for the returning veterans.

There were 13,055 dwelling units which

were divided into three classifications: 1*

The Veterans1 Emergency Housing Program.

This

program limits occupancy of about 1,500 units to veterans of World War II.

The rental range, including utilities, is

from 127.00 to $42.00 a month.

Los Angeles County Committee on Human Relations, p p . 2-3.

93 2,

The War Converted Housing.

Here eligibility

standards were revised to give preference to veterans of World War II* 3. units.

Low Rent Housing*

This program has about 3,468

Here preference is also given to veterans of World

War II*

There are 369, or 11 percent, Negro families in 54 this last group. Ho new applications are accepted. In view of the fact that the greatest increase in

Negro population in the history of this city took place between April 1940 and January 1946, an increase of 108 percent, housing for Negro families in public developments seemed to be quite inadequate to the needs of these people. In private housing, due to limited means for expansion into non-Negro communities, the conditions were even more stringent, revealing a doubling up or even tripling of families in poor or substandard dwellings*

Considering the

facts presented in the previous chapters, that Negroes lived in the oldest and lowest rental areas, and the average family still represents the unskilled labor group, the problem of adequate Negro housing is one of Important social significance.

54

The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, Public Housing Developments.

VETERANS CONVERTED WAR HOUSING

VETERANS TEMPORARY EMERGENCY HOUSING

P A C IFIC P A R K

BASI LON E HOMES 1 4 9 8 T D U.’s

ANNEX NO. I

2 4 T R A IL E R S

' ,ri£ ,114

2001 RE

P A C IFIC .

IOIOO GLENQAKS BLVD. PRCOIMA

PARK

ANNEX

_. .

LA43

RODGER YOUNG V ILLA G E

Jr

s'

P A C IF IC P A R K 2 0 0 TRAILERS

S'

9 0 1 RIOVISTA L.A.29

BURBANK '/ llll'f

rI o v Tsta

i

‘ " / U S ' 5

,

PERMANENT LOW RENT HOUSING

ESTRADA COURTS ANNEX NO. I

IO O PS U S

H OLLCW OOD

3309 pLENy,AVE

' il"*'.- v* il#

WM.MEAO HOMES 4 4 9 U N IT S

CORREGIDOR RARK annex

1500 T.O .tfa 1600 RIVERSIDE OR.

\ K E PPLER GROVE \ 8 4 T.D -lJ’s 5 e £ \ 307 ea s t ' m sr.

NO.3

1300 CAROINALST. _________L-A. 12_______

CORREGIDOR RARK

ROSE HILL COURTS 100 UNTTS 4466 ru m i ZEL

NDALE

ANNEX NO. 2

44

t - A .3 2 ______

A L IS O V ILLA G E 8 0 2 U NITS

CORREGIDOR PARK ANNEX NO. I

4 4 RS.U.'s

1401 E. ISTSTREET. L A .33

I700 E. 40™ PL L A J]

CORREGIDOR RARK IIO P S .U .'s

P IC O G A R D E N S 2 6 0 U N ITS

PU EB LO DEL R IO

RAMONA GARDENS 6 I 0 U N ITS

3 0 0 S.PECA N LA 3 3

ANNEX

8 8 T D.U's

IOOI E.53"ST

203 0 LANCASTER AVE L-A.33

JO R D A N DOW NS 5 I2 T D.U.'s

P U E B L O D EL R IO 4 0 0 UNITS ISO I E. 3 3 "P* sr. L A .II

2 I3 I CENTURY BU/D

EV ER L

IM PER IAL COURTS

ESTRADA C OURTS 2 I 4 U N IT S

ANNEX NO. I

UL22

3 2 3 2 ESTRADA ST

AVALON GARDEN S 16 4 U N IT S

IMPERIAL COURTS I 0 0 U N IT S

70I E. SO

220 0 E.II4™ ST

LAi

LA2

PLACE

HACIENDA VILLAGE I 8 4 U N IT S

IMPERIAL C OURTS ANNEX NO.2

8 0 RS.U.'s

I3 I3 E . I03™ - ST

IMPERIAL COURTS

RANCHO SAN PEDRS 2 8 5 U N IT S

ANNCX NO. 3

2 2 P.S.U-S

273 W. lit. ST SAN PEDRO

2 2 0 0 E. II4™ ST.

LUM INA PARK ANNEX

VERNO

2otPosm^E TORRANCE LUM INA PARK 75 T R A IL E R S 2 0 2 I0 S-WESTERN AVE TORRANCE

BATAAN PA R K 2 4 0 PS.U.'s I30I TRIES AVE WILMINGTON

NORMONT TERRACE 4 0 0 UN ITS 9 9 0 W. 230™ WILMINGTON

WILMINGTON HALL A NNEX

INGLEW OOD

2 0 0 BEDS

SO U T H G A T

WILMINGTON HALL 4 8 6 TD.U '

HIGHWAY

33 n e p t o n e

DANAan£ L R A N D aiia SnU a v e WILMINGTON

DANA STRAND V IL 3 8 4 UNITS 40I HAWAIIAN AVE WILMINGTON

W ESTERN TERRACE 99 8 U N IT S BANNING HOMES 2 0 0 0 UNITS eoi CABINET OR SAN PEORO

CHANNEL HEIGHTS 6 0 0 U N IT S 1400 CHANNEL DR. SAN PEDRO

=ORTSMOUTH HMS I 2 8 T D U .S 2 3 2 3 PORTSMOUTH RO SAN PEDRO

K E P P L E R GROVE 8 4 T. D-U.’s

COAST 1

* ' V7

W IU 1IN G T 0N

5 i