Los Angeles: The Historical Neighborhood Westwood
Our neighborhood, Westwood, was founded by Englishman and Broadway Department Store owner, Arthur Letts in 1919. The neighborhood started to develop around the early 1920s when Los Angeles was becoming famous worldwide due to the United States’ film industry, “Hollywood” being introduced. Unfortunately, before his vision of Westwood became a reality, Arthur Letts died in 1923. He left and transferred the land to his son-in-law Harold Janss who owned the Janss Investment Company with his father, Peter, and brother Edwin. However, Westwood was not essentially established until the year 1927, with the inauguration of the new University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) campus the same year. This came along with business companies that were attracted to the neighborhood and residents who wanted to construct their houses in the area.
After the establishment of Westwood, the neighborhood started to fill up with mostly White Americans and Asians who owned businesses. As the years went by the formerly peaceful Westwood, was packed with UCLA students a decade after the school’s establishment. As well as homeowners, renters, residents, and travelers arriving from all around the world. During the 1970s, Westwood was impacted by 93.1% of Whites - who were not the Hispanic origin, Hispanic/Latinos 4.0%, Asian/Pacific Islanders 2.6%, Blacks/African Americans 1.2%, and Native Americans 0.2%. However, nine decades later, the neighborhood hasn’t changed as drastically as other neighborhoods in Los Angeles have over the years. As of 2018, the population that currently lives in Westwood is made up of 55.6% of Whites - who were not the Hispanic origin, Asians 27.5%, Hispanic 10.2%, Mixed 4.2%, African Americans 2.1%, and others 0.4%. Besides the ethnic variety, other cultural differences could be detected throughout Westwood’s history.
Along with the growth of the population in Westwood, languages also became diverse in the neighborhood. According to the Los Angeles Times article, “the city of Los Angeles has around 15,007 (31.3%) residents that are foreign-born and about an average of that percentage are people from Iranian (23.5%) and Taiwanese (7.3%) background”. From these statistics, it can be determined that a portion of the community was born outside of the United States. Signifying that their primary language was not English but was their native language. Looking back at the ethnicity statistics, the neighborhood was filled with Asians, Hispanics, African Americans, and a section of a mixed community drawing in various languages. From Asia, languages like Hindi, Chinese, Korean, Urdu, Japanese, and other Asian languages that might be heard in the areas. African Americans brought languages like Swahili, Arabic, Amharic, French, and other distinctive languages also with their migration to the neighborhood. Being one of the top languages spoken in Los Angeles County, Hispanics brought the Spanish language to the community which represented diversity in the neighborhood.
Westwood has promptly developed over the years whether it’s socially, ethnically, or economically during those years. The neighborhood has socially progressed throughout many different eras since its establishment. Throughout the years, Westwood has been displayed as a classy shopping society with department stores, bowling alleys, cafes, restaurants, community-based, and an ice skating arena. By the 1960s, Westwood became known as an enlightened shopping market that was convenient for children from the suburbs to socialize during the weekdays and weekends and to shop and dine. Moving to another era, which climaxed in the late ’80s, Westwood was in demand for hosting Hollywood movie premieres and yet, on the other hand, Westwood was in the progress of obtaining a reputation for the abundance of markets and buildings that were running out of business. While Westwood did surpass in accommodating areas for the UCLA students to indulge themselves, it did lack the essential abilities for the subordinate students who were on a low-income budget. Nonetheless, this difficulty was also an issue for the storekeepers, who struggled to turn a profit or pay rent in the area, resulting in the closure of businesses which still continues to this day.
Around this time Westwood’s perception of being the safest area in Los Angeles was disturbed by the emergence of the gang organizations, murdering a twenty-seven-year-old innocent bystander, Karen Toshima, in 1988. After this incident, Westwood became known as “The Year of the Gang”. Following this instance, the modifications in ethnic demographics began to emerge. Suddenly in the early 1990s and 2000s, there was a decrease in the population of Whites - who were not the Hispanic origin to 76.4%, and an increase in Hispanic/Latinos 7.2%, Asian/Pacific Islanders 13.7%, Blacks/African American 2.5%, and Native Americans 0.3%. Throughout these eras, the population of the community consisted of married couples, UCLA students, or unmarried people, and there was a reduction within the population of families living in the Westwood changing the history.
Our neighborhood, Westwood is connected with important historical events like the utilization of the latest campus of the University of California, Los Angeles during the late years of the 1920s. Through the campus, the neighborhood was promptly perceived as a perception of a college town. Simultaneously with the new university, the neighborhood has gone through different times of period. Such as during the 1980s, Westwood had welcomed the era of cinema by constructing the prestigious Fox Westwood Theater. Over the course of the eras, Westwood’s Mediterranean architecture became known around the Hollywood industry. Not only the theater but designated ten minutes away from the Westwood Village is the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park & Mortuary. Here lie the graves of several of the Hollywood industry's most famous names, along with the graves of various non-celebrities. This Memorial Park and Mortuary distinguish Westwood, as a diverse community-oriented neighborhood that represents no boundary between the elite and the civilians.
Apart from these historical events and places, the neighborhood is also known for its Hammer Museum which was established in November 1990 and features local, national, and international antique murals and illustrations. Unfortunately, just like Arthur Letts, the founder of Hammer Museum, Armand Hammer, and the late CEO of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, died less than a month after the opening of the museum also leaving behind his vision for the museum. The museum consists of diverse artists, who seek out various perspectives of the Los Angeles community. Being the very first museum within the Westwood, it signifies the redemption of the neighborhood’s reputation after the outbreaks of gang violence in the community. After the suffering from gang violence, the foundation of the museum was one of the multiple methods of how the community recovered and regained popularity.
The historical neighborhood, Westwood, would not have existed if it was not for the Janss Investment Company which was run by Harold Janss (son-in-law of Arthur Letts), his father, Peter, and brother Edwin. The Janss’ brother sold a portion of the property (one-third of Westwood) to UC Regents, where UCLA is currently built upon. The Janss’ brothers intervene in the historical aspect of Westwood and UCLA is through the eighty-seven steps that lead to the four original buildings, Royce Hall, Haines Hall, Powell Library, and the Kaplan Hall. In tradition to honor the originators of UCLA, the steps were named after them, and over the year people have created legend stories about these steps. “Skipping the sixth step from the bottom at Janss Steps is a tale as old as time for UCLA students...legend has it the sixth step is also the burial site of one of the Janss brothers…”. From this recognition, UCLA connected the significant relationship between Westwood and the campus. The honoring of the steps represents a sentimental memory of the Westwood history and its development over the eras.
Over the course of the times, Westwood not only developed recognization for its cinema or unique architectural style. But during the 1940s it was famously acknowledged for the arrival of African American student's athletics to the University of California Los Angeles sports teams. A tremendous movement not entirely for the community of Westwood but also for the nation itself. Before these African American athletics, there had been no representation of diversity within the college nor professional sports teams. Before becoming a professional player in Major League Baseball and breaking the color barrier, Jackie Robinson, was one of the African American student-athletics that was enrolled at UCLA to play sports like football, baseball, track and field, and basketball. Changing the presence of UCLA college sports teams was a significant breakthrough for athletes and society.
Some individuals around the county, state, and the world began to acknowledge the African American athletes. However, in the course of other circumstances, it was still a very challenging period for African Americans to be completely accepted into the communities.
