Is Los Angeles Revitalizing? [LA county, unincorporated cities, etc] (Long Beach: to rent, first time home buyer)

[12 Monkeys]

I would like to know if the whole Los Angeles area and metro are revitalizing? Such as places like Compton, Watts, South LA, Norwalk, San Pedro, San Fernando Valley, boyel heights, east LA, Long Beach, etc. Are these areas in LA changing with new city developement and improvements or are these area still blight. Please share what you see changing in cities across LA.

[Bunjee]

I think so, kinda. (Thanks for adding that particular choice.) Boyle Heights is where people are moving and that bodes well for some excitement in that southerly region. San Pedro, I believe, is about to lose the last of what made it Pedro, as Donald Trump is developing a resort nearby on the Palos Verdes peninsula. I think in Long Beach the negatives (crime, poverty, etc.) might be inching up on the positives as it moves forward. LB just needs a certain positive something--a big event, a new high profile building, a big Green initiative, something worthy of national recognition--to keep it ahead of the shadow. Norwalk is probably one of the best located cities. It also has for a long time ranked nationally on specific lists, like fiscal health. I think recently it scored well for environmental programs. But it remains a cataract of a suburb. Nothing to see there. However, in three decades, we (or you: I'm no Spring chicken) may find that Norwalk has benefited from the hipster migration south, the popularity of Little India on its border, and the train station having greater ridership.

[JohnG72]

It was due to the housing market. I'd expect more areas to start slumping.

Arleta is a suburb of Los Angeles in the SF Valley. Small houses mostly built in the 50's after WWII. I'm sure it was a really nice place at one time. Its gotten a worse rap than it deserves due to its proximity to gang infested Panorama City and Pacoima.

Anyway, in the late 90's, home prices plunged as far down as the mid 100's. I moved into that area in 2000. The neighborhood was nice, predominately latino, but also mix of caucasian, asian, and a few african american families. The area improved really quickly and the houses that were being rented were sold. The new buyers worked very hard to landscape and fix the houses, mostly latinos who were first time home buyers. By the time I left in 2005, it really was a suburban model of perfection.

Not anymore. I drove through again and while many of the houses are nice, the ones that never got sold are complete dumps. Very ghetto. Also cars lined up and down the streets as people have resorted to renting out their garages as living spaces. In short, its an undesireable area to live right now and probably getting worse.

I am near certain that this will continue to be the case in several areas revitalized in the past several years.