African Americans in the San Fernando Valley (Orange, Woodland: home, neighborhood)

[timtemtym]

There are African-Americans all over the valley. I haven't seen one area that is especially AA. I know a few families in Northridge who are AA and they don't have anything negative to say about their experience in the area. They all work in the LA basin and commute. I wouldn't necessarily say any part of greater LA is a bastion of AA culture.

I lived in a suburb of Houston that was near Missouri City which was a huge area of African-American prosperity suburbia. That is one swanky zip code. Also Atlanta and DC have some very nice areas where they are doing quite well. If I were African-American, I'd move there and be in a place that celebrated that part of me. I'm not bashing LA, but it was a little shocking to me when I moved here. But then again, I'm gay and I like to be around gay folks and gay life. So I found a city (LA) that had a lot of Me's.

[Ubzar]

If I were gay, I'd move to San Francisco or Amsterdam. LA has nothing for you in comparison to them.

[jamills21]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

There are African-Americans all over the valley. I haven't seen one area that is especially AA. I know a few families in Northridge who are AA and they don't have anything negative to say about their experience in the area. They all work in the LA basin and commute. I wouldn't necessarily say any part of greater LA is a bastion of AA culture.

I lived in a suburb of Houston that was near Missouri City which was a huge area of African-American prosperity suburbia. That is one swanky zip code. Also Atlanta and DC have some very nice areas where they are doing quite well. If I were African-American, I'd move there and be in a place that celebrated that part of me. I'm not bashing LA, but it was a little shocking to me when I moved here. But then again, I'm gay and I like to be around gay folks and gay life. So I found a city (LA) that had a lot of Me's.

umm....Have you not been to Ladera Heights, Baldwin Hills, View Park, or Liemert Park? Even parts of Mid-City like Laffeyete Square and Victoria Circle or Parts of Inglewood are very nice. West Adams has a lot of great homes as well.

[West of Encino]

Originally Posted by Zeus3

You can't compare the entire SFV that has 1.77 million residents to Long Beach which has 470,000.

I'm mainly referring to the black population alone.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by mrsltd

Yeah, Lake View Terrace is where Rodney King was from.

I thought this was interesting from this report out of Pepperdine some years back. It's about the demographics of the valley...although its a bit old at 2002.

It says " Only one community, Lake View Terrace, has a
large African-American population (20 percent), although its Latino population is sixty-one
percent. A closer examination of Valley neighborhoods reveals a complex demography."



http://publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/d...nging-face.pdf


Pretty interesting report overall.

[SandyCo]

I realize that, but the OP asked a specific question, differentiating the SF Valley from the rest of L.A. Rather than go into needless detail, I just answered the question.

Originally Posted by mrsltd

Ummm...the Valley IS L.A. -- part of it, anyway.

[timtemtym]

Originally Posted by jamills21

umm....Have you not been to Ladera Heights, Baldwin Hills, View Park, or Liemert Park? Even parts of Mid-City like Laffeyete Square and Victoria Circle or Parts of Inglewood are very nice. West Adams has a lot of great homes as well.

You're right! that's true, but I mean overall I don't see big leadership or media around LA's AA communities. In Houston, Austin, New Orleans, I knew who the big pastors or NAACP/Community leaders were and they were featured in news stories more often. It just seems like LA's AA population isn't quite as visible in positive media. Latino culture makes up a huge percent of the population but we also don't see much of that either in positive media unless it's some cultural celebration.

I'm sure I'm stepping on land mines by even addressing this. It's just what I hear from AA friends from the south who have come out here for great job opportunities and then went back to Texas or the east coast because they didn't feel like this was a good place for them culturally.

Anyways, shutting up now!

[BeatAngMoh]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

You're right! that's true, but I mean overall I don't see big leadership or media around LA's AA communities. In Houston, Austin, New Orleans, I knew who the big pastors or NAACP/Community leaders were and they were featured in news stories more often. It just seems like LA's AA population isn't quite as visible in positive media. Latino culture makes up a huge percent of the population but we also don't see much of that either in positive media unless it's some cultural celebration.

I'm sure I'm stepping on land mines by even addressing this. It's just what I hear from AA friends from the south who have come out here for great job opportunities and then went back to Texas or the east coast because they didn't feel like this was a good place for them culturally.

Anyways, shutting up now!

It took a long time before some of the local network affiliates had a black local news anchor. That's a good barometer IMO.

[Taiko]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

You're right! that's true, but I mean overall I don't see big leadership or media around LA's AA communities. In Houston, Austin, New Orleans, I knew who the big pastors or NAACP/Community leaders were and they were featured in news stories more often. It just seems like LA's AA population isn't quite as visible in positive media. Latino culture makes up a huge percent of the population but we also don't see much of that either in positive media unless it's some cultural celebration.

I'm sure I'm stepping on land mines by even addressing this. It's just what I hear from AA friends from the south who have come out here for great job opportunities and then went back to Texas or the east coast because they didn't feel like this was a good place for them culturally.

Anyways, shutting up now!

There used to be. With a tenth of the population there was a Black mayor and Black's were overrepresented in the city council. The go to church on political affairs was the First African Methodist Episcopal. However other ethnic groups started flexing their political muscles and with most of "Black" Los Angeles being majority Latinos things were bound to change from the time we had two Black police chiefs after the Rodney King riots

[BRinSM]

i've lived in the valley for the last 3.5 years. this is just my observation, but the only area i've experienced with a noticeable amount of AA folks is Reseda. Having said that, I spend most of my time in the western SFV and rarely go north of Sherman Way (spend most of my time south of Victory).