Wilshire Park (Los Angeles, Wilton: apartments, crime, houses)

[RWH77]

Hello!

My husband and I are looking at houses in the Wilshire Park area and may have found one we like on Westchester Place between 8th and 9th streets. I've put a call into the police station to get crime stats, etc, but I was curious if anyone here had any anecdotal information they could share? Is it safe? Are gangs a problem in this area? How are the schools? Thanks!

[Delron]

That's around the western border of Koreatown. That area is...okay, though lots of apartments around there many of which are filled to the brim with poor, generally "undocumented", low wage immigrant types from below our southern borders - please note I am not bashing this group, I am merely indicating what the socioeconomic breakdown is for that area. Some will argue that statistics show that this particular group of people produces less crime per capita than the average US citizen, while others will argue that they produce more crime.

A couple of important things to note - where there is poverty there is increased crime, and there is also the argument that there is less crime among this group because less of it is reported, as the victims tend to be other undocumented immigrants that are often fearful of the police, being deported, etc. as well as fearful of the local gangs. Thus crime goes unreported. There is most definitely a significant gang presence in the area, mainly Latino/Hispanic though some Asian as well as African American.

As far as schools, I believe there is an elementary school close by on Wilton, I think it's on Wilton and 8th. It's not a good school to the best of my knowledge. Third Street in Hancock Park is far better, but not truly excellent. It is still however one of the better public schools in LAUSD. Generally the public schools in that area are awful. Los Angeles High School I believe is the closest public high school, and it is awful. Picture the movie Dangerous Minds and it will give you a good idea of the quality of the school. There are excellent private schools in the area, but they will cost $$$. You could always try the gifted/magnet schools from the LAUSD as well.

The area was going through gentrification, however with the downturn in the economy that has certainly slowed substantially. There are some beautiful, Hancock Park worthy large homes/mansions in this area similar to west Adams, some dating back to the Victorian era, that are substantially less expensive than the more premium areas such as Hancock Park.