Oakwood, Los Angeles

Oakwood is bounded by Dewey Street to the northwest, Lincoln Boulevard to the northeast, California Avenue to the southeast, Electric Avenue to the southwest, and Hampton Drive to the west.[2]

It is uncertain if racially restrictive housing covenants were in place in Venice at the beginning of the 20th Century (though were in place in Santa Monica, located to the north). However, de facto segregation in hiring practices and real estate sales led to the development of Oakwood as a predominantly African-American neighborhood. Between 1910 and 1920, the population of African-Americans in Venice tripled as blacks arrived to work as manual laborers, service workers, and servants to wealthy white residents. [2]

The earliest black residents of Oakwood were hired as employees of Abbot Kinney; among these were cousins Arthur Reese and Irvin Tabor. Reese, an artist and sculptor, was hired by Abbot Kinney as the town decorator. (He is best known for decorating parade floats simulating Mardi Gras.) Tabor was hired as Abbot Kinney’s chauffeur, and the two men forged a bond.[2] When Kinney died, he willed his house to Tabor. However, due to racist sentiments elsewhere in Venice,[2] in 1922 Tabor relocated 2 structures from Kinney's St. Marks Island to their present-day location in Oakwood.[6] Both the Reese and Tabor residences remain in Oakwood today. [2]

A second phase of migration from the Southern states occurred during World War II. The population of blacks in Oakwood tripled between 1940 and 1950 due to the need for defense workers at nearby manufacturing facilities (Hughes Aircraft in Culver City and McDonnell Douglass in Santa Monica). [2]

By the end of the 20th century, gentrification had altered Oakwood. Homes were fetching sometimes more than $1 million, and longtime residents were being displaced. [7] Others were leaving voluntarily; The head of the Venice Stakeholders Association stated that “A large population of black Americans who may have owned from Abbot Kinney’s time voluntarily took their equity and left", cashing in on soaring property values. [3]

In 2007, Xinachtli, a Latino student group from Venice High School and subset of MEChA, referred to Oakwood as one of the last beachside communities of color in California. [8]

In 2012, the Los Angeles Times reported that the breakneck pace of change along on Rose Avenue — at the northern end of Oakwood — suggested that the down-and-out bohemian days of this "countercultural beach neighborhood" were numbered. The wine shops, cafes, restaurants would eventually lead to the other streets of Venice being transformed into upmarket areas. “The tipping point has been tipped” said former Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter. [9]

In 2017, the Irvin Tabor Residence was designated as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. [6]

In 2018, community residents tried to prevent a former African-American church from being converted into a mansion by having it named a Historic-Cultural Monument. [10] Jay Penske planned to convert the church into an 11,000 square foot mansion. [11] However, the Venice Neighborhood Council voiced approval for the project. [12] On December 18, 2018, the Los Angeles City Council voted to not declare the property a historic cultural monument, citing that all the stained glass and the pews and most of the historic fabric on the interior of the church had already been removed. [13]

In 1950, African-Americans made up 12.6% of the Oakwood population. By 1970, that number had grown to 44.9%. By 1980, that number had dropped to 29.9%. By 2000, the African-American population was down to 16%,[14] Latinos made up 48% of Oakwood and whites made up 33%. By 2009, whites had become the largest racial-ethnic group in Oakwood, with Latinos at 33% and African-Americans at 16%. [15]

According to the Los Angeles Times, in 2000, about half the people living in the two census tracts along Rose Avenue were Latino, and a third white. But by 2010, the proportions had flipped, with whites making up nearly half of all residents in those tracts. [9]

• Broadway Elementary School - 1015 Lincoln Boulevard [16]

• Oakwood Recreation Center - 767 California Avenue [17]

• Irvin Tabor Family Residences - Los Angeles Cultural Historic Monument #1149, located 605-607 East Westminster Avenue. [6]