Los Angeles Guide
South Central and East LA
Despite their familiarity from LA-based movies, South Central and East LA are far removed from the tourist circuit, and avoided by most visitors and almost all Westsiders, many of them believing any venture south of the I-10 freeway to be an open invitation to murder, mugging, or some other threat. In truth, while these places can be dicey and should be avoided at night, the ghetto stereotypes are blown out of proportion in selected districts, and a number of interesting museums and historic-revival homes can be found here, especially on the northern side of South Central around Exposition Park and West Adams.
Contained mostly within the boundaries of the 405, 605, and 10 freeways, South Central and East LA make up a large portion of the LA basin, encompassing diverse cultures, with neighboring communities often separated by major differences in language, ethnicity, and religion. Hispanic population growth is a constant throughout these areas, as it is throughout the rest of LA: as late as the 1980s, the racial makeup was 75 percent black; twenty years later, it's 60 percent Latino, and increasing yearly.