Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 8

For this week, I took a driving tour of the Brentwood/East Santa Monica areas, a region that is so close to UCLA but often overlooked I feel by many students that live here. My trip was in the evening and was a unique opportunity to see the area on a Sunday and what people are doing on a typical day in the evening.

My journey started down Wilshire Blvd heading west, which is immediately greeted by construction on the 405 that we all are familiar with. The construction is taking place on no average street though, the 405 is the most traveled freeway in the United States and Wilshire Blvd is one of the busiest streets in all of Los Angeles, a potent combination which has caused a lot of traffic and delays for people in the area.

Proceeding down Wilshire is the main stretch on the westside which is filled with billboards, flashing lights, shop fronts, multi-story office buildings, and lots of people driving and walking around. Even for a Sunday evening, the area is incredibly busy and alive with people everywhere.
The diversity is amazing with people of all ages and ethnicities in the cars, on the sidewalks, and in the restaurants. The types of businesses are also in great variety with your high-end office tower to McDonalds, a nail salon, and a pizzeria (all pictured).

I made a right turn on 14th street and took that up to San Vicente, with a drastic change in scenery happening all around me. From the hustle and bustle of Wilshire came the calm, quiet, and relatively dark residential neighborhoods beyond. Especially on a small side street, it was clear the only people on the street were going to or from their home or visiting. Few people were walking around the streets which were lined with mostly 2-story single family homes and multiple cars parked out front. Home ownership (as shown in a map further down) is very high in this area and only increases as you go north on these residential streets.

I then proceeded and took a right turn down San Vicente, which is a major street in the area but one more for movement within the region as opposed to moving through like Wilshire. The center is divided with a green strip of grass and trees that loom over the street. While sidewalks exist, they are empty except for a few joggers who are there for a workout as opposed to going somewhere specific for a service. Below is a picture of the avenue, and while blurry, shows how empty and dark it is. This boulevard is meant for people to use as a means to get around the neighborhood, not for a stroll down the lane.

There are small shopping centers with a store or two, located in patches along the avenue, which house very upscale boutiques, restaurants, or speciality shops that cater to the very different clientele that live in this area. This is very different than the type of businesses you will find on Wilshire. There are no high density buildings, fast food restaurants, or neon signs here.

The change in businesses is not by accident, there is a clear income and race difference between the area surrounding Wilshire and that of San Vicente. The SimplyMap maps below show that as you move farther north from Wilshire, the population becomes whiter and wealthier. Another map below shows trends in home ownership as well, displaying the change in residents as mentioned earlier.

My drive took me back east where I stopped for gas since I was incredibly low, and found a station that was incredibly expensive. I put in $15 just out of need, only to drive down a few more blocks into Brentwood and find gas much cheaper. At first I was just upset by this, but then thought about it and it made sense. Gas stations can charge more in nicer neighborhoods and although Brentwood is hardly a low class neighborhood, it is not as wealthy as the areas west of it, from looking at the map.

Finally, San Vicente took me back to Wilshire Blvd where I continued on that back to Westwood, with its high rise buildings and lower income populations (aka students). The diversity of wealth and race is incredible for such a small area on the westside, and can mean a lot of cultural collision as a result.

The wealthier neighborhoods I passed through had a lot more vegetation, green spaces, parks, lawns, and trees, a sign of how much nicer this area is than that of Wilshire Blvd with hardly any vegetation. Nature and its presence in a controlled environment is highly sought after and considered aesthetically pleasing.

The race divide is also something of note, as some areas show in the map are entirely white, a rare occurrence seen in Los Angeles, but maintained in certain pockets. In the Massey and Denton article, they discuss that racial segregation can be caused by economic factors, urban structure, and neighborhood preferences. Clearly, whites have shown a preference for this area and been willing to pay the price to live here, keeping other poorer groups out simply through pricing.

There is no clear cut answer for how this divide and diversity has developed, but it is something definitely worth looking into more.