Crenshaw Boulevard

Crenshaw Boulevard is a north–south thoroughfare that runs through Crenshaw and other neighborhoods along a 23-mile (37 km) route in the west-central part of Los Angeles, California, United States.

The street extends between Wilshire Boulevard in Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, on the north and Rolling Hills, on the south. Crenshaw marks the eastern boundaries of Torrance, and Hawthorne and the western border of Gardena.

The commercial corridor in the Hyde Park neighborhood is known as "the heart of African American commerce in Los Angeles".

Crenshaw Boulevard was named after banker and Los Angeles real estate developer George Lafayette Crenshaw who also developed the Lafayette Square.

The southern end of Crenshaw Boulevard was at Adams Street until 1916–1918, when the road was extended between Adams on the north and Slauson Avenue on the south that was then known as Angeles Mesa Drive. The extension saved three miles (4.8 km) in travel over the nearest through road (Western Avenue) and five miles (8.0 km) over the nearest paved road (Vermont Avenue).

The street became a major transportation route with tracks for the 5 Line streetcar line in the median between Leimert Boulevard on the north close to Florence Avenue on the south. With the abandonment of the streetcar system in the 1950s, the railway median was narrowed, the driving lanes improved and the street reconfigured for automobiles, buses and trucks.

Many local residents were disappointed that 71 mature street-line trees were cut down in 2012 to make way for the Space Shuttle Endeavour to be moved from LAX to the California Science Center in nearby Exposition Park. About 1,000 10 to 14 foot (3.0 to 4.3 m) high trees were replanted in 2013. The construction of the K Line required the removal of additional trees in 2014. City officials promised that more trees would be planted than were removed. The improvements include bike lanes, wider sidewalks, new Metro bus stops, LED traffic lights and street lights. The revitalization was coordinated with the construction of Destination Crenshaw. A 1.3-mile-long (2.1 km) portion of Crenshaw Boulevard in the Hyde Park and Leimert Park neighborhoods will become an open-air museum dedicated to preserving the history and culture of African Americans. The project includes pocket parks, outdoor sculptures, murals, street furniture, and landscaping.

In 2023, a five-mile stretch (8.0 km) of Crenshaw Boulevard in Leimert Park, transacting the Rosa Parks Freeway, Obama Boulevard, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and Nipsey Hussle Square, was designated Malcolm X Route in honor of the minister and civil rights leader.