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Watts, Los Angeles
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Watts, Los Angeles
Watts is a neighborhood in southern Los Angeles, California. It is located within the South Los Angeles region, bordering the cities of Lynwood, Huntington Park and South Gate to the east and southeast, respectively, and the unincorporated community of Willowbrook to the south.
Founded in the late nineteenth century as a ranching community, the arrival of the railroads and the construction of Watts Station saw the rapid development of Watts as an independent city, but in 1926 it was consolidated with Los Angeles. By the 1940s, Watts transformed into a primarily working class African-American neighborhood, but from the 1960s developed a reputation as a low-income, high-crime area, following the Watts riots and the increasing influence of street gangs. Watts has become a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood with a significant African American minority, and remains one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in Los Angeles despite falling crime rates since the 1990s. Notable civic activities by residents of Watts include the "Toys for Watts" toy drive, the Watts Christmas parade, and the "Watts Summer Games" athletic tournament, as well as a local theatre and a dance company, in an effort to improve the neighborhood.
Watts is noted internationally for the landmark Watts Towers by Simon Rodia, which are a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The neighborhood has also been featured or referenced in numerous forms of media, particularly West Coast hip-hop music, and movies and television shows set in Los Angeles.
The area now known as Watts is situated on the 1843 Rancho La Tajauta Mexican land grant. As on all ranchos, the principal vocation at that time was grazing and beef production. There were household settlers in the area as early as 1882, and in 1904, the population was counted as 65 people; a year later it was 1,651. C.V. Bartow of Long Beach was noted as one of the founders of Watts.
In 1904, it was reported that Watts was named after Pasadena businessman Charles H. Watts, who was found dead by suicide in the St. Elmo Hotel, Los Angeles, on August 23 of that year. The Los Angeles Times said: "Watts at one time conducted a livery stable on North Main Street and another at Pasadena and was a man of considerable means. ... Watts station on the Salt Lake road is named after the deceased, and is located on property which he once owned." The Los Angeles Evening Express said: "Among other property he owned a ranch south of the city through which the Salt Lake railroad passes, and the station of Watts is named for him."
In 1919, Watts Mayor Z. A. Towne said that the settlement was named after a widow who lived on ten acres which was later occupied by a Pacific Electric power house. She later moved to Arlington, California, Towne said.
In 1912 and 1913, a movement was afoot to change the name of Watts because, as one headline writer put it, the residents were tired of the "quips and jests" at the town's expense. One real-estate agent said that prospective clients backed out of a property inspection tour when they found out their streetcar ride would end up in Watts. The name "South Angeles" was proposed. Another plan for a city name change surfaced in 1919, when the city trustees asked for suggestions. Mayor Towne said: "Watts has got a bad reputation in Southern California, somehow or other ... a good many of us felt that the liquor element left a black mark upon the community's name. ... Towns are something like people. They can live up to a good name easier than they can live down a bad name."
A subdivision with the name Watts was platted, possibly by the Golden State Realty Company, between 1903 and 1905, when the settlement had a population of about 150 people. In 1905 lots were being sold by that firm for prices ranging from $100 to $200: The terms were advertised at a dollar as down payment and a dollar a month thereafter, with the company claiming there would be "no interest and no taxes." The Watts Lumber Company had a plan of "easy payments" which "enabled those desiring houses in the little settlement to secure their material and to build and occupy their houses at once."
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Watts, Los Angeles
Watts is a neighborhood in southern Los Angeles, California. It is located within the South Los Angeles region, bordering the cities of Lynwood, Huntington Park and South Gate to the east and southeast, respectively, and the unincorporated community of Willowbrook to the south.
Founded in the late nineteenth century as a ranching community, the arrival of the railroads and the construction of Watts Station saw the rapid development of Watts as an independent city, but in 1926 it was consolidated with Los Angeles. By the 1940s, Watts transformed into a primarily working class African-American neighborhood, but from the 1960s developed a reputation as a low-income, high-crime area, following the Watts riots and the increasing influence of street gangs. Watts has become a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood with a significant African American minority, and remains one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in Los Angeles despite falling crime rates since the 1990s. Notable civic activities by residents of Watts include the "Toys for Watts" toy drive, the Watts Christmas parade, and the "Watts Summer Games" athletic tournament, as well as a local theatre and a dance company, in an effort to improve the neighborhood.
Watts is noted internationally for the landmark Watts Towers by Simon Rodia, which are a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The neighborhood has also been featured or referenced in numerous forms of media, particularly West Coast hip-hop music, and movies and television shows set in Los Angeles.
The area now known as Watts is situated on the 1843 Rancho La Tajauta Mexican land grant. As on all ranchos, the principal vocation at that time was grazing and beef production. There were household settlers in the area as early as 1882, and in 1904, the population was counted as 65 people; a year later it was 1,651. C.V. Bartow of Long Beach was noted as one of the founders of Watts.
In 1904, it was reported that Watts was named after Pasadena businessman Charles H. Watts, who was found dead by suicide in the St. Elmo Hotel, Los Angeles, on August 23 of that year. The Los Angeles Times said: "Watts at one time conducted a livery stable on North Main Street and another at Pasadena and was a man of considerable means. ... Watts station on the Salt Lake road is named after the deceased, and is located on property which he once owned." The Los Angeles Evening Express said: "Among other property he owned a ranch south of the city through which the Salt Lake railroad passes, and the station of Watts is named for him."
In 1919, Watts Mayor Z. A. Towne said that the settlement was named after a widow who lived on ten acres which was later occupied by a Pacific Electric power house. She later moved to Arlington, California, Towne said.
In 1912 and 1913, a movement was afoot to change the name of Watts because, as one headline writer put it, the residents were tired of the "quips and jests" at the town's expense. One real-estate agent said that prospective clients backed out of a property inspection tour when they found out their streetcar ride would end up in Watts. The name "South Angeles" was proposed. Another plan for a city name change surfaced in 1919, when the city trustees asked for suggestions. Mayor Towne said: "Watts has got a bad reputation in Southern California, somehow or other ... a good many of us felt that the liquor element left a black mark upon the community's name. ... Towns are something like people. They can live up to a good name easier than they can live down a bad name."
A subdivision with the name Watts was platted, possibly by the Golden State Realty Company, between 1903 and 1905, when the settlement had a population of about 150 people. In 1905 lots were being sold by that firm for prices ranging from $100 to $200: The terms were advertised at a dollar as down payment and a dollar a month thereafter, with the company claiming there would be "no interest and no taxes." The Watts Lumber Company had a plan of "easy payments" which "enabled those desiring houses in the little settlement to secure their material and to build and occupy their houses at once."
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