Abstract
Dystopian and utopian visions collide in Southern California as relentlessly as converging tectonic plates. Given that dystopian urban issues (e.g. poverty, violence, disinvestment) are particularly acute in South Los Angeles, as evinced by episodes of riots in South Los Angeles that still linger in Los Angeles’ collective memory (riots were focused on Watts in 1965 and more widespread after the 1992 Rodney King verdict), a region-wide mapping of dystopia might be expected to highlight the area. Speaking after the 1992 riots, Peter Ueberroth, co-chair of RebuildLA, the organisation created to facilitate post-riot recovery, expressed apprehension that ‘the cancer in the inner city might spread’ beyond South Los Angeles to the wider city (quoted in Estrada and Sensiper, 1993: 138). Are such dystopian discourses and representations reflective of contemporary South Los Angeles?
Josh Sides’ edited volume Post-Ghetto: Reimagining South Los Angeles presents an inter-disciplinary examination of the varied challenges and opportunities facing this stigmatised urban area. Against the backdrop of broader changes in the area’s demographics, decreases in violent crime, and the increased presence of non-profit service providers, authors from a variety of backgrounds present accessible essays on topics as varied as community gardens, corporate retail investment, and gang intervention programmes to make the case that real (and positive) changes are occurring in South Los Angeles.
Editor Josh Sides’ introduction effectively traces the book’s historical underpinnings, outlining the structural factors that have created pockets of urban inequity in North American cities before proceeding to a short history of South Los Angeles. Although Post-Ghetto is not explicitly organised into sections, the subsequent essays are generally linked thematically. Because some authors focus on historical data while others research contemporary places and phenomena, a range of material supports the various claims presented. The first two essays examine spaces of consumption. Jorge Leal focuses on the city of Lynwood’s Plaza Mexico shopping mall, detailing its form and function and showing how commercial architecture caters to Latino residents and visitors. Josh Sides offers a concise review of the history of retail employment in South Los Angeles. He then assesses the impacts of inner-city retail investment (in terms of positive spillover effects, crime reduction, and property value increases) through an examination of Chesterfield Square, a 325,000 ft2 shopping centre project completed in 2004.
Next, in the first of three essays on food-related topics, Natale Zappia succinctly examines a variety of facets of urban gardening, including community gardens, school gardens, and community building through food. Mark Vallianatos, Andrea Azuma, and Robert Gottlieb describe the pressing issue of food justice through an assessment of food retail outlets in South Los Angeles. They conclude with a set of policy prescriptions to increase food quality and access in South Los Angeles and potentially impact health outcomes. Finally, David Sloane describes the twin challenges of liquor stores and food deserts in South Los Angeles.
The focus then shifts to labour as Edna Bonacich and Jake Alimahomed-Wilson examine how African Americans in South Los Angeles relate to the labour movement. Taking an extensive look at African American participation in labour unions and the blue collar workforce, their essay describes initiatives, campaigns, and legal cases from 1940 to the present. A particular strength of this essay is its inclusion of first-hand observations via interviews and archived oral histories.
Violence, crime, and state responses are addressed in the following two essays. First, Karen Hennigan and Cheryl Maxson examine issues of youth violence and gang reduction. After an overview of (failure-plagued) efforts, Hennigan and Maxson identify risk factors related to gang involvement in early adolescence, arguing that adopting these factors to select clients for gang prevention programmes may improve outcomes. Jill Leovy reviews policing in Los Angeles (although it is the final essay in Post-Ghetto, I mention it here because of its connection to Hennigan and Maxson’s contribution). She asserts that the era of police reform and crime reduction has real outcomes: South Los Angeles’ reputation is more menacing than its contemporary reality, but intra-racial conflicts and violence still pose a major challenge. Leovy asserts that South Los Angeles’ African American community faults the Los Angeles Police Department for being simultaneously oppressive and ineffective. This reflects American criminal justice law, which Leovy suggests is paradoxically ‘at once too heavy handed and too standoffish’ (p. 201).
Finally, two essays deal with topics related to culture, performance, and representation in South Los Angeles. Scott Saul describes new cultural expressions through an examination of three creative currents: underground LA hip-hop (which stands in contrast to gangsta rap’s more searing image), the LA novel (Saul discusses a triad of novels that draw on and depict the complexity of interracial relations in Los Angeles), and the Watts House Project (a fascinating initiative alternately described as an artist-driven neighbourhood redevelopment project and a non-profit alternative to gentrification). Next, Danny Widener examines the efforts of African Americans in the film industry. Widener compares Repression and Wattstax, two films that portray black experiences in Los Angeles in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Widener argues that the two films portray South Los Angeles in ways that move (ideologically) beyond the ghetto.
Some spaces for improvement in Post-Ghetto should be noted. For example, the topics discussed in this volume lend themselves to the inclusion of photographs, but images accompany only one of the ten essays. More substantive issues include brevity of discussion: some essays seemed a bit too succinct, leaving me wishing for more and giving the impression that more complex issues had been glossed over. Additionally, connections with the broader field of urban research are sometimes left implicit; some authors consider broader implications, while others focus on the particularities of South Los Angeles. For example, Leal’s essay on Plaza Mexico could have been informed by a consideration of wider issues of shopping malls and public/private space (as in Staeheli and Mitchell’s (2006) examination of a shopping mall in Syracuse, New York). Similarly, questions of territoriality, crime, power, and space figure prominently in Herbert’s studies of policing in Los Angeles (1996a, 1996b) and could have helped inform Leovy’s essay. A final critique relates to the risk of unbalanced optimism, as serious issues that face South Los Angeles (e.g. the implications of public-sector retrenchment, the pernicious effects of the housing and foreclosure crises, or the challenges faced by public schools) are not discussed. Obviously, however, Post-Ghetto cannot examine all of the challenges that face South Los Angeles; the volume’s authors focus on specific topics and outcomes. On the whole, Post-Ghetto’s shortcomings are not a major detraction from its contributions and strengths.
Post-Ghetto is a multi-faceted snapshot of what is probably the most stigmatised area in Los Angeles. As such, urban scholars, students, and local policy-makers (and perhaps even interested Los Angeles residents) will profit from reading it; the essays can alternately serve as anecdotes, reference sources, or starting points for further analysis or comparative research. The persuasive, clearly-written essays illustrate how the reputation and reality of South Los Angeles do not always coincide. Thus, Post-Ghetto nuances contemporary understandings of underprivileged urban areas. Individually, the essays relate and add to topical discussions of racial and socioeconomic conditions. As a whole, the volume contributes to the broader literature on inner cities and to regional studies of Los Angeles and Southern California. Post-Ghetto’s strengths lie in its thorough empirical focus, its decentring of dystopian narratives (the social earthquakes of riots underlie, but do not dominate, the narratives), and its broad-ranging coverage (the volume brings together topics that generally would not be discussed in the same venue).
Given the pace and pervasiveness of urban polarisation and fragmentation, this volume illustrates how well-researched, empirically-based urban scholarship can both reflect, and potentially contribute to, positive urban transformation. The individual authors do not always explicitly highlight this potential, but the collection of their works demonstrates it. Sides’ concluding essay, titled ‘How to get to post-ghetto Los Angeles’, summarises the various contributions in a concise list of policy and action prescriptions. He asserts that the sum of these prescriptions can contribute to a (de-stigmatising) transformation of South Los Angeles – and map a route to post-ghetto Los Angeles. I agree, and despite Post-Ghetto’s focus on a particular part of a particular city, I would argue that other areas in Los Angeles, and indeed many urban areas throughout the world, could benefit from such pertinent and positive scholarship.