Destination Crenshaw


Destination Crenshaw is an under-construction open-air museum in Los Angeles, California, dedicated to preserving the history and culture of African Americans. The museum stretches along Crenshaw Boulevard, enhancing the public structures and business facades with landscaping and public art by adding pocket parks, gathering points, overlooks, murals, sculptures and texts.

Elements

The southern end of the project, near Slauson Avenue, will have the Gateway Monument, a 1 totem that spells out Crenshaw in giant letters. At the northern end of the project adjacent to the Leimert Park Metro station will be Sankofa Park. The node called Dreams at 50th Street is inspired by local architect Paul Revere Williams. An existing mural, Our Mighty Contribution", will be restored, protected, and lit.

Formation

The major commercial corridor in the Hyde Park, Leimert Park and Baldwin Hills neighborhoods is known as "the heart of African American commerce in Los Angeles". The project was conceived to celebrate the Crenshaw business district as a black community amid fears of gentrification with the arrival of the Crenshaw/LAX light rail line. In the midst of the transit construction and coming demographic changes, this placekeeping project celebrates being “unapologetically, authentically black.” Like Koreatown, Chinatown and Olvera Street, proponents want this project to provide an identity to this community and highlight the historic nature of South Los Angeles.
Business owners and residents were upset that the light rail trains running at street level would remove parking spaces essential to the commercial area. The train tracks could also be a barrier that further impacts local small businesses. As the light rail line brings the possibility of gentrification, efforts are being made to ensure the project benefits the people who already live along the route. The project has worked to support local businesses by providing infrastructure improvement grants for business owners who own their properties, including code compliance work, new parking spaces, building repairs and culturally stamped sidewalks. Contractors will be required to hire workers who are underrepresented minorities in the trades. Local artists have also been sought for the project.
The office of Los Angeles Council member Marqueece Harris-Dawson has engaged the neighborhood in the project. He brought together leaders from South Los Angeles including artists, activists, curators, filmmakers, community organizers, and musicians. The stakeholders and experts included Judith Baca, Ben Caldwell, Ron Finley, Mark Steven Greenfield, and Nipsey Hussle before his death in March 2019. The groundbreaking ceremony was February 29, 2020 at the end of Black History Month.