Westmont: A South LA Unincorporated Community-Civic Engagement Project by K. Cruz

 Westmont: A South LA Unincorporated Community

    Westmont is a south Los Angeles neighborhood, bordered by Vermont Vista to the east, Inglewood to the west, Gardena to the south, and Gramercy Park to the north. However, despite all these neighborhood names, it is all generalized as South LA. This neighborhood like many others in the area has been disadvantaged and taken advantage of by gangs, and it doesn’t help that most households in the area are low income as the LA Times states “The median household income in Westmont, whose residence are 44% black and 43% Latino, is lower than other areas of south Los Angeles and the county as a whole” (Cruz and Vives). Westmont’s socioeconomic struggles do not stop the community from improving itself, even if it takes years. In this audit of public art, I will be showcasing different kinds of artwork across the neighborhood in order to understand the power of art to inspire and how it can be kept alive.

Field Work

Mural 1: Shine Bright (Artfully United Tour 12 of 20)

by Mike Norice
Date painted: 2022
Located on Western Ave & 108th St, Los Angeles, CA 90047

Shine Bright is one of many uplifting messages in the community started by renowned artist Mike Norice. The Mural features a joyful black boy with the words, "SHINE BRIGHT" behind him. Children are represented in this mural, encouraging them and others viewing the mural to shine bright; to live life as your true self, because that's when you'll feel alive and ready to conquer the day. Through his Artfully United mural tour, he brings inspiration and hope to local communities in Los Angeles, often those affected by gang activity and/or poverty. 


Mural 2: Maple Liquors Mural of Black Excellence

Unknown Artist
Date Painted: unknown
Located on Western Ave & 105th St, Los Angeles, CA 90047

The Maple Liquors Mural depicts true black excellence in each scene, showing African Americans excelling in higher education and succeeding in their careers. The mural also depicts strong relationships with friends and family, showing that through these strong connections, we can become better people. While this mural mainly represents the black community, it also shows a diverse group of friends in one of the scenes. When researching this mural, I came across an Instagram post by Doña Junta, a street archivist. She discusses its unexpected place in the neighborhood and is also puzzled by its origins. 



Mural 3: Evolution of the Spirit (Los Angeles Southwest College Cox Building Mural)

Painted by Elliott Pinkney
Date painted: 1997
Located at 1600 West Imperial Highway
Los Angeles, CA 90047

Evolution of the Spirit is a gaily abstract mural that wonderfully represents a love and appreciation for the arts, particularly the Arts and Humanities department at Los Angeles Southwest College. The mural was commissioned by Los Angeles Southwest College and the Fox Hills Mall Scholarship Fund, appointing local artist Elliott Pinkney to spread his artistic magic onto another part of South LA. I reached out to Lauren Evans, a professor of Arts at LASC, about her thoughts on the mural. She stated that the mural represents the arts and humanities pathway offered by LASC. Evans also shared that Arts and Humanities would receive its own building, as most arts and humanities classes were held on the upper levels of the Cox Library Building or at the Technical Education Center, east of the Cox Building. While talk of this anticipated new building began in 2016, a formal plan with dates was never established.



Mural 5: Tagged and abandoned Church's Chicken

Multiple unknown artists
Date painted: 2025
Located on 11251 Western Ave & Imperial Hwy, Los Angeles, CA 90047

The abandoned Church's Chicken in the Westmont community has become an unexpected canvas for the neighborhood. Since the former fast-food joint was closed and boarded up in late 2024, graffiti artists in the area have sought to use it as their canvas. I remember seeing a new design every other day as I passed by the restaurant in 2025. However, from the most recent picture I provided, the building appears well-maintained and lacks the cool, trashy flair it had before. It now sits with a metal fence around its perimeter, with various advertisements attached. 




Mural 6: Welcome Mural (Los Angeles Southwest College Student Services Building)

Painted by multiple student artists
Date painted: Spring 2025
Located at 1600 West Imperial Highway
Los Angeles, CA 90047

The LASC Welcome Mural at Los Angeles Southwest College features a beautiful combination of student work to represent the school's diversity. The mural was a collaborative effort led by the previously mentioned Arts professor, Lauren Evans, with multiple student artists contributing to bringing it to life. The strong symbolism of success, academic empowerment, and school spirit is on full display in this mural, offering a lovely sight for incoming students who may be nervous about this new chapter in their lives.  






Critical Analysis


While working on this project, I realized that there isn't enough public street art that creates a positive attitude in the community, and there just isn't enough cool public art in the community. I used to live in Koreatown in a little one-bed one-bath apartment with two of my older siblings and both of my parents. I moved to Westmont in the spring of 2013 and have since identified more with Westmont than with Koreatown. Since living here, I have seen how often my neighborhood is vacant. Run-down buildings with broken exteriors and boarded-up windows are a familiar sight when you drive down Normandie, Vermont, or Western Ave, and Westmont is far from the only community experiencing this. Rent is getting more and more expensive, while wages seem to be rising at a snail's pace. While exploring my neighborhood, what became more apparent to me was the number of gang tags around the area, often communicating some kind of turf-claiming conflict, with crossed-out tags. I see more of these than murals or interesting street art. While artists like Mike Norice keep creating murals that uplift the community's spirits and represent hope and change for youth, gang tagging in the neighborhood remains very prominent and is the main issue that gives graffiti a bad rap.

Proposal


While working on this project, I felt myself becoming more and more passionate about the community I live in. Seeing the current murals and street art in my neighborhood makes me want to be more involved and start thinking about the mural designs I would like to incorporate in my area. I couldn't believe the amount of blank walls and abandoned establishments that are just left to be neglected by the city and tagged by local gangs. While social issues such as gang violence and gang culture seem to be too far from my reach to solve, I would still be interested in creating murals around my area in order to uplift the visual aesthetic of my community, as well as have an opportunity to represent people in the community and make them feel seen. With the very few connections I have, I believe I can make that happen, though funds are a main concern.

Sources

Cruz, N. S., & Vives, R. (2020, September 5). South L.A. community hopes for change after violent summer. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-05/la-me-westmont-trauma-community-hopes-for-change-after-violent-summer.

Doña Junta Street Archivist [@swapmeet_chronicles]. (2025, April 13). "Came across this cool sign and set of murals at Maple Liquors on Western Ave, near the neighborhoods of Westmont, Vermont Vista, and the Gramercy Park area of South LA." [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DIZmu6bT8RY/?img_index=1.   

Longoria, A. (2022, November 8). Evolution of the Spirit (1997).  ART WITHOUT BOUNDARIES. https://www.artwithoutboundaries.art/up-against-the-wall-la/evolution-of-the-spirit 








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Leimert Park Neighborhood in Los Angeles

Image
  Leimert Park Neighborhood in Los Angeles  PHASE 1: Site Selection I chose Leimert Park because it's in my neighborhood and features a variety of artworks. I would always pass through there, although I never really took time to see the artworks they had.  Phase 2: Field Work  Title of the Artwork: “Kulture Keepers”  Location: Leimert Park Station on the K Line Artist: Stephanie Mercado Date: 2024 Medium: paper-based animation Title of artwork:  “Anthology of Leimert” Location: Leimert Park Station on the K Line Artist: Momodu Mansaray Date: Unknown  Medium: Digital media  Title of the Artwork: “Puffing with Patties to Leimert Park” Location: “Leimert Park Station on the K Line” Artist: Isaiah Ferguson Date: 2024 Medium: animation Title of the Artwork: “Untitled” Location: Leimert Park Station on the K Line Artist: Mickalene Thomas Date: 2022 Medium: large-scale hand-cut glass mosaic mural PHASE 3:   Mickalene's "Untitled" artwork is a ...
Read more

Arts District Public Art Erica C

Image
Outline 11/12 ( formulating final thoughts) Art in my neighborhood  I live on 629 Traction Ave. I would consider my neighborhood 50% Arts District and 50% Little Tokyo. That’s really interesting to me because part of the everyday architecture that I see is heavily influenced by Japanese architecture, however the other half is this industrial, gentrified, grungy architecture that reflects the early history of the Arts District. Although these spaces are so close in proximity and can sometimes cross barriers, they have completely independent histories. Little Tokyo has been home to a large Japanese community since the 1800’s. The Japanese population has faced heavy subjugation and racism and they remained strong. There is a resilience to this town. In my opinion an important artwork that reflects the hopeful and happy integration of the Japanese- American community is titled “LA Rising”. Across the street from me is Angel City Brewery. It is considered a staple 3rd space for the arts...
Read more

Silver Lake Public Art- Shay Harding

Image
Public Art in Silver Lake I chose the neighborhood of Silver Lake, Los Angeles , as the site for my civic engagement project. Silver Lake is known for its  trendy and creative "hipster" culture  — a place where fashion-conscious individuals, artists, and innovators live side by side. As a visitor that works in this neighborhood, I have always been drawn to the way the neighborhood uses murals, graffiti, and street art to express identity, history, and social commentary. I photographed several works of public art in Silver Lake, including murals and street pieces located along Sunset Boulevard and nearby intersections. Location: Utility box on  Hyperion Ave & Monon St Artist: Unknown Theme: Reconnecting with the inner child, The work can be read as a commentary on innocence, identity, and the presence of youth in an urban environment, "LA Kids" Representation: The figure is stylized and abstract, i t is not linked to any specific race or age. This allows for...
Read more