Watts (Los Angeles)
Watts is a residential district in southern Los Angeles and part of South Los Angeles . 34,830 inhabitants live in Watts on an area of 5.2 km².
history
The city, founded in 1907, was incorporated into Los Angeles in 1926. At that time, the population in Watts was predominantly white. That changed in the 1940s and 1950s when thousands of blacks moved to California from the southern United States such as Louisiana , Alabama and Texas . For this, the Los Angeles City Council built several larger social housing estates, including one in Watts. The district became internationally known in 1965 when the Watts riot started there. The situation of African Americans in Watts was seen as exemplary for all blacks in the USA, which is why the 1972 Wattstax Festival was deliberately placed in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum located there. In the 1970s, the demographic composition of the population changed again with the influx of residents from Mexico and other Latin American countries. This was also evident in the 1992 riots in Los Angeles , which resulted in street battles between black and Latin American residents.
Watts is one of the areas with the highest crime rate in the City of Los Angeles. It is generally advised not to visit the area after dark.
traffic
The district is connected to the light rail network of Metro Los Angeles via the Blue Line and the Green Line . There is a junction of both lines at the Willowbrook / Rosa Parks station . LACMTA (Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Association) buses also operate .
Landmarks, trivia
One of the district's attractions are the Watts Towers, built by the Italian immigrant Simon Rodia between 1921 and 1954 . In 1993 the film Menace II Society was shot largely in Watts, which has the crime in Watts to the content.
Web links
Coordinates: 33 ° 56 ′ N , 118 ° 15 ′ W