Crenshaw Boulevard

Crenshaw Boulevard is a major thoroughfare street in Los Angeles, California that runs through, and outside, the Crenshaw district. [1]

Overview

The street starts at Wilshire Boulevard in Hancock Park and runs through several demographically diverse areas to end in Rolling Hills. Tracks for the No. 5 Los Angeles Railway "yellow" streetcars[2] in the 1920s through 1950s ran in the median between Leimert Boulevard[3] on the north to near Florence Ave on the south. Since the abandonment of the streetcars, the former railway median has been narrowed, the driving lanes improved and the street reconfigured. Many local residents were disappointed to see 71 mature trees chopped down to make way for the Space Shuttle Endeavour to be moved from LAX to the California Science Center. Additional trees were to be removed for the under construction Crenshaw/LAX Line, but various officials have promised an aesthetically cohesive boulevard with more trees being planted than were removed.[4]

The name "Crenshaw" has become associated with African-American culture because it traverses as a large black community. Crenshaw Boulevard has been mentioned in hip hop songs by artists such as Eminem, Eazy-E, Nas, 2Pac, Montell Jordan, DJ Quik, Raekwon from the Wu-Tang Clan, Skee-Lo, Dr. Dre, The Game, Nipsey Hussle, Dom Kennedy, MC Allergy, The Pharcyde, and Kendrick Lamar.

The street was named in 1904 after banker and real estate developer George Lafayette Crenshaw.[5]

The street also has a history of Sunday night "gatherings", where a large number of cars would meet up. However, due to a police crackdown, this tradition has now declined.

Transportation

Metro Local lines 40 and 210, Metro Rapid lines 710 and 740, and Torrance Transit line 10 serve Crenshaw Boulevard; Metro lines 210 and 710 run through the majority of Crenshaw Boulevard to Artesia Boulevard, Metro lines 40 and 740 from Crenshaw District to Hyde Park, and Torrance Transit line 10 south of Artesia Boulevard. The Metro Green Line serves a rail station on Crenshaw Boulevard underneath Interstate 105, while the Metro Expo Line serves a rail station at the intersection with Exposition Boulevard.

In the Crenshaw district, Crenshaw Boulevard and Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza are served primarily by LADOT trolleys, buses and trains in the future, for four Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus lines:

  • Metro Local Line 40 - South Bay Galleria - Patsaouras Transit Plaza via Hawthorne Boulevard and Martin Luther King Boulevard
  • Metro Local Line 210 - South Bay Galleria - Hollywood/Vine Red Line Station via Crenshaw Boulevard, Rossmore Avenue, and Vine Street
  • Metro Rapid Line 710 - South Bay Galleria - Western Purple Line Station via Redondo Beach Boulevard and Crenshaw Boulevard
  • Metro Rapid Line 740 - South Bay Galleria - Crenshaw Expo Line Station

Crenshaw Boulevard is also briefly served in the Crenshaw district by the following LACMTA lines:

Crenshaw Boulevard is also briefly served in the Crenshaw district by the following LADOT lines:

Mass transit

The Crenshaw/LAX Line is currently under construction. It will transport passengers from the Expo/Crenshaw station to LAX and Green line station.[6] It is projected to be completed in early 2019.

Notable landmarks

References

External Links

Route map: Bing / Google

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, March 21, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.