Vermont Square, Los Angeles
Vermont Square is a 2.54-square-mile, low-income neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, within the South Los Angeles area. It is notable for its dense concentration of residents, their youthful age range, their high ratio of single to married parents and their low median household income.[1] It is the site of Manual Arts High School[2] and the Barack Obama Global Preparatory Academy.[1][3]
Geography
Vermont Square is bordered by Exposition Park on the north, Historic South Central on the northeast, South Park on the east, Vermont-Slauson, Harvard Park and Chesterfield Square on the south and Hyde Park and Leimert Park on the west.[4] The neighborhood's street boundaries are Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the north, the Harbor Freeway on the east, West 54th Street on the south and South Van Ness Avenue on the west.[1][2]
Population
A total of 42,284 people lived in Vermont Square's 2.54 square miles, according to the 2000 U.S. census—averaging 17,798 people per square mile, among the highest population densities in the city as a whole. Population was estimated at 47,555 in 2008. The median age was 26, considered young when compared to the city as a whole. The percentages of young residents, aged birth to 18, were among the county's highest.[1]
Within the neighborhood, Latinos made up 58.5% of the population, with black people at 39.2%, white 1.4%, Asian 1.1%, and other 1.8%. Mexico and El Salvador were the most common places of birth for the 38.5% of the residents who were born abroad, an average percentage of foreign-born when compared with the city or county as a whole.[1]
The $29,904 median household income in 2008 dollars was considered low for the city and county. The percentage of households earning $20,000 or less was high, compared to the county at large. The average household size of 3.4 people was high for the city. Renters occupied 63.2% of the housing units, and homeowners occupied the rest.[1]
In 2000, there were 2,519 families headed by single parents, or 26.7%, a rate that was high for the county and the city.[1]
Education
Vermont Square residents with a four-year degree amounted to 5.3% of the population aged 25 and older in 2000, which was a low figure when compared with the city and the county at large; the percentage of those residents with less than a high school diploma was high for the county.[1]
The schools within the Vermont Square boundaries are:[2][5]
- Manual Arts Senior High School, LAUSD, 4131 South Vermont Avenue
- Manual Arts Community Adult School, LAUSD, 4131 South Vermont Avenue
- Barack Obama Global Preparatory Academy, LAUSD charter, 1708 West 46th Street[1][3][6]
- Lou Dantzler Preparatory Charter Middle School, LAUSD, 5029 South Vermont Avenue
- Global Education Academy, LAUSD charter, 4141 South Figueroa Street
- Menlo Avenue Elementary School, LAUSD, 4156 Menlo Avenue
- St. Cecilia Elementary School, private, 4224 South Normandie Avenue
- Little Citizens Westside Academy, private, 4356 South Western Avenue
- Normandie Avenue Elementary School, LAUSD, 4506 South Raymond Avenue
- Dr. James Edward Jones Primary Center, LAUSD, 1017 West 47th Street
- Garr Academy of Math and Entrepreneurial Studies, LAUSD charter, 5101 South Western Avenue
- Fifty-Second Street Elementary School, LAUSD, 816 West 51st Street
- Western Avenue Elementary School, LAUSD, 1724 West 53rd Street
- Lou Dantzler Preparatory Charter Elementary School, LAUSD, 1260 West 36th Street
Recreation and parks
- Vermont Square Park, unstaffed, 1248 West 47th Street, opposite the Vermont Square branch library[2][7]
- 49th Street Park, at Hoover Avenue[2]
Notable people
- Will H. Kindig, City Council member
- Maxine Waters, member of Congress
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Vermont Square," Mapping L.A., Los Angeles Times
- 1 2 3 4 5 The Thomas Guide, 2006, pages 673 and 674
- 1 2 Academy website
- ↑ "South L.A.," Mapping L.A., Los Angeles Times
- ↑ "Vermont Square Schools," Mapping L.A., Los Angeles Times
- ↑ Los Angeles Unified School District
- ↑ Los Angeles City Department of Recreation and Parks
External links
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