Exposition Park, Los Angeles

This article is about the neighborhood in Los Angeles. For the park that gave this neighborhood its name, see Exposition Park (Los Angeles).

The Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles is a 1.85-square-mile district in South Los Angeles with about 33,000 residents. The neighborhood includes Exposition Park itself, with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Exposition Rose Garden and three museums.

Exposition Park neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, as drawn by the Los Angeles Times

Geography

The Exposition Park neighborhood is flanked by Adams-Normandie on the north, University Park on the northeast, Historic South Central on the east, Vermont Square on the south, and Hyde Park and Leimert Park on the west. It is bounded by Jefferson Boulevard on the north, Vermont Avenue on the east, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the south and Arlington Avenue on the west, to which is added all of Exposition Park and additional land along both sides of Figueroa Street east to the Harbor Freeway.

Population

A total of 31,062 people lived in the neighborhood's 1.85 square miles, according to the 2000 U.S. census—averaging 16,819 people per square mile, among the highest population densities for both the city and the county. By 2008 the population had increased to 33,458, the city has estimated.

The median age was 26, considered young for both the city and the county, and the percentages of residents aged birth through 18 were among the county's highest. There were 1,818 families headed by single parents; the rate of 27.3% was considered high for both the city and the county.

Within the neighborhood, Latinos made up 36.9% of the population, while African American were at 38,1%— both considered high percentages for the county. Other ethnicities were White, 2.2%; Asian, 1.6%; and other, 2%. 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 as a whole.

The median household income in 2008 dollars was $33,999, considered low for both 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 3.3 people was about the same as in the city at large. Renters occupied 69% of the housing units, and homeowners occupied the rest. The percentages of never-married people were among the county's highest—45.5% for men and 39.1% for women.

Education

Only 7.3% of Exposition Park residents 25 and older held a four-year degree, a low percentage for both the city and the county. The percentage of residents of that age with less than a high school diploma was also high (the total number being 8,603, compared with 8,213 with more education).

Schools within the boundaries of the Exposition Park neighborhood are:

• Alliance College-Ready Academy High No. 5 (LAUSD, charter), 1729 West Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
• Foshay Learning Center (LAUSD, K-12), 3751 South Harvard Boulevard
• Thurgood Marshall Charter Middle School (LAUSD), 3200 West Adams Boulevard
• Just Beginning, Inc. (private, elementary), 1712 West Jefferson Boulevard
• Lenicia B. Weemes Elementary School (LAUSD), 1260 West 36th Place
• Dr. Theo T. Alexander Jr. Science Center (LAUSD, charter elementary), 3737 S. Figueroa Street, within Exposition Park
• Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School (LAUSD), 3989 South Hobart Street

Recreation and parks

Exposition Park, Los Angeles

• Exposition Park (Los Angeles)
• Denker Recreation Center, 1550 West 35th Place
• Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 3916 South Western Avenue

See also

• List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles

External links

• [6] Exposition Park neighborhood crime map and statistics
• [7] Expo Center website, Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks