South Central Noir

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Like “Hollywood,” the term “South Central” conjures up not a geographic location so much as specific imagery and impressions derived from the news and pop culture. Examples include Ice-T’s “6 in the Mornin’,” “Looked in the mirror, what did we see? Fuckin’ blue lights, LAPD”; Ralph Fiennes as volatile gang boss Harry Waters snarkily decrying the need for an assault weapon in the film In Bruges, “An Uzi? I’m not from South Central Los fucking Angeles”; the movie South Central based on Donald Bakeer’s novel Crips, with Glenn Plummer as Bobby Johnson, an ex-con on parole trying to steer his son away from the gang life that’s consuming him; and Moesha, a slightly edgy network sitcom starring singer Brandy Norwood, about coming of age in Leimert Park.

In 2003, the Los Angeles City Council rechristened the whole of it “South LA” to blunt its infamous reputation — though they maintained a 2.25-square-mile area within its boundaries as “Historic South Central,” whatever that’s supposed to mean. Nonetheless, the South Central where I grew up remains a locale where the majority of the residents work hard and share many of the same concerns as those who reside in Westside neighborhoods. It’s a place where the demographics and physical characteristics have changed since my youth, where even gentrification has crept in.

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