{"id":2415,"date":"2020-12-02T22:07:07","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T06:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shescribe.com\/?p=2415"},"modified":"2021-05-13T08:18:49","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T15:18:49","slug":"southcentralladaytrip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shirscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/02\/southcentralladaytrip\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Out The House: Day Trip to South Central LA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Writing can be such a solitary pursuit, trapping you in the limitlessness of your mind, isolating you from the outside world and all that\u2019s in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with this Coronavirus mess still raging on, that\u2019s all the more reason to stay inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But uh, rah, there\u2019s only so much a girl can take. When you spend the majority of your day looking like this\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2026and this\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s time to get out of the house \u2013 or apartment in my case. But anyway. That\u2019s exactly what I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I decided to take a little trip to my old stomping grounds \u2013 the place I spent the first 13 years of my life, 18 if you throw in my time in neighboring Inglewood. That\u2019s right, I headed for the Westside, Westside \u2013 South Central Los Angeles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While South Central has been world famous (more like infamous) for drugs and gang violence \u2013 especially in the 80s and 90s when I called it home \u2013 I honestly didn\u2019t experience any of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved my neighborhood. I loved growing up there.  I never saw anyone shot or stabbed, never saw any drugs or drug addicts (I believe they also call them crackheads) or the like. There were just hardworking people, with neat homes and manicured lawns, where everybody knew their neighbors\u2019 names even if sometimes they didn\u2019t say hi, all though most of the time they did.  I was never afraid there. I felt like I was part of a community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The street I grew up on in South Central in the present day. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not to say we didn\u2019t exercise safety precautions. We had bars on our windows, which I initially thought were for decoration not security. They were on all sides of the house except for the front where the living and dining rooms were, as my mom didn\u2019t find them to be aesthetically pleasing. The living room windows were standard, but the dining room\u2019s big picture window was outfitted with bulletproof glass, care of my grandfather, a contractor.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though my mom also exercised her second amendment rights, as a child I didn\u2019t really understand the implications such safety measures had on my neighborhood, especially since no one ever broke in our house, we never dodged a drive-by and Momma never had to bust a cap in nobody\u2019s ass. Just sayin\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you see, for me, it was a great place to be a kid. A great place to be immersed around black people and black American culture in a way that I\u2019m not today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a lot of the area has changed since I lived there, and gentrification seems to be inching in, enough of it has stayed the same to feed my soul in a way that only your hometown can.  Enough to beckon me to return, time and time again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First stop Leimert Park Plaza<\/a>.<\/strong> Perched on the corner of Crenshaw and Vernon, you may recognize this location from the opening credits of the late 90s early 2000s sit-com “Moesha<\/a>“.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: laparks.org. Leimert Park Plaza fountain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Whenever we\u2019d traveled down Crenshaw in this area, I used to love seeing this park and its fountain. Though it\u2019s now gated (I\u2019m not sure why that is, or when and if they let people in), and barely visible off of Crenshaw, it\u2019s still an iconic landmark in South Central LA. I\u2019ve passed by that park countless times, even went to kindergarten and first grade a hop, skip and a jump away, yet on the park’s actual grounds I\u2019ve never been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just north and perpendicular to the park is Degnan Blvd.  There you\u2019ll find a couple of cute little shops and cafes — along with sidewalk vendors, art, murals and more — accompanied by block-party style music thumping as you make your way down the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went on a Monday, because if I\u2019ma get out of the house, I might as well take pictures, and you know I don\u2019t like to take pictures when there\u2019s a bunch of people around (and if you don\u2019t know, now you know).  Thankfully, people were scarcely around \u2013 much less than the scores I encountered a few months ago when I went on a Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I planned on stopping by Ackee Bamboo Jamaican Cuisine<\/a>, but unfortunately they were closed. They have great smoothies, and I wanted to try their food as well, which I\u2019ve read great things about.  Since it was closed, I headed on down to Eso <\/a>Won<\/a> Books<\/a>, an independent bookstore that has been a staple in the community for many years.  The atmosphere in that shop felt like stepping into an 80s Spike Lee movie, surrounded by books from black authors with a background of bluesy jazz music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n