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Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Leimert Park's The World Stage Fighting Eviction

Brianna Sacks |
December 3, 2013 | 2:32 p.m. PST

Editor-in-Chief

 Listen to a story about the Stage and it's music from Annenberg Radio News

(the World Stage, Brianna Scks)
(the World Stage, Brianna Scks)

The World Stage has become the cornerstone for Leimert Park, one of the last standing African American cultural communities in the country, and it might be forced to close its doors.

Founded in 1989, the World Stage's jam sessions, jazz performances, youth groups and writing workshop have been a model for countless other nonprofit literary arts groups around Southern California and the nation, according to KCET. It has also churned out some of the nation's most famous jazz musicians and poets over its 25 years.

Now World Stage supporters are fighting government officials, developers and new investors who have been snapping up buildings to bring in new shoppers and residents, since new Metro stops often spur economic ripples and inflate the value of surrounding real estate in lower-income neighborhoods.

"It's [Leimert Park] is right in the middle of the city, a few miles from downtown and the beach so it's no wonder investors are finally seeing it's value," said Ben Caldwell an arts educator at UCLA and founder of the Kaos Network, an arts and multimedia center in Leimert Park. "But we have an underground movement here that will be tarnished through commercialism."

Last May, Leimert Park found out that their two-year fight for a Metro stop on the Crenshaw/LAX light-rail line would not expand the area they way they had hoped.

(close business on Degnan Ave., Leimert Park/Brianna Sacks0
(close business on Degnan Ave., Leimert Park/Brianna Sacks0
Shortly after the announcement, the World Stage and its neighbors learned that the building had been sold. There is a rising number of empty, boarded up storefronts in buildings that were recently purchased by developers.

Several businesses have not had their rent contracts renewed, and the Stage is holding its breath.

Our Weekly reported that public records show West 43rd Place LLC and MBA Mascot LLC purchased the buildings. After much digging, phone calls, and driving to the listed address for MBA Mascot in Culver City, Calif., which the building manager had never heard of, the people behind the sales seem almost impossible to track down.

World Stage Artistic Director Conney Williams says the Stage has become the "heart beat of the community" and offers unique services different than any other cultural center. Williams hopes the new owners realize its significance, but like many other businesses, has had almost no contact with them.

"It has become a place where if someone was hurting or someone doesn't have insurance and they need a fundraiser done those things are done at the World Stage," Williams said. "In my 18 years here we have had over 50 memorial services and fundraisers for people who needed help or couldn't take care of themselves."

New Metro rail stops have resulted in the gentrification of many pockets across Los Angeles. When the Vernon stop opened on the Blue Line in 1990, the rent burden for residents in the area rose 18 percent as more middle-class families flocked to the developing neighborhood.

South Los Angeles has been tackling the same issue. After surveying the area, the City Redevelopment Agency said construction of new housing above the existing Afro-centric Leimeirt Park shops, possible upscale condos and national chain stores could revive the area.

“We weren’t doing this so that the cultural fabric, uniqueness of Leimert Park would be replaced. We were doing this to accent our existing cultural landmarks," said Damien Goodman, executive director of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition.

Merchants countered the suggestion by drafting their own proposal that includes an African-American museum and library, mom-and-pop restaurants and a few national chains, but no condos. They also have been pushing to make the area a “historical preservation zone,” which would limit construction.

Councilman Bernard Parks, who used to represent Leimert Park before redistricting, said residents need to "invest in the area by owning their own businesses."

He also agrees the area should be a cultural landmark.

After growing up in a segregated neighborhood in Georgia, Williams said he had never seen a cultured, educated, black community like Leimert Park before he came to Los Angeles.

"The segregated community I grew up was not a place you could have pride in," said Williams. "What happens in Leimer Park and the Worls Stage is unique because people want to contribute to the place and respect that area."

Williams said the World Stage has trained and enhanced the skills of literally thousands of individuals. And while the area needs more traffic and "could stand some sprucing up," its afro-centric character should not be changed.

But it might be too late. 

A new, faceless landlord has caused a lot of uncertainty, not just for the future of the performance center,  but the identity of the neighborhood as a whole.

Stores and other cultural meeting spots, like Fifth Street Dicks and Babe & Ricky's Inn, have shuttered and many business owners are anxiously waiting to hear if their leases will be renewed.

“We are dead. We get maybe two customers a day and that is not enough to live on, to pay rent with,” said Mary Enzinga Kimbro, one of the owners of
Zambezzi Bazar.

Kimbro pays $1,600 a month and says she expects that price to go up with the new ownership.

(Laura Hendrix/Brianna Sacks, Neon Tommy)
(Laura Hendrix/Brianna Sacks, Neon Tommy)
Laura Hendrix has owned an art store called Gallery Plus in Leimert Park for 23 years and says cultural hubs like the World Stage are disappearing rapidly because they do not have the right kind of protection.

“We are on edge because we don’t know what is going to happen to us and our cultural icons we worked so hard to build up,” said Hendrix.

World Stage supporters argue that the Stage's impending eviction would be a "colossal devastation" to the neighborhood and is a crucial crux of its identity. 

"Cultural institutions are how we perpetuate our culture, our music our art our educational imperatives," said Torrey Brandon, who has lived in the area for nearly 12 years. "No one is going to China Town and telling them to close their institutions and get out, no one is going to Little Phillipines and telling them to get out."

If forced, Williams says The World Stage will continue even if evicted. It will find another building, perhaps in another neighborhood. But that would mean the end of an era for Leimert Park. 

(See photos of the stage and the rally to save it)


The future of the Stage, and the neighborhood, is still unfolding as more politicians and activists are pouring their opinions and resources into the cause. The investors, however, remain mum and still unknown. 

"The world stage is all of Leimert Park," said Williams. "And we will disappear without our art, music, poetry and dance. It's who we are."

LeimertPark title=
LeimertPark title=

Infographic made by Brianna Sacks on easel.ly

 

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