Green Meadows, Los Angeles


Green Meadows is a 2.22-square-mile neighborhood in Los Angeles, California with a population of more than thirty thousand people. Green Meadows is within the South Los Angeles region and is the home of Locke College Preparatory Academy.

Unincorporated era

Known as an agricultural and dairying area in the 19th Century, Green Meadows was an unincorporated area seven miles south of Los Angeles on the road leading to Wilmington. It was known for its "rich alfalfa fields watered from artesian wells furnish abundant food for stock." It also gave abundant crops of apples. On New Year's Day, 1887, it was noted that new arrivals had settled to the west, "on the mesa, where several wells have been bored for domestic use at the depth of about 95 feet, with a raise of the water to within about 40 feet of the surface, and the remaining distance to be pumped by windmills."
Green Mountain was at times considered to be a part of the district of Florence, California. In 1887 the Green Mountain School had 85 pupils. In 1897 the community had a Public Hall, where a concert was given. The community was the site of the Ascot Park race track at the corner of Central and Florence avenues; it opened as a horse track in 1903 and became a motor speedway in 1904. It closed in 1919.
Green Meadows was annexed to the city of Los Angeles effective March 18, 1925.

City of Los Angeles

Geography

The Green Meadows neighborhood touches Florence on the north, Florence-Firestone on the northeast, Watts on the east, Willowbrook on the south, Broadway-Manchester on the west, Vermont Knolls to the northwest and Athens to the southwest. It is bounded by Firestone Boulevard on the north, Central Avenue on the east, the Los Angeles City boundary on the south and South San Pedro Street on the west.
Compton Creek runs through Green Meadows east-west near 108th Street and north-south near Central Avenue.

Population

A total of 28,381 residents lived in Green Meadows's 2.22 square miles, according to the 2000 U.S. census — averaging 12,785 people per square mile, among the highest population densities in both the city and the county. The population had increased to 30,558, the city estimated in 2008.
The median age was 24, young for the city and the county, and the percentages of residents younger than age 18 were among the county's highest. There were 1,605 families headed by single parents; the rate of 27.6% was considered high for both the city and the county.
The proportions of Latino and black people in the neighborhood, 54.2% and 44.1%, respectively, were reckoned as a high figure for the county. Other ethnicities were white, 0.6%; Asian, 0.3%; and other, 0.7%. Mexico and El Salvador were the most common places of birth for the 30.2% of the residents who were born abroad, about an average percentage for the city as a whole.
The median household income in 2008 dollars was $31,347, 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 3.7 people was also considered high. Renters occupied 51.6% of the housing units, and homeowners occupied the rest.

Education

Only 3.6% of Green Meadows residents held a four-year degree, a low percentage for both the city and the county. The percentage of residents age 25 and older with less than a high school diploma was high for the county.
Within the Green Meadows neighborhood are found: