A new city charter effective in 1925 replaced the former plurality-at-large voting system for a nine-member city council within a district system, having a 15-member council. Each district was to be approximately equal in population, based upon the voting in the previous gubernatorial election, so redistricting was done every four years. In the present day, redistricting is done every ten years, based upon the preceding U.S. census results. The numbering system established in 1925 for City Council districts began with No. 1 in the north of the city, in the San Fernando Valley, and ended with No. 15 in the south, in the Harbor area. At the beginning, the Seventh District was situated south of Downtown Los Angeles. It was moved to the San Fernando Valley in 1956. 1925: Bounded on the north by Jefferson Boulevard, on the south by Slauson Boulevard, on the west by Vermont Avenue and on the east by South Park Avenue. 1926: 46th Street, Jefferson Boulevard, Vermont and Alameda avenues, with district headquarters at 529 West 41st Place. 1928: Same as above, with the addition of the Exposition-Vermont-Vernon-Arlington area. 1932–33: On the east by Alameda Avenue, on the west by Crenshaw Boulevard, on the north by Exposition Boulevard and on the south by Vernon Avenue. 1937: On the west by Crenshaw Boulevard, on the north by Exposition Boulevard, on the east by the city boundary with Vernon and on the south by Vernon Avenue. 1940: Same as above. 1947. It was noted that the district's population was "nearly 50 per cent Negro." 1956: Move to the San Fernando Valley, after Councilman Don A. Allen was elected to the State Assembly. North: City boundary; south: Riverside Drive; east, Coldwater Canyon and Woodman Avenues; west, generally Balboa Boulevard. 1961:Van Nuys, Sepulveda, Granada Hills and Sylmar. 1986:Panorama City, part of Sun Valley and Sylmar. 1993: A 70% Latino and 19% African-American council district that covered "much of the northeast Valley" encompassing "one of Los Angeles's poorest areas" and containing "the shuttered General Motors plant in Van Nuys as well as Blythe Street in Panorama City, one of the Valley's most drug-infested areas until a police crackdown."
Registered voters were 39% Anglo, 30% Latino and 19% African-American.
Officeholders
The 7th District has been represented by 9 councilmembers, they have been:
