University Park, Los Angeles, California

University Park is a historic neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, a few miles south of Downtown Los Angeles. University Park refers to the University of Southern California (USC) as well as the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the University, in particular Exposition Park and North University Park. The area's main thoroughfares are Figueroa Street, Jefferson Avenue, Exposition Avenue, Hoover Blvd, and Vermont Avenue. In addition to USC, the area is home to Hebrew Union College and Mount St. Mary's College's Doheny campus in North University Park.

Downtown or South Los Angeles

There is some debate as to whether the University Park neighborhood is a part of Downtown Los Angeles or South Los Angeles. Historically, when USC was founded next to Exposition Park (then called Agricultural Park) in 1880, it was south of the 20,000 person town of Los Angeles, which was centered around what is now Olvera Street at the northern end of the current Downtown Los Angeles neighborhood. Over the years, the area and neighborhood has been considered a part of the northern end of South Los Angeles, with the dividing line between South and Downtown LA delineated by the Santa Monica Freeway (I-10).

Since 1998 there has been a movement, supported by businesses and organizations in the region of University Park and North University Park, to redefine the neighborhood as a part of Downtown Los Angeles, starting with the formation of the Business Improvement District the [http://www.figueroacorridor.org/about.php Figueroa Corridor Partnership] . The goal of the businesses and organizations making up the Partnership is to extend the definition of Downtown to make the University Park the area's southern tip, and it consists of business and organizations in the adjacent University Park and South Park neighborhoods (the latter is universally considered part of Downtown Los Angeles). Since that time there has been significant construction on both ends: with the Staples Center, LA Live and luxury apartment buildings moving south from South Park and the Galen Center and other university buildings from University Park moving north; however the possibility of merging University Park with Downtown Los Angeles remains years away.

USC students spend $406 million yearly in the local economy, the majority of which is spent in Downtown Los Angeles. [Evan George, [http://www.downtownnews.com/articles/2006/12/11/news/news05.txt Trojan Dollars: Study Finds USC Worth $4 Billion Annually to L.A. County] , "Los Angeles Downtown News", December 11, 2006.]

Education

The neighborhood is zoned to schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District [http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/printedition/la-re-guide4jun04,1,372944.story?page=2] .

Zoned schools include:
* [http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Norwood_EL/ Norwood Elementary School]
* [http://www.lausd.net/Adams_MS John Adams Middle School] (some areas)
* [http://www.berendoms.org/ Berendo Middle School] (some areas)
* Manual Arts High School [http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Manual_Arts_HS/]

Archdiocese of Los Angeles Schools
* St. Vincent School - Founded in 1911 - Grew out of St. Vincent College, 1st college in Los Angeles

Facts

*The adjacent West Adams neighborhood is known for its architecture (see:Historic Architecture of West Adams), but in many of the residential areas of University Park this architecture has been torn down to make room for apartment-style housing to accommodate USC students, notably along Ellendale Place just north of USC.
*The district signs the City of Los Angeles employs to distinguish the area are notoriously confusing, as at each of the four corners surrounding the University of Southern California, signs tell motorists they are moving into different, distinct districts with puzzling and unused names, such as "West University Expo Park". These names are not in common use.

References