Gateway to the Hills

Gateway to the Hills. . , The Jewel of Crenshaw , a historically black advocacy organization that stresses job training and It's more than fitting that the headquarters of the Los Angeles Urban League, career advancement, is situated at the base of View Park, Windsor Hills, and Baldwin Hills, three of the most picturesque and affluent African American neighborhoods in the country. Distinguished by the Spanish Colonial and Mediterranean-style architecture that marks many neighborhoods in Crenshaw, Windsor Hills was developed in the late 1930s, and was the first subdivision in Southern California to obtain mortgage insurance from the newly created Federal Housing Administration. The whole area defines the western most part of the Crenshaw district and is a bridge to the westside of Los Angeles. , Primed for Success , The Urban League is on Mt. Vernon Drive, just west of Crenshaw Boulevard, though going west up into the hills, the street turns into Angeles Vista, the main thoroughfare through Windsor Hills. The Urban League is a national organization originally formed in 1920 to improve the working conditions and opportunities for blacks who had moved from the agricultural South to the industrial North. The Committee for the Improvement of Industrial Conditions Among Negroes in New York (founded in New York in 1906), and the National League for the Protection of Colored Women (founded in 1905) merged to form the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes. In 1920, the name was shortened to the National Urban League. Like the NAACP, the League's founders and board members were interracial one of the principal founders was Ruth Standish Baldwin (no relation to Lucky), the socially conscious widow of a railroad tycoon. , The Hills , Situated west of Crenshaw between Slauson Avenue and Stocker Street, View Park was developed in the 1920s , around the same time as Leimert Park , as an upper-middle-class neighborhood in the mold of Cheviot Hills, Brentwood, and Studio City. Baldwin Hills was named for California land baron and oil mogul Elias "Lucky" Baldwin. Baldwin Hills is famous for the Dons , a row of hilltop streets between La Brea and La Cienega, such as Don Felipe and Don Tomaso, that use the Spanish honorific. The "Dons” boast the area's largest homes and most spectacular views. African Americans were prevented from living in these areas until the Supreme Court struck down racial covenants in 1948 in the landmark Shelley v Kraemer decision. In the 1960s as whites moved out and black professionals began moving in, View Park, Windsor Hills, and Baldwin Hills became collectively known as the "Black Beverly Hills." It's also been called "Pill Hill" for the high concentration of doctors who resided there. Baldwin Hills' black community was at the forefront of school desegregation efforts in Southern California. In 1962, brave black parents, with the aid of the NAACP, pressured a reluctant Los Angeles school board to enroll their children at Baldwin Hills Elementary, their local campus that had remained virtually all white. , The Olympics in Crenshaw , The Urban League office also marks the entrance to another vaunted area: the Olympic Village, the first of its kind, that housed athletes for the 1932 games in Los Angeles. Heading into the hills, Angeles Vista splits off into Olympiad Drive and though the exact parameters of the village are unclear today, what is known is that it was built in Baldwin Hills in an area west of Crenshaw between Slauson Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard. , Everyone knows about Jesse Owens in 1936, but fewer know that the 1932 Olympics had its own African American track star , Detroit-born Eddie Tolan. Known as "The Funky Runner" for his eccentric look and odd habits that included taping his glasses to his face and chewing gum during competition, Tolan won two gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter races. Two women, Louise Stokes and Tidye Pickett, also made history in 1932 by becoming the first black female athletes to win spots on the Olympic team. Unlike Tolan, their ending was not a triumphant one. Slated to run in the 4 x 100-meter relay, the two were replaced at the last minute by white athletes. , Ready for its Closeup , Though Crenshaw Boulevard has become a somewhat exaggerated symbol of LA's urban grit, the Hills have become an equally famous symbol of the city's black affluence. A reality show about the tribulations of being black and middle-class in Los Angeles, Baldwin Hills, debuted on Black Entertainment Television in 2007. Famous residents include singer Nancy Wilson, Ray Charles, Tina Turner, and John Singleton.