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[[File:1910_map_of_Los_Angeles,_California,_area_centered_on_the_city_of_Watts.png|thumb|Portion of southwest Los Angeles County, centered on Watts, with railroad lines radiating from it and the Pacific coast marked by the striations, 1910.]]
The area now known as Watts is situated on the 1843 [[Rancho La Tajauta]] Mexican land grant. As on all [[Ranchos of California|ranchos]], the principal vocation at that time was grazing and beef production.<ref name=MaryEllen>{{cite book |first=Mary Ellen Bell |last=Ray |title=The City of Watts, California: 1907 to 1926 |location=Los Angeles |publisher=Rising Publications |year=1985}}</ref>
There were household settlers in the area as early as 1882,<ref>[https://
===Naming===
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In 1904, it was reported that Watts was named after Pasadena businessman Charles H. Watts, who was found dead by suicide in the [[Victorian Downtown Los Angeles#St. Elmo Hotel|St. Elmo Hotel, Los Angeles]], on August 23 of that year. The ''Los Angeles Times'' said: "Watts at one time conducted a [[livery stable]] on [[Main Street (Los Angeles)|North Main Street]] and another at [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]] and was a man of considerable means. ... Watts station on the Salt Lake road is named after the deceased, and is located on property which he once owned."<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/380066901/?terms=Charles%20H.%20Watts&match=1 "Took His Own Life," ''Los Angeles Times,'' August 24, 1904, image 17]</ref> The ''Los Angeles Evening Express'' said: "Among other property he owned a ranch south of the city through which the [[Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad|Salt Lake railroad]] passes, and the station of Watts is named for him."<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/607766105/ "Took Deadly Potion," ''Los Angeles Express,'' August 23, 1904, image 5]</ref>
In 1919, Watts Mayor Z. A. Towne said that the settlement was named after a widow who lived on ten acres which was later occupied by a [[Pacific Electric]] [[power station|power house]]. She later moved to [[Arlington, California]], Towne said.<ref name=NameOf>[https://
In 1912 and 1913, a movement was afoot to change the name of Watts because, as one headline writer put it, the residents were tired of the "quips and jests" at the town's expense. One real-estate agent said that prospective clients backed out of a property inspection tour when they found out their streetcar ride would end up in Watts. The name "South Angeles" was proposed.<ref>[https://
===Subdivision===
A [[Subdivision (land)|subdivision]] with the name ''Watts'' was platted, possibly by the Golden State Realty Company, between 1903 and 1905, when the settlement had a population of about 150 people.<ref name=EnterprisingCityette>[https://
After 1903, Watts saw the establishment of a newspaper, a general merchandise store, a lumber yard, a [[grocery store]], a [[millinery]], [[dry goods]] and [[confectionery]] stores, a [[blacksmithery]] and [[bakeries]].<ref name=EnterprisingCityette/> The Pacific Coast Laundry Company opened in August 1907, with a payroll promised to be between $750 and $1,000 a month. Laundry deliveries were to be made via the [[electric railway]].<ref name=SaloonTaxes/>
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[[File:Watts-1912.jpg|thumb|Watts in 1912.]]
[[File:Watts,_California,_City_Hall_under_construction,1909.png|thumb|Watts City Hall under construction, 1909.]]
Watts became a city in 1907, after three petitions objecting to the proposed borders were presented to the [[Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors]]. Seven ranchers said that they had no intention of [[Subdivision (land)|subdividing]] and that all unimproved land should be omitted from the proposed city. Another petition declared that most of the property owners in Watts did not pay taxes inasmuch as they were buying the 25-foot lots for speculation, that the residents were "migratory" and that most of them were transitory "[[Traquero|Mexican railroad laborers]]." A third petition for exemption was submitted by residents of the [[Santa Ana Line|Palomar stop]], who dressed up their plea with quotations ranging from [[Greek philosophy|Greek philosophers]] to ''[[Hamlet]].'' Those petitioners announced that they had recently changed the name of their settlement from "Watts Park" because they did not want any affiliation with Watts.<ref>[https://
The City of Watts was approved by voters of the district, and it became a [[municipality]] in May 1907, with J. F. Donahue, who was a driver for the [[Pabst Blue Ribbon|Blue Ribbon]] beer company, as [[mayor]] and Frederick J. Rorke as [[city clerk]]. There was, however, no money to run the city because it had become incorporated too late to levy and collect any taxes. A proposed [[business license]] fee raised so much objection that the Board of Trustees, or the city council, submitted to the people a [[straw vote]] (nonbinding) question about allowing liquor to be sold in the city. A majority of the 250 votes did agree that Watts should allow saloons, or [[Bar (establishment)|bar]]s, and that the municipality should raise money by taxing them.<ref name=SaloonTaxes>[https://
<blockquote>We have two retail saloons and one wholesale as a result, and an income that more than pays our running expenses. In fact, we have several hundred in the treasury. The voters, who admitted the saloons, looked upon it as a business proposition. While many of them are not really in favor of having them in our midst, the experience was adopted for giving us a working fund. Some of the surplus funds are being used to employ [[Civil engineer|engineers to establish street grades]], looking forward to improvements in our [[thoroughfares]] in the near future. As an instance of prosperity, there is not a vacant house in Watts, and it is impossible to find one to rent.<ref name=SaloonTaxes/></blockquote>
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Watts was brought to nationwide attention in 1908 with the [[Broadway theatre|New York production]] of a [[musical comedy]] called "Lonesome Town," which was set in an imaginary place called Watts, California, in the year 1902. The endeavor, with music by J.A. Rayne and book by Judson D. Brusie, ran for 88 performances at the Circle Theatre, 1825 Broadway, from January 20 through April 24, 1908. It was produced by the vaudeville team of [[Kolb and Dill]] – [[Clarence Kolb]] and [[Max Dill]].{{cn|date=October 2023}}
In response to the raillery occasioned by the play, a "big advertising excursion" took place on Thursday, May 30, 1912, via a special train of three chartered electric railway cars. The route was scheduled over the [[Balloon Route]] by way of [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]], [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]], the [[Sawtelle Veterans Home|Soldiers' Home]], [[Ocean Park, California|Ocean Park]], [[Venice, Los Angeles|Venice]], [[Redondo Beach, California|Redondo]], [[Gardena, California|Gardena]] and back to Watts. The object of the excursion was to call attention "to the fact that Watts has been 'born again,' and the name 'Lucky Watts' will be used as much as possible, the idea being to get new ideas into people's heads, so they will get away from the notion that there is any joke about what the people here believe is the most promising suburban community in the county." Some 25,000 pieces of advertising material were distributed.<ref>[https://
By 1910, Watts had a population of about 2,500, "well improved streets, a fire department, a weekly newspaper" (the ''Watts Advertiser''), and it was completing a $12,000 [[city hall]]. It had "the best of public schools, churches of the leading denominations, the principal [[fraternal orders]], a [[chamber of commerce]] and a [[Good Government Organizations (United States)|good government league]]." That year, business enterprises included the California Gold Recovery Company, which manufactured a machine used in mining districts to capture "[[flour gold]],"<ref name=WattsA/> which is fine gold floating on a liquid surface. In 1925, Watts had a pump-manufacturing plant, a [[machine shop]], two sash-and-door plants, and a pickle works.<ref name=LosAngelesCounty/> There was a steel plant, McClintic Marshal Company, which covered fifteen acres and employed 180 men. A new California Thorn [[Rope|Cordage]] factory was set to hire five hundred men. A new 34-room hotel was going up on West Main Street.<ref name=TownsEnjoying>[https://
===Joining Los Angeles===
[[File:Groundbreaking ceremony for Watts City Hall, 1936.jpg|thumb|Councilman [[Franklin Pierce Buyer|F. P. Buyer]] (far left) and Mayor [[Frank L. Shaw|Frank Shaw]] (second from right) at a groundbreaking ceremony at Watts City Hall, 1936.]]
In a special election on April 2, 1926, Watts residents decided to enter Los Angeles by a vote of 1,338 to 535. It was the heaviest vote ever in Watts, with 1,933 voters at the polls of the 2,513 registered. Thus 23,000 more people were added to Los Angeles when the decision was put into effect on June 1 of that year. Mayor L.A. Edwards of Watts led the fight for consolidation with Los Angeles. Opposed were the Watts Chamber of Commerce, the Farmers and Merchants Bank, the Taxpayers League, the [[Ku Klux Klan]] and the Watts Welfare League.<ref name=WattsVotes>[https://
Watts did not become predominantly black until the 1940s.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-rothstein-segregated-housing-20170820-story.html|title=Why Los Angeles is still a segregated city after all these years|date= August 20, 2017|access-date=August 20, 2017|newspaper=[[LA Times]]|first=Richard |last=Rothstein}}</ref> Before then, there were some [[African Americans|African American]] residents, many of whom were Pullman car porters and cooks. Schoolroom photos from 1909 and 1911 show only two or three black faces among the 30 or so children pictured. By 1914, a black realtor, Charles C. Leake, was doing business in the area.<ref name=MaryEllen/> [[Restrictive covenant|Racially restrictive covenants]] prevented blacks from living in any other neighborhoods outside of [[Central Avenue (Los Angeles)|Central Avenue District]] and Watts.<ref>{{Cite book
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==Education==
[[File:Child's drawing of California schoolroom and pupils in 1909.png|thumb|right|Classroom sketch by Edna Schye of Watts, 1909.]]
There was a school in Watts from an early date. In 1905 it was reported that "steps have already been taken to enlarge the present school building",<ref name=AtThe>[http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042462/1905-04-23/ed-1/seq-17/ "At the Town of Watts," ''Los Angeles Herald,'' April 23, 1905, p. 7]</ref> and a new building was erected in 1911 at a cost of $30,000. By 1914, however, that structure had become overcrowded, and additional desks were "installed everywhere, in the library, in the halls and in the auditorium." There were 630 pupils and 18 teachers.<ref>[https://
Just 2.9% of Watts residents aged 25 and older had earned a four-year degree, according to the 2000 census, which is considered a low figure for both the city and the county. The percentage of those residents with less than a high school diploma was high in comparison with the county at large.<ref name=MappingLAWatts/>
===Schools===
Schools within Watts are as follows:<ref name=ThomasGuide/><ref>{{cite web |url= http://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/neighborhood/watts/schools/ |title=Mapping L.A.: Watts Schools |work=Los Angeles Times |year=2015 |access-date=November 6, 2015}}</ref>
{{div col start}}
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===Public libraries===
A Watts public library was established in 1913, with Maud Walton as the first librarian and Bessie Hunt as the second.<ref name=WattsBriefsNovember3>[https://
==Community service==
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*''LA Youth'' was founded by Donna Myrow in 1988. The first edition of the publication sold 2,500 copies. Its current circulation is 120,000. ''LA Youth'' reaches approximately half a million readers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.voanews.com/english/news/a-13-2007-07-24-voa6-66781387.html |title=Youth Newspaper Gives Los Angeles Teens a Voice |publisher=Voanews.com |date=October 27, 2009 |access-date=October 14, 2012}}</ref>
*''L.A. Watts Times Weekender Newspaper'' is an African American newspaper in both print form and online. It was started in 1965 with the motto: "The Voice of Our Community Speaking for Itself."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lawattstimes.com |title=Home |work=LA Watts Times |access-date=November 6, 2015}}</ref>
:In the summer of 2010 the Bakewell family was in negotiation to purchase the ''LA Watts Times''.<ref name="newamericamedia.org">{{cite web |first=Brandon I. |last=Brooks |url=http://newamericamedia.org/2010/06/bakewell-family-to-purchase-la-watts-times.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613020703/http://newamericamedia.org/2010/06/bakewell-family-to-purchase-la-watts-times.php |url-status=usurped |archive-date=June 13, 2010 |title=Bakewell Family to Purchase LA Watts Times |publisher=New America Media |date=June 10, 2010 |access-date=October 14, 2012}}</ref> Danny Bakewell said, "I am proud and honored that Melanie chose me and my family to continue the great legacy of the ''Watts Times,'' its founders and her parents,".<ref name="newamericamedia.org"/>
==In popular culture==
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*[[Etta James]], singer<ref>{{cite book |last=Gulla |first=Bob |title=Icons of R&B and Soul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R-DpxKQ67IkC&q=watts&pg=PA149 |access-date=November 6, 2015 |year=2008 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-313-34045-1 |page=149}}</ref>
*[[Glasses Malone]], rapper; born in Watts
*[[Imarjoe Miller]], professional boxer; born in Watts<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.doghouseboxing.com/Chee/Chee112811.htm |title=Boxing Debut of Freddie Roach Protege |publisher=Dog House Boxing.com |date=November 28, 2011 |accessdate=November 30, 2011}}</ref>
*[[Charles Mingus]], jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist; raised largely in the Watts area<ref>{{cite book |title=Myself When I am Real: The Life and Music of Charles Mingus |first=Gene |last=Santoro |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1994 |isbn=0-19-509733-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lccn_99046734 }}</ref>
*[[Walter Mosley]], novelist
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==Transportation==
Watts was situated at a point on a rail line that ran south from Los Angeles (eight miles to the north) to Long Beach and, according to real estate advertisements and publicity releases, was about {{frac|6|1|2}} minutes from the [[Pacific Electric Building|terminal at Sixth and Main Streets]]. In 1910 it was a transfer point for the Santa Ana, Long Beach and San Pedro lines of the [[Pacific Electric]] system. The [[Watts Station]], which is now a [[National Historic Landmark]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/travel/go-metro-and-go-everywhere-in-la |title=Watts Metro Adventure |work=DiscoverLosAngeles.com |accessdate=January 10, 2023}}</ref> included [[Wells Fargo|Wells Fargo Express]] and [[Western Union]] telegraph facilities.<ref name=WattsA>[http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042462/1910-01-02/ed-1/seq-48/C. H. Dodd, "Watts: A Growing Suburb With a Future," ''Los Angeles Herald,'' January 2, 1910]</ref> Pioneer settler A. E. Ruoff recalled that the electric line was installed about 1902.<ref name=WhatPublicity>[https://
Around 1905, a junction was installed for a line that ran to [[Santa Ana, California|Santa Ana]].<ref name=YouPay>[http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042462/1905-08-20/ed-1/seq-5/ "You Pay the Landlord's Taxes," advertisement, ''Los Angeles Herald,'' August 20, 1905, p. 5]</ref>
In February 1909 the railroad changed its schedule so that Watts travelers would have to take local trains rather than expresses, thereby increasing the length of the ride to Los Angeles from 15 minutes to one hour.<ref>[https://
In 1925, there were 800 freight and passenger trains stopping in Watts, and "a great number of wide boulevards" passed through the city.<ref name=TownsEnjoying/>
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