34°01′08″N118°12′29″W / 34.018973°N 118.208188°W /34.018973; -118.208188
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Estrada Courts is a low-income housing project in theBoyle Heights area ofLos Angeles,California.[1] It is located on E. Olympic Blvd & S. Lorena st .[2]
Estrada Courts was constructed in 1942–1943, during theWorld War II housing shortage inSouthern California, which resulted from the war-time boom in war-industry work, followed by the return of servicemen to the region and theBracero program. Of the original 30 buildings, 214 units were reserved for defense housing.
In 1954, Paul Robinson Hunter designed an extension of the site with Fred Barlow, Jr.[3] providing 414 total apartments today. When the Estrada Courts were built it was unique to other housing projects because it “was not fully segregated or bound by racial restrictions”.[3] The Estrada Courts allowed for more integrated complexes therefore, welcoming more than just the low-income/working class. Post-war era the Estrada Courts began to evolve, in the 1970s a total of eighty murals were painted by Chicano muralists.[3]
Estrada Courts is owned by theCity of Los Angeles and operated by theHousing Authority of the City of Los Angeles.
Estrada Courts is well known for itsmurals, which reflect the barrio culture and traditions of the area.
“Chicano murals look the way they do, because the authors concentrate not only on individual murals but on mural clusters and establish a dialogic interplay of form, content, and location among them". The iconography in the mural clusters emerges from the sociohistorical context not only of the space where they are painted but also of the aesthetic norms of specific barrio cultures over an extended period of time.”[4]
The murals include:
Residents are assigned to the following schools in theLos Angeles Unified School District:
