Pico-Union | |
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 Pico-Union signage located at Pico Blvd. and Albany Street | |
  Pico-Union Location within Central Los Angeles | |
| Coordinates:34°2′41″N118°16′37″W / 34.04472°N 118.27694°W /34.04472; -118.27694 | |
| Country |  United States of America |
| State |  California |
| County |  Los Angeles |
| Time zone | Pacific |
| ZIP Codes | 90006, 90007, 90015 |
| Area code | 213 |
Pico-Union is a neighborhood inCentral Los Angeles, California. The name "Pico-Union" refers to the neighborhood that surrounds the intersection ofPico Boulevard and Union Avenue.[1] Located immediately west ofDowntown Los Angeles, it is home to over 40,000 residents.
The neighborhood contains two historic districts, both listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
It has five public schools as well as a public library.
Google Maps draws the following boundaries for Pico-Union:Olympic Boulevard on the north, theHarbor Freeway on the east, theSanta Monica Freeway on the south and Hoover St. on the west.[2][a]
According to theLos Angeles Times'Mapping L.A. project, Pico-Union is bounded by Olympic Boulevard on the north, the Harbor Freeway on the east, the Santa Monica Freeway on the south andNormandie Avenue on the west. It also includes theCalifornia Highway Patrol station beneath theDosan Ahn Chang Ho Memorial Interchange northeast ofWashington Boulevard.[3]
Pico-Union is flanked byKoreatown andWestlake to the north and northeast,Downtown to the east,Adams-Normandie,University Park andExposition Park to the south andHarvard Heights to the west.[4][3][5]
TheTongva village ofGeveronga was located at the present-site of Pico-Union. It was destroyed in 1781 by Spanishsettlers as part of theAnza Expedition who issued a claim to the land and water rights fromKing Carlos III.[6]
The area was part of the earlyPueblo de Los Ángeles settlement in Spanish andMexican California.[6]
The area encompassed by Pico-Union was developed as a middle and upper middle class residential district beginning in the 1910s. Easy access to downtown Los Angeles and the nearby Wilshire District drew large numbers of affluent homeowners. Following the Second World War, the Pico-Union area, like many inner city neighborhoods, experienced an outflux of residents to the suburbs. The loss of residents and business led to high vacancy rates and lower property values in much of the neighborhood by the 1960s.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, the area became a major point of entry forSalvadoran andGuatemalan immigrants seeking refuge fromcivil war, according to thePico Union Self-Guided Walking Tour, published in 2009 by theLos Angeles Conservancy.[7]
Pico-Union became the city's 19thHistoric Preservation Overlay Zone on August 10, 2004. It contains two historic districts listed in theNational Register of Historic Places:South Bonnie Brae Tract Historic District andAlvarado Terrace Historic District.
In August 2012, the City of Los Angeles designated a portion ofVermont Avenue in Pico-Union as El Salvador Community Corridor; parts of Pico-Union are also being considered for designation as The Central American Historical District.[8]
The formerFirst Church of Christ, Scientist, once one ofJim Jones'Peoples Temples, was located in Pico-Union, at the corner ofAlvarado Street and Alvarado Terrace.[9]
Pico-Union is the fourth-most-dense neighborhood in Los Angeles, surpassed only byEast Hollywood,Westlake andKoreatown.[10] The 2000 U.S. census counted 42,324 residents in the 1.67-square-miles neighborhood—an average of 25,352 people per square mile. In 2008, the city estimated that the population had increased to 44,664. The median age for residents was 27, considered young for the city andthe county.[3]
The ethnic breakdown in 2000 wasLatinos, 85.4%;Asians, 7.6%;whites, 3.0%,blacks, 2.9%; and others, 1.1%. El Salvador (44.4%) and Mexico (23.3%) were the most common places of birth for the 64.6% of the residents who were born abroad, a figure that was considered high in comparison with foreign-born in the city as a whole.[3] Other immigrants come fromGuatemala,Honduras andNicaragua.[11]
The median household income in 2008 dollars was $26,424, considered low for both the city and the county. The percentage of households earning $20,000 or less was high, compared to the county at large. The average household size of 3.3 people was relatively high for Los Angeles. Renters occupied 90.5% of the housing units, and home- or apartment owners the rest.[3]
The percentages of never-married men (43.4%) and never-married women (36.2%) were among the county's highest. The census found 2,113 families headed by single parents, the 23.3% rate being considered high for both the city and the county.[3]
In 2000 there were 667 military veterans living in Pico-Union, or 2.3% of the population, considered a low rate for the city and the county overall.[3]
These were the ten neighborhoods or cities in Los Angeles County with the highest population densities, according to the 2000 census, with the population per square mile:[12]
Pico-Union residents aged 25 and older holding a four-year degree amounted to 6.7% of the population in 2000, considered low for both the city and the county, and there was a high percentage of residents with less than a high school diploma.[3]
These are the elementary or secondary schools within the neighborhood's boundaries:
Los Angeles Public Library operates the Pico-Union Branch Library at 1030 South Alvarado Street.[15]
Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery was founded as Rosedale Cemetery in 1884, when Los Angeles was a small city of around 28,000 people, on 65 acres (260,000 m2) of land between Washington and Venice boulevards (then 16th Street) between Normandie Avenue and Walton and Catalina Streets.[16][17]
Places adjacent to Pico-Union, Los Angeles | |
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