[11] As construction along the Wilshire Boulevard corridor gradually increased in the 1920s, the development of the city was drawn west of downtown and away from South Los Angeles.

In the eastern side of South Los Angeles (which the city calls the "Southeastern CPA") roughly east of the Harbor Freeway, the area grew southward in the late 1800s along the ever-longer streetcar routes.

[12] "By 1940, approximately 70 percent of the black population of Los Angeles was confined to the Central Avenue corridor"; the area of modest bungalows and low-rise commercial buildings along Central Avenue emerged as the heart of the black community in southern California.

[11] The working- and middle-class blacks who poured into Los Angeles during the Great Depression and in search of jobs during World War II found themselves penned into what was becoming a severely overcrowded neighborhood.

[12] The black mutual protection clubs that formed in response to these assaults became the basis of the region's street gangs.

[16] Beginning in the 1970s, the rapid decline of the area's manufacturing base resulted in a loss of the jobs that had allowed skilled union workers to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle.

[18]He added that they believed such "distinctive neighborhoods" as Leimert Park, Lafayette Square and the Crenshaw District were "well-removed" from South Central.

Redevelopment, improved police patrol, community-based peace programs, gang intervention work, and youth development organizations lowered the murder and crime rates to levels that had not been seen since the 1940s and 1950s.

[25] Residents and activists are against market-rate housing as they have concerns that these projects will encourage landlords to sell, redevelop their properties or jack up rents.

[26] The construction of the K Line light rail through the neighborhood has stimulated the building of denser multistory projects, especially around the new stations.

Recession caused by the pandemic sparked gang warfare that rivalled all-time high statistics, with homicide figures similar to those of late 1990s to early-to-mid 2000s.

[29][30] By the end of the 1980s, South Los Angeles had an increasing number of Hispanics and Latinos, mostly in the northeastern section of the region.

"[32] Many African Americans from South Los Angeles have moved to Palmdale and Lancaster in the Antelope Valley.