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Ladera Heights, California facts for kids

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Ladera Heights, California
Ladera Heights community sign
Ladera Heights community sign
Nickname(s): 
“The Black Beverly Hills”
Location of Ladera Heights in Los Angeles County, California.
Location of Ladera Heights in Los Angeles County, California.
Ladera Heights, California is located in the United States
Ladera Heights, California
Ladera Heights, California
Location in the United States
Country  United States
State  California
County Los Angeles
Area
 • Total 2.966 sq mi (7.681 km2)
 • Land 2.966 sq mi (7.681 km2)
 • Water 0 sq mi (0 km2)  0%
Elevation
305 ft (93 m)
Population
 (2010)
 • Total 6,498
 • Density 2,190.8/sq mi (845.98/km2)
Time zone UTC−8 (PST)
 • Summer (DST) UTC−7 (PDT)
ZIP Code
90056
Area code(s) 310/424/323
FIPS code 06-39108
GNIS feature IDs 1867032, 2408521

Ladera Heights is a community and unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 6,634 at the 2020 census. Culver City lies to its west, the Baldwin Hills neighborhood to its north, the View Park-Windsor Hills community to its east, the Westchester neighborhood to its south and southwest and the city of Inglewood to its southeast. With an average household income of $132,824, Ladera Heights ranks third amongst the ten wealthiest majority-Black communities in the United States.

History

Ladera Heights originated in the late 1940s with the development of "Old Ladera". In the 1960s, custom homes were built in "New Ladera". Prominent architect builders included Valentine and Gallant. Robert Earl, who designed many of the Valentine homes, went on to build large multimillion-dollar estates throughout Southern California and in other countries. Neighboring Fox Hills contained a golf course with rolling hills that backed up to Wooster Avenue. Valentine built Robert Earl designed homes on Wooster overlooking the Fox Hills golf course.

Baseball player Frank Robinson and other sports players began moving to Ladera Heights in the early 1970s. Many celebrities have lived in Ladera Heights over the years, including Peter Vidmar, Vanessa Williams, Chris Darden, Chris Strait, Lisa Leslie, Olympia Scott, Ken Norton, Arron Afflalo, Tyler, The Creator, Michael Cooper and Byron Scott. Ladera Heights is known as a residence for affluent African Americans.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 3.0 square miles (7.8 km2), all of it land.

Most of the area is in unincorporated Los Angeles County, with a small section in the neighborhood of Ladera, Los Angeles, within the City of Los Angeles.

Ladera Heights is portioned into three sections, known as "Upper Ladera," "Lower Ladera" and "Old Ladera". Upper Ladera includes all houses north of Slauson in between La Cienega Boulevard and Shenandoah Avenue, while Lower Ladera (the larger of the two) consists of all houses south of Slauson in between Wooster and La Cienega. Old Ladera is the small area just east of La Cienega and south of Slauson. The Ladera Center, located in Lower Ladera just west of La Cienega Boulevard, hosts a number of local franchise stores and eateries.

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop.
1970 6,079
1980 6,647 9.3%
1990 6,316 −5.0%
2000 6,568 4.0%
2010 6,498 −1.1%
2020 6,654 2.4%
U.S. Decennial Census
2010 2020

2020 census

According to a 2014 ranking, Ladera Heights ranks #3 among the top 10 richest majority-Black communities in the US, just under View Park-Windsor Hills, CA, and the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, and just above Mitchellville, Maryland. Per the study, Ladera Heights has an average family income of $132,824.

Ladera Heights CDP, California – Racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) Pop 2000 Pop 2010 Pop 2020 % 2000 % 2010 % 2020
White alone (NH) 1,227 863 1,014 18.68% 13.28% 15.24%
Black or African American alone (NH) 4,602 4,704 4,231 70.07% 72.39% 63.59%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 17 14 14 0.26% 0.22% 0.21%
Asian alone (NH) 190 228 351 2.89% 3.51% 5.28%
Pacific Islander alone (NH) 4 1 2 0.06% 0.02% 0.03%
Some Other Race alone (NH) 36 33 85 0.55% 0.51% 1.28%
Mixed Race or Multi-Racial (NH) 270 300 451 4.11% 4.62% 6.78%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 222 355 506 3.38% 4.46% 7.60%
Total 6,568 6,498 6,654 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

2010 Census

Slauson Ave panoramic from Shenandoah
Panoramic view of Slauson Avenue in Ladera Heights from Shenandoah

The 2010 US Census reported that Ladera Heights had a population of 6,498. The population density was 2,191.1 inhabitants per square mile (846.0/km2). The racial makeup of Ladera Heights was 4,786 (73.7%) African American, 979 (15.1%) White (13.3% Non-Hispanic White), 20 (0.3%) Native American, 231 (3.6%) Asian, 2 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 134 (2.1%) from other races, and 346 (5.3%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 355 people (5.5%).

The census reported that 6,486 people (99.8% of the population) lived in households, 8 (0.1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 4 (0.1%) were institutionalized.

There were 2,751 households, 702 (25.5%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 1,240 (45.1%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 462 (16.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 113 (4.1%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 93 (3.4%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 20 (0.7%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 778 households (28.3%) were one person and 351 (12.8%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.36. There were 1,815 families (66.0% of households); the average family size was 2.88.

The age distribution was 1,122 people (17.3%) under the age of 18, 401 people (6.2%) aged 18 to 24, 1,264 people (19.5%) aged 25 to 44, 2,183 people (33.6%) aged 45 to 64, and 1,528 people (23.5%) who were 65 or older. The median age was 49.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 79.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.1 males.

There were 2,867 housing units at an average density of 966.7 per square mile, of the occupied units 2,027 (73.7%) were owner-occupied and 724 (26.3%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1%; the rental vacancy rate was 6.7%. 4,891 people (75.3% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 1,595 people (24.5%) lived in rental housing units.

During 2009–2013, Ladera Heights had a median household income of $99,563, with 4.7% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Most of Ladera Heights is served by the Inglewood Unified School District. The schools serving Ladera Heights are in the Inglewood city limits. As of 2006 fewer than 400 Ladera Heights residents attended Inglewood USD schools. La Tijera School (K-8) and Parent School (K-8) serve Ladera Heights. La Tijera and Parent feed into Inglewood High School.

In 2006, a group of residents petitioned to move the area into the Culver City Unified School District of Culver City. Both the Culver City USD and the Inglewood USD opposed the move.

As of 2014 the Wiseburn School District allows parents in Ladera Heights to send their children to Wiseburn schools on inter-district transfers.

Colleges and universities

West Los Angeles College, a community college, is in Ladera Heights.

Services

Ladera Heights receives fire protection from the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) operates the Marina del Rey Station in Marina del Rey, serving Ladera Heights.

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services SPA 5 West Area Health Office serves Ladera Heights.

Parks and recreation

Ladera Park is adjacent to the View Park-Windsor Hills and the City of Inglewood. The park has an outdoor amphitheatre, a baseball–softball diamond field, a basketball court, children's play areas, a community recreation center, water fountains, picnic areas with barbecue grills and tennis courts.

Retail commerce

Ladera Heights Shopping Center (at the northwest side of the junction of La Tijera, La Cienega, and Centinela boulevards) hosted a Henshey's Department Store from 1966 to 1990 and what was popularly known as Magic Johnson Starbucks, a Starbucks owned by Magic Johnson from 1998 to 2018.

Notable people

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Ladera Heights para niños

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