As L.A. Gentrifies, Who Gets Left Behind?
With New Development and Organic Markets on the Rise, Many Working-Class Neighborhoods Are Transforming—Maybe for the Worse
When a British sociologist coined the term “gentrification” in 1963, she wrote that it happens when “working class quarters have been invaded by the middle class … until all or most of the working class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is changed.”
What do such character shifts look like here in L.A.? The organic market that opened in an Echo Park lot once occupied by a Save A Lot discount store? The presence of empty apartment buildings in Highland Park—old buildings whose new owners …
