The Truth Behind Inglewood’s Transformation From “Ghetto” to “Glam.” The Draft.
To sports fans and concert-goers driving through Inglewood, the area looks like a city post transformation. However, just across the street from all the action reside residents who have lived in the city for years, who don’t get to leave when the fun ends
Yazmin Castro-Moreno has family members who live near the construction site for the Intuit Dome. When she went to visit them, the moment she stepped out of the car the first thing she noticed was the dust.
“It literally looked like you were on the construction site,” she said. While the city has become home to many exciting experiences for out of towners, it may be pushing its residents’ needs to the side.
It’s no secret that the city of Inglewood is quickly changing, with stadium constructions and incoming big businesses becoming a common occurrence. While some are excited about this new Inglewood, these changes are also altering the lives of residents, and not everyone is buying into the vision of a new and improved Inglewood.
Long time resident Ashante (27) isn’t a fan of the changes within his community. Ashante explained how the increasing number of rent prices around the area has provoked many tenants to move out; his neighbor being one of them. The turmoil has left him feeling oppressed to move out from his neighborhood.
“My African Americans neighbors are mostly retired and own their home. They were offered to move and sell their house. Now I see a lot of different ethnicities in the neighborhood and it can be different since they tend to look at long term residents as the newcomers,” he says.
With new and existing attractions like SoFi Stadium, the Forum and the under construction Intuit Dome, rent prices have skyrocketed and traffic has gotten worse with no sign of improvement. According to Apartments.com, the average rent for an apartment is about $2,000, and the apartment size is typically 772 sq. ft.
In addition, some homeowners have considered or even decided to sell since their homes are now worth more. According to Redfin, the median sale price of a home in Inglewood has increased to $720,000. To put that amount in perspective, the U.S median sale price of a home is $412,156.
Despite the struggles this “new” Inglewood has imposed on its residents, the city shows no signs of stopping. Prior to the Superbowl this February, signs like the one featured below appeared to encourage homeowners to rent their houses out in anticipation of the massive crowds that appeared for the Superbowl.
Many hotels and apartments within close proximity to SoFi Stadium have been remodeled and renamed within the last few years, which has made the area become more visually aesthetic.
However, Castro-Moreno, who’s an Inglewood resident and SoFi Stadium employee, says her community was fine before the “transformation.”
“I don’t really think we needed the stadium, or any of the stadiums. And it wasn’t like, a bad community to live in or growing up in, because I never like, saw, any gang violence, at least in my area.
Furthermore, the stadium construction has forced the city to improvise ways in which to improve traffic and resident commute times. A new project called the Inglewood Transit Connector (ITC) is scheduled for completion in 2028. But between now and then, what is the city doing to stop the bleeding?
For many residents, traffic and parking issues are more factors that play a role in these residents’ frustrations.
During SoFi Stadium’s construction, Inglewood resident Jhamar Sanders alluded to the increased commute time he experienced getting to and from work, saying that “the commute could take 25 to 30 minutes from a location only five minutes away.” Being that his job was a couple blocks away from SoFi, his commute time would only had the potential to increase the closer to completion the stadium got.
For Castro-Moreno’s family and friends, the traffic is the biggest reason why they avoid their own city to run errands.
“They try to avoid the traffic, they like try to come home later, or…they also try to like, shop outside the city and stuff like that, because it’s just not worth sitting in traffic anymore. Or like they just don’t go out, they’re like, no, we’ll just wait until tomorrow to do whatever we have to do.”
Additional residents also share their negative opinions on their changing community. Shaina Williams (28) works in the area and due to the increase of traffic due to the venues, like the Forum and SoFi Stadium, she says traffic is a nightmare. Although she voices how doing business is better with the major changes as it has helped bring more foot traffic into the area, it has affected living in the area. It is now hard to live within the community due to the traffic and the very high property prices. Furthermore, she has taken to shopping outside the community center to avoid traffic.
“Living in the area is almost impossible for those who were already there or grew up in the area. I tend to shop further out since there are more options and less of a crowd. Also traffic makes it hard to enjoy the area. I work in the area and my commute has increased. What would usually take 15 minutes can now be up to 30 minutes, sometimes more during the events,” she says.
Many smaller businesses have been forced to relocate because of rising costs or increased competition in the area. However, some have been able to hold on.
Owner of the recently opened Salt Eaters Bookshop Asha Grant has mixed feelings about whether all these venues are hurting or helping small business owners after all.
“Although the stadium has come and sort of changed, like, the real estate landscape for a lot of folks looking for commercial spaces, I think it’s also just helped like community members too, just kind of like come together even more, and like work to make sure that we are taking up space still... I resonate with that and feel like a big part of even why I wanted to have this space here was to say like, I can feel…all of the corporate, I don’t know-business ventures creeping in, and it’s even more urgent we lay down some roots.”
Furthermore, another resident affected by these venues is local Inglewood business owner Lorena Peña. Lorena has been running her shop Once Upon a Blossom for eight years since her children attended elementary school around the area. Located at 716 Hyde Park Inglewood CA 90302, Lorena’s business is a small convenience store where she sells various items. From chips to house cleaning supplies to apparel.
Lorena views the gentrification issue as one views a penny, with two sides. She pointed out how many come to Los Angeles to pursue their dreams. The city of Inglewood began that dream with the Forum and now they have an influx of investments that go towards the new stadiums that bring big events home such as the Superbowl and soon the Olympics.
Lorena explains how these venues have brought in more business to her and other businesses. She noticed the increasing number of clients and sales during events that these venues threw. In some ways these bigger businesses and venues invest back in the community.
However, with these big venue events and the need for infrastructure to hold people, living prices go up.
“There have been supermarket closures that have made where I live harder to purchase food, especially when we live in a food desert. The prices have also risen a lot which makes living here more unaffordable” she says.
The solutions to gentrification are easier said than done. And circumstances beyond residents and community members’ control dictate where people shop, work and conduct and participate in day-to-day business and activities.
Jhamar Sanders even alluded to the changes he foresaw the community going through while reminiscing, saying “I am 29-years-old and have lived in Inglewood for 25 years. This place is extremely different from what it was even just 15 years ago and it came as no surprise to anyone in the neighborhood. We all knew this was going to happen.”
Despite the changes bringing a lot of attention and revenue into the city, what’s come of it hasn’t only been beneficial to the residents, especially for those who remember Inglewood like it was before big business and stadiums came in.
Overall, the essence of gentrification is viewed by many in different perspectives. Not all residents dislike the new venues and attractions to their city. However, just like a coin, there is always another side to the situation.
