10th Ave, Hyde Park

Park Mesa Heights is a neighborhood just slightly north of Inglewood (adjacent to Park View). Often considered a part of Hyde Park, Park Mesa is a working class community made up largely of small plotted 1950’s style Ranch homes. It is a high density neighborhood where homes are often divided between separate tenants and where driveways are often placed where the front yard would be—partly as a prevention against auto break-ins.

Crime rates in the area are twice the national average and murder rates are three times the national average, making it, sadly, a pretty typical South Central neighborhood. Even worse is automobile theft rates at nearly five times the national average. The intersections of Crenshaw and Slauson, and 54th and 2nd are especially dangerous with 3 murders occurring at each during the last four years.

The schools in the area are similarly atrocious, Crenshaw being the local high school. The dismal ratings move right on through the entire education cycle however, even to the lower levels. Horace Mann Junior High in the area is typical. Its API scores are 200 points below the state average and has failed to meet 13 of 25 No Child Left Behind standards for each of the last four years. In addition, only 19% of students test proficient in on the English portion of the STAR test and 15% on the math. Put simply, this is a pretty terrible learning environment.

Overall, this is not the kind of place you would want to live.