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Jewish Histories in Multiethnic Boyle Heights

Introduction: Urban Space and the Making of a Neighborhood

Under the original stewardship of the Tongva peoples, through different imperial and national occupations between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the area presently known as Boyle Heights has been shaped and (re)shaped by different geographic priorities and the colliding aspirations among a diversity of residents and stakeholders. The essays and visualizations that follow trace the intersections of race-making and place-making in the neighborhood between the nineteenth century and late twentieth centuries, using Jewish history as a lens to capture a range of historical processes and transformations across different racial and ethnic groups. Historicizing neighborhood-making in Boyle Heights encourages us to grapple with a complex set of questions, including:

Who and what makes a neighborhood “Jewish?”
How and where are boundaries of belonging and exclusion drawn?
How have an array of stakeholders, both within the neighborhood and without, generated and enacted ideas about Boyle Heights’ religious, social, and cultural identity?

The following path explores the transformation of the urban landscape in Boyle Heights and the institutional, environmental, and social entities that fueled such changes over time.

Contents of this path: