A Legacy of Displacement in Los Angeles

While freeways are often associated with noise, pollution, and environmental degradation, scholars have highlighted that their social and economic impacts can be even more immediate and severe for individuals directly affected by them, often leading to the fragmentation of communtiies. The Century Freeway serves as a stark example of this phenomenon, as thousands of people were forcibly displaced from their homes over the 30 years of development. The upheavals inevitably caused disruptions to public services for those who remained in the corridor, and those who were forced to sell were often not able to buy replacement homes for comparable prices. One news article even noted that state agents appear to have indiscriminately selected houses for demolition while renting others. Allegations of intimidation tactics by the state to coerce homeowners into selling or forcing agreements were also reported.[1]



Amidst this turmoil, some artists and photographers took to documenting the destruction of community and loss of home. Photographer Jeff Gates' photograph collection, originally displayed at the Downey Museum of Art and now kept at the Huntington Library in San Marino, stands as a poignant testament to this period of upheaval and fragmentation. This exhibition features select photographs from his collection.

In response to the displacement and community upheaval, the lawsuit Keith v. Volpe led to the establishment of the Office of the Advocate for Corridor Residents. This office was tasked with monitoring the state's compliance with relocation regulations and providing assistance to displaced residents. 

However, bureaucratic challenges persisted. For example, a Quarterly Status Report from the Office of the Advocate revealed that the office received numerius of calls from Spanish-speaking individuals, yet the Century Freeway Housing Program (CFHP) lacked Spanish-speaking interpreters for several weeks. Many of the displacees could not be assisted by The Century Freeway Housing Program (CFHP) staff because there was no one on staff who could speak Spanish, and this was the case forat least the first three weeks of August of that year, possibly the entire month of August. It was not until early September that two Spanish speaking interpreters were added to the CFHP staff. The Quarterly Status Report wrote, "It is certainly unfortunate that so much tax dollars were spent soliciting participation among displaceees and the public only for CFHP to turn people away simply because its staff was ill-equipped to handle inquiries from the corridor's Spanish-speaking population." The Fourth Quarter Quartlery Status Report from 1986 noted that Spanish speaking families comprised about 40% of the Advocate's caseload.

Endnotes
[1] (Cites Call Soft-Pedal Freeway an Intruder).