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Nickerson Gardens

Public housing complex in Los Angeles, California, United States

Field	Value
building name	Nickerson Gardens
image	File:Nickerson Gardens, Watts, Los Angeles.jpg
caption	Nickerson Gardens in 2019
location	1590 East 114th Street, Watts, Los Angeles, California, United States
status	1,066 units
constructed	1954
governing body	Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles
construction architect	Paul R. Williams

Nickerson Gardens is a 1,066-unit public housing apartment complex at 1590 East 114th Street in Watts, Los Angeles, California. Nickerson Gardens is the largest public housing development in Los Angeles.

Location

The complex occupies the blocks northeast of the corner of Imperial Highway and Central Avenue, and southwest of 111th St and Compton Avenue. It is on the border of both Watts (a district of South Los Angeles) and the Census Designated Place (CDP) of Willowbrook.

History

It was first opened for occupancy in March 1954, although construction was still underway. The original architect was Paul R. Williams. It was named after William Nickerson Jr., the founder and former CEO of Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company.

In the mid-1970s, Nickerson Gardens was 95% African American; by 2004, the African American population had decreased to 75% and continued to drop.

Nickerson Gardens was occasionally known as the recognized birthplace of the Bounty Hunter Bloods gang. A Los Angeles Times article on November 17, 2007, detailed they were gangs that had patrolled in and around Nickerson Gardens.

In 2023, Nickerson Gardens received a new playground, featuring a gym, a carousel, misting poles and canopies for evaporative cooling, climbing nets, slides, and swings.The lead bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Flea, arranged funding for the park, while NBBJ and ESI Design did designwork for the park free of charge. The Watts Gang Task Force spoke at the unveiling, highlighting the park as a measure against gang activity.

Operation

The complex is owned and managed by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles. Nickerson Gardens consists of 156 buildings with townhouse style units made up of single bedroom units.

Education

Nickerson Gardens is assigned to the following Los Angeles Unified School District schools:

112th Street Elementary School
Lovelia P. Flournoy Elementary School
Markham Middle School
Jordan High School

In popular culture

Nickerson Gardens has been referenced in many of rapper Kendrick Lamar's songs such as "DUCKWORTH.", "wacced out murals" and "Not Like Us". However, he was not raised in Nickerson. He and his colleagues at Top Dawg Entertainment have held a Christmas Toy Drive every December at Nickerson Gardens since 2014. TDE founder Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith and their flagship artist Jay Rock (Johnny McKinzie, Jr.) were both born and raised in Nickerson Gardens.

References

(2009). "Public Housing Developments". Hacla.org.
July 18, CLAIRE SPIEGEL. (1987-07-18). "Watts Housing Project Will Be Renovated".
The California Eagle, February 25, 1954
"Nickerson Gardens Housing Project - Los Angeles - Paul Revere Williams".
Freeman, Dennis. (25 March 2004). "Nickerson Gardens Targeted for Redevelopment". [[Los Angeles Sentinel]].
(1987-07-18). "Watts Housing Project Will Be Renovated".
(2007-11-17). "A quiet night's menace".
(2023-08-22). "Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea patroned a playground designed by NBBJ and ESI Design for L.A.’s Nickerson Gardens". The Architect's Newspaper.
(December 13, 2024). "Kendrick Lamar Playfully Swarmed by Kids During TDE's Christmas Concert". BET.
(May 25, 2019). "Rapper Jay Rock honored with key to hometown Watts". ABC7.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

public-housing-in-los-angeles watts,-los-angeles willowbrook,-california buildings-and-structures-completed-in-1955 1955-establishments-in-california paul-williams-(architect)-buildings

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