Los Angeles Nomadic Division

5 Places is a LAND series where we talk about a handful of places that are significant to artists and collaborators.

Harrison Kinnane Smith: Qualified Opportunity examines how the federal Opportunity Zone program shapes real estate use and ownership in the West Adams neighborhood of South Los Angeles.

Comprised of a new publication and three public programs, it focuses on Fundrise, one of the world's largest real estate private equity investors and platforms, and its instrumentalization of Qualified Opportunity Zones.

Here, Harrison writes about 5 significant places in West Adams.

Hattie McDaniel Residence

2203 S. Harvard Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90018

In the 1940s, West Adams Heights (later known as Sugar Hill) became a battleground in the fight against housing discrimination. By paying a premium, wealthy Black Angelenos convinced some White sellers to deed them homes in the area in violation of the racially-restrictive covenants attached to the properties. In 1941, the actress Hattie McDaniel joined other Black buyers when she moved into 2203 S. Harvard Blvd.

The daughter of two formerly-enslaved parents, McDaniel spent much of her life working as a domestic laborer to supplement her career as a performer. However, her fame grew throughout the 1930s, culminating in her role as “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind (1939). For her performance, she became the first Black woman to win an Oscar.

Shortly after moving to Sugar Hill, McDaniel was sued alongside other Black residents by a local White homeowners association that asserted the violation of racially-restrictive covenants had caused “great and irreparable injury.” McDaniel helped organize the defendants in the class-action lawsuit, who were represented by the young Black lawyer Loren Miller.

Though Miller helped win the Black defendants a groundbreaking victory, they would have less than a decade to enjoy their newly-protected homes. In 1950, the California Highway Commission announced plans to build the I-10 freeway from east to west Los Angeles directly through the Black Sugar Hill. By 1964, the segment of the I-10 running through West Adams was complete, having destroyed Los Angeles’ wealthiest Black community in the process. The McDaniel Residence was one of few homes to avoid demolition, and is recognized today as a “Culturally Significant” site by the Los Angeles Conservancy.

Loren Miller Recreation Center

2717 Halldale Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90018

I enjoyed living across the street from this community center and park for two years. Established in 1982, the Loren Miller Center was named after the Civil Rights lawyer. Miller made a lasting impact on the community when in 1945 he defended Black West Adams residents against a White homeowners association that sought to enforce the “Whites-only” racially-restrictive covenants on the defendants’ homes.

During his defense, Miller invited Judge Thurmond Clarke to visit Sugar Hill in order to disprove the plaintiff’s assertion that Black homeownership had caused White residents “great and irreparable injury.” Judge Clarke proceeded to adjourn the court, take Miller up on his offer and upon his return, rule in the defendants’ favor. Clarke denounced the covenants as a violation of the defendants’ 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law. Miller went on to play a key role alongside Thurgood Marshall in the Supreme Court 1948 case Shelley v. Kraemer, whose ruling declared racially restrictive covenants unconstitutional, permanently banning their use in the county.

Paul Revere Williams House

Corner of Jefferson Blvd and West 35th Street Los Angeles, CA 90007

Despite becoming the first Black architect admitted to American Institute for Architects in 1923, the widespread use of racially-restrictive covenants in Los Angeles prevented Paul Revere Williams from building his own home until 1952. While they waited for racially-restrictive covenants to be ruled unconstitutional, Williams and his wife made a home at this house in the Black section of mid-century West Adams.

In January of 2023, architect John Arnold and Curt Bouton purchased the home 1271 West 35th St., and embarked on a restoration project to preserve the Williams family home. Later that year, the site was designated as a “Historic-Cultural Monument” by the City of Los Angeles.

“To Protect and Serve” Mural by Noni Olabisi

Moe Hair Salon 3406 11th Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90018

This mural by Noni Olabisi (1954-2022) was painted in 1992 with support from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and the Social and Public Art Resource Center Neighborhood Pride Program. It was restored by Olabisi in 2013 and remains vibrant to this day. If you’re driving east down Jefferson, it’s impossible to miss.

From left to right, the painting moves from a depiction of the Klan, and police violence against Civil Rights Activist and Black Panther Party founder Bobby Seale, through the proud faces of Black Panther Party founder Dr. Huey P. Newton and former member Angela Davis at its center, to depictions of the Black Panthers’ social programs supporting the non-White community on the right. A text on the right edge of the mural quotes the Party’s Ten-Point Program, “We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of Black people! We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace. ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!”

Reparations Club

3054 S Victoria Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90016

Owned and managed by South Central LA native Jazzi McGilbert, Reparations Club is an independent Black-owned bookstore. In addition to selling books by and about Black people and communities, Reparations Club hosts book launches, readings, and Q&As with authors as well as other community-oriented programming. On August 27th, Reparations Club generously hosted myself and Cauleen Smith for the launch of my project with LAND, “Qualified Opportunity.”

Other great places for reading nearby include All Power Books on Adams, and Radical Hood Library on Jefferson.