Real estate in Northeast Los Angeles has been booming for years. We hear about it on TV and on the news. Rarely is a story published in which the term “gentrification” is used to describe areas like Eagle Rock, Mt. Washington and Highland Park, regions where home values have skyrocketed. Is it something home buyers and sellers need to know?
By definition, “gentrify” is to improve a house or a district to suit the taste of the middle class. The middle class, or bourgeoisie, tries to emulate the standards of the upper class. In the United Kingdom, the peerage refers to people of high social standing, specifically the class of people who follow below the peerage. Therefore, the gentrification of an area is a process by which people of lower socioeconomic status are forced to leave a region in order to make it more attractive to people of higher socioeconomic status. Taking run-down downtown homes from working-class families to renovate and sell to the privileged is also known as progress or gentrification.
That is precisely what is happening in the once blighted neighborhood of Highland Park. This ongoing restorative transformation has helped eradicate crime and strengthen the local economy. Juice bars and yogurt shops have sprung up in place of abandoned laundromats and liquor stores. Local businesses are now thriving, where the windows were once boarded up and the corpses rust.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the Glassell Park neighborhood of northeast Los Angeles, where police recently razed suspected gang homes in a dramatic crackdown on crime. Soon after, investors began investing in repairing the homes overlooking the Glassell Park hillside, and property values began to rise with new shops and restaurants appearing in direct proportion.
At one point, Eco Park stood out as the symbol of gentrification in Los Angeles. This forgotten slum underwent a complete metamorphosis in the 1990s, making it one of the most sought-after areas east of the city center. With Echo Park as a model, the restoration movement has continued its march eastward, rehabilitating other areas, such as Highland Park and Glassell Park, with great potential.
One telltale sign of the up-and-coming neighborhood is what’s known as the Starbucks phenomenon. If this 7-eleven of coffee shops has chosen to plant their green lady logo on the block, you can bet your bottom dollar that ‘The Hipsters are Coming’ or, more likely, that the Hipsters have already arrived. This, of course, means that property values are going up. In the historic Highland Park region, York Boulevard is now reserved by Starbucks. Having a Starbucks on the corner is clear evidence that a wealthy community is on the rise. Highland Park home values are absolutely through the roof.
Another way to measure wealth is to explore the sheer volume of trendy restaurants, bars, and art galleries—not to mention cafes populated by too-cool-for-school patrons—everywhere. This enclave has become a hot spot for exotic dining among foodies and the like. Good food seems to be in keeping with gentrification. That is one of the advantages. Today you can find French, Italian, Japanese, Vietnamese and a wide variety of vegan food in this once neglected district. It has become an amazing multicultural mecca. One more example of economic growth is the improvement of public transportation. Business people can travel from paradise to the city center by train in a matter of minutes.
The median home price in Highland Park is now approaching seven hundred thousand. In relative terms, this area is still a bargain in the exorbitant Los Angeles real estate market. As beautification of these older neighborhoods in NELA flourishes, real estate naturally becomes more desirable and property values rise.