South Park

South Park is the home of the massive LA Convention Center, one of those gigantic spaces where they hold everything from automobile exhibitions to comic book conventions. It has multiple halls so they can hold multiple conventions at once.

As to the rest of the neighborhood, the first thing that has to be mentioned is the crime. Although many residents claim that things have improved since the 1980s, in the last six months this has been ranked as one of the top twenty most dangerous areas in terms of violent crime. Despite its relatively small population (about 32,000), South Park experiences about 8 murders a year. Since 2007 there have 32 murders in this area, the vast majority due to gunshots.

You can see the effect of crime fears anytime that you drive through the streets of South Park. When not in use the shops here roll down metal curtains and have barred windows. The buildings here are mostly flat one story deals, with a very non-descript and industrial feeling. But mixed in with these you do find those odd pastel colored gentrified apartment buildings with seemingly no ground floors.

The effects of gentrification are also evident in the many restaurants and nightspots. For example, if you want a steak you might try Palm, an Italian steak place with nice intimate tables and booths and very corny head shots of famous Italians all over the walls. A couple of the cooler lounges in the neighborhood are the J. Restaurant and Lounge and the Corkbar—a great place for wine lovers.

For breakfast, a good place to try is the Original Pantry Café, a Fifties style diner complete with metal barstools and formica counter.

For entertainment, the Grammy Museum is also in the neighborhood.

There used to be the dance place, Crash Mansion, here, which was a pretty cool place, but it seems it has not survived the Recession.

If it were not for the crime this could be a pretty cool place for young people to live.