So the three enclaves that were along the coast were Oakwood, Belmar and also Bruce’s Beach in Manhattan Beach. And it was also the last remaining Black ethnic enclave along the Southern California coast. And it was also experiencing this wave of gentrification that was threatening it not just Oakwood, but all of Venice’s culture. But I decided to focus on Oakwood as sort of a case study because there was already some information about its original Black residents. There’s a Black community in Santa Monica that was established before Oakwood was established that had separate markets, barber shops, their own Black businesses. There was a Black community of servants that served the wealthy suburb of Pasadena. So I read about a couple of Black enclaves in Southern California that grew tucked away with an all white communities. So I wanted to find out what the remaining 20% of those properties, where they were and what they look like. When I learned that restrictive covenants on property deeds burden about, I think, is that 80% of the property in Chicago and Los Angeles in the 1940s, I was like, yeah, I’m sticking with this topic. And so that led me down a path of trying to answer what, like overt physical evidences existed in Southern California, particularly in Los Angeles, that told the story of this self or legislated segregation. And I found out that California had enacted like 17 Jim Crow laws, after the era of reconstruction, that were specifically designed to separate the different races in matters of marriage, employment and housing. The quote went something like, “the larger landscape is often organized by race and ethnicity through self or legislated segregation.” I was like, huh. So there’s this quote, in a book that was called invitation to vernacular architecture. And I went through at least a half a dozen topics before landing on Oakwood, but I knew I wanted to do something on the African American community. He told me to relax and just read up on things that I enjoyed and a thesis topic would kind of reveal itself. What drew you to doing your thesis on the Oakwood section of Venice?Ī huge influence in the direction of my thesis came from my chair at the time Professor Kevin Starr. Thank you, Rita for being here, and welcome to the Save As podcast again. My name is Rita Cofield, and the title of my thesis is Oakwood: Exploring the Tangible and Intangible Resources of a Black Ethnic Enclave in Venice, California, early 1900s through the 1960s. That includes issues of environmental justice, and issues of social justice and economic disparity, and all kinds of things that are tied up into the history of this community that go back to its very founding.Īlright, well, let’s take a listen to producer Willa Seidenberg talking with Rita Cofield. But it’s a place that has this really complicated and complex history. I think if you didn’t know that much about Venice, which certainly was the case for me until relatively recently, your impression might be about the boardwalk or about Muscle Beach or the canals you know, the sort of glamorous postcard history of Venice. And, you know, going back to, to the founding families, and you know, all the development that happened and what these families went through, just to build a home. And I think this is a great chance to sort of get the real story behind a really, really important part of the area’s history. Venice is one of those places that has so many images and perceptions and stereotypes around it, that there’s a lot of overlooked stories. She did interviews with folks from Oakwood, current residents and local historians to try to really understand the story of this place. Rita took her time and really dug into the stories of the neighborhood. Yeah, we’re talking with Rita Cofield about her thesis that she recently completed on the neighborhood of Oakwood in Venice. We’ve been on the air long enough to have someone who has come back. I’m Cindy Olnick.Īnd we are delighted that you are with us here today for a very interesting conversation with a repeat guest. Hello, and welcome to Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation. Today on Save As, join us as we explore a Black enclave in one of LA’s trendiest and most controversial neighborhood in Venice, California. Oakwood and the “Racing of Space” in Venice