LA honors its Black history with new landmarks and plaques

You could pass it every day and never know its legacy –- a modest, pale-pink house on a quiet, tree-lined block in Leimerk Park.

For decades, it was home to Tom and Ethel Bradley – the city’s first Black mayor and his wife – and a gathering place for allies, neighbors and friends during an era when racial covenants sought to keep Black families out of the neighborhood.

This week, the Bradley Residence joined St. Elmo Village, a long-standing hub for Black artists and cultural life, and Jewel’s Catch One, a storied nightclub in Arlington Heights that served as the safe space for Black and LGBTQ+ communities, as the newest Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments.

Together, these three sites mark the first designations under the African American Historic Places Los Angeles initiative (AAHPLA), a partnership launched in 2022 between the Getty and Los Angeles that aims to address a stark imbalance in the city’s preservation record.

“As we unveil these plaques today, we’re doing more than just honoring legacies—we’re cementing their story in the permanent record of our city,” said Councilmember Heather Hutt, who represents Council District 10, where all three sites are located, during the Aug. 14 plaque unveiling ceremonies.

She added: “We live in a time where accurate depictions of our history are often under threat, where important stories can be overlooked or even erased. Today, we take a stand against that. We are making a promise to future generations that this legacy of unity, service, and courage will not be forgotten.”

Here’s a closer look at the three new landmarks:

Bradley Residence (3807 Welland Avenue)

In 1950, Tom and Ethel Bradley purchased this modest Leimert Park home despite racially restrictive covenants meant to keep Black families out. Built in 1940, it became the base for Bradley’s groundbreaking political career — from serving on the City Council to becoming Los Angeles’s first Black mayor and holding the office for 20 years, the longest in city history. Ethel, the city’s first Black First Lady, was a community leader in her own right.

St. Elmo Village (4820-4846 W. St. Elmo Drive)

Founded in 1969 by artists Roderick and Rozzell Sykes, this vibrant Mid-City enclave of bungalows and gardens became a hub for the Black Cultural Arts Movement and later an incubator for activism, including the early days of Black Lives Matter. Now run by Jacqueline Alexander-Sykes, it continues to host workshops, festivals and youth programs.

Jewel’s Catch One (4061 W. Pico Boulevard)

Opened in 1973 by Jewel Thais-Williams, this was one of the first Los Angeles nightclubs to welcome LGBTQ+ people of color and the first African American female-owned disco in the city. A safe space for nightlife and activism, it also hosted benefits during the HIV/AIDS crisis. Thais-Williams, who died in July 2025, saw its designation finalized before her passing.

The designations mark a milestone for a city where, preservationists say, Black history has too often been underrepresented in official records.

“This work came about because people were talking about globally, issues of inequity, and there’s inequity in every facet, including the preservation world,” said Rita Cofield, associate project specialist at the Getty Conservation Institute and AAHPLA project leader.

As of January, just over 4% of Los Angeles’ roughly 1,300 locally designated landmarks are tied to African American history, according to the AAHPLA initiative.

The project’s leaders said that number speaks to a preservation system that has long overlooked important places tied to Black life in the city.

One of the biggest obstacles, Cofield said, is that historic landmark programs have often favored grand architecture or sites linked to nationally famous figures — criteria that tend to center white, wealthier histories. Many African American landmarks, by contrast, may be unassuming in appearance but rich in cultural and social meaning.

“Like the modest house of the Bradley family,” she said. “You wouldn’t know that they had to break barriers to live there.”

The AAHPLA initiative builds on a Getty-City of Los Angeles partnership launched in 2005, which produced SurveyLA, the city’s first comprehensive historic resource survey, and a 2018 context statement on African American history.

That work took on new urgency in 2020, amid a national reckoning over racial injustice after George Floyd’s death, when Getty convened national thought leaders to explore how preservation policy could better reflect underrepresented histories.

That national conversation pushed preservationists in Los Angeles to think bigger: how could the city’s African American history be made visible, not just remembered in archives? For Cofield, that means ensuring the stories are anchored in real places people can see, touch and walk past every day.

She said there’s something powerful about walking past a site marked with a plaque that shows it was recognized and supported by the community, its stewards and the City Council. “That’s pretty powerful if you ask me,” she added.

The AAHPLA work is far from over. Beyond the first three designations, the project will add StylesVille Barbershop & Beauty Salon in Pacoima, the former California Eagle newspaper offices and New Bethel Baptist Church.

StylesVille, in particular, shines a light on the San Fernando Valley’s little-known Black history. During an era of restrictive housing covenants, Pacoima was one of the few neighborhoods where African Americans could own homes. A celebration for the barbershop will be announced later.

Cofield hopes the initiative inspires more people to take an active role in preserving the places that shaped their communities — whether that means learning the designation process, attending commission hearings, or simply paying closer attention to what’s happening in their neighborhoods.

“If you see something, say something,” she said. “If you see a building in danger, call the Office of Historic Resources.”