Little Known Neighborhood in the Center of LA Surprises You How Quaint It Is
South Park, nestled in the southwest corner of Downtown Los Angeles (think Crypto Arena), is one of the city’s best-kept secrets. Highly walkable, bustling with new restaurants, and on the verge of something major, this isn’t the Downtown LA you see shamed in the media.
Since I moved to South Park in 2009, I’ve witnessed firsthand how this neighborhood has evolved into a vibrant community while maintaining its unique charm. It’s a place where the hustle and bustle of city life meets the warmth of a close-knit neighborhood.
A Hidden Pocket with a Small-Town Feel
South Park may be in the center of one of the world’s most dynamic cities, but it feels like a small town. You get to know your neighbors here and friendships are formed over time. This sense of community is one of the neighborhood’s strongest attributes. Whether it’s a morning walk with your dog or an evening out at one of the local eateries, you’re going to run into someone you know.
Small businesses are abundant in South Park, contributing to its small-town ambiance. These businesses, often run by locals, cater to the neighborhood’s needs, offering everything from cozy coffee shops to unique fitness options to throwing clay pots. This local flavor is a big part of what makes South Park feel like a welcoming, friendly place to live.
A Dog-Friendly Community
South Park is a dog lover’s paradise. With many dog owners in the area (67% of residences in DTLA have a pet), it’s common to see neighbors out for walks with their furry friends. This shared love for dogs brings people together, making it easy to strike up a conversation and to get to know others in the community. Dogs are often the icebreakers that turn neighbors into friends.
The Role of the South Park Neighborhood Association
Formed three years ago, the South Park Neighborhood Association (SPNA), a registered non-profit 501(c)(4) for which I sit on the Board of Directors, plays a significant role in fostering this sense of community. The all-unpaid volunteer staff tirelessly organizes a variety of events that bring residents together, ranging from dog costume parties at Halloween to holiday gatherings, with the most notable being the annual A Taste of South Park food festival.
This event showcases the best of what the neighborhood has to offer, with rows of local restaurants and bars providing a delicious array of food and drink. Local businesses meeting neighbors and sponsors raffling off prizes, it’s a fun way for neighbors to connect and celebrate the unique culinary landscape of South Park. Our next event is right around the corner on September 28th, and it is a great way to get a “taste” of life in South Park.
Big Cities Have Challenges
Across the country, metropolitan areas are struggling with the rampant effect of fentanyl addiction and mental illness among the chronically unhoused. It pains me to see fellow humans wallow in the depths of addiction and how it affects them and everyone in the community. The turnover rate of residents is high in DTLA; many newcomers just don’t want to see this despair daily and I can’t blame them.
Since the pandemic, homeless populations have spiked in downtown; however, two pockets have recovered better than others--South Park and the Arts District.
A big part of this recovery is thanks to the hard work and diligence of the official Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) that manage these two districts. Funded by property taxes and local business, the more well-funded the BID is, the cleaner and safer the district is.
BIDs are responsible for business development (attracting new business owners to set up shop) and for safety and cleaning of the district. Safety is in the form of a small army of men and women who patrol the district and respond to calls from residents witnessing crime or would-be crime (in South Park, they all wear matching green polo shirts, so they are easy to spot). If I see something nefarious happening, I call the South Park BID before calling the LAPD. Response times are just so much faster on a localized level.
Cleaning is another big task of the BID. From endless graffiti abatement, landscaping, and power washing of sidewalks, the BID is the front line of defense in keeping South Park clean. Let’s be honest, with so many dogs in South Park, the place would be unbearable without the efforts of the South Park BID. We love the BID for their efforts and recognize how key they are in making South Park a special place to live.
Hang On for The Future
Downtown always goes through cycles or peaks and valleys as I call them. It gets great and then it isn’t and then it inevitably improves. I have seen several cycles in my fifteen years since first moving here. New York goes through these same evolutions only to reach higher on the next peak, and the next peak for South Park is right around the corner (literally).
The troubled Oceanwide Plaza (the three looming towers just east of Crypto Arena) have sat 80% unfinished since 2019. Until the international spate of graffiti artists that tagged the whole building, we thought this doomed project was going to hover for eternity.Instead, all that negative attention has forced sales proceedings. On September 19th, Oceanwide Plaza will go to auction and there are three to four interested parties already in the mix, including a couple of very prominent developers familiar with the neighborhood.
My estimation is that we will hear the announcement of the new owner by November and then things will start to change fast. This billion-dollar project will have a 2028 completion date to align with the summer Olympics which will partially take place on the very same street it sits on. From what has been released so far of the 2028 Olympic Games, many events will happen in South Park including weightlifting at LA Live; gymnastics at Crypto.com Arena; fencing, table tennis, and wrestling at the Convention Center; plus a vendor village on Figueroa. South Park is smack dab in the heart of the LA games.
This obvious timeline will make South Park one of the most interesting places to open a business and to live. The neighborhood is going to evolve in rapid fashion, vacant retail store fronts will quickly be snapped up, and new businesses will open I can’t wait to have a front row seat.
Investing in Downtown’s Future
As a residential realtor who specializes in PreWar (built before 1940) and MidCentury properties, my work takes me all over the east side of LA-- Pasadena, Silverlake, Los Feliz, and Highland Park--but it is Downtown that I often find the most interesting. Historic lofts like those at The Biscuit Company, the Eastern Columbia Building, Grand Lofts, and the midcentury Flower Street Lofts are just so cool to call home.
Home buying in LA is immensely challenging. Bidding wars, high interest rates, and the rapid value increase during the pandemic have priced many would-be buyers out of the market. However, downtown condo buying is a sweet spot.
Home values based on price per square foot were as much as 20% off the 2017 pricing peak in DTLA. South Park and Arts District have recovered most of this loss as of lately and sit only 7% below peak prices but what is most compelling about DTLA loft buying is the lack of competition. As days on market get long for a listing (DTLA averages 100 days or more for a condo to sell vs. 30 days in cities like Silverlake), sellers get nervous and start dropping prices. The slow sales and lack of buyer competition make DTLA the only area where home buyers have the advantage and, in fact, is the only buyer-market in Los Angeles County. Ninety percent of all condos sold in downtown are sold for under their listed price.
Would-be buyers can take advantage of the cyclical dip in prices and ride the investment wave as the Olympics pulls the whole neighborhood up. Currently, there are 67 condos actively for sale in South Park, ranging from $9 million to $500K. Eight have sold in the last 60 days giving buyers tremendous leverage. Take a tour through the Luma building on Hope or Evo or Elleven on Grand and tell me you wouldn’t love living there. From young professionals to empty- nesters, smart investors are again looking at these specific parts of downtown.
Perfect For Some But Not All
For the eleven thousand people who call South Park home, it truly is a hidden gem. Is it the perfect place for raising kids? Probably not todayunless a local school took root. However, it is the perfect place for young professionals who don’t have or want children. It is the perfect place for empty who are tired of maintaining a large house. I know this is the case because I see it daily as new residents move into the neighborhood.
The walkable and concentrated access you can experience in South Park cannot be replicated anywhere else in LA. Within walking distance I have everything I need from amazing restaurants and charismatic bartenders to grocery stores, movie theaters, a Whole Foods, my dentist, my eye doctor, my dry cleaner, and endless events all over downtown. Living here is a total hack against LA traffic.
If I do have to battle the LA traffic, DTLA’s central location gets me everywhere in just 30 minutes--LAX, Glendale, Pasadena, Silverlake or even mid-Wilshire. LA is the heart of Southern California; DTLA is the heart of Los Angeles, and South Park is the new heart of DTLA.
Downtown is just cooler than other parts of the city. The urban grit draws a certain type of forward thinker who I love to be around and converse with. New technology always starts in downtowns; my Postmates gets to me faster than yours, I ride Bird scooters daily, and I took a self-driving Waymo to and from dinner last night. Innovation is synonymous with downtowns.
Don’t Listen to the Haters.
Downtown is not an easy place to live, but if you know the districts like I do, it can be an amazing place to live. While the local news loves to talk smack about downtown, South Park is bucking the trend. Is it all Truman Show here? No, but that would be boring. My neighborhood is always lively, always entertaining, sometimes frustrating. My like-minded neighbors revel clamoring about our challenges. With the changes coming, it is going to be unrecognizable, and it will be the buzz once again. Mark my words. I am rarely wrong in my predictions.
To the neighbors I know and love, I will see you at next month’s A Taste of South Park. To those who are coming to explore South Park, let me be the first to welcome you. If you need restaurant recommendations, just email me. I’m always glad to share the insight.
By Michael Robleto
Realtor – Compass
www.BungalowAgent.com