Q & A : A View Park Vision of the Good Life

Jo Ramsey, a leading real estate agent in the Baldwin Hills area.

Claim to fame: Handles the sale of many of the high-priced homes in View Park, one of the most affluent African-American enclaves in Los Angeles and the United States.

Background: View Park is an unincorporated community of about 2,000 homes in Baldwin Hills. It was developed in the early ‘30s and was originally a white neighborhood. Blacks began purchasing homes there in significant numbers in the early 1960s. Over the years, it has remained a well-to-do community of lawyers, entertainers, doctors and entrepreneurs. Today, African-Americans make up 86% of the residents. Ramsey, a former teacher, has been selling homes in View Park since 1977.

Interviewer: Times staff writer John L. Mitchell.

Q. Who lives in View Park?

A. They say Bill Cosby’s show doesn’t paint a true picture of black life--black people don’t live like the Huxtables. Well, in View Park, the people who live up on the hill can identify with that show. Up here, they live just like the Huxtables. They are the Huxtables.

Q. What is so appealing about the neighborhood?

A. The beauty of it, the location--it’s a sleeper. It’s quiet up here, like the country. And our prices are reasonable. You can get a 4,000-square-foot house in View Park for like $650,000. In Brentwood, that same house, they may want $1,250,000. And View Park is close to everything. You can get to the airport, Downtown Los Angeles and Beverly Hills without getting on the freeway.

And it’s not in the city of Los Angeles--it has county services, which are better. People who move to View Park are looking for big houses, hardwood floors, two and three fireplaces, big yards. It’s quiet--no stores, no apartments, it is strictly residential.

Q. When did African-Americans first begin moving in? Was it after the Watts riots in 1965?

A. No, several years before that. Blacks were moving here in the late ‘50s, early ‘60s. Blacks were living east of Crenshaw Boulevard. Whites lived here, and they were scared out. It was black agents that did it--scared the poor people to death. Some real estate agent would come to View Park, ring the doorbells of white homes and say, “Black people are moving in--you’d better move, or your property value is going to go down.” And many of those people moved.

Those blacks who moved in during the early years couldn’t just buy homes in View Park. There were restrictive covenants that made it illegal to sell to blacks. Back then, if someone black wanted to buy a home in View Park, they would ask a white person to buy the lot for them and transfer it or resell it to them. The people who bought were doctors, surgeons, teachers and lawyers--and it has stayed that way.

The whites gave up some prime location, prime real estate, when they left View Park. And they know it is true. Some people who sold come back in the neighborhood, drive through, and often say they are sorry they sold.

Q. Are whites moving back? There isn’t much indication of it in the 1990 census.

A. At first, before the market got low, they were moving back faster than the black people. But now the market is down, and everything is slow. The whole economy is moving slow. But many of the most recent sales have been to whites. Whites are rediscovering View Park because many are just tired of the commute from places like the Valley. They also want more home for their dollars and they know it’s hard to find that on the Westside.

Q. Some residents say they would like the area to remain a predominantly African-American community. Do you agree?

A. I don’t believe in racism, period. Whoever can afford to buy here should buy here. I just think there’s one race, and that’s the human race. I think, economically, if you can afford to buy here, you want to be close in, you want peace and quiet and you want good services, you come here. It has nothing to do with culture. This is like any other neighborhood, like Beverly Hills or Hancock Park. This a good area for all folks. I mean a human being is buying it. That’s all that counts.

Q. All communities have drawbacks. What are some of the drawbacks of living in View Park?

A. Just like any community, we have some folks that we wish would move. Some people put bars on their windows, or just don’t clean up their yards. We have a few if we could, we would ring their doorbell and say “Move.” But you can’t do that.

Q. Is crime a problem?

A. Actually, crime is not bad here. The criminals have a hard time finding their way around View Park because none of the streets run straight through. They cut off. We have had a couple of follow-home robberies. Once a minister left his church carrying a whole bunch of money, and he was robbed in front of his house. But that’s rare. People are out walking in the community at all times, without fear. Old ladies can walk up here; nobody is snatching their purses. There are problems on Crenshaw, but for the most part that doesn’t come up here. The Sheriff’s Department does a good job.

Q. If crime is not a problem, why do so many residents have bars on their windows?

A. They don’t need them. Some people feel more comfortable with bars on their windows. They may have come from a neighborhood where crime was high, and they feel they need the bars for security. I think they are wrong. Bars detract from the neighborhood, and they can get you in trouble--it’s crazy, people burn up with them. We don’t have that kind of problem. Our sheriff is right here.

Q. In the ‘70s, Windsor Hills Elementary School had some of the highest scores in the city in reading and mathematics. How does it match up today? Where do most of the children in View Park go to School?

A. Windsor Hills is a good little school. It’s a magnet. But most of the children who live here don’t go to school there. They are either off to college or in private schools. We really don’t have a lot of children here. People can’t afford too many children. When you start making money, you don’t want to have babies. You want peace and quiet.

Q. Crenshaw Boulevard is a significant center of black commerce, but View Park residents are sometimes criticized for taking their business elsewhere. Is the criticism justified?

A. They say the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza is not doing too well. There’s a lot of empty stores. But Baldwin Hills is like everywhere else--it’s the economy. I don’t think it has anything to do with the Baldwin Hills--that shopping center is pretty. But we also have Fox Hills, and we are close to Beverly Hills.

The people up here are snooty, you know. They love to shop at Neiman-Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue. Up here, if you want to insult someone, you mention Crenshaw Boulevard, because Crenshaw has a bad name. For some people, Crenshaw is declasse. They would never go down there. They don’t even use Crenshaw Boulevard to enter View Park.

Q. Don’t you think that is a bit elitist?

A. The people here are a little snooty. Some people, if their child says they are going to Crenshaw, they would just have a conniption fit--Crenshaw! Are you crazy? You don’t go with those heathens! That kind of thing. It’s a class thing. It is the same kind of attitude you find in Beverly Hills, Encino or Hancock Park. E. Franklin Frazier wrote about it in his (1963) book, “The Black Bourgeoisie.”

Q. Isn’t there any obligation to extend a hand to those who haven’t made it as far up the ladder?

A. No! Those who are going to be saved will be saved. They have a dream, a vision. Those who don’t want to be saved will not. The only obligation we have is to our children, and to the community where we live, just like everybody else. We have an obligation to teach our children the values of how to be decent human beings, to give them some common sense, to avoid dope and all that mess. People who live in View Park have pride in their community; they have self-esteem. They keep their lawns trimmed, their homes painted.

My mother used to say, “The farther you go up the ladder, the farther you can see.” You can’t help everyone. You have to do something for yourself--and those who also want to make it can join.