A changing South L.A.

The area of South L.A. targeted by a new gang injunction is one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city. Park space is scarce and often ceded to street gangs. Children like Jeremiah Purvis, 3, must make do.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Pueblo del Rio is one of the city’s oldest and largest public housing developments. It is home to a small but tight-knit Cambodian American community, which recently celebrated the Cambodian New Year in a courtyard between apartment buildings.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A produce vendor walks his cart across Ascot Street. Many of these vendors are “taxed” by street gangs.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Belying South L.A.’s troubles are numerous signs of heightened economic activity, even in the face of the regional recession. The Diamante Barber Shop is expanding, adding four new chairs in an adjacent building.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

The Diamante Barber Shop, near Central Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard, is also a social hall of sorts for residents.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

In South Los Angeles, some newly arrived immigrants from Latin America keep farm animals in their yards – though some, like this rooster, escape for an occasional stroll.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A man worships during Sunday services at the Iglesia Dos Olivos Christian church near Fred Roberts Park.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

As a procession rounds the altars at St. Patrick’s Church, a keyboard player is pushed in a cart to accompany the celebration.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

There are numerous Baptist, Catholic and evangelical churches in the neighborhood, though few have the funds to offer many resources beyond their worship services.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Pit bulls are a frequent sight in South L.A. One makes his presence known as an LAPD officer walks into a yard looking for a parolee.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

At Pueblo del Rio, African Americans and Cambodian Americans once warred over turf. But both communities were represented at a recent celebration there marking the Cambodian New Year.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

An abandoned boat rests on Long Beach Boulevard in South Los Angeles. In this corner of the neighborhood, residences abut vacant warehouses and defunct rail yards, adding to the sense of destitution.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Irene Ortega, 1, smiles as she’s taken for a stroll near Fred Roberts Park. Bulldozers recently began an expansion project at the park, one of the few recreational sites available to neighborhood children.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Many pockets of South Los Angeles have undergone a dramatic and rapid transformation, changing from predominantly African American to predominantly Latino. Ethnic food is a thriving industry.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)