On a recent morning, artist Kim Phillips-Pea led two women on a walking tour of a gray city block in Encanto that a couple of decades ago was a hub for Black arts, culture and community.
Today, the area is dominated by a trolley line, a handful of businesses, some homes and apartments and some abandoned buildings.
But it is slowly coming back to life with public artwork by local artists, Phillips-Pea said.
The women stopped to marvel at murals of Malcom X, Elbert Howard, Nipsey Hussle and Dolores Huerta, all on a building behind a barber shop which residents call mural alley. As cars zoomed by on the busy Imperial Avenue, the women noticed artfully painted utility boxes and Phillips-Pea spoke about past community leaders who grew up in the area.
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