Black Santa Monica

Year: 2019-2022

“Black Santa Monica: Reframed and Reimagined” highlights and maps Black spaces of resistance and joy in Santa Monica, asking “How can we spatially envision the historically marginalized narratives of the African-American community of Santa Monica?” With the knowledge sharing of Robbie Jones, long-time Santa Monica resident, historian, and owner of Black Santa Monica Tours , and Dr. Alison Rose Jefferson, historian, heritage conservation consultant, cultural producer, and author of Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era, Urban Humanities students created a 6'x10' "thick map," layering Black Santa Monica's history, disallowed potential, significant tenacity, current state, and imagined future. The map demonstrates how Black Santa Monica was demolished and reconfigured through city planning and policies, focusing on the role of property in those systemic anti-black efforts to create and maintain wealth. With an understanding that archives are not necessarily discovered but constructed, the project argues that Black Santa Monica will endure in the future despite its marginalization. The project attempts to visualize African-American histories in Santa Monica, beginning with the “Belmar Triangle” neighborhood, a genesis story of the broader trends of Black displacement in Santa Monica. The research is divided into the past (the Beaches and Belmar) and the future (1819 Pico and the Beach Club reimagined in 2070). Documents will be part of Black Santa Monica’s ongoing restorative justice efforts.