Watts was the epicenter of two sets of LA riots – 1965 and 1992 – when this vibrant community and cultural center was burned to the ground. The neighborhood is still teeming with large numbers of kids growing up poor and angry, but there are pockets of improvements thanks in part to such groups as this.
Founded by Ted Watkins and run by his son, Timothy, their headquarters doubles as a cultural theme park. A huge bronze sculpture of a black woman called Mother of Humanity dominates the campus, and the Cecil Ferguson Gallery rotates exhibits of LA’s best African-American artists such as Willie Middlebrook and Michael Massenburg. The most powerful exhibit, though, is the Civil Rights Museum , only available by guided tours that must be booked at least a day in advance. Guides take you through the hull of the Amistad (the actual façade used in the Spielberg film), a body-filled slave ship, and along the Mississippi Delta Rd to displays about Martin Luther King, the Black Panther Party and the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. There's also a wonderful new skate park (open 8am to dusk) here where South Central’s growing crew of skaters freelance and grind with incredible skill.
