Billy Higgins, Founder of World Stage in Leimert Park
Today, Leimert Park's music scene is the beating heart of the neighborhood. At the park that share's the neighborhood's name, drummers play together each Sunday afternoon (leimertparkbeat.com/events/leimert-park-sunday-drum) and the group's music usually represents the area's African roots.
Meanwhile, at venues such as World Stage, jazz has evolved from the days when Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Charles lived here while local hip-hop is well represented at KAOS Network. Zambezi Bazaar features rare books and magazine, out-of-print records and hard-to-find prints, all of which promote African American culture in some way.
Building upon this literary tradition is the Leimert Park Village Book Fair, which was first staged in 2006 and takes place each June. The Book Fair attracts more than 5,000 people who come each year to see the more than 200 authors, poets, spoken-word artists and performers. The 2011 version of the event featured Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Isabel Wilkerson, and publishing pioneer Susan L. Taylor, among other literary leaders.
And the local arts community took the area's creative tradition one step further by establishing the monthly Leimert Park Art Walk in 2010. Taking place on the last Sunday of every month, the Art Walk is a free self-guided art and community experience bringing visual and performance art along 43rd Place between Leimert and Crenshaw boulevards.
Finally, all of that walking, reading and playing is sure to make a visitor hungry, so the obvious choice is Phillips' Bar-B-Que, whose original location (there are two others) is on Leimert Boulevard. For decades, Phillips' has served great beef brisket and sausage links, but its spareribs (according to LA Weekly's estimable Jonathan Gold) give the place enough bragging rights not only to be the best 'cue in LA but to compete with houses in bar-b-que Meccas such as Kansas City and Texas. Other good local grub includes Ackee Bamboo, which serves big portions of Jamaican food.
At the end of the day, Leimert Park Village is a beacon for African American culture, visible in the neighborhood’s shops and venues — and also in the residents, who share frequent exchanges of warm-hearted greetings. For visitors, it’s an opportunity to experience modern, living culture first-hand.
