Watts Landmark Awarded National Trust for Preservation Grant

The City of Los Angeles' Bureau of Engineering has been given crucial funding through the National Trust for Historic Preservation's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund to ensure the future of this important edifice in the South Los Angeles community of Watts, which was built in 1970. The National Trust recognized the Watts Happening Cultural Center —  which was designed by Robert Kennard and Arthur Silvers, founders of L.A.'s first Black architecture firm — as "a centerpiece for Black arts and culture" in Watts. The grant will allow the Watts Happening Cultural Center to create a Historic Structure Report and preservation plan that will inform its rehabilitation and programming for years to come. 

The winning application was a collaborative effort, submitted by the City of Los Angeles with assistance and support from the Los Angeles Conservancy, Friends At Mafundi, the Fifteenth Council District of Los Angeles, the Watts Coffee House and GRoW.