This site was created for PPDE 636 at USC. The contents of this site are not a cohesive reflection when comes to the opinions and thoughts of residents within the South LA Promise Zone. Rather, the contents of this site were formulated based on interviews from vendors within the South LA Promise Zone, discussions with activists along with community groups, and the researcher's observations. The website aims to look at vending in the South LA Promise Zone as an art.

Vending began in California around the late 1800s and early 1900s with Chinese and Mexican immigrants (Elliot, 2015). Racist policies made it difficult for Mexican and Chinese vendors to sell their goods (Elliot, 2015). Despite such racism, vending persisted as Los Angeles expanded. Los Angeles finally legalized street vending in 2018 via the "Safe Sidewalk Vending Act" (Elliot, 2015; Boyle Heights Museum, n.d.). The act decriminalized vending so vendors would not face legal repercussions for selling their goods on the street. Los Angeles has 50,000 street vendors that produce $504 million annually in sales, hence the necessity for such legislation (Liu, 2015).

The South LA Promise is one of two promise zones in California. It is made up of five neighborhoods: "Hollywood, East Hollywood, Pico-Union, Westlake and Wilshire Center" (lamayor.org, n.d.). Promise Zones are areas that are "high poverty areas in select urban, rural and tribal communities" (HUD, n.d.) Approximately 42.7 percent of people within the Promise Zone were born outside of the United States and 94% of residents are BIPOC (HUD, n.d.). Like other Promise Zones, the South LA Promise Zone suffers economically. 25 % of households earn less than $15,000 annually and 35% of residents live in poverty (lamayor.org, n.d.). Due to the South LA Promise Zone's economic struggles, it has been highly stigmatized in comparison to wealthier parts of the city.