Abstract
Located in northeast Los Angeles, Pacoima is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley. Today, it is also one of the most polluted. Within the neighborhood’s 4.3 square miles, Pacoima contains three freeways, a railroad line, a small airport, and more than 300 industrial facilities. Before the construction of the freeways beginning in the 1960s, however, the neighborhood looked very different. Once known as America’s “first Black suburb,” Pacoima had a rich history of activism; however, archival records of the time offer little to no evidence of pushback from Black residents to the State Division of Highways (the precursor to Caltrans), as the Simi Freeway/State Route 118 bulldozed through their community in the 1960s. This storymap looks into neighboring opposition that led to the chosen route cutting through Pacoima’s vibrant and diverse community.
