Day 4: Watts, Los Angeles, California

Founded in 1781, Los Angeles served as a provincial outpost until 1881. Now the country’s second most populated city, it experienced a period of significant expansion early in the twentieth century. The creation of a deep-water port, the completion of the Panama Canal, and the invention of the automobile brought with them increased commerce, population growth and immigration. Once thriving, the Greater Watts area of South Central Los Angeles experienced significant decline with the departure of several major corporations. Intensifying this economic decline, high-profile riots erupted in South Central in both 1965 and 1992.