Westwood

View of Westwood as seen from a drone

Westwood is a designated community area on the west side of Greenfield, California. It is located west of Downtown Greenfield.

It's bordered east (Barons Bar) by US-101. North is bordered by the railroad and features multiple bridges leading the avenue's out over the railroad to Ashfield West. South primarily faces the Pacific Ocean. And the westside currently is undeveloped, but there lies an empty layout which presumably is a future stretch of Westwood or a new district.

History

The name Westwood stems from the former overgrown 'woods' that used to be west of Greenfield during the 19th century.

After the growing industrialization of Barons Bar beginning around the 1900s. Westwood, which was a rather underdeveloped area gained it's first set of planned-out roads. The already existing railroad was also upgraded, with a trainstation established

The stretch from the 1920s to 1940s Westwood would see enormous amounts of construction, factories were built along the shoreline and traintracks. And neighbourhoods were built on what was just empty land a day ago.

The 1950s was the most booming decade for the district. Incoming profits from the factories led to the construction of multiple industrial piers. This would cause a massive influx of new residents, and acres of new, affordable family housing was built directly west of Westwood, expanding the area by a lot compared to before.

Though controversial, the Westwood projects located near the US-101 and I-5 interchange also brought in a wave of new working residents. But would fall in disrepair rather quick and is considered a major crime hotspot in the area, as shootings happen monthly in and around that block. It received mass criticism as these projects were very cramped and cheaply made, but reflected America's neglect on adequate public housing.

Westwood would see demolition of factories south of the neighbourhood as the construction of I-5 took place in the 60s. Further that decade would the newly built US-101 separate Westwood from Barons Bar. Demolishing multiple stores, homes and industrial buildings. The landvalue would slowly start decreasing in value, kickstarting the decay of Westwood and it's infrastructure. Greenfield's southern highways, US-101 especially to this day remains a source of urban decay, extreme noise pollution and is often seen as an overshadowing, crumbling, dividing wall between the two neighbourhoods.

These freeway works received much opposition and backlash from city residents. But all attempts proved to be futile as construction went through anyways. This increased further unrest in Westwood.

In the time between 1970-1980, like in much of America, industries dried up or went overseas. Resulting in mass unemployment. Westwood experienced saw increasing numbers in the homeless population. As Barons Bar, which by 1980 was mass abandoned and had multiple empty demolished lots at the time was a prime breeding ground for homelessness. All the while abandonded buildings appeared left and right.

Crime continued to go uncared for because of corruption within Greenfields law authority and government. With the crack epidemic in full swing during the 80s made Westwood to be one of the most dangerous districts in the city. And gang activity reached an all time high throughout the 90s.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake only made things worse, causing multiple structures to collapse and parts of the US-101 to be unstable. A wave of mass-looting and rioting followed which caused several building fires. Westwood's infrastructure was so bad that in the late 90s it took a journalist to make a documentary to show the lack of care for major repairs to roads and buildings in the district for to have finally been some work done to few important roads in the area.

In recent times crime has decreased slightly from the 2000s onward. But as of today, Westwood has seen little to no influx of wealth or hasn't experienced any gentrification unlike Barons Bar. There are still many abandoned homes throughout the district and many stores sit empty and vacant.

Neighbourhood architecture

In terms of architecture makes Westwood a very diverse mix in terms of housing types.

Both north and east of Westwood is where you'll find older development of Westwood. The houses are either small, simple bungalows or older-style duplexes. Further up north you can find factories, warehouses and smaller houses because of it's proximity to Ashfield West. The commercial zone in this area is also consists of classic wall-to-wall stores with few stripmalls inbetween. The Westwood projects are also located east, on the edge of the district next to US-101.

The southern part is mostly dominated by the I-5. But the coastline features many industrial commodities such as a power plant, oil refinery, water treatment plant and direct-access to Greenfield's ports.

The western section is designed much more broader. Because of the growth in the 1950s, it features many big-boxstores such as the Wallcart, and many stripmalls. This area consists of mainly larger, affordable midcentury bungalows. With occasionally older-style houses located about. This area features most of Westwood's educational buildings such as Westwood Middle and the Catholic elementary school.

Notable builds

CONCOR Oil Refinery

Ampeco Power Plant

Westwood Middle School

Transit

Rail

-Info on regional rail

Subway

-Info on Subway

Highway

Interstate 5 runs to the west of Westwood. There are two main avenues that run through the district.