Inglewood, once known for danger, uses World Cup to rebrand as a fun place

INGLEWOOD, California, July 1 : Sandra Lith came to the front of Ms. Ann's Boutique in Inglewood and asked a browsing World Cup visitor if he felt safe, if he had found people nice, and if he liked the small city in the Los Angeles area. 

When he answered yes to all three, she said, "You go back to Canada and tell them Inglewood is nice, Inglewood is friendly, and they should all come here some time."

The city and some of its people are hoping the global spotlight on Inglewood due to the World Cup, which is bringing in fans from across the planet to see matches in SoFi Stadium, helps it rebrand as a destination for fun and recreation, rather than poverty and crime. With the 2028 Olympics just two years away, and many events being held in Inglewood for them, it's a perfect opportunity to challenge negative perceptions of the city.

Unfortunately, it's quite a task, due to widespread perceptions of the area as dangerous that spread globally after the 1992 L.A. riots, whose epicenter was just a few blocks north of Inglewood, and which appears in 1990s gangsta rap lyrics. As rapped by Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre in 1996, "Yeah, Inglewood, Inglewood, always up to no good."

Mack 10 rapped about "mo' murders than a horror flick" in 1997 in his song Inglewood Swangin'. Poverty and crime soared in Inglewood in the 1990s as Southern California fell into a deep recession and Black communities were hit particularly hard. Inglewood's official poverty rate was over 21 per cent in 1993. Over 2,500 violent crimes per year were recorded by police in the early 1990s.

Today the poverty level is still high, at about 15 per cent, but violent crime has plunged. There were 55 murders in 1990, but fewer than 10 in 2024 and 2025, with less than 700