But as the afternoon nears, the early-hour hush gives way to the usual crush of out-of-town visitors rumbling in. Making some money on the side is a small consolation, though.
And if she has to run errands or work on a Sunday, things get dicey. Her job is about 15 minutes from her house—on a normal day. A couple of weeks ago, she had to work on a Sunday and it took her an hour to get home. Loud, loud, loud. People coming and going. Not far from Johnson, one of her neighbors leans halfway out of his front door. His name is Josh. He lives on Buckthorn Street.
But barely a go-route away, just a few blocks east as it crosses Prairie Avenue, Buckthorn turns into Touchdown Drive, one of the many generically named conduits that funnel 70, football fans into SoFi Stadium each weekend to watch the Rams or Chargers. The stadium is located next to the famed Forum, previously home to the Showtime Lakers, on land once occupied by Hollywood Park Racetrack. Unlike most major stadiums and arenas, SoFi was privately financed.
Everything about the 3. Kenny Chesney will play the stadium in July. So will the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The college football national championship and WrestleMania 39 will be held there in Big events for the big stadium are seemingly endless from here on out. Listen to the audio version of this story on our new podcast, Sports Illustrated Weekly. Not everyone is excited about all that activity. Members of the community have been raising questions and concerns since SoFi opened—about the increased traffic and noise, the influx of people into their neighborhood, the impact on local businesses and, perhaps most worryingly, the soaring home prices and rising rents that have already forced some residents out of town and threaten to push out many more.
In short, some of the people I spoke with in Inglewood are worried about Inglewood. One of a kind. But as more than one resident asked, would you want to live next to it? For his part, Inglewood Mayor James Butts is aware that some members of the community are uneasy with the fancy new addition to the neighborhood. But what took them a generation we did in less than seven years. Everything has changed here.
