Alright, so I'm an East Coast dude.

Born in Boston, lived in Brooklyn for a while, but last year, one of my best friends

hit me up and told me I had to come out to the West Coast.

He lives in LA, and while I was there, he took me to this one neighborhood that he knew

I was going to love, the Mert Hart.

Here's the thing.

Growing up black in America, I always felt like society was telling me I should get far

away from Afro-centricity.

They didn't teach African history in schools, and the only time it was referenced, it was

as an example of instability and poverty.

If you watch TV, Africa was just one big place that needed your charitable donations,

and what kid wants to be associated with a place that's unstable and poor or viewed as

inferior.

I've spent the last decade of my life unlearning all that BS through a lot of conversations

and intentional learning, and that's why my friend knew I'd love the Mert Hart.

This is a place that embraces Afro-centricity and blackness, and honestly, it's just a

neighborhood with a dope vibe.

This is the Atlas Obscura podcast, the celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous

places.

My name is Baudelaire, and today we're going to the Mert Hart, a small part of Los Angeles

and truly one of the most liberating neighborhoods I've ever been in.

We get the history, and we meet the people.

...