As crime and drugs recede, MacArthur Park is going upscale, and many residents feel left behind

Ricardo Guerrero, social/art director at The Graff Lab, stands in front of a mural created in memory of Juan Carlos De La Piedra in the Pico Union area of the Westlake neighborhood. De La Piedra was fatally shot in 2012 in a walk-up shooting that police believe was gang-related.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Feb. 25, 2018 9:09 AM PT

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A pedestrian walks past a home that features the mural titled, “Steve McQueen Monument,” by Kent Twitchell in the Pico Union area of the Westlake neighborhood.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A pedestrian walks past a home that features the mural titled, “Steve McQueen Monument,” by Kent Twitchell in the Pico Union area of the Westlake neighborhood.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Jesus Fuentes, 54, parked across the street from his home, keeps an eye on his neighborhood on 12th Street in the Pico Union area of the Westlake District

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

“It’s been pretty good. It’s not as crowded as it used to be,” said Ulises Gaspar, 20, a cashier at Anthony’s Beauty Salon, in MacArthurt Park in the Westlake district. The salon has been a fixture in the neighborhood for 20 years.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Bars cover windows for security and a shrine to the Virgin Mary fills the front yard of this bungalow along Burlington Avenue in the Westlake neighborhood.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)