# Danny Bakewell

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Danny_Bakewell
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Danny_Bakewell.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Bakewell
> Source revision: 1342805299
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{short description|American civil rights activist and entrepreneur}}
'''Danny Joseph Bakewell''' (born 1946) is an [American](/source/Americans) [civil rights activist](/source/civil_rights_activist), real estate developer and media owner.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last= |date=2022-10-18 |title=Who is Danny Bakewell, the Black L.A. power broker named in the Nury Martinez audio? |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-10-18/who-is-danny-bakewell-the-black-l-a-power-broker-implicated-in-the-nury-martinez-scandal |access-date=2026-03-07 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> He is the owner of The Bakewell Company, which includes among its holdings the ''[Los Angeles Sentinel](/source/Los_Angeles_Sentinel)'' newspaper. He has also served as Chairman of the [National Newspaper Publishers Association](/source/National_Newspaper_Publishers_Association) (NNPA).

==Early life and career==
Bakewell was born and raised in New Orleans, moving out to Los Angeles in 1967.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-23 |title=Danny J. Bakewell Sr.: Eternal voice for Black Los Angeles |url=https://www.latimes.com/la-influential/story/2024-06-23/danny-bakewell-civil-rights-sentinel |access-date=2026-03-06 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

Bakewell is the co-founder of the [National Black United Fund](/source/National_Black_United_Fund).<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2025-10-17 |title=South Los Angeles intersection named "Danny Bakewell Sr. Square" |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/south-los-angeles-intersection-named-danny-bakewell-sr-square/ |access-date=2026-03-06 |website=CBS Los Angeles |language=en-US}}</ref> He also served as President of The Brotherhood Crusade, a civil rights advocate organization for the Black Los Angeles community, for over 30 years.<ref name=":1" />

Bakewell supported [OJ Simpson](/source/O._J._Simpson) during [his 1995 trial](/source/Murder_trial_of_O._J._Simpson).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dean |first=Michelle |date=2016-06-19 |title=OJ: Made in America is a damning brief against America itself |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/19/oj-simpson-made-in-america-espn-documentary |access-date=2026-03-07 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> 

Bakewell runs a real-estate development firm, The Bakewell Company,<ref name=":0" /> which is the largest minority-owned on the West Coast.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mayor.lacity.org/PressRoom/PressReleases/LACITYP_013484 |title=The Mayor of the City of Los Angeles |access-date=2011-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005234550/http://mayor.lacity.org/PressRoom/PressReleases/LACITYP_013484 |archive-date=2011-10-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{Dead link|date=March 2026}} He purchased the ''Los Angeles Sentinel'', the city's oldest and largest Black newspaper, in 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2004/03/danny_bakewell.php|title=Danny Bakewell takes over Sentinel|website=[LA Observed](/source/LA_Observed)|date=March 23, 2004|last=Roderick|first=Kevin}}</ref> In 2005, he started Taste of Soul, a one-day block party in South LA.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-15 |title=Taste of Soul successfully returns for the first time since the pandemic - CBS Los Angeles |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/taste-of-soul-returns-for-the-first-time-since-the-pandemic/ |access-date=2026-03-07 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2007, he purchased the New Orleans radio station WBOK.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sfbayview.com/2009/wbok-purchased-by-danny-bakewell-champion-of-black-economic-self-determination/|title=WBOK purchased by Danny Bakewell, champion of Black economic self-determination|date=4 June 2009|publisher=|website=[SF Bay View](/source/SF_Bay_View)}}</ref> He later sold WBOK to a company owned partly by [Wendell Pierce](/source/Wendell_Pierce).{{Citation needed|date=March 2026}}

Bakewell also served as chairman of the [National Newspaper Publishers Association](/source/National_Newspaper_Publishers_Association).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lasentinel.net/Bakewell-Elected-to-Lead-Black-Press-across-Nation.html|title=Bakewell Elected to Lead Black Press across Nation - Los Angeles Sentinel|date=2 July 2009|publisher=}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

Bakewell has been described as an informal power broker in Los Angeles.<ref name=":0" />

In 2025, an intersection in South Los Angeles was named after him.<ref name=":1" />

==Personal life==
Bakewell and his wife Aline have two adult children and four grandchildren.<ref name="bakewellco.com">{{Cite web |url=http://bakewellco.com/about/danny-j-bakewell-sr/ |title=The Bakewell Company – Danny J. Bakewell Sr |access-date=2011-05-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110403042521/http://bakewellco.com/about/danny-j-bakewell-sr/ |archive-date=2011-04-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=March 2026}}

Bakewell is [Catholic](/source/Catholic_Church).<ref>{{Citation|last=Stevenson|first=Brenda E.|title=Harlins, Latasha Lavon|date=2015-05-31|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.39717|work=African American Studies Center|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.39717 |isbn=978-0-19-530173-1|access-date=2021-05-21|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://bakewellco.com/ The Bakewell Company's website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226081321/http://bakewellco.com/ |date=2011-02-26 }}
* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danny-bakewell Danny Bakewell's blogs] at [HuffPost](/source/HuffPost)
* [http://www.kcet.org/shows/socal_connected/content/government/compton-corruption-incompetence-or-just-business-as-usual.html "Compton: Corruption, Incompetence, or Just Business As Usual?"] at [KCET](/source/KCET)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakewell, Danny}}
Category:Living people
Category:1946 births
Category:20th-century Roman Catholics
Category:21st-century Roman Catholics
Category:Civil rights activists from California
Category:American businesspeople in the real estate industry
Category:African-American Catholics
Category:American Roman Catholics
Category:Businesspeople from New Orleans
Category:People from Bradbury, California
Category:Roman Catholic activists

{{US-activist-stub}}
{{US-business-bio-1940s-stub}}

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Danny Bakewell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Bakewell) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Bakewell?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.