South Los Angeles is the official name for a large geographic and cultural portion lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California. The area was formerly called South Central Los Angeles, and is still sometimes called South Central. It borders the Westside on the northwest, and Downtown LA on the northeast.

In 2003, the city of Los Angeles changed the area's official name from South Central Los Angeles to South Los Angeles, hoping to blur collective memories of violence and blight. The name "South Central" had become almost synonymous with urban decay and street crime. The new name is rather misleading though, since geographically, South Los Angeles would refer to the L.A. Harbor/San Pedro district. Though the city took it upon itself to change street signs and freeway signs with the new name to make it "official", and though media like the Los Angeles Times and L.A. news networks now refer to the area as South Los Angeles, the name is not very widely used. Most residents of the Los Angeles area (including residents of South Los Angeles) still use the old name. Prominent figures from South Los Angeles, such as Ice Cube, also continue to refer to the area as South Central Los Angeles.

South Los Angeles is a notoriously dangerous region in the City of Los Angeles with an extensive history of gang violence, as it gave birth to dangerous gangs such as the Crips, Bloods, 38th St. Gang, La Mara 18 (18th Street gang), Eastside Florencia 13, Eastside Trece 13 (Brownside), and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). A majority of gang wars in Los Angeles have taken place there, as well as conflicts between African-Americans and Latinos usually occurring in the streets and in schools.