Henry ‘Hank’ Jackson, Founder of Hank’s Mini Market in Hyde Park, Dies at 85

Henry “Hank” Jackson, owner and superintendent of the family-owned Hank’s Mini Market, a community center in Hyde Park, has died at age 85.

Jackson died last month at his home in View Park, Windsor Hills, according to his family.

Born in Shreveport, La., and raised in Dallas, Jackson moved to Los Angeles in 1960 and worked in finance at Lockheed Martin for 37 years. But owning his own business was always there. After quitting his full-time job, Jackson worked nights at local liquor stores, eventually working his way up to become the manager of Slaughterhouse Brewery.

A portrait of Henry “Hank” Jackson taken in 1960.

(Hank Jackson Family)

Jackson bought Hank’s Mini Market in Hyde Park in 1997, when he was 57 years old and when the South L.A. neighborhood was still recovering from the L.A. riots and was hardly seen as a destination for reinvestment. But Jackson, who lived close to his family, saw potential.

“A lot of people would think about retirement, and he was making a really risky investment,” said his daughter Amy Jackson. “I think for him it was really important to have something that you could really bring all to yourself. He always said: Why rent something when you can buy it?”

His daughter Kelly Jackson added, “He has a history of showing up and serving the community for decades, beyond and beyond Hank’s Mini Market.”

Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell adjourned the Oct. 21 Board of Supervisors meeting in Jackson’s memory. “During an era of displacement when South L.A. communities were increasingly marginalized and neglected, Mr. Jackson made the bold decision to open Hank’s Mini Market near Florence and 11th Mitchell Avenues.” “While many businesses are leaving the area, he chose to stay and invest.”

The clientele at the liquor store was varied, but Hank “could make friends out of anybody,” according to Amy. She recalled a customer who returned to the store years later, hoping to thank Hank for all his encouragement. “He went through a tough time, I don’t think he’ll find a job. Years later, he came back and he found a job and he’s doing well.”

Hank stepped back from day-to-day operations in 2017 to focus on his other hobby: golf.

“Naturally, over time, he was spending a lot of time on the golf course and my sister, my mom and I were in the space,” Kelly said.

Henry “Hank” Jackson and daughter Kelly Jackson.

(Hank Jackson Family)

Kelly finished a master’s degree in public art at USC around the same time her father retired. Originally she planned to leave the store after completing the program, but when she wrote a thesis on the black history of Hyde Park and surrounding communities, she began to understand the impact of the market on her family.

“I realized that there is beauty in this atmosphere, in this community,” she said. “And I’m so grateful that my father saw beauty [and thought] Investing in this community in 1997.

She partnered with the LA Food Policy Council and Sweet Green, who helped redesign the entire store to provide more room for community events, and to bring in fresh produce and other healthy items to fight food inequity in the area.

“The way I do things and the way he does things, there’s this big thread. [there’s] There really is no difference but the times and the way I do it. “We were giving marketable products to farmers, but my father was giving people credit back then and helping them when they needed it,” Kelly said.

Kelly reopened Hank’s Mini Market in March 2019, with new exotic, colorful products on display and shelves stocked with small, local brands, with a focus on art and community. Just a month later, it became a healing center when it hosted a tribute to Nipsey Hustle, a rapper, entrepreneur and activist from the Crenshaw District who was killed in the parking lot of his Marathon clothing store about a mile from the market.

Outside Hank’s Mini Market with Nipsey Hustle window wrap.

(Hank Jackson Family)

“I felt it was important for black businesses in South LA to support the community and come together to remember and reflect on Nipsey Hussle … the vision of Slawson and Crenshaw. This piece really inspired me to what we’re building here,” Kelly said in a video posted on the market’s Instagram.

Kelly said her father’s decision to buy the store instead of entering into a tenant-landlord agreement allowed the market to weather a turbulent economy, including the 2009 recession and the COVID pandemic.

“That was something that was very important to him. Not just for business but for land ownership,” Kelly said. “Because of that, through all the ups and downs we’ve had to go through, we’re still here.”

Hank’s grandson Langston Lee hopes to one day achieve the same feat. “I dream of building a house one day and doing things like this. And he didn’t dream, he just did. It’s amazing to have that kind of personality.”

Hank’s Mini Market is temporarily closed, with plans to reopen in 2026. Kelly speculates that a memorial to Hank will coincide with the reopening, and that Nipsey Hustle’s current window will be replaced with a tribute to her father.