Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
For a city as large/important as LA, and a street as important/iconic as Wilshire, I'd say there are very few pedestrians on Wilshire in BH.
There are few pedestrians because it isn't a particularly pleasant walking experience, and the big department stores all have parking in the back, so the back becomes the main entrance.
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I walked home one night from a movie in Westwood to the house I was renting on South Almont Drive (below Wilshire in the "slums") in Bev. Hills. It was about a 3 mile walk on the Sunday night following Thanksgiving in the early 1980s. The "Condo Corridor" was just getting underway replacing all the two or three story buildings that previously lined this strech of Wilshire. My walk also took me along the LA Country Club and on past the Beverly Hilton through that stretch of Wilshire in Bev. Hills lined with upscale department stores. I did not encounter a single pedestrian until I crossed the Santa Monica/ Wilshire intersection in Bev. Hills where there were a few hotel workers waiting for a bus. Now admittedly this was a loooong time ago, but I suspect not a whole lot has changed in the intervening 35 plus years. There was a popular song back then by the Missing Persons called "Walking in LA". The most catchy lyric went as follows: "Walkin' in LA,Walkin' in LA, only a nobody walks in LA". BTW, I love LA. It is still my favorite US city outside of NY.