Quote:
Originally Posted by destroycreate
So I live in the heart of Koreatown ( https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0617...7i16384!8i8192) and I find the area so interesting because it is extremely dense, but often a very hostile enviornment for the walker. Walkability (i.e. proximity to restaurants, bars, stores) from a practical standpoint is one thing, but is it walking-friendly? LOL. Two things I think we should differentiate more here on this site.
I've been here in LA for a year and the thing I've come to conclusion is that it's a very unique city in built form (as we've already covered) in that everything looks hyper dense in a lot of places, but because the blocks are huge, the streets so wide (with many speeding cars to boot, I've never encountered the kind of reckless drivers like I do here which makes it horrifying as a pedestrian) even those that are residential, it is not particularly pleasant to take walks. While it's not that you "don't see any pedestrians" after driving around for 10min, it's for sure you don't see the packed sidewalks like you do in other cities. It's what I miss SO much about Seattle and SF from when I lived there...just walking out my door and getting lost in the city for a day. In LA, it's really hard to have that experience....and the most busy parts of the city in terms of pedestrians, are not always the safest for someone who looks like me (i.e. Westlake) if I'm honest. |
Precisely. I live in LA and there is so much to enjoy about the city and metro area, but from a pedestrian standpoint, it largely sucks. It is very dense, but walking any sort of distance is just super unpleasant in 90% of the city. When I lived in DC, I used to love to just walk out my door, find a neighborhood or point of interest many miles away, and just walk for hours exploring the city and eventually take the metro back home when I got tired or reached my destination. When I've tried to do this in LA, it has been terribly unpleasant. The street widths, amount of cars, tons of curb cuts and auto-centric developments (strip malls, auto repair shops, drive thrus), fencing, lack of tree canopy, ugly architecture on the commercial streets....yeah, not pleasant.
This is Vermont Ave. Arguably LA's best served transit corridor outside of Wilshire and possibly Hollywood, and close to where I live. Does this look like a great urban street to walk down?
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0834...7i13312!8i6656
Compare this to Connecticut Ave, one of DC's main arteries but also super pleasant to walk down.
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9125...7i16384!8i8192
This is what I meant when I said LA is massive but not traditionally urban like SF, DC, NYC, Chicago, Boston, Philly. I would bet the population density is higher in the neighborhoods around my Vermont Ave example in LA than around Connecticut Ave in DC. If not denser, at least comparable. But those density numbers don't translate to traditional urbanity and walkability.
* FYI, before I get accused of being an LA hater, I very much enjoy this city. The culture, access to nature, endless things to do, diversity...basically unmatched. *