[colemonkee]

Yeah, those Google Earth sketch-ups don't have the water feature or the balconies on the corners. I think those are just someone's attempt, not necessarily more accurate renders.

Friday, is the DT News the only source for the 51 floors? If so, I'm hesitant to change the front page, given DT News' previous track record with getting facts and numbers straight.

edluva, you're right, we are largely celebrating a surface level downtown that won't act like a true downtown like NY, Chicago or London for quite some time, if ever. But many of the people who have relocated to downtown LA are embracing the "urban" lifestyle as much as their personal situation allows them, driving their cars less, using public transportation more (though admitedly not nearly to the level used in other urban cities), and staying local more than they did before. My prediction is that as the downtown population grows and the amenities and choices of amenities within downtown grow with it, a growing percentage of those people will start to use downtown as a real downtown. I realize that percentage will grow very slowly over time, but that's the best we can hope for given our development history in LA. To me it seems like a waste of energy to try and become NY or London or Tokyo overnight. That shit just ain't gonna happen. But we can hope to make our streets a more pedestrian friendly and urban oriented, a little tiny bit at a time.