[LosAngelesDreamin]

Originally Posted by edluva

i understand that this is a downtown LA forum, above all things, but we really have to stop seeing downtown as some gauge of LA's overall urban health.

downtown LA is a tiny neighborhood within a huge city. it's the equivalent of lower manhattan's financial district - just a single neighborhood within manhattan, which its itself, just a borough of new york proper (and also not all that interesting when taken alone)

LA's issues are regional, and won't be solved by having an island of a downtown that is vibrant because of the number of people who drive into and out of it. putting all our eggs in that basket is the wrong approach.

we need to understand our city in its entirety, especially if we're to call ourselves urbanists. some of us remember that it's about tying all our major neighborhoods together - downtown, hollywood, wilshire corridor, bev hills, south la, west hollywood, santa monica, etc. with mass transit, and giving the place a singular identity. a sense of place.

if you wanted los angeles to come into its own, to have an interesting, vibrant, and cosmopolitan urban core, that's what you'd be focusing on. Not whether downtown gets another coffee bean. it's great to root for downtown. but it's not the solution some of us keep portraying it to be.

that being said, the only thing that could turn downtown into a high end shopping destination is some billion dollar mall by westfield. that's what it would take to overcome the inertia against bringing a critical mass of patrons into the nabe. a pre-packaged collection of retailers plopped into place in one fell swoop. but downtown LA doesn't need to be such a place. it will never win against the westside, and it shouldn't try to.

LA has long had an answer to union square and midtown manhattan - bev hills/weho. our goal should be to play up our strengths by tying them together.

I LOVE YOU..... i completely agree with this.