[alki]

Originally Posted by jamesinclair

Spent the last 5 days in LA. Here are some pictures. No labels because you all know the places better than I do.

I want to say a couple of things though

1) Ive been following this thread for years, and was excited about all the projects – but in person it was a bit disappointing. Basically, you can have 15 amazing projects, but downtown LA is so big it’s like a drop in the bucket. Theres much to be done.

Not surprised at your reaction. For someone seeing DTLA for the first time, its got to be disappointing.......but for the people who've been watching for the past 10-15 years, most of the changes have been to the positive and the place looks a lot better. Its good to remember that for many decades, DTLA was tortured into its 21st century existence. Its going to take a while to undo all the bad planning and design.

2) Downtown LA is so damn empty, its weird. Where the people at?

Its building........LA is crazy that way...........streets will start gentrifying but there will be no people, then suddenly one day throngs appear out of no where. I suspect DTLA is in the building critical mass phase.

3) The streets are way too wide, especially because there’s so little traffic on the surface roads.

4) The pedestrian signals are almost all in clear violation of federal standards. The MUTCD demands walking speed be calculated at 3.5 feet per second – ie, old lady with a cane. Im a healthy 25 year old male and I barely reached the sidewalk when the timer said 0 multiple times. If someone gets hit, LA will lose a lawsuit for not following federal standards. It’s bad policy too, very anti-pedestrian.

5) I know LA tickets people for starting to cross when the timer starts – an abysmal policy. However, I noticed that there was an epidemic of intersection and crosswalk blocking. LA needs to ticket that. The new continental crosswalks are great on the near side, I never saw them blocked, but on the far side, they were always blocked. One thing I did love was the lack of honking, even when a bus blocked half the intersection.
On to the pictures then.

You have a great eye for detail......one can see that from your photos. DTLA needs more people like you.

Whats this tree called? I want one.

Fica aka the lollipop tree. A better tree........the Jacaranda:



From Brazil......blooms mostly in May/June and then again in Fall. Forms attractive canopy over the street........and when it flowers, it looks spectacular.