[citywatch]

Originally Posted by MplsTodd

Over the years I've really come to love Los Angeles and Southern California. Back in '80s and '90s, I wasn't as keen on it, as the older commercial strips appeared faded and the numerous downtowns (LA, Pasadena, Santa Monica) seemed pretty quiet, while the energy seemed to be in places like Irvine and Newport Beach.



Anaheim, CA - May 1990 by Todd Jacobson, on Flickr


Disneyland & Melodyland- Anaheim, CA - May 1990 by Todd Jacobson, on Flickr

time machine photos! I appreciate your thread.

as for more energy in the OC than in LA yrs ago, your pics of anaheim reminded me of how that was also not a ready for prime time part of socal. The area around disneyland in the past was a mess...I recall some relatives of mine from the East Coast staying at a motel across from that theme pk in the 1990s & I was embarrassed about what greeted them.

however, showing just how shaky things were in the past, even though anaheim itself was hardly a crowd pleaser, it attracted much more convention business & convention tourists than dtla did....which wasn't surprising since dt in the past was in even worse shape than anaheim was.

In some ways, the LA area today is both better but also worse than it used to be....for instance, homelessness & litter, graffiti are more extreme today than yrs ago. The pandemic has also created a wasteland of vacant retail space in areas like anaheim.

Win some, lose some.