To continue a topic from a couple days ago (I've been traveling), I will take a rare opportunity to agree with edluva. There really is no need to directly emulate any existing city, or any part of any existing city. Times Square is cool because it's a great urban crossroads. It is a junction of two important boulevards, as well as several important rail lines. In fact, it evolved into what it is now precisely because it was a crossroads.
L.A. Live is no such crossroads. I highly doubt that most people in L.A. could (at this time) find Figueroa on a map. But that doesn't mean it can't be successful. A city becomes important because it generates its own meaning, it can't take on meaning simply by looking like another city.
The world has tons of examples of great urban places. They all developed into great places by virtue of their history or sense of purpose. This is the challenge to DTLA: to become a great urban space in its own right. For this to happen, Downtown will have to develop its own unique way. It will have to become an important part of what it means to experience L.A., above and beyond simply its 'look and feel'.
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