LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 3.0

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

went to 7 Grand tonight, what an awesome bar! that place was tight. also, i know citywatch will love this, there were people walking around, going to different bars and restaurants, a lot of which were packed. every day its getting better and better! i seriously cant wait till all these buildings on 7th to open up, its going to affect that whole area dramatically!

[latennisguy]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

That has to be one of the most uplifting articles I've read this entire year! I already knew the businesses along Broadway was doing much worse than years before (I know some of the brokers who lease on Broadway, if you're asking how I know). And this article corroborates their stories.

Anyway, I think Broadway sucks right now and I'm just glad to know that eventually it'll be changed into a much more upscale, hip, and cleaner shopping/entertainment district!

There is hope for downtown yet!

i've never taken you for rude...but how rude!...considering all the comments posted before yours. if you don't know what i mean, please read the previous posts.

[LongBeachUrbanist]

"When he first arrived on the scene, he wanted to knock down 75 percent of the district and build a mall from scratch, but he realizes the process will take a long time."

[LongBeachUrbanist]

If Broadway retail space is fetching $10/sf, there is absolutely no excuse for the state of the storefronts. The building owners could clean them up right now if they wanted to make the area more attractive. But up until now, they've had no incentive to do so. As long as the patrons of these stores didn't care, there was no reason to improve anything.

In this kind of situation, it is up to the city to set standards. At the very least, in its historic core. But this is the City of L.A., which has (almost literally) no standards.

Compare L.A. and Santa Monica. The 3rd-St Promenade is subject to very strict standards for its storefronts. L.A., by contrast, is incredibly lax. The enforcement of standards is most clear at the border of Santa Monica and L.A.: as you cross into L.A., suddenly the stores look a lot more junky.

At the very least, L.A. should enforce standards on Broadway. For $10/sf, the owners can certainly afford it.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Echo Park

I think the "problem" with Broadway is that there really is no problem at all.

If so, then I guess Broadway "kicks" DTSD's gaslight dist's "ass by a mile"??!

You say it will take "3, 4 or uh 50 yrs" for the DT here to be as good as what's going on in the DT of the city a few hundred miles to the south?! No, cuz if there really is "no problem" with a major part of DTLA like broadway, then we're already there!

BTW, when you're dealing with Broadway, it isn't just a matter of street level activity. There are mostly vacant, dead spaces above most of the stores, extending up 7 to 12 floors. And, once again, because of the particular nature of swap meet type businesses, the hood naturally dies after sunset. Moreover, the article says the level of business has been dropping on broadway, so there's "no problem" with that street?

Another thing: Broadway is one of the few parts of the hood where there is a continuous row of old time, if not totally historic, bldgs. What other part of DT also has a whole string of old time movie theaters on them?

By contrast, much of south pk, the Financial dis, bunker hill, the areas around the Higgins & LA times bldg, are full of parking lots & shorter type bldgs, many of them warehouses, or newer bldgs like Macy's Pl or Elleven, or Library tower. No matter how many stores are inserted into them, or how much new devlpt is added to the gaps around them, those streets will never be similar to a gaslight dist.

Now there are other streets like Spring or Main that do come closer to being like broadway, at least in terms of the massing of old bldgs. So those streets also can----or need to----be made nice enough so that ppl won't say "gaslamp kicks DTLA's ass by a mile." But cuz all the old bldgs that are ideal for conversion to housing are spread throughout DT, & some of them don't exist on Spring or Main but do exist above the stores on Broadway, you can't expect the hood to remain segregated in the way its being transformed. Or you can't expect it to remain segregated----with a major part like Broadway staying exactly as its been for the past 30 or more yrs----& also eventually "kick ass".

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by suga

If our neglectful city (when it comes to poor brown folks) had used a bit of $$$ to clean and repair the streets, regulate commercial facades and building cleanliness BEFORE the money moved in some of these buildings, just MAYBE theese stores would have made their way down there before today. But the city didnt, it let the area rot for decades, and now expect the brown folks who transfer busses and use these facilities to just fade away as they were supposed to when they bulldozed half of East LA for freeways or Chavez ravine.

It's actually kind of condescending to think that ppl of a certain hood cannot get their act together on their own, but instead must rely on outsiders before help arrives.

Hoods are only as good as the ppl who dominate or occupy them, & if enough of broadway's shop owners & their customers had been squeaky wheels from the beginning, the street would have been no different from what you find in the burbs, or in cities like SF, chicago or NYC, or the gaslight dist of DT San diego. That's even truer if a lot of customers' $$$ (of "brown folks" & others) have been pouring into broadway for yrs & yrs, & if psf rental rates there are among the highest in town.

Compare that with the recent article on little Tokyo, where an area like Weller Ct saw a lot of stores close down during the 1990s, & customers, inc tourists from Japan, move to the burbs or stop traveling to LA. In that case, there's almost an excuse when a hood or street (or mall) becomes a dive.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

i know citywatch will love this, there were people walking around, going to different bars and restaurants, a lot of which were packed. every day its getting better and better!

Heck, yea!

Eyewitness descriptions of what's going on in the hood are no different from photos that forumers take of it: there can never be too many of them. That's esp true for those of us who don't live in that part of SoCa, & often can only guess what's the latest & what's going on.

[suga]

It's actually kind of condescending to think that ppl of a certain hood cannot get their act together on their own, but instead must rely on outsiders before help arrives.

First of all, nobody who works or frequents Broadway lives in that neighborhood, the strip initially became a immigrant district becuase it was where major bus routes terminated and people made transfers. Second of all, you make absolutely no sense with this comment. You and others have complained and complained about how crappy the area looks now looks and have cited the store/building owners numerous times. So you and others think the area looks like crap, which is the result of neglectful owners and merchants who have not done anything on their own to fix these problems for half a century. Now all of a sudden it is condescending to note that becuase the owners/merchants have not done much to clean up the area it is about time for the city to start doing so, as well as addressing their neglect's effects on the area.

And LAtennisguy, do not waste your time with class-centric LABeauty, dude doesnt get equity when prada or hipsters are involved. Dude gets hurt when some thugs cat call him in McArthur park, but has aboslutely no understanding that the kind of elite-hating mentality in our urban ghettoes is partially the result of "elitist-loving/fuck the poor" behavior by our civic leaders and citizens of privelege, which LAB eminates and is unabashedly not ashamed of, and was also noted by commissions studying the catalysts fo the Watts riots, LA riots, gang problems for the past 2 decades, etc, etc. But I guess official policy is just whining according to some.

I am so sick of this " blame the victims/call helping the victims condescending" dichotomy many ignorant folks have towards the poor, you cannot bake your cake and eat it too. If you are going to complain about the current state of Broadway you must accept that those running it now will not and have not done anything to fix it up unless they are forced, and it is up to the city of LA to force some kind of code regulations. To recognize a problem and what actors have done nothing to fix it is not wrong or condescending, to expect the city to help fix this area and the results of their neglect is not wrong or condescending.

Hoods are only as good as the ppl who dominate or occupy them, & if enough of broadway's shop owners & their customers had been squeaky wheels from the beginning, the street would have been no different from what you find in the burbs, or in cities like SF, chicago or NYC, or the gaslight dist of DT San diego. That's even truer if a lot of customers' $$$ (of "brown folks" & others) have been pouring into broadway for yrs & yrs, & if psf rental rates there are among the highest in town.

You again make no sense. Why is it condescending for me to note that some kind of civic code intervention is needed on Broadway but OK for you to (wrongly) blame the folks who frequent the area as the reason for it's condition? You do know cities are responsible for the maintenance of their public infrastructure, right? BTW, the gaslamp/chi's michigan avenue/ suburban redevelopment such as old town pasadena was transformed into a hotspot from a dead city center by civic intervention, not some organic action by building owners and merchants. It seems like another version of that conservative circular argument regarding the poor/minorities, where people ignorantly complain about them and then call any kind of investment or help towards the subject as patronly and condescending (although Im not calling you a conservative), despite the fact that a lack of investment was an initial catalyst to the problem to begin with.


Compare that with the recent article on little Tokyo, where an area like Weller Ct saw a lot of stores close down during the 1990s, & customers, inc tourists from Japan, move to the burbs or stop traveling to LA. In that case, there's almost an excuse when a hood or street (or mall) becomes a dive

You dont have to compare anything, the same thing happened to Broadway when white america (and then corporate America) abandoned the area and much of DT and central LA in the decades after WW2. But that does not explain why our city has neglected the area ever since, which is unacceptable and needs to be mitigated, then we can worry about the merchants and getting a target or something beyond gucci or swapmeet in the area.

[LAofAnaheim]

Salon Elleven Debuts



News Brief



The South Park condominium complex Elleven has a new ground floor tenant. Downtown residents and partners Jared Dean, Christiana Stangl and Greg Stangl last week opened Salon Elleven at 420 W. 11th St. The modern salon offers hair and nail services, and features fashion-oriented videos playing on flat screen televisions. Haircuts start at $55 for women and $40 for men, while manicures are $15. "We wanted something relevant and unique to the South Park area," said Greg Stangl in a release.

Courtesy: Downtownnews.com

$40 for a men's haircut!!! I know downtown is becoming more upscale, but jeez. This is pretty upsetting. I love the affordability of the OBD, Arts District, etc... but to have new retail come in and charge ridiculous prices is horrible. This is in tune with Riordan's Tavern which charges $50 for steak. South Park needs some Pete's Cafes, Rocket Pizzas, Warung Cafes, etc....

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by suga

So you and others think the area looks like crap, which is the result of neglectful owners and merchants who have not done anything on their own to fix these problems for half a century. Now all of a sudden it is condescending to note that becuase the owners/merchants have not done much to clean up the area it is about time for the city to start doing so, as well as addressing their neglect's effects on the area.

If you had limited your criticism to the storeowners & bldg owners instead of this:

it was the result of urban neglect and civic leaders/suburbanites not caring about our city core or its residents, so please FREAKEN jold them to taks to amend their wrongs. If our neglectful city (when it comes to poor brown folks) had used a bit of $$$ to clean and repair the streets, regulate commercial facades and building cleanliness BEFORE the money moved in some of these buildings, just MAYBE theese stores would have made their way down there before today.

then I'd agree with your criticism of the city being too lax about codes & enforcement. But you mention "when it comes to brown folks"----assuming "brown folks" doesn't refer to the shopkeepers or their landlords. And so if "brown folks" refers to most of the customers of Broadway, I still say that if a lot more of them had been squeaky wheels from the beginning, the street wouldn't have become such a dive to begin with. IOW, it would have helped if more customers had been yelling something like: "hey, all these shops on this street look like crap, & if you owners don't start improving things, I'm gonna take my $$$ elsewhere!!!"

Then too, if the city had started cracking down on the sty type of businesses along Broadway, there'd have been a whole group of ppl yelling things like "elitism!", "unfair yuppiefied standards are being forced on us!", "stop harrassing the poor brown ppl----their shopping dist already is successful!!!"

Many of you people prefer to label my comments in the same category as some poverty pimp or liberal who is in need of a soapbox, but they ae not, they are the genuine concerns of someone trained in the field who is worried that too many starstruck elitists are forgetting the other 2/3rds of the city that was abandoned to begin with.

Suga, your POV or tude has been pervasive----& widely accepted----throughout the city govnt, & among many of the ppl, of towns like St Louis or Detroit for yrs & yrs & yrs. And so St Louis or Detroit----or locally, places like Inglewood or Compton----has been a big success story? IOW, don't forget the other 2/3 of what makes a hood fail or succeed, referring to the issues that go way beyond politics & the political.

[Easy]

Broadway sucks as it is now. If you're looking for a spot to buy the most inferior quality Chinese products around at the highest prices then Broadway is for you. Keeping these stores open is actually a disservice to the community, no matter what race or ethnicity they are. People think that they are getting a good deal, but they are really paying for junk. That's why the stores can afford to pay so much in rent. They're ripping off their customers.

I've said it before but if a WalMart or a Target opens within a mile of Broadway you watch how fast business will drop. Some people think that they are doing the immigrant community a favor by limiting their choices, but the reality is that immigrants want and deserve better than what they are getting. Given the choice they would shop elsewhere. Look at Huntington Park and how that's taken off. And they have a variety of stores. Lots of clothes stores, but not just the cheap ones like you see on Broadway. Plus they have restaurants, furniture, and all of the other types of stuff that Broadway lacks.

And many of the people that shop Broadway DO COME from that general area. Get on a MTA or DOT bus and see how many people get on/off within 2 miles of Broadway.

[petescafe]

Gone Green

No more parking lot at 4th and Main. Say hello to the green fence.



The 4th st side of the parking lot is gone.





Pricey apartments are opening above mercado stalls on Broadway's Arcade Building.

Is this the building that they are talking about in the article?



I also wonder about what's going to happen to the burned out buildings at 4th and Broadway. The middle building has been completely removed. Nothing has happened to the corner building. The burned out shell can still be seen inside the second floor windows.




The final shot was at todays protest rally.
That's life in the big city.

[BrandonJXN]

Paging Mr. Citywatch....

[colemonkee]

Biiig concrete pour at Concerto today...

[colemonkee]

Saturday, August 25



The podium, where the pool will eventually live, is finally above ground.

[colemonkee]

Saturday, August 25

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

you guys rock! good work and thanks. great to see Concerto and MEdallion, Citywatch's favorite projects moving along!

[suga]

Originally Posted by Easy

Broadway sucks as it is now. If you're looking for a spot to buy the most inferior quality Chinese products around at the highest prices then Broadway is for you. Keeping these stores open is actually a disservice to the community, no matter what race or ethnicity they are. People think that they are getting a good deal, but they are really paying for junk. That's why the stores can afford to pay so much in rent. They're ripping off their customers.

I've said it before but if a WalMart or a Target opens within a mile of Broadway you watch how fast business will drop. Some people think that they are doing the immigrant community a favor by limiting their choices, but the reality is that immigrants want and deserve better than what they are getting. Given the choice they would shop elsewhere. Look at Huntington Park and how that's taken off. And they have a variety of stores. Lots of clothes stores, but not just the cheap ones like you see on Broadway. Plus they have restaurants, furniture, and all of the other types of stuff that Broadway lacks.

And many of the people that shop Broadway DO COME from that general area. Get on a MTA or DOT bus and see how many people get on/off within 2 miles of Broadway.

Broadway does not suck, the neglect and segregated shopping in the area sucks. And what does the value of merchandise have to do with being compassionate towards the businesses and community the area caters to? Too many of you people think that some boner for wealth should trump or at least ignore any concern for the community that makes up 2/3rds of central LA and the bulk of our working force, you know what, go kiss a gucci bag and expect another 1992 riot on your hands.

So you know easy, the "hood" that Broadway is in is not 2 miles out, that is the central city, which includes boyle heights, south LA and westlake. The vast bulk of swap meet patronage is by people waiting for busses/transfers as well as ex bus riders taking their 1st generation family to the city to shop. Either way semantic arguments do not matter, Broadway obviously has a place in the working class community of LA (which is why it is vibrant and full of latinos and has not been packed with rich white kids since WW2, duh!) and that SHOULD be integrated with the emerging wealthier DTLA, but it is not, and THAT sucks.


Also, citywatch, you make no sense still. is this another telephone pole OCD thing? I believe I noted that it would have been nice for the LA civic establishment to have invested in the area decades earlier so that there would be more diversity in retail (note this too Easy), please remember this! Nobody wants this area to remain a swapmeet dump, it would be nice to see some social equity beyond some elitist-loving stargazed bullshit that is occurring right now, DTLA boosters included.

[fridayinla]

The recently cleaned facade of the Palace Theater on Broadway - photos taken today Aug 25th. Notice the rich colors of the details and uncovered "Orpheum" sign above the marquee.

Before - No Orpheum Sign Visible


After!!

[LongBeachUrbanist]

Originally Posted by fridayinla