LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 3.0

[ladowntowner]

On my way back towards South Park from Union Station (dropping off a visiting family member) I took San Pedro southward. I was very impressed by how well lit and colorful the street has become compared to the grimy dinginess of perhaps a year or so ago. Many of the older buildings south of 7th have now been cleaned up and flower stores are where there were once vacant and/or ugly nondescript businesses/store fronts, which appears to be spillover from the flower market and related shops a block or so to the west. Seemingly, this area is evolving into a distinct district unto itself and transitions pretty much seamlessly into the fashion district with new store fronts and upgraded lighting of it's own. These kinds of changes speak softer, but no less forcefully than do those of the highrise apartment/ condo towers and entertainment venues to the southwest, IMHO, of the renaissance here. I just hope some of the forward momentum can be maintained in the uncertain economic times ahead.

Dropped into Ralph's before heading home and I'm never unimpressed by the number of customers at 9PM on a Sunday evening, a rainy one to boot. The place is nearly always jumpin'.

Good news above about Broadway! I would love to see a real, honest-to-goodness trolley installed down the center of that street (and not some cheap dressed up rubber-tired bus!) The trolley is no reason to close it off to cars (just calm the flow!), which I'd feel would reduce the energy and urban feel of that stretch. The thought of restoring/converting the upper floors of the numerous, but until now untouched, though no less amazing buildings on Broadway and bringing in more residents there is better than that of a few highrise projects breaking ground this year to me.

[DowntownCharlieBrown]

Originally Posted by citywatch

[/b]When it comes to the Concerto condo tower, based on this illustration it looks like it won't be as tall as I originally thought (& hoped) it would be. I had the wrong impression that it was going to have a clearly higher profile than the Hanover tower.


And since it shows FIDM's proposed tower, which I'm assuming will house apts only for students, & therefore falls into a special category niche----sort of like the federal courthouse at 1st & Broadway----I wonder if that means it's less likely or more likely to break ground in 2008?

[/b]

Concerto is taller than Hanover, but not by an overwhelming amount.

Unfortunately the height for Hanover seems to be missing. Emporis doesn’t have it either.

The rendering of Concerto above seems to be consistent with the rendering of FIDM (below). I know the FIDM rendering does not show the top of the Concerto towers, but you can see from the notch in the building that the rendering is very close to the top. In fact there are 4 floors above the notch, and both renderings are showing 4 floors.

I also had the wrong impression that Concerto was going to have a clearly higher profile than the Hanover tower.

However, that is going to be one nice new block once all the towers are complete.




Photo Credit : rtkl.com

[JDRCRASH]

[QUOTE=ladowntowner;3312740]On my way back towards South Park from Union Station (dropping off a visiting family member) I took San Pedro southward. I was very impressed by how well lit and colorful the street has become compared to the grimy dinginess of perhaps a year or so ago. Many of the older buildings south of 7th have now been cleaned up and flower stores are where there were once vacant and/or ugly nondescript businesses/store fronts, which appears to be spillover from the flower market and related shops a block or so to the west. Seemingly, this area is evolving into a distinct district unto itself and transitions pretty much seamlessly into the fashion district with new store fronts and upgraded lighting of it's own. These kinds of changes speak softer, but no less forcefully than do those of the highrise apartment/ condo towers and entertainment venues to the southwest, IMHO, of the renaissance here. I just hope some of the forward momentum can be maintained in the uncertain economic times ahead. QUOTE]

I have confidence that the Broadway theatre and Red Trolley Revitalization proposal being unveiled today will gain a unanimous thumbs up, despite past failed attempts.

BTW, have you read my Private Message yet? You claim to live in Downtown Los Angeles, however, you have yet to explain why you are here and why your continued pessimistic view long-term of the economy at a local level lingers.
This is not direct attack towards you. I'm just speaking out of curiousity.

[Echo Park]

The trolley is such a dingy and tacky idea. Can we PLEASE, instead, run the connector under that bitch.

[JDRCRASH]

Originally Posted by Echo Park

The trolley is such a dingy and tacky idea. Can we PLEASE, instead, run the connector under that bitch.

I support putting both; the Connector under, and the trolley above.

Why is the red trolley a bad idea? Many other West Coast cities still carry a similar network. It's classy!

Ex. San Francisco, Seattle, Portland....

On the East Coast, If I remember correctly, New York has one as well, but It only goes across FDR Island. And it's in the sky, right.

[Affrojuice]

although this rendition looks too idealistic and 3rd st promenade like, it would still be great to see the Broadway corridor this busy and vibrant. I think the best thing in this pic though is the trolley car

[RuFFy]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

On the East Coast, If I remember correctly, New York has one as well, but It only goes across FDR Island. And it's in the sky, right.

You're talking about the Roosevelt Island Tramway. It runs parallel the Queensboro Bridge @ 59th Street to Roosevelt Island which is a small Island strip in the East River.

Personally, I wouldn't compare a downtown LA trolley to this. The tramway is used to connect people who generally live in Roosevelt Island w/Midtown Manhattan. There are no direct bridges between Roosevelt Island and the island of Manhattan.

I might be mistaken, but in the past I believe I had read reports that AEG was looking into financing the downtown Trolley. From my understanding, the trolley is supposed to connect key districts of the downtown area such as LA Live, the Financial District, the Civic Center and the Historic Core. The trolley would serve the purpose of moving people within downtown, as opposed to the connector, which would serve to bring people to or through downtown. I think the trolley has the potential to become (again) an LA Icon, as well as a convenient means of transportation for people living in DT. I say, bring on the trolley, and more importantly, bring on the connector.

In anycase, I think it's important to remember that LA has already run a successful Broadway. Of course, the introduction of highways and the availability of cars paused the city a few decades, but undoubtedly it's gearing up to shine in a way it had forgotten it could.

[Affrojuice]

Originally Posted by Echo Park

The trolley is such a dingy and tacky idea. Can we PLEASE, instead, run the connector under that bitch.

Trolley's are extremely useful and classy. I was in Portland last month and their street car is unbelievable.



It connects downtown Portland with a lot of the surrounding neighborhoods, and is used by the locals as well as tourists. A lot of the people I met while there in Portland, told me they don't need cars, because the streetcar is convenient enough to get them everywhere they need to go. If they have to go out of town they can take the streetcar to the lightrail (The MAX), which connects directly to the airport.



Many of the neighborhoods in Portland, the Pearl district and parts of the NW quadrant which were industrial wastelands, were spurred by the street car, and now have been developed beautifully. Actually the whole time I was walking around the Pearl district I was thinking "this is what Downtown LA is going to be in 10 years."

the pearl district

[DJM19]

Just make the trolley go a different path than the connector. They will both have their uses. It would be nice if the street car could at least be a little more than decorative.

[northbay]

^ yep

LA NEEDS A TROLLEY
LA NEEDS AS MUCH TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS AS POSSIBLE

end of story

[Quixote]

Hopefully Broadway won't morph into another Gaslamp District.

[Tanster]

I dont think it wont..... Broadway has alot of History and looks way better. I think Broadway may actualy be something unique. The Latino culture already in Broadway mixed in with the new plans can make it different then all the AMERICIANIZED entertainment districts

[BrandonJXN]

LA should model it's future DT Connecter after Portland's. Use the same style of streetcar and everything.

[colemonkee]

Originally Posted by Affrojuice

although this rendition looks too idealistic and 3rd st promenade like, it would still be great to see the Broadway corridor this busy and vibrant. I think the best thing in this pic though is the trolley car

What this rendering doesn't show (and they never do) are the overhead cables. Though I'm not bothered by the cables, it is misleading not to show them in a rendering.

[RuFFy]

They Should Put The Electricity In The Tracks.. That Way People Get Shocked When Its Raining.. : )

[Quixote]

[Quixote]

Times Reports $40 Million Investment for Broadway

By Eric Richardson
January 27, 2008

Update (Monday, 9:35am): The Bringing Back Broadway website includes most of the information to be unveiled at today's press conference. Be sure to hit the twelve page vision document PDF.

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Scooping Monday's "Bringing Back Broadway" presentation at the Los Angeles Theater (which we'll be at), the Times writes that $40 million has been put together for a phase I effort to bring some renewed life to Broadway buildings. $16.5 million is said to come from the city, with private developers kicking in the rest.

Light on development details, much of the story focuses on the businesses currently on the street. No surprise, some people aren't happy to see things change.

Some question whether Broadway needs a face-lift. UCLA law professor Gary Blasi noted that the Latino-oriented businesses have stood the test of time.

"Unless you have a different vision, aesthetically and ethnically, then why?" Blasi said.

While this is certainly a prime subject for discussion -- and we had a 47-comment thread on it back in August -- I continue to maintain that to say today's Broadway is a failure is not to say anything about the retail. Certainly you could say that, but to me Broadway is a failure because atop these first floor shops are great old buildings that have been left to rot and crumble in on themselves. That's not the tenants fault, but a change in tenants is likely to be part of the solution.

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Source: blogdowntown

[nygirl1]

Looks like a mini Times Square. It honestly looks great, I hope they do go for it. It sounds useful and it really does look quite classy in that photo, though (as someone mentioned) the cables are missing. What does that exact area look like now. West I know you can cook up a flickr shot.

[Echo Park]

Fuck it.

Malls have ruined cities for me.

Looking at that Broadway drawing I should be excited and thrilled with the renovation of that street, but the whole scene reeks of The Grove down to tacky trolley. Shit I think I'd rather leave Broadway to the flea markets then have greedy white people turn it into The Grove Downtown.

[WonderlandPark]

More like SF than LA, I mean, really, stormy skies, wet street, cable car-ish streetcar, every window lit, vintage signage....

Oh, it would be nice, but it ain't ever going to look like that.