LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 3.0

[RAlossi]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

I couldn't agree with you more. Pershing Square definitely has potential, but I don't think it will ever reach the status that Union Square has within San Francisco. It does, however, have the potential to be a great urban square surrounded by retail and restaurants, which is slowly happening already with the opening of the salon and the upcoming restaurant at the corner of 6th and Olive, and the opening earlier this year (or was it last year?) of Arda's Cafe on 6th.

Perfectly stated. Pershing Square has a long way to go before it can be compared to Union Square (and may never be to LA what Union Square is to SF), though that tends to be the development model since it's the main comparison we have to use.

Setting aside the obvious design flaws of Pershing itself, the surround buildings/neighborhood have some differences and a few similarities:

Retail - SF has high-end retail, while we have a few sandwich shops, a cafe (Arda's has been open for 4 1/2 years, btw), many jewelry and jewelry supply stores, and empty storefronts. The Biltmore has some higher-end dining options, and the Heron Building has a high-end salon, fast-cas dining. Pacific Center is getting a nice steakhouse.

So in order for the square to have a constant stream of people to visit it, we need to fill in the retail gaps. The Title Guarantee Building still hasn't gotten any retail; the Pershing Building has a Subway and a pizza place; the jewelry stores aren't going anywhere barring a collapse in the local jewelry market (a distant possibility, considering the talks I've had with some jewelry owners lately).

Next, there are seven vacant lots within spitting distance of the park. Park Fifth, but there's nothing planned for the others from what I know.

Some positive steps: The Clark Hotel is coming back, the Metropolitan Building is inching its way toward residential occupancy (though I haven't seen much lately), Pacific Center and Heron buildings on 6th are improving their retail and dining, Title Guarantee is now open *?* and Park Fifth... well, who knows.

Another positive is the cleanup of 7th Street and the Historic Core, which has increased pedestrian flow to/from Pershing.

Then there's the cleanup of Pershing Square itself, which is worlds away from even how it was a couple years ago. The built environment of the park is still —, but at least it's not dangerous or filthy.

My pet fix for Pershing Square would be to redo the parking ramps, which impede access to the park from basically all but the four corners of the park and decreases sight lines (perception of safety).

Whereas Union Square's parking ramps meet the streets at 90-degree angles, Pershing's take up 3/4 of the sidewalk space. Union Square has steps leading up from the sidewalk; Pershing has parking ramps and walls. Fix the parking ramps!

[JDRCRASH]

According to the City Database section, City House and The Olympic are cancelled.....

[RuFFy]

I've always envisioned Pershing Square as a Bryant Park. A tranquil place in the middle of the city where people go to read a book, watch a movie, or just relax. A place that is simple and not cluttered.

[BrandonJXN]

^ I agree. Someplace lush and peaceful where people can just sit and relax. You don't want too much stuff inside of it as to distract one from it's true purpose as a park.

[colemonkee]

From today, Sunday, August 31st.

There are more photos of the Ritz Carlton, 717 Ninth and Concerto in their respective threads.

Concerto and 717 Ninth






Evo

Still very dirty, but should look pretty good once they clean it up.





The sidewalk on 12th. There's a notice for a 4,650 sq. ft. restaurant posted on the 12th Street side.




LA Live



Grammy Glass



Pedestrian Alley Way leading from Figueroa to Nokia Plaza.



Inside Nokia Plaza





And the Olympic side. Even though LA Live's and the Ritz Carlton's glass vary in reflectivity, opacity and color, they manage to complement each other very well. From this angle, LA Live almost looks like an extension of the hotel tower.



The Regal Cinemas

[JDRCRASH]

Excellent update. I like how there are different shades of blue on the Ritz.

[towersla]

Beautiful work Colemonkee. We live in an astounding city! Thank you.

[JDRCRASH]

L.A. Live Receives A Grammy

Tuesday, September 2, 2008, by Dakota

Sing it out, Tropic Thunder guy. Last Wednesday, the under-construction Grammy Museum received a giant Grammy. (Apparently there was an earlier attempt to put up the work two weeks ago, but some type of hanging error forced construction workers to re-hang the project.) As previously noted, this four-story, 32,000-square foot museum at the corner of Olympic and Figueroa will open to the public December 6th and 7th. One of the first exhibitions will be dedicated to music and politics (still with the politics in December? really?); a publicist for the project reminds us that the project will attempt to join the ranks of the Big Three in terms of music museums (Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, the Experience Music Project in Seattle and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland) at downtown entertainment center L.A. Live.

[JDRCRASH]

L.A. Live adds two names to dining lineup

By Stephen Friday on August 31, 2008

Joining an impressive list of restaurants expected to appear at LA Live this December are two smaller names on the Southern California dining circuit.

First reported by Eater LA, Manhattan Beach’s seafood restaurant Rock’N Fish has been pulled onboard, becoming location number two for the casual eatery which sports a beer-guzzling goldfish as its mascot.

Rock’N Fish serves all the expected surf and turf plates in an old-sailor’s-pub-for-the-family setting at slightly higher-than-moderate food prices.

Over 300 wine choices and a long list of specialty martinis dominate the bar menu, including the famous Navy Grog drink as an ode to Hibachi Restaurant — a forty-year institution which occupied the same downtown Manhattan Beach space taken over by Rock’N Fish in 2000.

[fridayinla]

^Here's a link to the rest of that story posted above on angelenic:

http://www.angelenic.com/3679/la-live-adds-two-names-to-dining-lineup/

[LosAngelesBeauty]

Great updates so far. Now only if we can get the sales tax increase passed in Nov. so we can finally start building a transit system that will finally redeem LA's tarnished image as a car-crazed city.

IF we build the Purple Line to Beverly Hill's Golden Triangle, we won't have to recreate "Union Square" at Pershing Square because the subway access will ensure that the Golden Triangle remains a real part of LA's urban experience. You can have an absolutely wonderful urban setting without designer boutiques. Turn Pershing Square into Bryant Park (not Union Square) as someone mentioned before (meaning: Add lotsa trees and grass). Reconfigure the parking ramps into 90 degree entrances, open up the walls, and add more trees and lawn.

Trees and lawn space are the key as seen here in Bryant Park.

From dustandrust.com


From nytimes.com

Ice skating at Pershing Square can still be available during the holidays as seen here in Bryant Park, NY.

From wayfaring.info

A simple fountain (like the one we had in Pershing Square before) can be a center of social gathering.

From inetours.com

Trees, trees, trees! We need more trees in Downtown LA

From teslasociety.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get rid of the concrete, add more trees (not palm trees), and bring it back to what it used to be like


Bring Pershing Square back to its original design!

From lagenealogy.com

[DowntownCharlieBrown]

^There it is. The original design was perfect.

[JDRCRASH]

Yeah, it really is beautiful, but I just hope that they still keep the Ice Skating rink there.

[dktshb]

Now that's what I meant when I said the bone structure was there and that Pershing Square had limitless potential if we could bring it back to its original glory:

From lagenealogy.com

[RuFFy]

The Red/Yellow Cars on the street look nice, too bad I missed that. The only complaint I have about the original design is that it's fountain appears too large. Also, there appears to be only one walkway into the park. Bryant park managed to mix a good amount of walkways that didn't disturb the greenery too much, allowing for places to sit in the shade and read or something. Very nice LAB.

[Quixote]

This photo is a few weeks old, but it provides a nice view of Evo and the recently renovated AT&T Center.


From Flickr, by darianr

[Quixote]

Slab Architects Sharpen Vision for 1340 Figueroa

By Stephen Friday
September 3, 2008

Last time we came across preliminary images for a new mixed-use high rise at 1340 Figueroa Street (opposite the Los Angeles Convention Center’s South Hall), things looked a lot different.

A new incarnation of the 43-story tower by SLAB Architects shows a more refined design that looks like a contemporary take on William Pereira’s Transamerica Tower in San Francisco.

The 344,775 square-foot pyramid-esque structure would bring 273 residential units and 3 commercial condominiums to an L-shaped parking lot between Figueroa and Flower on the block south of Pico Boulevard.

Unlike other pie-in-the-sky proposals we’ve seen tossed around the Figueroa corridor, this one may actually have some bones behind it, or at least a little cartilage: Korean-American developers acquired the site in October 2007, and site review plans were submitted to the Planning Department in June to gain entitlements and necessary zone/height requirements for development — a process that could take years to complete.

These days, though, we’ll take any movement towards new construction we can get.

-1340 Figueroa a New South Park Project
-1500 Figueroa Quietly Advances

[LosAngelesBeauty]

Originally Posted by Westsidelife

Korean-American developers acquired the site in October 2007, and site review plans were submitted to the Planning Department in June to gain entitlements and necessary zone/height requirements for development — a process that could take years to complete.

"Years to complete?" What ever happened to the 12 to 2 plan that LA wanted to pass to speed along development? Anyone have any info on that?

[Echo Park]

Eh. I'm not excited by that design anyway.

[StethJeff]

That SLAB building looks like —. Doesn't belong in LA.

With respect to Pershing Square, I agree with Ruffy that pedestrian access and the size of that fountain could use some adjusting. I would also add that the tree variety and sizes seem to be chosen at random. Perhaps sticking with a more uniform look would be better.