LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 3.0 - Page 437

colemonkee · #**8721** Posted **Jun 20, 2010, 7:38 PM**

^ The west side of the building - the one with the weeds hanging off - is actually the only redeeming part of the design. It's the sides facing 11th and Grand Streets that are the most reprehensible. The plain stucco and placement of the far-too-small windows seem purely functional - from the inside only - and literally thumb their noses at the public outside. Not only is this design bad, it's rude and distasteful. It's like taking the base of the Watermarke and spreading it over an entire tower like Vegemite.

In better news, the small building just to the south of the San Fernando near the corner of 4th and Main, which used to house a small convenience store and the "Burgers 'n Shit" sign (the death of which still makes me a sad panda) is steadily getting a makeover into a restaurant space. Here's a picture from my phone (I left my proper camera at the office - D'oh!). That's real brick and little bay windows going in. It has sort of a rustic French charm, not unlike that of Angelique a few blocks south. Word on the street is that Ray of Ray's Market across the street will operate a new restaurant/cafe in the space. I have not been able to verify those rumors, and as of now, they are just that: rumors.

And on a not-so-positive note, demo on the Genesis hotel - which will be replaced by the New Genesis Apartments - has not started yet, despite having an official groundbreaking ceremony way back in March. Not even notices on the building of impending demolition. For which I throw out an emphatic wtf.

petescafe · #**8722** Posted **Jun 21, 2010, 4:04 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by colemonkee

In better news, the small building just to the south of the San Fernando near the corner of 4th and Main, which used to house a small convenience store and the "Burgers 'n Shit" sign (the death of which still makes me a sad panda) is steadily getting a makeover into a restaurant space. Here's a picture from my phone (I left my proper camera at the office - D'oh!). That's real brick and little bay windows going in. It has sort of a rustic French charm, not unlike that of Angelique a few blocks south. Word on the street is that Ray of Ray's Market across the street will operate a new restaurant/cafe in the space. I have not been able to verify those rumors, and as of now, they are just that: rumors.

I see Ray fairly often and Yes, he is opening the restaurant across the way.
Although, he jokingly wouldn't reveal what type of food it was going to be.
The roof will have a patio dinning area.

It will be a very nice addition to 4th and Main.

citywatch · #**8723** Posted **Jun 21, 2010, 6:18 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by petescafe

Looks like the power is up and running over at the Medallion. The top is lit up.

sure is a relief to see that block finally transformed so that it's no longer one of the biggest deadzones in the hood. I recall all the yrs I'd drive by there when it was a huge parking lot & go

the eastern side of the medallion looks better, or less blah, than the western side.

the floodlights at the top are nice. Only problem with such features is they have a habit of never being properly maintained over many yrs & are eventually allowed to burn out & never replaced. hopefully ppl in that bldg & throughout the hood will be picky about keeping things up to snuff.

citywatch · #**8724** Posted **Jun 21, 2010, 6:33 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by edkao

Meruelo-Maddux Properties has plans to build a 21 story residential apartment tower on the corner of 11th Street and South Grand Avenue between Grand Avenue and the Desmond Building.

Is that report even believable?! When devlprs with even a solid background can't go forward on major projs in today's climate, how is it possible for Meruelo, with a record of bankruptcy, to get a new tower under way? More power to him, but I have a hunch he's like the devlpr who kept saying he'd shortly break ground on the Glass tower proj. BTW, that tower was planned to go up right across the street from where this new one is supposed to be located.

I'll want to focus on the proj's design when I believe the tower is more than a dream in some devlpr's mind.

I drove around there a few days ago, & even with all the improvements, I still couldn't help feeling alot more infill was needed to give the hood a sense of mass. Too many deadzones still undermine the area. But when I recall just how really empty & abandoned the hood was several yrs ago, I'll happily take what I can get there now.

and if meruelo's tower really is more than hotair, I'll wanna

citywatch · #**8725** Posted **Jun 21, 2010, 6:44 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by colemonkee

Here's a picture from my phone (I left my proper camera at the office - D'oh!).

And on a not-so-positive note, demo on the Genesis hotel - which will be replaced by the New Genesis Apartments - has not started yet, despite having an official groundbreaking ceremony way back in March. Not even notices on the building of impending demolition. For which I throw out an emphatic wtf.

miss all your major photo updates, although this one small update is welcome. Good to see improvement next to the San fernando bldg. It's the small old bldgs tucked away in parts of DT that when they're dumpy & holes in the wall, can really bring down the hood. They've been the parts of the area that I forget about or don't notice til I'm actually in the hood. Then I suddenly see them & feel the same way that I do when I keep running into deadzones all over the place.

Still recall the small burger stand that used to sit on the corner of where the new LAPD bldg is located. Another one of those things I'm glad is of the past & not of today.

I hope the genesis apt bldg doesn't end up being a repeat of such dives, for they're the ones that take yrs & yrs & yrs to finally be torn down.

BrandonJXN · #**8726** Posted **Jun 21, 2010, 2:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by colemonkee

^ The west side of the building - the one with the weeds hanging off - is actually the only redeeming part of the design. It's the sides facing 11th and Grand Streets that are the most reprehensible. The plain stucco and placement of the far-too-small windows seem purely functional - from the inside only - and literally thumb their noses at the public outside. Not only is this design bad, it's rude and distasteful. It's like taking the base of the Watermarke and spreading it over an entire tower like Vegemite.

The whole building is pretty deplorable. There really is no redeeming qualities that I can see. It's tall but that's it.

Kingofthehill · #**8727** Posted **Jun 21, 2010, 7:41 PM**

Eh, you gotta take what's being served. And let's not get ahead of ourselves by foolishly thinking this city -- the land of popcorn ceiling dingbat apartments, salmon-colored stucco and faux Mediterranean/Tuscany "-ini" jobs -- has any sort of real quality control or sadly, a half-decent taste in contemporary architecture. The stuff worth commended is far and few, and is largely out of sight, tucked away in Westside SFH nabes like Venice or Mar Vista, or is hidden in the hilly areas of Hollywood/Los Feliz/Silverlake.

What do you guys think about this infill piece? (excuse my dirty sensor; gotta get that cleaned)

BrandonJXN · #**8728** Posted **Jun 21, 2010, 8:23 PM**

Personally, I don't have a problem with buildings like Canvas. I just wish that Los Angeles would build more quality buildings. Mid and highrises. I mean look at other cities and compare to Los Angeles. Los Angeles mind you is supposed to be the 'leader in contemporary architecture.' I think that cities like Seattle, and Chicago long stole that title. Which is not a bad thing at all. I love those cities and I love progression. I love that they are progressing. But it makes me sad that in a city that is as unique as LA, we are not as 'forward thinking' as we say we are and would like to be.

Chicago

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/1374/envchicago1me8.jpg

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/6130/grantparktower3es1.jpg

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/542/519sclinton2zoom.jpg

Seattle

http://www.2200condos.com/merge.jpg

http://www.fifthandcolumbia.com/photos/southwest.jpg

http://djc.com/stories/images/20061207/2301_6thAvenue_web.jpg

DJM19 · #**8729** Posted **Jun 21, 2010, 10:22 PM**

LA needs better design standards. We don't need to just take what's handed to us

Quixote · #**8730** Posted **Jun 21, 2010, 10:32 PM**

The difference between Los Angeles and places like Chicago and Seattle is that their respective city centers are where the wealth is concentrated, whereas that's not the case here. That explains why the nice stuff is located in WeHo and the Westside.

LosAngelesBeauty · #**8731** Posted **Jun 22, 2010, 12:50 AM**

Well, the bright side to all this bad architecture is that hopefully eventually, there's enough activity on the ground floor to make up for all the lack of creative aesthetic qualities that LA once stood proudly for.

I mean, I like to think of Taipei when people lament on how bad LA is. Taipei, IMO, is one butt-ass ugly city. The bulk of buildings are made of concrete with small little tiles that cover the facades. Then, they cover up the facade with ugly signs with huge Chinese characters.

However, every time I visit Taipei, I have quite a lot of fun because the subway (MRT) takes me eveywhere. There's a lot of activity on the streets, and there's great food. So it actually forms the bulk of my impression of Taipei.

You can have an ugly city, but still have fun in it.

NOOOOOW, ask me how I feel about Paris? It was pretty (not that pretty), and it was actually REALLY boring to me when I went. Couldn't wait to leave actually!

milquetoast · #**8732** Posted **Jun 22, 2010, 7:35 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill

Yeahh, that .. dirty sensor is really throwing me.
Know what else is throwing me? That little White/Gray/Indian Red combo on that elevated box.

Goes well with the Phoenix brown on the right!

edluva · #**8733** Posted **Jun 22, 2010, 8:02 AM**

1. wealth distribution - as someone alluded to, la's wealth is distributed to its suburbs and the westside. la's influential live in the conejo valley, south bay, pasadena, malibu, etc behind gated complexes ensuring that our cultural icons the kardashians, the real housewives, and jessica simpson remain safe and uncorrupted by the less flattering reality of la's brown and yellow core. meanwhile in chicago, seattle, and other real cities, the powerful and wealthy concentrate in the urban centers wasting their time on such talentless endeavors as global business, publishing, industrial design, education, etc.

2. cultural sophistication/education - let's face it. la is phillistine. the average angeleno is less demanding of developers than his or her london or sf brethren. he/she is flat out less sophisticated and less educated, more likely to bedazzle him/herself with a/x, bebe, guess, juicy and tapout apparel, drive around in dubbed-out chargers and chromed out s600s, and is on average 300 percent more generous with hair products than the wealthy of other cities. and because architecture is market driven, la's architecture thusly reflects on local taste and sentiment.

3. overall, both of the above point to a need for a fixed guideway mass transit to ground this city literally and figuratively, so that neighborhoods and institutions can form and generations of angelenos will grow up being fiercely proud of these neighborhoods and institutions so they won't be as lost looking to pop culture for inspiration in how better to douche-ify themselves in order to define who and what they think they should be

edluva · #**8734** Posted **Jun 22, 2010, 8:25 AM**

the difference between la and other cities is that nuance and subtlety don't exist in the vocabulary of angelenos. la is full of douchebags like new york is full of bankers. i think it's funny that you guys are so biased you'll only allow yourselves to go to the point of admitting architecture sucks while i'll take the extra step you guys won't and point out that it takes a village. it's taboo, nay, blasphemy to insult la.

if you're going to insult the built environment, isn't it also an insult to those who sanction its construction through their choices?

JDRCRASH · #**8735** Posted **Jun 22, 2010, 2:30 PM**

I think "average" angelenos have more of an impact on what get's built than what you think. In fact, I would say that outside of Downtown and Hollywood, "everyday angelenos" have a large grip on the quality of architecture. Look at the Neighborhood Councils. They're all over the place.

Though, lets be honest, City Hall has a major influence on developers.

I hope this answers your comments.