LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[Kingofthehill]

Alright, a few pics - all from the Historic Core:

Medallion pocket park:





Winston building, now under conversion:



Chester building (Broadway/5th), soon to undergo conversion and adaptive re-use:



New coffee shop in the ground-level portion of Barry Shy's SB Tower, at Spring/6th:



Shuttered Foot Locker space:


Lofts on Broadway/9th:



Misc loft stuff:















Hopefully most of these will see new uses sometime in the near future. Activating the southern portion of Main/Spring (and all of Broadway and Los Angeles streets) would be a major coup for DTLA.


The northern portion looks good, though:






The New Genesis Apartments' progress was so negligible, that I didn't bother posting the picture I took. They are still laying the foundation. Syrup, among the other many businesses, seems to be doing well, too.

BTW, I just got back from Brooklyn (check out my photothread!). They have one of the best Trader Joe's I have ever seen; it is in a true urban format, and is located in an old bank, to boot. Tom Gilmore would be wise to woo a Trader Joe's to the old bank building at the SW corner of Main/4th:

Brooklyn:


DTLA:

[Illithid Dude]

Nice shots! What camera are you using?

[Kingofthehill]

Thanks, I use an old Canon DSLR.

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill

Great pics as usual Devan, and great catching up with you! Wish I had decorated and unpacked a bit more before that shot though lol.

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by DistrictDirt

Great pics as usual Devan, and great catching up with you! Wish I had decorated and unpacked a bit more before that shot though lol.

That's your place? It looks nice as is.

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

That's your place? It looks nice as is.

Thanks! Still need to do some unpacking and get some art to fill up the wall space.

[StethJeff]

Wow, some really great photos and observations, koth

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill

Alright, a few pics - all from the Historic Core:

thanks, KOTH!

Your pics make me think of when I was standing on one of the upper floors of the former city national bank bldg (the 1960s highrise at the SE corner of 6th & Olive, across from Pershing) looking south & east. I think that was back in 1999 or 2000, but before most of the conversions of old bldgs had taken place. I tried imagining what the hood would be like with several of those bldgs shown in your pics being brought back to life & ppl finally in the hood 24/7. Your shots of the penthouse gardens & rooftop pools are part of what I was envisioning back then.

when you get right down to it, DT is the only really major urban hood in all of SoCa. Most other hoods that ppl have favored til now, inc Samo, Weho, Pasadena, venice, hollywood, give off more of a burban instead of urban vibe & layout. So ppl in the past who've wanted an urban experience in LA have had almost nothing to choose from.

So a city lacking a true good urban setting within it has been a major weak point of LA. TG that's finally changing.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by DistrictDirt

Wish I had decorated and unpacked a bit more before that shot though lol.

Your apt looks out onto the classic PE bldg! When that bldg was finally renovated & reopened several yrs ago (2001?), I recall being concerned that they'd have a hard time finding tenants. lol. It filled up surprisingly quickly, & that was even before the hood had seen some of the basic improvements that ppl now take for granted.

I agree with threehundred. Your place looks quite good even in its unfinished state. If you can give your impressions (& pics) of the SB tower & your new hood in upcoming months, I'd appreciate it. for instance, doesn't your bldg's owner include window coverings for his tenants? Or do ppl in your bldg not mind being on full display at night for the ppl in the PE bldg?

[ethereal_reality]

Wonderful photographs koth.

What is the art deco building that used to be a Foot Locker?

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Wonderful photographs koth.

What is the art deco building that used to be a Foot Locker?

There was a Foot Locker downtown? How long ago?

[RAlossi]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

There was a Foot Locker downtown? How long ago?

It was there for years on Broadway, and it closed maybe five, six months ago. I hope the owners can clean it up a bit and attract a new tenant soon. Foot Locker wasn't a bad tenant to have on Bway.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by RAlossi

It was there for years on Broadway, and it closed maybe five, six months ago. I hope the owners can clean it up a bit and attract a new tenant soon. Foot Locker wasn't a bad tenant to have on Bway.

I'm surprised. It seems like a fairly higher end store to have in that area. Shame about it closing.

[patriotizzy]

Beautiful pictures. I really liked to see the city from those perspectives.

[Steve2726]

Great photos as always! I particularly liked the shots looking down on the various roof decks that have been activated with pools, lounges, etc.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

I was downtown this past weekend on Sunday and got a few shots of some things brewing. Although it was Sunday, there were still quite a few people walking around. This is WITHOUT shopping folks. I have a feeling that when DTLA starts to get major retailers (like Target), DTLA will be humming all day and night, every day.

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A new lounge/bar concept called Public School 612 is being incorporated into Daily Grill at 6th/Flower. Very smart move on Daily Grill's side as they've been around for a relatively long time now and need to introduce BUZZ again to stay relevant.

Rendering from Public School 612 Facebook page









Le Ka still under construction across the street from Daily Grill. Will we see this one done by Spring at least?



Citigroup Center making some progress with new revamped plaza



"Richard Serra-style planters"






Yay! Carl's Jr is closing down this week at 6th/Grand! The owner of the building did not renew the lease and will be actively marketing the space for a real restaurant.



I hope we get something good! I wish we could get either a Porto's (from Glendale) or a An Family restaurant from SF/Bev Hills.



Mas Malo sign up and looking good, helping toward the transformation of 7th Street into the next hottest retail/restaurant corridor of Los Angeles



Former liquor store on 7th Street, future Italianesque restaurant?






A rendering of what is to come for this former liquor store on 7th St?

[Sodha]

Originally Posted by citywatch

when it comes to too much parking, my main problem is all the surface lots. Just about all of them are fugly & they deaden so much of the hood. But it is ridiculous how so many of us in LA are dependent on our car. so much so that a lot of us will drive around & around & around looking for a parking space that is at least 2 feet closer to the front door of where we're headed.

however, as others above have noted, there are a lot of spaces set aside for cars in a city like chicago. The well known twin circular apt towers that were built there next to the riverfront back in the 1960s (?) have many levels of parking at their base.

DT's biggest problem has not been the way we treat cars here, although that doesn't help. IOW, ppl didn't suddenly become aware of the invention of the car & say "let's get out of here!!" The biggest problem is DT wasn't nice enough in the first place for many of those ppl to want to stick around. That was true before most of our fwys were built.

As for the trend of ppl spreading themselves all over the place, inc out in the burbs? That dates back to when most ppl didn't even own cars & instead relied on things like the red car train.

The CRA just spent $52 million for the Broad parking garage. Imagine if that $52 million (or heck the $22 million; as $30 million was initially set aside for the 290 space garage) toward the streetcar? If you make transit convenient and restrict parking, people will take it. However, LA has the opposite mentality and then they wonder why people don't take trains/buses. Unbelievable...

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

I was downtown this past weekend on Sunday and got a few shots of some things brewing. Although it was Sunday, there were still quite a few people walking around. This is WITHOUT shopping folks. I have a feeling that when DTLA starts to get major retailers (like Target), DTLA will be humming all day and night, every day.

Great photos and observations. I haven't explored nor kept track of new developments around the Financial District, and didn't realize there was anything new planned. I'm definitely checking out Public School when it opens...it sounds like they will have great beer selection!

And next time you're downtown, let me know!

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by citywatch

Your apt looks out onto the classic PE bldg! When that bldg was finally renovated & reopened several yrs ago (2001?), I recall being concerned that they'd have a hard time finding tenants. lol. It filled up surprisingly quickly, & that was even before the hood had seen some of the basic improvements that ppl now take for granted.

I agree with threehundred. Your place looks quite good even in its unfinished state. If you can give your impressions (& pics) of the SB tower & your new hood in upcoming months, I'd appreciate it. for instance, doesn't your bldg's owner include window coverings for his tenants? Or do ppl in your bldg not mind being on full display at night for the ppl in the PE bldg?

I love the PE Building! Their roof is AMAZING. We actually thought about moving there first, but after we saw the apts in SB Tower we were sold on that building instead. I figured we at least get to look out the window at the beautiful exterior of the PE building anyway

Incidentally, there's currently a Phil Stern photography exhibit in a penthouse loft in the PE Building, so we went over last weekend and had a look. I could care less about the photography, but was really interested in seeing what a penthouse looks like in that building. It did not disappoint:





In regards to your question about SB Tower, window coverings are not included. Otherwise the building seems great though. The manager lives onsite and is super responsive. The fixtures are of higher quality than the other loft rentals we checked out in the neighborhood. And the rooftop has some of the best views around, as the building is a good deal taller than the buildings that surround it:





I was planning on doing a post today or tomorrow on my observations after living my first couple weeks in the Historic Core, so stay tuned.

[colemonkee]

I went to Mas Malo two Saturdays ago and it was PACKED. The food was okay, the drinks were very good, but the space is the real star. It's HUGE, loud, and very energetic. They did a good job restoring the ornate ceilings, the bar is really cool - and crowded - but the wall art doesn't match the theme of the restaurant. With all the buzz surrounding it, it should be popular for a while. Let's hope it lasts, and doesn't fizzle out like a lot of LA places do. Bottega Louie is still going strong after almost two years, so hopefully they will follow suit.

The space on 7th in the Roosevelt, is that the (old) proposed Citizen Smith place? The decor in the rendering certainly has the Citizen Smith feel, but the Hollywood location closed up a couple of weeks ago after the owners went through a bitter divorce. I wonder if this is the same space or something new.