LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

Wow. I had no idea this was going on. That's a HUGE boost for that area, which is currently a complete dead zone, to quote citywatch. The Chetrit Group, who owns that building, is notorious for being media shy, so it's not surprising. Let's hope similar developments are ongoing at the old Embassy Hotel site, which they also own.

I was actually just reading about the Chetrit group, and their very controversial practices. They own the Old Italian Bank building on 7th street, which has been siting empty for years. I hope they decide to do something with it soon. Oh, and can someone post pictures of the building are working on, I dont know which one it is.

[Quixote]

^


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[LosAngelesBeauty]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

I actually think that Cal Plaza is the most underrated high rises in DTLA. They are massive towers, but they are connected to a vast majority of Bunker Hill. If you ever find yourself there, you will see that there is A LOT of stuff at Cal Plaza aside from the towers. It's very 80's in design (lots of pink) but the good kind of 80's. Not the bad kind of 80's like Mr. Mister or something like that.

I agree that sometimes people automatically disregard design or style if it is "dated" but not "historical" yet, which I believe the 80s era falls under. I think if done well, like you described with Cal Plaza, it has a very nice look about it and maybe like fashion, the 80s designs will eventually be well regarded as "serious" architecture someday.

[BrandonJXN]

Anyone else excited to see LA get destroyed for the upteenth time?

• Video Link

Aliens hate us it seems.

[Easy]

The Downtown News project update is finally out. Not much to see though other than Gateway breaking ground in Chinatown this month.

DT News

[Quixote]

Another dead zone bites the dust! Chinatown Gateway...


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[LosAngelesBeauty]

I put this project in Chinatown on par with the Blossom Plaza in terms of how much it will affect the district in a positive direction towards urban renewal. However, having said that, Chinatown still desperately needs to finish the Blossom Plaza to link Gold Line transit riders easily into the heart of Chinatown.

[JDRCRASH]

Maybe I should add the Chinatown Gateway and Blossom Plaza projects to the list.

Has Blossom Plaza been approved?

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

2700 Figueroa

Also from today, flanked by 2 fast food signs. Again taken with my phone, from inside the car with the window up, hence the ghostly reflection of my dashboard and steering wheel in the sky.

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[Quixote]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

Maybe I should add the Chinatown Gateway and Blossom Plaza projects to the list.

Has Blossom Plaza been approved?

Blossom Plaza - Mixed Use

By Roselle Chen, Richard Guzmán, Jon Regardie and Ryan Vaillancourt
February 18, 2011

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - The Community Redevelopment Agency is waiting for proposals from developers in a public bidding process for the former Blossom Plaza; they are due March 4, according to an agency official. The CRA and City Councilman Ed Reyes hope to activate the 1.9-acre site on Broadway between College and Spring streets. The Chinatown location was formerly slated for a $165 million development, though that died due to financing issues. The city then purchased the fully entitled land for $9.9 million. The lot holds the former Little Joe’s restaurant, which has been closed for more than a decade.

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/articles/2011/02/18/development/doc4d5eed1017020614352554.txt

[edluva]

that pic with a mcdonalds, taco bell, and a del taco fronting that stucco faux spanish-mediterranean apartment complex is embarrassing. what an ugly intersection. this is supposed to be innter city la, near a high-caliber university.

personifies usc and los angeles perfectly.

[tommaso]

Originally Posted by edluva

that pic with a mcdonalds, taco bell, and a del taco fronting that stucco faux spanish-mediterranean apartment complex is embarrassing. what an ugly intersection. this is supposed to be innter city la, near a high-caliber university.

personifies usc and los angeles perfectly.

I don't know who you are personally. But, every time you've written something here and I've read it, when I reflect on the content of your comments, I have to agree with your opinions and that's a strongly agree.

You see, it's like the commercial says, "tricks are for kids". However, here in L.A. tricks are for adults, and the developers think it's a funny trick they're playing on our sensory apparatus lol. Well, I laugh only because I know the difference between a well executed architectural design and these blocks of concrete sadness that they are pouring on our city streets trying to pass for legitimate residential and commercial buildings. Our forefathers would be ashamed of us and our lack of concentration and taste. Look at the absurd crap that we're building and it's absolutely impossible to not notice that it's corrupting our future.

I emphatically don't, that's do not, want my kids to grow up looking at this architecture thinking this is what man is capable of. No way no how. We've got to do something about implementing standards in L.A. We've got to do it. If it's up to the developers, they will build prisons all over town and charge market rate and above market rate for their crap just because they can. Well, ok yes, technically they are right, they can do what they please with their land because they own it and they are sort of operating within the confines of the law. Well, sort of.

And, us citizens, concerned as we may be, we still live too spread out in L.A. to have a real impact when it comes time to band together and have a say about what quality of architecture we are willing to allow in our neighborhoods in L.A. We are still too distracted in this city to unify in that way and people are way too selfish. It's all about their own personal interests and personal lives.

But one day, we'll all realize that we do live in neighborhoods and some of us would like to go for a walk and enjoy it, with extra emphasis on the ENJOY. You see, walking and enjoying that walk is highly dependent in a city on what the buildings in my neighborhood look like and what my sidewalk looks like. That's all part of this equation of livability.

[202_Cyclist]

There are two articles related to the proposed downtown LA football stadium in today's LA Times.


Jerry Brown's plan to cut redevelopment agencies could sink Escondido, San Diego stadium plans
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-...+Local+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

NFL stadium deal could be a tricky call for Los Angeles
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-stadiu...+-+Top+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Originally Posted by Westsidelife

Source

if things had gone right & according to original plans & timetables, that parking lot seen in the foreground of the pic posted by westsidelife of the clark hotel would have been replaced with the proj in the pic posted by illithid.



park fifth would have replaced one of the biggest gaps & deadzones in the entire hood & done more to give pershing sq some of the credibility it lost a looong time ago, other than an actual redesign & rebuilding of the sq itself. making matters worse, the devlpr of park fifth also was planning to give $$ to help restore Pershing. the proj would have really helped further connect the newer side of dt with the older eastern side.



park fifth was gonna be one of the top 2 or 3 tallest condo bldgs in the US.

I saw something recently about how the tallest residential tower in the world was completed not long ago in India.

[JDRCRASH]

Originally Posted by citywatch

park fifth would have replaced one of the biggest gaps & deadzones in the entire hood & done more to give pershing sq some of the credibility it lost a looong time ago, other than an actual redesign & rebuilding of the sq itself. making matters worse, the devlpr of park fifth also was planning to give $$ to help restore Pershing. the proj would have really helped further connect the newer side of dt with the older eastern side.

I never realized it until now, but another major gap that could be interesting is next to the PacBell Tower.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by tommaso

Well, I laugh only because I know the difference between a well executed architectural design and these blocks of concrete sadness that they are pouring on our city streets trying to pass for legitimate residential and commercial buildings. Our forefathers would be ashamed of us and our lack of concentration and taste.

tommaso, that intersection near usc, with the 3 fastfood places, does look schlubby, but it's almost paradise compared with all the parts of LA that look not much better than this:



I was going through alot of pics of chicago in the my city photos page. there must be a few hundred I scrolled through that show a large number of parts of that city, inc areas way beyond dt chicago. I didn't see ONE pic that looked as desperate as the pic above. however, chicago does look gritty & in its own way----esp during winter when nothing is green & everything looks cold & barren----but not as crusty as the street shown above.

btw, the pic taken of the new proj on Fig near USC came out more than good enough. So, colemonkee, don't let the fact you're using your cell phone stop you from taking photos in the future.

ps, the pic I posted above shows a hood that at least is better than bev hills, cuz bev hills looks too much like mission viejo. Or is it that mission viejo looks too much like bev hills?

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Westsidelife

Another dead zone bites the dust! Chinatown Gateway...

TG!! when going south on broadway, I've driven by there countless number of times. since that is sort of the southern entryway, or southern exit to chinatown, it has been one of the most noticeable gaps in the hood.

I've been hearing that apt projs may be viable again in today's economy. So I'm hoping that more projs like the one in chinatown, or the one on Wilshire a few blocks west of fig or at the intersection of vermont, may become more common in the next yr or two. would really like to see the rest of the large parking lot across 2nd st from the kyoto hotel & not too far from city hall finally filled in.

[pesto]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

Anyone else excited to see LA get destroyed for the upteenth time?

• Video Link

Aliens hate us it seems.

For sure! Gotta see it.

Among others, I know Glendale got attacked (Them) and a volcano took out the westside and DT has had fires and quakes, but what about the SGV? Maybe some monster could follow someone from China, seeking revenge for ancient grudges?

And what about the OC? Maybe some kind of monster that attacks tanned skin and boob jobs.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by edluva

that pic with a mcdonalds, taco bell, and a del taco fronting that stucco faux spanish-mediterranean apartment complex is embarrassing. what an ugly intersection. this is supposed to be innter city la, near a high-caliber university.

personifies usc and los angeles perfectly.

The area around USC has been far shittier than that for a long time. I thought it was funny back in the 1980s-1990s when the American Music Awards and Oscars were held at the Shrine Auditorium, that these entertainers and celebrities would be riding in their limos down south Figueroa past strip malls, fast-food joints, fried chicken places, sidewalk hotdog vendors, taco stands, women nursing their babies at bus stops, etc., on their way to a shi-shi event at the Shrine; I wondered what they thought of the whole area, especially back then, when the area was a far worse neighborhood than it appears to be now.

For what it's worth, ever been to Yale? You'd think it'd' be in a nicer neighborhood than it is.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

I thought it was funny back in the 1980s-1990s when the American Music Awards and Oscars were held at the Shrine Auditorium, that these entertainers and celebrities would be...on their way to a shi-shi event at the Shrine; I wondered what they thought of the whole area

TG they finally built the univ gateway proj directly east of the shrine, cuz that once was the biggest deadzone in the hood. So as you mention, it was pretty bad several yrs ago. the VIPs would pass by all of what you describe, but then they'd pull up & unload in front of this...


alan light, flickr

^ that pic was taken 21 yrs ago. the owners of the shrine finally did some cleaning up of their location in the meantime, so it's now at least somewhat presentable...


en.structurae.info

I have to kind of when tommaso says that the city's forefathers would be ashamed of us. That's cuz they're the ones who allowed, as one small example, the hood in front of & around the shrine to be like it was until well after 1990.