Quote:
Originally Posted by MarshallKnight
As I contemplated the move, I started to discover that most of my friends, and girlfriend, in other parts of the city (I've been on the westside for about 8 years) balked at basically ever coming to visit.
The lack of grocery stores really hurts. I have an Erewhon across the street from my place, with Trader Joe's and the Farmers' Market at the Grove a five minute walk. I love the Grand Central Market but I don't see stocking my kitchen there every week.
Downtown also doesn't always feel particularly safe, and I've also never been there without being harassed for change by at least one homeless guy, or stepping over somebody's piss. Until that problem starts to actually get addressed, I am always going to think twice.
And Fairfax has more than double the population density of DTLA (not counting the Downtown commuters, who I'd never be around to see anyway). I've never walked around at night out here, and felt alone. That's added to by the fact that the street life is contiguous -- whereas a lot of Downtown is broken up by parking structures and surface lots.
As more of these projects fill in those gaping lots; more residential density gets added; hopefully the streetcar and the regional connecter; plus all the planned retail, restaurants, etc.; I'm sure all of it will change. But as is, I didn't feel ready for it, and it didn't feel ready for me. Yet.
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I imagine your POV is alot more common than the opinion of those ppl who are unhappy with dt cuz its newer bldgs are too short or don't have the snazziest of architectural design. I wish dt's biggest problems were based on those things instead of weaknesses that are more noticeable & troubling.
I wonder if the ppl who are so fixated on the height of bldgs in dt, & feel
if new projs are too short, really spend much or any time in the hood? That's cuz when one is actually in dtla....or at least when I'm there....the last thing that makes me go
or
is cuz of a lack of more super big skyscrapers. maybe a fascination with greater height is a guy thing, or a "fanboy" type of thing....or sort of like the proverbial [nick name for "Richard"] measuring competition.
but I'm picky or demanding in my own way. I was in dt this afternoon & the effect of one gap being filled in somehow making neighboring gaps even more glaring & noticeable is what stood out to me. for instance in little tokyo at 2nd & san Pedro st, where a new apt proj was supposed to have finally broken ground by now. as of today, it's still a parking lot. So a gnawing sense of incompleteness is what stands out to me, far, far more than whether LA's skyline is comparable to that of some city in Illinois.
My impatience at change still being too slow is another reaction I notice when I'm actually in dtla, & not any unhappiness I might have cuz a new proj is 7 floors instead of 30, or doesn't fit a perfect urban ideal.
another thing: there is something very amiss about the clark hotel....it seems the exterior clean up work is being done on an overly modest budget. Although the first floor isn't the very filthy & rundown disgrace that it used to be, it now looks like only a simple whitewash paint job is what the owners are willing to do, or can afford to do at this time.
they've gotta be a money laundering outfit.
What is nice about dt today compared with yrs ago is that there are now more ppl strolling about....who aren't desperate & poor....some of them also walking their dogs in open areas & creating more of a community feel. dtla is one of the few parts of LA where a person can walk around & not feel like a....put one's finger shaped like an 'L' on the forehead.
I'm not sure if that walkability is as true of the fairfax area, which to me has a street life that's more linear....one major commercial street like wilshire or La Brea surrounded by mainly quiet residential areas....and in its own way is just as non contiguous...or even more incomplete.....than dt is.
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