LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[craigs]

Also, a lot of today's Angelenos chose to move here to live in a different environment than that of other, denser, more traditionally urban cities. I lived within San Francisco city limits for a total of 24 years; I also lived in Boston for four years. I have lived the traditional urban life, and I have chosen at this point in my life to get some private space, some room I don't have to share with strangers, some distance between me and the dysfunction that is far too prevalent in the streets of our more crowded cities in these unprecedented times. This is what LA was consciously built to provide its residents, and I'm taking advantage of that.

[colemonkee]

Amazing! Glad to see Weingart Tower move forward!

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by craigs

It has a scale that is both massive and also very fine-grained, and was constantly upgraded as the capital of the greatest empire the world had seen up until the rise of the United States after World War II. It is really not apt to compare London to a young, upstart city born of the automobile age like LA, but do what you like. I just request fewer youtube videos of London, New York, etc. in a thread about Los Angeles. I'd like to focus on LA in the LA threads.

London, which until not too many decades ago wasn't too different from the other lowrise european cities described above, isn't massive in terms of NYC type skyscrapers & certainly Dubai type super talls. It has more highrises today, however, than certain other european cities do. But those bldgs in London don't make it a great city. Far from it.

The vids of other cities help me get a better sense of dtla. I originally was more into a highrise frame of mind. But after seeing those vids of bustling london sidewalks....& seeing recent vids of the sidewalks of NYC....I realize that skyscrapers are a lot less important in making a great city great.

I also recall a few urban essayists several yrs ago describing LA as following more of the lower rise format of a London than a NYC.

As I watch this vid of a youtuber walking up grand ave from around Olympic, the thing that stands out is how few ppl are around. If the sidewalks were bustling, that would take attention away from the parking lots & shaky 1st levels of bldgs or store fronts. Or if everything was fully nicely developed, that would take attention away from the empty sidewalks.

I notice the parking lot at the NW corner of 8th St & grand....that's where the devlpr Mitsui fudosan is planning a highrise apt tower. But parts of dtla like that make the lack of a lot of ppl out & about more noticeable...Visa versa too.

As with the vid of culver city, LA will never be a pedestrian city....that's just the way things are....cars, fwys & quiet sidewalks are built into this region's DNA....I can live with that. But it means things like lifeless parking lots and worn out or vacant shopfronts & rundown bldgs are less tolerable than if LA were full of busy sidewalks.

DTLA can learn from London in that a good city should be consistently nice looking & very ppl oriented. To achieve that, the height of bldgs are way less important than other things....such as whether deadzones & unattractive environments exist or not....or are being eliminated fast enough.

Of course, too much homelessness, sidewalks used as toilets & graffiti all over the place will ruin even otherwise nicely put together areas.


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[citywatch]

Originally Posted by caligrad

If the LA skyline upsets you (or the lack of one) most European major cities would also. London, Paris and even Moscow didn't have huge skylines like you would think just 10 years ago.... even now they don't have massive skylines like you would expect. Mexico City has a skyline around the same size of LAs but it has 7 times the population..... on the opposite end, people can argue that The Century City/Westwood skylines are bigger than that of Phoenix, San Antonio, San Jose and even San Diego.... but those cities are some of the largest in the country..... where as Century City/Westwood (despite the name) aren't cities at all...... Factors factors factors.

I believe you've said you live in the long bch area....this video reminds me that, as is true of dtla, long beach has seen a lot of improvement too over the past 20 yrs. I'm old enough to remember when long bch was as borderline or seedy as dtla was.....seeing LB doing better makes me feel good about the entire multi nodal place that is LA-socal.

It's interesting how this youtuber from NYC has given me a better sense of LA....dtla & around socal....than I've had in the past.


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okay, sorry for wandering off from dtla....but to get back to dt, the youtuber above also visited this 1970s relic on Bunker Hill....which has long bothered me because of its notorious lobby. That hotel is easy to get lost in & never fully occupied by retail tenants due to not enough shoppers....a lack of enough ppl outdoors & indoors too doesn't help a neighborhood. But it was one of the earlier projs added to Bunker Hill starting in the early 1970s & originally surrounded by not much.


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[LAisthePlace]

As much as I also enjoy London, I believe this is a forum to discuss development and especially skyscrapers in Downtown Los Angeles, not compare it to other cities/neighborhoods, especially those that have been around for thousands of years...

[citywatch]

^ but understanding devlpt patterns in LA & why new projs in dtla aren't taller, or why they don't need to be taller, is helpful in figuring out why certain trends exist...It helps to know why certain patterns in highrise devlpt never occur in dtla....or won't occur. I was a bit more bothered by that until I looked more closely at other cities, esp London & NYC. Personally I'm now more impressed by the city east of the Atlantic ocean than I am by the one on the East coast of the US.

Several wks ago, the issue was with ppl who think bunker hill shouldn't have been razed in the 1960s. More recently, there are ppl unhappy that new devlpt in dt isn't larger or doesn't contain more height.

Also, the vids on london from just the past few days show the pandemic & lockdown for some cities are now switching from a bust to a boomtown....So the crowds of ppl in England or the crowds at a disney park in anaheim indicate that a lack of livelihood in dtla isn't necessarily due to Covid alone.

This bothers me way more than a new proj being X feet tall instead of Y feet tall. Or that old, rundown properties in dtla were torn down over 50 yrs ago....

Olvera Street vendors say business still a fraction of what it used to be

LOS ANGELES — On a recent day, Bertha Gomez waited inside her candy stand on Olvera Street, looking outside to the scattering of a handful of people strolling the pavement.

For Gomez and her entire family, the candy stand is a cherished piece of family history. But since reopening the economy in June, Gomez and the other vendors say foot traffic actually sharply decreased. Gomez explained that the stand will sometimes make as little as $87 per day.

"Before, it was just a lot more vibrant," she said. "During the week we had school field trips. Now we don’t have any of that."

Flores runs a restaurant on Olvera Street called Juanitas and says that losing these generational vendors on Olvera Street would be more than a business loss — it’s a big multi-cultural loss, too.

“It’s the center of the Hispanic culture here in downtown Los Angeles,” he said. “It represents a lot of the old history of LA. Chinatown used to sit here, so we have a Chinese-American presence. We also have an Italian-American museum because those three cultures, mixed with others as well, actually founded LA.”

"I’m so worried because business is so unstable," he said. "One day it’s good, one day it’s bad."

"But really right now, we have no international visitorship, and that’s about half of our income," she said. "So that’s really hard. We’re still working below 50% of what we normally make."

[nmkef]

Anecdotally it is slightly better week by week in DTLA, even with some of the financial district lunch eateries being busier, but it still doesn't near match pre-covid crowds and likely wont until more return to office occurs and biz/international travel can start up in earnest again which is probably not until next year's conference season at least.

Everyone including me has already said this, but a major issue with downtown before covid and now remains the long stretches of empty street-level retail/restaurant/office space. It's hard to have a vibrant downtown when multiple blocks in a row are either FOR LEASE signs or permanently closed rollup doors.

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by citywatch

I was a bit more bothered by that until I looked more closely at other cities, esp London & NYC. Personally I'm now more impressed by the city east of the Atlantic ocean than I am by the one on the East coast of the US.

That's great and all but if you want to share every random thought that pops in your head about NYC, London or any other place that is not DTLA, that is what the city discussions forum is for.

This thread is primarily for DTLA development news and updates. Please stop spamming off-topic and random nonsense. Thanks.

[pwright1]

Walt Disney Concert Hall is getting a new restaurant. I walk by there often enough and was wondering what was going on with all the construction and noise in there. Great addition to Grand Avenue.
https://la.eater.com/2021/9/29/22698928/...ok&utm_content=eaterla&utm_medium=social

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by nmkef

It's hard to have a vibrant downtown when multiple blocks in a row are either FOR LEASE signs or permanently closed rollup doors.

That's why certain vids on youtube have surprised me over the past several wks....they've made me look more closely at NYC and, in turn, look differently at cities like London. I read that the pandemic had turned certain major cities around the US or world into ghost towns, with lots of vacancies & few ppl out & about. But what's going on in london right now is quite impressive. So the excuse that dtla is still reeling from Covid isn't as valid as it was several months ago.

2020 was the missing yr for me when it came to this subj & forum....so I'm making up for lost time

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by badrunner

This thread is primarily for DTLA development news and updates. Please stop spamming off-topic and random nonsense. Thanks.

In turn, you don't have to refer to my posts. You can instead add to the conversation.

You can talk about your visit to dtla several wks or months ago, what you saw, what your impressions were. You can describe the level of business at a dt restaurant or how many ppl were out & about in some section of dt. Or you can talk about having some insider info about a new proj told to you by a friend of a friend.

[Easy]

The DTLA2040 plan is moving forward. It was approved by the Planning Commission on 9/23/21 and will progress and hopefully be approved by the City Council over the next several months.

The amount of change included in this plan is HUGE! The plan allows for, and incentivizes, the construction of up to 100,000 new housing units and 175,000 new residents just in DTLA! Many and maybe most recent projects that have taken years to progress entitlements would be approved by right.

I predict that if approved as is, that this will lead to an immediate and very significant building boom. I also predict that we’ll see almost nothing new for the next few months because it makes little sense to start or even continue a years long process that may not be needed in just a few months.

The audio and presentation slides are available at the link below.

https://planning.lacity.org/plans-polici...wntown-los-angeles-community-plan-update

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by pwright1

Walt Disney Concert Hall is getting a new restaurant. I walk by there often enough and was wondering what was going on with all the construction and noise in there. Great addition to Grand Avenue.

good to know that....Patina was one of the casualties of 2020 & is why I call that the lost yr...for ppl & places. It was not an ideal time for dtla.

But reinvention is important for dt since if a city snoozes, it loses. Good for the new chef...disney hall's restaurant will also see more competition when the Grand ave proj across the street opens several months from now. That's why the hood needs the crowds seen in some of the vids I've posted....it helps to know what's going on elsewhere or else ppl will use the excuse that dtla is hurt by covid & not necessarily other things.

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by citywatch

In turn, you don't have to refer to my posts. You can instead add to the conversation.

You can talk about your visit to dtla several wks or months ago, what you saw, what your impressions were. You can describe the level of business at a dt restaurant or how many ppl were out & about in some section of dt. Or you can talk about having some insider info about a new proj told to you by a friend of a friend.

I've made regular contributions to this thread. But like most people, I just check it on occasion to see if there's any news or updates about downtown projects. Instead I get wall of text incoherent ramblings and random videos. Maybe start a blog or something.

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by homebucket

^ Great project. We need about 100 more of these concentrated in LA, SD, SF, Oakland, and SJ.

At more than $500k per unit to house homeless people...

[edale]

Originally Posted by badrunner

I've made regular contributions to this thread. But like most people, I just check it on occasion to see if there's any news or updates about downtown projects. Instead I get wall of text incoherent ramblings and random videos. Maybe start a blog or something.

I agree. I don't come to this thread to see youtube videos of London nightlife

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by badrunner

I've made regular contributions to this thread. But like most people, I just check it on occasion to see if there's any news or updates about downtown projects.

Because it's on 'occasion' you don't see how less active it is compared with other subjs in city compilations. there are certain posters like pwright who often energize this forum with photos. but a lot of users in general, however, never give an eyewitness account of what's going on in dtla.

There are also not enough new projs to keep new posts flowing, so this forum has a tendency to die out....or a lot of post are along the lines of 'I like that,' 'why doesn't that have more floors?' or brief criticism of the design of new devlpt.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by edale

I agree. I don't come to this thread to see youtube videos of London nightlife

but if you don't know what's going on elsewhere, you'll assume that dtla doesn't have busy sidewalks because it doesn't have enough skyscrapers or super talls. Or that covid-19 has scared ppl away from dt....just as ppl elsewhere are scared away from their city centers.

[Easy]

Originally Posted by citywatch

but if you don't know what's going on elsewhere, you'll assume that dtla doesn't have busy sidewalks because it doesn't have enough skyscrapers or super talls. Or that covid-19 has scared ppl away from dt....just as ppl elsewhere are scared away from their city centers.

Just my opinion but all of your posts about NYC, London, and even non-development related issues concerning DTLA are very much off-topic. I can appreciate and enjoy them on occasion, but it’s been too much lately. Off topic posts take up nearly all of the last 5 pages. It’s not just you, but issues surrounding downtown developments have become lost in all of the noise about various issues near and far. This forum has many areas where posts like those are appropriate but this isn’t one of them.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Easy

The DTLA2040 plan is moving forward. It was approved by the Planning Commission on 9/23/21 and will progress and hopefully be approved by the City Council over the next several months.

The amount of change included in this plan is HUGE! The plan allows for, and incentivizes, the construction of up to 100,000 new housing units and 175,000 new residents just in DTLA! Many and maybe most recent projects that have taken years to progress entitlements would be approved by right.

I predict that if approved as is, that this will lead to an immediate and very significant building boom. I also predict that we’ll see almost nothing new for the next few months because it makes little sense to start or even continue a years long process that may not be needed in just a few months.

The audio and presentation slides are available at the link below.

https://planning.lacity.org/plans-polici...wntown-los-angeles-community-plan-update

Absolutely Easy. This is huge news