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Originally Posted by colemonkee
the connective tissue
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That connective tissue involves way more pieces of the puzzle than ppl may realize. Bear with me....this post has a lot of moving parts, & if ppl find it boring or TMI, that's okay. Ignore it & pls skip to another post. But I think it shows just how important dtla really is &, in general, the meaning of an improving LA is too. I also don't want ppl in city govt & elsewhere to ruin things.
This vid was just posted, so it's a new one....first off, notice the grand Ave proj (built on city, county govnt land) is still fenced off & there's a glimpse of the MTA's still incomplete connector line station on Hope St....
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This is from several yrs ago.
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^ DT is both better today but also more iffy than it was in 2012. Homelessness, grit & crime...& drought...have admittedly grown worse. Again, I don't want ppl in LA...in govt or agencies like the MTA, etc, to hurt things. When the vid was shot, things like parts of little tokyo were still unbuilt or large parking lots & the arts dist was more limited.
The musician, who's still with the LA Phil & teaches at the Colburn, says he comes from a major city in Australia's south known for being very liveable but with bad weather...while he notes that LA has the weather but is known for being a difficult place. If dtla over 60 yrs ago were closer to the way it is today, that probably would have helped the city's image, likely made it seem less unliveable.
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Disney Hall, designed by Frank Gehry, is not just an architectural tour de force. With a budget that ballooned from the original estimate of $110 million to $274 million, it became a rare naming opportunity, a kind of permanent billboard for wealthy people to have their names inscribed. Every atrium, every staircase, every reception room, even every escalator in and around Disney Hall carries the name of a benefactor.
The new hall, which will be home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is not only an architectural triumph for Los Angeles, it gives well-to-do Angelenos a chance to preen and to foster the pursuit of excellence in classical music in a city not known for its love of high culture.
The upper echelon of New York society has long revolved around philanthropy. Those in its ranks who dismiss Los Angeles as merely a society of celebrity, movie mojo and clogged freeways are missing out on an intriguing cultural shift taking place in the city.
"This building is a statement to the fact that there's a society here based on philanthropy," Andrea Van de Kamp said. "Apart from Disney, there's very little movie money here."
Efforts to accommodate the whims of wealthy patrons have resulted in some odd nomenclature. Take, for instance, the Henry Mancini Family Staircase. You might imagine that it is reserved for the perambulations of the composer's family. But no. It is open to all comers.
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I recall reading over 15 yrs ago a person from Beverly Hills saying, on probably a rare visit to dtla, that he noticed various beaux arts bldgs & seemed impressed by their still existing in dt. At that time, streets like broadway & spring were even more vacant or in even worse shape.
DTLA depends on the westside. In turn, West LA....Bev Hills....ideally should depend on dtla too. But that's if dtla steps up to the plate. West LA by itself is incomplete. Without hoods further west, dtla is also incomplete.
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Today, Los Angeles and Beverly Hills draw the world’s most sophisticated artists....philanthropists and cultural institutions.....the world’s leading luxury brands with deep connections to art and culture, housed in buildings designed by the most distinguished names in international design and architecture.
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^ There's a street in London, Bond St, that has been an old time version of Rodeo Dr for over 250 yrs, more than even NYC's 5th or Madison Ave has been. But Bond lacks a fuller sense of glitz & luxury that Rodeo has, which became 'deluxe' not much more than 40 yrs ago. Rodeo Dr is a late bloomer & so is dtla. btw, that part of Bev Hills is now one of the top 4 or 5 tourist spots in LA. So ppl staying in hotels in dtla will find the Wilshire subway very helpful...just as long as it's
kept clean & safe.
Speaking of deluxe streets & a city's image...
https://youtu.be/JuimqB3ofEI
^ Some of the major creators of that movie....which over 50 yrs ago idealized a city & one of its prestige stores....were among those who affected the image of ppl & places. One of those creators was Henry Mancini, who passed away in 1994, & whose wife donated to - ta da! - Disney Hall. Ppl like that in 2022 are sometimes labeled as influencers, often on the internet...Tik Tok....Youtube...instagram. btw, the author of the story that movie is based on...a long time New Yorker who'd dismiss LA the way a Woody Allen has done....ended up spending his last months in 1984 in west LA....where - ta da! -
a subway from dtla has long been needed to go to.
That scene of 5th Ave in 1961 makes me think of shots of dtla from decades ago, when broadway or spring st was clean & bustling...a time when dt could be idealized, even romanticized, too. But dtla back then was still weak in other ways....by contrast, NYC has long been publicized as more of a complete package.
The condition of dtla through the decades has affected the entire region, historically not in the best way possible. From around the 1940s-50s onward, DT was in mainly a continuous decline.
LA has the moving parts...the connective tissue....to be a mix of both the international city & also a resort city like the ones found around the Mediterranean...sections of southern Spain or France look exactly like SoCal. Two in one....but things can slow that down or hurt it. Look at the oceanwide proj, NIMBYs like the guy running the AIDS foundation, some of the ppl managing major cities in the US or a world economy that falls apart.
Ppl all over the globe like to keep their eyes on the prize....for some that's 120 story highrises, sleek architecture, transit...for me, it involves a lot of things.
btw, some of those ppl live in Marseilles, which is the 2nd largest city in France. In terms of population, it's that country's version of LA. Marseilles also has weather that's more similar to LA than to Paris. But so much negative publicity for yrs has surrounded Marseilles, I've long had a poor impression of it. That includes not realizing it was France's 2nd largest urban area.
Bad press and poor opinions will hurt a city, so don't take negative feedback about LA...dtla included....& the ppl & things that cause that too lightly.
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Take USC back to its Romanesque architecture theme and purge the collegiate gothic of CL MAX NIKIAS’s reign. FTLOG. It is contextually incongruous for USC, Expo Park, the Coliseum, LA and CA
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