LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[ChargerCarl]

Originally Posted by Quixote

Usually when there's two diametric ends of a "spirited debate," the truth always lies somewhere in the middle. I think the underlying sentiments behind edluva/bikemike's (it was made obvious a long time ago) passionate diatribes have merit. The only way LA's urban fabric can truly evolve forward is through rigorously ambitious policy reform, which of course begins with the will of its citizenry. That more noise isn't being made about updating archaic zoning codes, eliminating parking minimums, prioritizing mass transit, accommodating bicyclists, etc. indicates that not enough people have bought into this idea of a more urban LA. Shocking as it may seem, this little tight-knit community we have here on these forums and relevant sites like Curbed, Streetsblog, Urbanize, etc. still represents a minority faction; we need to get more people onboard with us.

That being said, I do think it's a bit silly (not to mention ironic) to chastise others for discussing skyline growth on a website nominally dedicated to skyscrapers. I also think that the sheer scale of LA, the scope of its issues, and other relevant factors present their own unique challenges. It's not realistic for LA to simply follow in Seattle's footsteps and yield the same desired results. We need practical transportation alternatives first (namely rail) before drastically cutting down on parking can be a realistically saleable proposition. There's a reason why the best biking cities always tend to be mid-size (i.e. Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, etc.) rather than large, heavily populated urban centers (NYC, London, Paris, and Tokyo).

I agree.

[ChargerCarl]

Originally Posted by Resident

No, they do not. No bigger or better skyscraper is going to be made because of his posts. No change will ever be made to the minimum parking requirements. This is a fan board of people who like new buildings and specifically buildings in Los Angeles, not a place where policy is made. There is no place here for his constant shitting on Los Angeles. One person should not be able to ruin the experience of this board for everybody else.

Dude this is just a discussion board, chill out man. Criticism can, and perhaps should be part of the discussion.

I personally agree with a lot of what bike mike says, although I'm more optimistic than him and more concerned with affordability/economics than architectural quality.

[dktshb]

Originally Posted by ChargerCarl

Dude this is just a discussion board, chill out man. Criticism can, and perhaps should be part of the discussion.

I personally agree with a lot of what bike mike says, although I'm more optimistic than him and more concerned with affordability/economics than architectural quality.

I do too... If only we can hear some constructive thoughts without the insults about how dumb, foolish and ignorant we all are. We've heard it for 10+ years from this forum member... No reason why people just can't be respectful.

[JerellO]

Merry Christmas everyone!! As I'm in San Diego, did anyone take pics of holiday decorations in DTLA?? I love seeing the city dressed for the holidays

[CastleScott]

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to all from Sacto-nice list of LA projects on here!!

[Parking Podiums]

Downtown Los Angeles - Winter by Lisandro Orozco, on Flickr

[NativeOrange]

Originally Posted by Parking Podiums

Downtown Los Angeles - Winter by Lisandro Orozco, on Flickr

Wilshire Grands first snowy mountain skyline pic.

This picture along with the recent flurry of proposals really make Metropolis seem puny.

[Mojeda101]

Originally Posted by NativeOrange

Wilshire Grands first snowy mountain skyline pic.

This picture along with the recent flurry of proposals really make Metropolis seem puny.

Yeah but that's ok. I mean, compare that to this overly used pic that's still shared to this day.



LA has expanded immensely since then. Makes the foreground look a hell of a lot more cluttered and dense. With the new towers going up they might have to pan the image slightly to the right to include Circa and others

Also, something interesting to take away from Metropolis is it seems the 18 story portion is taller than the Courtyard Marriott

[NativeOrange]

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

Yeah but that's ok. I mean, compare that to this overly used pic that's still shared to this day.



LA has expanded immensely since then. Makes the foreground look a hell of a lot more cluttered and dense. With the new towers going up they might have to pan the image slightly to the right to include Circa and others

Also, something interesting to take away from Metropolis is it seems the 18 story portion is taller than the Courtyard Marriott

True. Plus the tallest will be a good bit higher than the next two tallest.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Resident

No bigger or better skyscraper is going to be made because of his posts. No change will ever be made to the minimum parking requirements. This is a fan board of people who like new buildings and specifically buildings in Los Angeles, not a place where policy is made.

even more so since the average person....since most ppl....will find some of the debates posted to this thread on occasion going straight over their head.

Most ppl are interested in...& are mainly aware of things like....the amt of traffic congestion, the level of personal safety, the cleanliness of streets, the visibility of homelessness & the overall attractiveness of LA....of any city, for that matter.

details that will excite a gathering of AIA members or ppl handing out the pritzker prize, or ppl in an urban studies course at a local college, won't watch scenes like the ones shown in this vid & necessarily be affected by the same things the average person will notice.....


• Video Link


Most ppl will be aware of...& are going to ask the question of how much of LA....looks nice, how much of it is parking lots, how much of it needs infill, how much of it's rundown?

Even those questions will fade into the background if they're always stuck on jammed fwys, been harassed or threatened as they're walking down the street or riding a bus or transit car....or are nervous about problems like that occurring.....or are dodging trash or unpleasant odors on dt streets, including stuff left behind by dogs or, even worse, humans.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Parking Podiums

Downtown Los Angeles - Winter by Lisandro Orozco, on Flickr

the first pic I've ever seen of dt during winter with the completed WG tower!

The Science and Poetry of the Light in Los Angeles

In 1998, Lawrence Weschler, a transplant to the East Coast from Los Angeles, wrote for The New Yorker about an aspect of his home town that he missed so much that it could bring tears to his eyes: “That light: the late-afternoon light of Los Angeles—golden pink off the bay through the smog and onto the palm fronds. A light I’ve found myself pining for every day of the nearly two decades since I left Southern California.”

The distinctive light of L.A.—the way it can cast the city in hyper-real relief or wrap it in a dreamy haze—is legendary. It’s one of the things that drew the movie studios there, it crops up in literature and art about the city, and it’s “a subject that Angelenos are endlessly voluble about,” Weschler wrote. And so he talked to a number of those Angelenos—from a scientist at Caltech, who described how L.A. pollution gives the air a particular shimmer, to the legendary sports announcer Vin Scully, who for decades wove descriptions of the skies over Dodger Stadium into his broadcasts of the games—gathering their readily poetic paeans about the way their city glows.

The light has changed somewhat since he wrote about it, partially because pollution levels have dropped, but it is still “the defining character of the place—the soul of the place,” he says.


• Video Link

As young artists on the hunt for love in “La La Land,” Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone romance their way through the Hermosa Beach pier, the SmokeHouse restaurant in Burbank and the Griffith Observatory at twilight. But the movie’s nostalgic depiction of the area’s vintage sites conceals a tougher industry reality: Retro Los Angeles locations are becoming more difficult for movie and TV crews to access as historic structures continue to vanish and the rapid gentrification of downtown and Hollywood itself imposes an increasing number of hurdles for local productions.

“You have many more neighbors you have to talk to,” said Robert Foulkes, the location manager for “La La Land.” “The days of being able to just go down there [to downtown and Hollywood] are gone. There are so many people to get permission from.”

Getting permission can sometimes be as straightforward as asking the owner of the Retro Dairy Mart — a drive-thru eatery in Burbank — to extend its front patio to achieve a certain camera angle of Gosling’s jazz pianist, he said. (The answer was yes.) But it also can require more legwork, as with a sequence featuring Gosling and Stone at the Grand Central Market in downtown.

First opened in 1917 and long a destination for working-class shoppers, Grand Central Market has undergone dramatic development in recent years, drawing throngs of hipsters and tourists. At the same time, its retro look makes it a popular shooting location, attracting commercials and TV productions.

Filming there requires permission from the owner and then from any vendor or tenant featured in a scene or is significantly affected by production, said Chris Farber, director of business development. The market has close to 40 vendors — up more than 60% in the past four years — and sees about 4,500 visitors on its busiest days, posing a logistical challenge for film crews.

Filming is becoming especially complicated in downtown’s Arts District, where Hollywood’s hunger for the neighborhood’s historic vibe is clashing with the area’s retail boom.

“You didn’t have to worry about interrupting a business 10 years ago, but now you do. It’s really good for the economy, but it’s tougher for the film industry,” said Paul Audley, president of Film L.A., the nonprofit organization that oversees film permitting throughout the city.

The demolition this year of the historic 6th Street Bridge deprived the Arts District of one of its most popular filming locations. “Agent Carter” as well as the 2011 movie “Drive” were shot on and around the 1932 structure.

What’s more, the neighborhood is “now full of coffee shops,” said Nancy Haecker, a film and TV location manager who worked on “Agent Carter.” “It used to be that the warehouses were occupied by garment businesses, and we could work things out. Now, those properties are too valuable.”

The surge in residents in downtown means productions that shoot at night have to survey more people to comply with local filming rules, according to Film L.A. The mandatory survey is used by the L.A. Police Department, which is responsible for issuing permits to determine whether a production can operate beyond the normal window of 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. for residential areas.

Still, the Arts District is in high demand. “There’s not one day where there’s not shooting,” said Miguel Vargas, head of the neighborhood’s business improvement district.

He said there is often friction between productions and local business owners over the scarcity of parking in the increasingly congested neighborhood. Many formerly empty lots and desolate streets are now under development, depriving crews of space needed to park trucks and trailers.

Similar frictions are playing out in Hollywood, where real estate development along the La Brea Avenue corridor has boomed in the past two years as several luxury condominium complexes have risen near Santa Monica Boulevard. But it also has resulted in the demolition of historic small buildings and homes — structures not important enough to merit landmark status but whose collective disappearance has altered the historic feel of many blocks.

[Wally West]

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

LA has expanded immensely since then. Makes the foreground look a hell of a lot more cluttered and dense. With the new towers going up they might have to pan the image slightly to the right to include Circa and others

This other photo makes me excited for the completion of the South Park skyline.



https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelholden/

[circuitfiend]

^^^
Gorgeous sunrise pic. Please take this same shot next year for comparison. The transition from December 2016 to December 2017 will be the most dramatic. A number of the megaprojects will be topping out, or close to it, at this time in SoPa. Oceanwide, Circa, Onni's 50+ & Mack Urban will all be very visible and will connect the USC tower to the main skyline at last.

[King Kill 'em]

Originally Posted by circuitfiend

^^^
Gorgeous sunrise pic. Please take this same shot next year for comparison. The transition from December 2016 to December 2017 will be the most dramatic. A number of the megaprojects will be topping out, or close to it, at this time in SoPa. Oceanwide, Circa, Onni's 50+ & Mack Urban will all be very visible and will connect the USC tower to the main skyline at last.

Then in another 10 years it could reach the USC campus!

[JRinSoCal]

I wish the skyline would expand westward. City West needs redevelopment badly.

[Mojeda101]

So what projects are we expecting in 2017? It's to my understanding that Hazen should commence sometime in Q3 of 2017. The Fig+Pico hotel is slated for late 2017/early 2018. A new article was just posted by the way. The taller 42 story will be 529' with the 25 being 326'

http://urbanize.la/post/new-details-...-hotel-project

[NativeOrange]

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

So what projects are we expecting in 2017? It's to my understanding that Hazen should commence sometime in Q3 of 2017. The Fig+Pico hotel is slated for late 2017/early 2018. A new article was just posted by the way. The taller 42 story will be 529' with the 25 being 326'

http://urbanize.la/post/new-details-...-hotel-project

4th and Broadway?

[Valyrian Steel]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/648551...585980/sizes/l

[ChargerCarl]

Amazing picture.

[hughfb3]

Originally Posted by Valyrian Steel

https://www.flickr.com/photos/648551...585980/sizes/l

Yaaaaaaasssss LA!!!!