i think that gay retirement building is perhaps one of the ugliest structures i've ever seen. as my architecture-student friend said upon seeing the rendering," i love how everyone just acknowledges a corner by putting some cylinder there." And kudos to Wes for noticing how it's one block from that gay spa..that _cannot_ be accidental. It's the master incentive developers will use to get them gheys to move in! I bet a lifetime membership to the Hollywood Spa will be included in the utilities. And hey, if you can't send them off to the moon, stuffing them in a pseudo-spaceship is the next best hing, right?
That Galaxy turning into a pharmacy is also sad. It's not "done," or "developed" into anything, it just seems like they stuck a pharmacy in that abandoned part of the mini-mall, and turned the lights on. As I've said before on this thread, much to people llike Damien's disagreement or whatnot, that I believe stuffing ordinary retail on Hollywood Blvd looks very tiresome and mundane. Right across from the El Capitan...you have this. How would this ever become a grand boulevard to compare with Champs Elysee or even Times Square - honestly the only place in all of Los Angeles that has the pedestrian potential - if, instead of grand landmarks, you keep erecting the most hideous and mundane misfires? Such a hodge-poidge.
As Practical Visionary said on a recent thread, in New York you know you are some place special since there is a statue, fountain, landmark or architectural gem on many-a-corner. Okay, so we don't have the history here...oh but wait, it's Hollywood, and in many of these buildings we DO. Yet no one is focusing on recaptuirng that glory again, and even the Roosevelt remodeling seems blighted by the advertisements they've licensed on their western facade. Hey this isn't supposed to be a continuation of the Sunset Strip - but it often feels like that now (esp where I live, 3 blocks east of H&H).
And even if you have to put a gym and a pharmacy smack dab right next to our most famous landmark (Chinese Theatre), do you need to do so in such an explicitly "pedestrian" way (other use of the word), on such a shamelessly transparent level? I mean there's a more discreet way to house such retail. Instead of renovating and polishing up the Vogue, Vine and Ritz theatres, and turning the street back into the chic galleries, boutiques and movie palaces it was known for in the 1920s, developers these days seem to be following the "let's just put this HERE!" script. It doesn't seem planned, and lacks any method in regards to aesthetics or beautification. Function over form EVERY fucking time.
The only develoopment in my neighborhood I approve of as of yet are the Hollywood & Vine lofts, which miraculouasly appear to have preserved their traditional "feel," of the Broadway building -> the stone exterior, the corner motifs - everything looks right. Oh, and the opening of Tiny K.O's.
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On Hollywood Blvd just west of La Brea... it is infill though on what was once a small vacant lot. They're either 2 story townhomes or lofts all with rooftop patios which I suppose is nice:
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