LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[LA/OCman]

Check out the new development page in the Downtown News:

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/articles/2011/05/13/development/doc4dcdcd9debe54144322348.txt

[ChelseaFC]

Originally Posted by LA/OCman

Check out the new development page in the Downtown News:

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/articles/2011/05/13/development/doc4dcdcd9debe54144322348.txt

Should mention I was at the Omni hotel last weekend, and the renovation that just finished there is absolutely beautiful. It has a very sleek Vegas vibe, but without all the noise and smoke. Definitely worth checking out.

[colemonkee]

New Genesis Apartments - Saturday, May 14th

A quick shot from my phone of progress on the New Genesis Apartments on Main St., between the Regent Theater and Portofino. I must say, the HDR option on the iPhone 4 is pretty impressive. It obviously doesn't hold a candle to a decent SLR, but for something that fits in your pocket, it ain't half bad.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by ChelseaFC

Should mention I was at the Omni hotel last weekend, and the renovation that just finished there is absolutely beautiful. It has a very sleek Vegas vibe, but without all the noise and smoke. Definitely worth checking out.

that's even more important if the hood is to remain or become competitive. At least based on the article linked to by bobcat, it's not as much of a leap of faith for hotel owners to put $$ into their properties based on the assumption that the return will be justified.

I'm also curious what is going on with the bonaventure hotel. Its owner has been complaining for yrs that other hotels get too much favorite treatment from city govt & too many tax breaks. not sure if that means he's a spoiler, but his hotel has been slammed by lots of customers for being poorly managed & maintained.

I found this pic at brigham yen's website. It's of a bldg I definitely hope will be finally improved, back to the way it used to be. A hint of that is a small part of its fugly steel paneling installed in the 1960s has been torn down.

It sits next to another classic old bldg on broadway that was modernized (ruined) in the 1960s. But unlike Clifton's, the facade of the old hass bldg----shown on the right----can never be returned to its former glory. So it's even more worthwhile for its neighbor to go through the process of restoration ASAP. I hope someone in the hood will keep an eye on it & document ongoing changes with pics.



brighamyen.com

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

I must say, the HDR option on the iPhone 4 is pretty impressive.

I don't recall any of your pics, or any other ppl's update pics posted here, ever not being helpful in showing changes & improvements to the hood. So new photos are always welcome, esp during all the slow times when not much is going on in the hood to talk about.

[colemonkee]

^ Clifton's was recently purchased by Andrew Meieran, who owns the Edison, among other properties in SF. In my opinion he has excellent tastes in restoring historical aspects of buildings, or in recreating a historic feel - like the Edison. Though I'm not sure if restoring the facade of the Clifton's building is in his short term plans. What we do know is that they are keeping the Clifton's operation as is - preserving it in all it's kitschy glory - and building a bar/lounge in the basement area, which will hopefully add some nighttime foot traffic to Broadway, along with the Umami Burger going in two blocks to the south at 9th and Broadway.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by citywatch

I found this pic at brigham yen's website. It's of a bldg I definitely hope will be finally improved, back to the way it used to be. A hint of that is a small part of its fugly steel paneling installed in the 1960s has been torn down.

It sits next to another classic old bldg on broadway that was modernized (ruined) in the 1960s. But unlike Clifton's, the facade of the old hass bldg----shown on the right----can never be returned to its former glory. So it's even more worthwhile for its neighbor to go through the process of restoration ASAP. I hope someone in the hood will keep an eye on it & document ongoing changes with pics.



brighamyen.com

I would have thought that they already finished the facade removal. Was I wrong?

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

Though I'm not sure if restoring the facade of the Clifton's building is in his short term plans.

Since they've already stripped down a portion of the current facade, I would hope its full removal in very much in the works, & that it's on a schedule which is faster instead of slower. otherwise, the front of the bldg will now look makeshift for an extended length of time.

I notice an old, rusty abandoned sign is on the left side of Clifton's. I wonder who controls that? It's things like that that ppl won't really notice---or won't hit them in the face---til they're actually visiting the hood. And then they come away with a feeling that the street still is overly gritty & still in need of an extreme makeover. I felt bad for being so disappointed when going down broadway several months ago. IOW, i thought enough improvements had been made by now that a visitor like me now would feel more optimistic. so it will be good if projs & improvements can be fast tracked.

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I would have thought that they already finished the facade removal.

apparently not, or at least not as of around the start of this month. A blogger posted an entry about clifton's dated may 3, & this pic appears to have been shot by her around then....


thisislalaland.com

this old photo shows the bldg way before the steel facade was installed. I'm guessing the plants above the window in the recent pics are fake & were left there over 40 yrs ago when the new surface was put over it? Or were they recently installed to test how the original facade should be remodeled?


blogging.la

[RAlossi]

I still walk down Broadway and see tremendous progress. The problem is Broadway had the farthest to go. I've lived here four and a half years now, and even though things sometimes move slowly, especially in the Historic Core, the cumulative benefits are adding up.

There's a few properties (like the burned-out building at 4th and Broadway that has been like that for FOUR YEARS now) that are really dragging down the whole strip. But then I see residents at the Eastern Columbia, Broadway/Spring Arcade, the Blackstone, the Judson, the Haas, SB Grand, and now the Metropolitan and Jewelry Trades buildings -- plus the office building north of 6th/Broadway -- and I know that things are moving in a positive direction. Just a few years ago, these projects would have been unthinkable.

Once the Chester Williams is completed, 5th and Broadway, which was one of the absolute worst intersections in DTLA, will have residents on all four corners, plus a new Walgreens.

Remember when we were cheering when the facade of the Palace was cleaned?

[RAlossi]

Went on a walk today, and noticed the sidewalk in front of the Jewelry Trades building is finally being redone. It's not the same as the glass blocks that used to be there, but it's an interesting pattern with red cement and gray blocks in the center.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by RAlossi

Went on a walk today, and noticed the sidewalk in front of the Jewelry Trades building is finally being redone. It's not the same as the glass blocks that used to be there, but it's an interesting pattern with red cement and gray blocks in the center.

Are they also adding in trees, trash cans, and benches, or is this just sidewalk-only stuff?

[LosAngelesBeauty]

I hope that intersection gets cleaned fast. That is one of the worst intersections when it comes to the seedy element in DTLA. That poor Rite Aid is like in the middle of a beating ground. The windows are ALWAYS itched/defaced by and there's more drugs being sold on that block than probably anywhere else. It's gross, but at the same time I know it'll get better when new residents move in and the shops start to reflect the new residents who live downtown who care about what the street looks like.

[RAlossi]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Are they also adding in trees, trash cans, and benches, or is this just sidewalk-only stuff?

I could only see the sidewalk repair at this time. I think they'll be doing it in phases, since the picture shows only half of the sidewalk closest to the building being repaired. My guess is they'll finish that, close off the street-side of the sidewalk and redo it. Otherwise it will look half-assed and GHETTO. I'm not too certain that they won't do it that way, actually, since that developer is known for tackiness (see: green granite facade on Spring Arcade Building). The 5th Street side of the building has boards on the sidewalk, so I'm assuming they'll redo that too.

It looks like work is being done on the Alexandria Hotel, the "annex" portion along 5th Street that was built at a later time than the original hotel. It's been bricked off and boarded up for years, and now all the windows are open, indicating things are probably going to change soon.

Also, a large number of trees were planted in Little Tokyo. It's especially visible in the Japanese Village Plaza (ginkgo) and on Central Avenue near the Starbucks (cherry blossom?), where a few that were missing were filled in. Give it a couple years to mature, and it'll look amazing. Can't wait for Flying Pig to open where the former Pastagina used to be.

[DistrictDirt]

Clean sidewalks in good repair make a huge difference. This is what the sidewalks looked like in my old neighborhood of Logan Circle, DC:



If we could just get DTLA's sidewalks up to the same standard, the difference would be night and day. I guarantee it would attract desirable retail to the neighborhood more quickly too.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by DistrictDirt

If we could just get DTLA's sidewalks up to the same standard, the difference would be night and day. I guarantee it would attract desirable retail to the neighborhood more quickly too.

Well, not necessarily. New York has shitty sidewalks all across the city, yet it obviously has high-end retail.

[Illithid Dude]

In other news, anyone get L.A. Noire? I was just driving around downtown in awe. The developers managed to craft a nearly perfect rendition of downtown Los Angeles. I was going to all my favorite historic buildings just by using the buildings I already know to guide me. It was amazing. Moreover, it was nice to see the buildings on Broadway without 'Dollar Dentist' cluttering the bottom floor, defacing the facades.

[colemonkee]

Originally Posted by BrighamYen

I hope that intersection gets cleaned fast. That is one of the worst intersections when it comes to the seedy element in DTLA. That poor Rite Aid is like in the middle of a beating ground. The windows are ALWAYS itched/defaced by and there's more drugs being sold on that block than probably anywhere else. It's gross, but at the same time I know it'll get better when new residents move in and the shops start to reflect the new residents who live downtown who care about what the street looks like.

It's funny you mention the etching and graffiti. I caught two guys tagging a sign on Main St. only 100 ft. from one of the most active and gentrified corner of downtown - 4th & Main. What pissed me off is that I watched them park their car in the lot next to the Medallion, cross Main mid-block, and tag a sign right in front of me with a yellow paint pen. So they weren't even from the area. They were transients coming in to tag our neighborhood.

I followed them for a block and turned them in to a purple shirt. Hopefully he arrested or sited them.

[jamesinclair]

Expo and figgy drive by (was a gas station)

[colemonkee]

^ That's Icon Plaza, a 6 story apartment building with ground floor retail.

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

In other news, anyone get L.A. Noire? I was just driving around downtown in awe. The developers managed to craft a nearly perfect rendition of downtown Los Angeles. I was going to all my favorite historic buildings just by using the buildings I already know to guide me. It was amazing. Moreover, it was nice to see the buildings on Broadway without 'Dollar Dentist' cluttering the bottom floor, defacing the facades.

Yup, I played through the first few cases last night. I agree that the level of detail is amazing. Some things I noticed:

- They got the buildings right for the 1947 setting. Example: my building, built in 1955, is not there, but the 3 other buildings at the same intersection- SB Lofts, SB Manhattan, and Hotel Hayward- are all there and modeled in great detail.

- The PE Red Cars roam the streets and pull into the PE garage at 6th and Main, now of course PE Lofts.

- Pershing Square looked MUCH better in 1947

- Its amazing to see Bunker Hill pre-skyscrapers, filled with Victorian homes.

- In general, LA is a much more handsome city without all the parking lot gaps, parking garages, and freeways.

Looking forward to exploring LA circa 1947 more tonight!