LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[LosAngelesDreamin]

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.

I bought the game also... it is a COMPLETELY RECREATED CITY of Los Angeles around the 1940s

you know what made me really sad?? Seeing and walking around the Older Pershing Square with it's grand cherub fountain at the center =[ that is like the only way and time we can actually experience what the old pershing square used to be, it really sucks that the square today looks really shitty compared to before, they should have just left it alone. AND the Angel's Flight on 3rd st. =/

[LosAngelesDreamin]

Originally Posted by DistrictDirt

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!

haha yea today i was playing and instead of doing cases i just roamed the streets as if i was a resident i wish we can be able to take the red cars though =/ and i tried to hop on the angel's flight but it didn't work haha.. have you guys stepped inside the Hall of Records across from city hall?? That building is BEAUTIFUL.... why in the world did they demolish it

I also really love the intersection of 9th and Main =]

[LAsam]

Massive parking lot in Little Tokyo to be developed!



http://blogdowntown.com/2011/05/6250-budokan-lease-approved-by-council

[LosAngelesBeauty]

^ In 4 - 5 years if they can come up with the money.

Again, the stupid parking requirements are what is holding back a lot of developments downtown. How much more is added to the final cost of development because of parking??

At 150 spots x $50,000 = $7.5 million

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by BrighamYen

^ In 4 - 5 years if they can come up with the money.

Again, the stupid parking requirements are what is holding back a lot of developments downtown. How much more is added to the final cost of development because of parking??

At 150 spots x $50,000 = $7.5 million

I would think fundraising for something like this would be able to tap Japanese cultural trusts and charities. That may speed things up a bit.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by LAsam

Massive parking lot in Little Tokyo to be developed!

nothing better than sending another deadzone to the great beyond!!

for ppl who aren't familiar with the location in dt, it will be the site circled in red. In the background, from left to right, is the higgins bldg (where I believe colemonkee lives), St Vibianas, the new LAPD bldg, Caltrans, & the Kyoto hotel. To the right is a parking lot where a large apt proj was supposed to breakground some time ago.



the site of the sports bldg currently is mainly a parking lot, located to the east of the new LAPD motor pool bldg, which still was under construction when these shots from google earth were taken. Based on the rendering, an old 5 fl bldg & small 1 story bldg will be torn down to accommodate the new proj....



I hope fundraising for the proj is successful & speedy, & that the horrible EQ in japan a few months ago hasn't put too much of a strain on potential donors. my daughter has a friend from her elementary school yrs who mentioned that lots of sports events & tourneys in the asian community are scattered all over LA. So a new central gathering point in DT would help reverse the trend of burbanization.

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by BrighamYen

^ In 4 - 5 years if they can come up with the money.

Again, the stupid parking requirements are what is holding back a lot of developments downtown. How much more is added to the final cost of development because of parking??

At 150 spots x $50,000 = $7.5 million

Totaling it up like that is illustrative. I wonder what % of the total cost of the project is just for parking?

The parking minimums have got to go. Let developers decide for themselves.

[JDRCRASH]

Cool. Budokan of Los Angeles. I'll add it to page 1.

Originally Posted by LAsam

I would think fundraising for something like this would be able to tap Japanese cultural trusts and charities. That may speed things up a bit.

Umm... hate to be a certain "Mr. Debbie Downer" (we all know who i'm talking about), but those "trusts" and "charities" might be broke right now...

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by BrighamYen

How much more is added to the final cost of development because of parking??

brigham, speaking of parking, your very helpful website & its pics of the new museum next to disney hall raise a question. I knew the parking lot directly south of disney would be closed off for the proj. But I didn't realize the parking lot directly to the south of that also would be shutdown....


brighamyen.com


brighamyen.com


google earth

so it appears that the lot to the left & the lot to the right are now closed off to cars.

I'm guessing the lot to the right is a staging area or for storing equipment & materials? if so, I'm surprised they'd want to take away the space for parking unless the site was for active new construction. if that's the case, is it actually now set aside for the new highrise apt bldg that the related cos recently announced would be the 1st phase of their grand ave proj? Only reason why I doubt that is the construction trailers appear to be located on a central part of the site.

whatever the case, the installation of barricades for a new devlpt site has been too uncommon a sight in the hood over the past few yrs. So to see this....


brighamyen.com

deserves this...

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by LAsam

Massive parking lot in Little Tokyo to be developed!



http://blogdowntown.com/2011/05/6250-budokan-lease-approved-by-council

Architecturally, it is bleh. Not worth knocking down a historic building for.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Architecturally, it is bleh. Not worth knocking down a historic building for.

I thought it was replacing a parking lot?

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by LAsam

I thought it was replacing a parking lot?

It's replacing both a five story tall historic building and a parking lot. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

[pesto]

Originally Posted by BrighamYen

^ In 4 - 5 years if they can come up with the money.

Again, the stupid parking requirements are what is holding back a lot of developments downtown. How much more is added to the final cost of development because of parking??

At 150 spots x $50,000 = $7.5 million

So we want this to be a venue for Asian sporting events from all over the southland and not have any parking? To begin with if every team competing needs two vehicles, that's maybe 40 vehicles to begin with. Then there's officials and spectators, vendors and security.

The Budokan managers will have trouble bidding against, say, Downey or Van Nuys rec center, with spacious facilities and hundreds of parking spaces for attendees.

[colemonkee]

That 5-story "historical" building is not worth saving. It's pretty dilapidated, under-used, and doesn't have a significant amount of architectural quality, detail, or merit, especially given the other buildings nearby that are also from that era. Saving it for historical reasons would be the equivalent of saving the Medallion in 100 years, just because it was built when it was.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Architecturally, it is bleh. Not worth knocking down a historic building for.

That, architecturally, is better than most the of the crap going up around DTLA (i.e., Medici, Glo, etc.). It's a community resource center and doesn't need to "stand out" like a gleaming light. It's simple, looks like it uses glass, concrete, and steel (no stucco thank goodness). It's actually not bad and is a great infill project. The Asian themed roof also adds an element of interest to an otherwise neutral building and is very appropriately fitting for LT.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by BrighamYen

That, architecturally, is better than most the of the crap going up around DTLA (i.e., Medici, Glo, etc.). It's a community resource center and doesn't need to "stand out" like a gleaming light. It's simple, looks like it uses glass, concrete, and steel (no stucco thank goodness). It's actually not bad and is a great infill project. The Asian themed roof also adds an element of interest to an otherwise neutral building and is very appropriately fitting for LT.

Whoa whoa whoa. Did you say no stucco? Now you have my interest. Where did you hear that? I'm excited now.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

Cool. Budokan of Los Angeles. I'll add it to page 1.



Umm... hate to be a certain "Mr. Debbie Downer" (we all know who i'm talking about), but those "trusts" and "charities" might be broke right now...

I prefer the term "Negative Nancy." But to each his/her own.

Budokan of Los Angeles will be great. So much has been decimated in Little Tokyo since after WWII, beginning with Parker Center, and then it just snowballed from there. Budokan will be an asset to the community.

[Illithid Dude]

So, today I decided to make the long treck from coastal Santa Monica to downtown for breakfast at Bottega Louie. Afterwards, I decided to wander around a little bit. A few observations:

- The YWCA building has been almost fully unveiled and looks hideous. I nominate it for the ugliest building in South Park, if not downtown. Yes, that means it is uglier then Macy's Plaza. The building is swathed in brown stucco and has opaque, anti-pedestrian glass. Eeew.

- A ton of streets are being redone, and a few sidewalks, too. This, I like. Nothing bad to say about making infrastructure better.

- I stopped by The Broad to check out the progress. It is moving quickly. I took a few pictures of this one that I'll post later.

- There was a TON of pedestrian activity around the city at nine in the morning. Obviously, around Bottega Louie, were the office workers traveling to their jobs. However, I also saw a ton of tourists, and many (what I assume would be) residents walking dogs and generally chatting. It was really great.

[C.Lan]

I've never understood the use of stucco...

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by C.Lan

I've never understood the use of stucco...

Money, mostly. Cheap to put in, cheap to maintain. Moreover, I'm sure bad taste is some factor in it.