LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 3.0

[fridayinla]

^Nice.

Some construction photos of my own to add to Colemonkee's collection today.

LA Live - The ESPN Zone building's facade is coming along!





LA Central Site - A Morley Construction sign is now present on the construction fence along Figueroa


Concerto - A view inside the pit during the concrete pour

[RAlossi]

Your new camera is so hot. Nice photos, and I can't believe the detail on the Palace. It's amazing.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

Originally Posted by suga

Broadway does not suck, the neglect and segregated shopping in the area sucks. And what does the value of merchandise have to do with being compassionate towards the businesses and community the area caters to? Too many of you people think that some boner for wealth should trump or at least ignore any concern for the community that makes up 2/3rds of central LA and the bulk of our working force, you know what, go kiss a gucci bag and expect another 1992 riot on your hands.

So you know easy, the "hood" that Broadway is in is not 2 miles out, that is the central city, which includes boyle heights, south LA and westlake. The vast bulk of swap meet patronage is by people waiting for busses/transfers as well as ex bus riders taking their 1st generation family to the city to shop. Either way semantic arguments do not matter, Broadway obviously has a place in the working class community of LA (which is why it is vibrant and full of latinos and has not been packed with rich white kids since WW2, duh!) and that SHOULD be integrated with the emerging wealthier DTLA, but it is not, and THAT sucks.


Also, citywatch, you make no sense still. is this another telephone pole OCD thing? I believe I noted that it would have been nice for the LA civic establishment to have invested in the area decades earlier so that there would be more diversity in retail (note this too Easy), please remember this! Nobody wants this area to remain a swapmeet dump, it would be nice to see some social equity beyond some elitist-loving stargazed bullshit that is occurring right now, DTLA boosters included.

You sound completely pretentious! We all know Broadway DOES suck. That's not debateable. However, it does have the POTENTIAL to be great one day (again), but it requires dramatically changing the way the street works today. As long as Broadway remains the same, it'll impede the progress of DTLA because of the significance of Broadway as a key area in DTLA overall.

The faster Broadway changes, the better!

[LA420]

Originally Posted by suga

Broadway does not suck, the neglect and segregated shopping in the area sucks. And what does the value of merchandise have to do with being compassionate towards the businesses and community the area caters to? Too many of you people think that some boner for wealth should trump or at least ignore any concern for the community that makes up 2/3rds of central LA and the bulk of our working force, you know what, go kiss a gucci bag and expect another 1992 riot on your hands.

So you know easy, the "hood" that Broadway is in is not 2 miles out, that is the central city, which includes boyle heights, south LA and westlake. The vast bulk of swap meet patronage is by people waiting for busses/transfers as well as ex bus riders taking their 1st generation family to the city to shop. Either way semantic arguments do not matter, Broadway obviously has a place in the working class community of LA (which is why it is vibrant and full of latinos and has not been packed with rich white kids since WW2, duh!) and that SHOULD be integrated with the emerging wealthier DTLA, but it is not, and THAT sucks.


Also, citywatch, you make no sense still. is this another telephone pole OCD thing? I believe I noted that it would have been nice for the LA civic establishment to have invested in the area decades earlier so that there would be more diversity in retail (note this too Easy), please remember this! Nobody wants this area to remain a swapmeet dump, it would be nice to see some social equity beyond some elitist-loving stargazed bullshit that is occurring right now, DTLA boosters included.

FINALLY we got someone here who is "REAL" i completely agree with you 100 and more %. As a full time starving student who has tight budget, i myself like to go to broadway to purchase t-shirts, socks and etc i also go to the Grand Central Market for some items. I dont think by replacing the current merchants just so someone can put "Parada" store is just the most ridicules thing i have heard . You must be on some good ass crack and i not talking about butt crack either you know who you are.

You know what else i am tired of, is having new comers where they hear or think that its "Hip" or "Its the thing" to live there but not embracing the current demographic or the community or culture i see this happening, talk about aggnorance. BORG!

I think its important for development but as not to ignore or push the current residents out. If you want a thriving downtown or city must have all different economic backgrounds. They all work together, downtown can not thrive if you do not include other social class. That's what a "REAL" metropolis (city) is about! NOT a Beverly Hills or Rodeo Drive in downtown.

Lets keep the barbie and Ken dolls out of downtown!!!!!!!!

Ok enough, now i need to get back to my editing.

KEEP IT REAL
Peace

[JDRCRASH]

You guys are funny..LOL

Well, Concerto seems to be pouring the foundation pretty quickly.
And do I see that green facade monster coming off Hanover?

[colemonkee]

friday, looks like we walked the same beat yesterday. We probably missed each other by a few minutes. Here's some shots to add to friday's great work.

LA Live

Looking west from 11th Street. Despite how short the buildings are, they are starting to have a serious presence. It creates a wall effect along Figueroa.



The Figueroa side of the Club Nokia building



Nokia Theater pano from Olympic.




Hanover Tower

JDR, the green monster isn't coming off yet, but they are making visible progress on the crown.




LAPD Headquarters

New crane on site.



They started installing more steel beams on Friday.




Mura




Artisan on 2nd




San Pedro Apartments - (Block 8)




4th and Broadway

A conversion project that's nearing completion.






Federal Building Demo




And some random shots around town. New neon Signage at the Packard Lofts.



The greening of a balcony at Luma. I really like how they did this. I'd like to see more of it, actually.




I have more shots, but Image Shack is acting up, so I'll upload them when they're upload servers are working more regularly.

[yakumoto]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

^ Who are the barbie and Ken dolls? Ah ha! See! How is that not being discriminating and stereotyping toward a group of people you seem to know nothing about?! Face it, everyone's a little bit racist, and everyone is as racist as you! Stop all the PC bullshit. Broadway reeks right now in its current incarnation. It needs to be cleaned up pronto and replaced with cool shops.

The funny thing is, I don't recall ever mentioning a single fucking designer shop in my hope for Broadway's future. You fucking retards decided to put words in my mouth (you know who you guys are!) - so to speak. I like luxury boutiques, but I have also been very blatant about my likes for lower end shops as well, including the 99 Cent Only store.

I don't think anyone said Broadway shouldn't be cleaned up, but your idea of cleaning it up means gearing it to something other than working class Latino shoppers, who, by chance, happen to populate the surrounding neighborhoods. Last I checked Broadway was quite popular, which is more than you can say about other redeveloped areas downtown.

[colemonkee]

Originally Posted by fridayinla

Concerto - A view inside the pit during the concrete pour

What do you think that blue thing is just behind and to the right of the crane? It appears to be the support for a smaller, crane like structure. Is it the concrete pump that will rise with the tower?

[BrandonJXN]

You guys are way too anal about this Broadway situation for heaven's sake.

[Easy]

Thanks for the updates colemonkee and Friday! I know that it's been mentioned before, but I really had no idea how MUCH the LA Live buildings were going to look like the Staples Center. When I extrapolate the current progress to a finished project, I'm not sure that I like the look. Hopefully the final design will look better than the image in my head.

[JDRCRASH]

^ ^ ^
You just wait, pretty soon the real action is going to take place when the first Digital Billboards are installed!!!

[colemonkee]

Originally Posted by Easy

Thanks for the updates colemonkee and Friday! I know that it's been mentioned before, but I really had no idea how MUCH the LA Live buildings were going to look like the Staples Center. When I extrapolate the current progress to a finished project, I'm not sure that I like the look. Hopefully the final design will look better than the image in my head.

The Nokia Theater looks like Staples' little brother or sister. There are a lot of similarities: the aluminum panels, the same glass, etc. etc. The main difference will be in the signage, which should add some color and make it feel a bit more dynamic. The ESPN building has that brownish stone that helps give it a little bit more warmth and differentiates it a bit, but by in large it too looks like it comes from the same family as Staples.

Up close the buildings don't look that bad. I guess we'll have to wait for the finished product. You can kind of see it in Friday's photos, but they have delivered a bunch of trees to the plaza area, and planted a few in front of the theater. So at least that space won't be completely barren. I hope they also work in some low-lying planters to help make the space cooler and more inviting.

[JDRCRASH]

@Colemonkee: LOL, the Nokia really does resemble the Staples Center eh?

[LA420]

great update, i would really like to see that green tarp come off Hanover. Why is it that Hanover is the only building to use this green cover up tarp for construction.

[djerniepearl]

Well The Brockman is still partly covered with an ugly black tarp, and prolly longer than The Hanover.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

I do too don't get me wrong. But it's only good if done right. 'Learn how to spell' isn't really..you know..groundbreaking.

Neither is choosing that green neon tubes should be incorporated on the side of AON, or any other visionary lighting schemes for DTLA for that matter.

I agree, we should get back on topic.

[k3d]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

Neither is choosing that green neon tubes should be incorporated on the side of AON, or any other visionary lighting schemes for DTLA for that matter.

I agree, we should get back on topic.

The Aon would be great with green neon. I also wouldn't mind if they closed Broadway, fixed it up like the Grove with shopping, theaters and restaurants, restore and moderize all the buildings, put a trolley car down the middle, pipe in some music and maybe a retro NEON theme. A nice alternative to LA Live.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by petescafe

No more parking lot at 4th and Main. Say hello to the green fence.

The 4th st side of the parking lot is gone.

That's one instance where a brown field is a welcome sight. Sure will be nice when the side towards 3rd St, & the 2 small bldgs along LA St also are torn out.

If more of DT's deadzones were stripped of asphalt & maintained as plain dirt fields, they'd be less of a drag on the hood----their convenience for ppl parking their car notwithstanding----til they could be replaced by new devlpt.

Your photo also is the first one I've seen of 4th St without the big billboard that used to sit between Main & LA Sts.

For a trip down memory lane, to the bad ol days (of not too many wks ago), here's the reason that work on the Medallion couldn't have started one day too soon:


Jim Winstead / flickr.com


Jim Winstead / flickr.com

Pricey apartments are opening above mercado stalls on Broadway's Arcade Building.
Is this the building that they are talking about in the article?

Yes, the Arcade bldg is another conversion proj that's taking forever to be completed. I remember hearing something some time ago (last yr?) about model units in that bldg being completed, but the construction or specs on them being faulty & the devlpr having to go back & redo them. If that's true, it must have pushed their completion date even further forward.

I also wonder about what's going to happen to the burned out buildings at 4th and Broadway. The middle building has been completely removed. Nothing has happened to the corner building.

I was hoping that fugly pile would have been torn down by now. I recall some ppl commenting around the time of the fire that the bldg's wood shingle facade was so tacky----a bad remodel job from the 1970s or whenever----that it was hard to feel sad about the site going up in smoke.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

Biiig concrete pour at Concerto today...

Your photo includes a good view of the background of small bldgs on 9th St west of Fig. I know some forumers were discussing how they'd like to get rid of the Holiday Inn on Fig & replace it with something better. However, if I were to prioritize things, I'd first wanna get rid of all the deadzones bordered by 9th, Fig, Olympic Sts, & the fwy.

A lot of rooms in the new LA Live hotel will be staring straight at that part of the hood, so I think it's important it go bye bye ASAP.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by suga

and expect another 1992 riot on your hands.

And many ppl will merely move to the burbs or other cities, some far, far way. And they'll look back at LA, snicker, & then say "OC has less crime," "Thousand Oaks has few homeless folk", "Seattle is nicer", "SF has cleaner air" or "NYC is more exciting". And they'll never bother to look back again.

you make no sense still. is this another telephone pole OCD thing?

By the same token, do you have OCD when it comes to, as you call them, "poor brown folks"? That's a condition where ppl are obsessive about wearing their compassion on their forehead. But when they're put to the test, when they enter the moment of their life when marriage & kids occur, or when they have quite a few possessions (like stereos, TVs, DVD players, or things like mortgages) to keep an eye on, they're often no different from those who are famous for behaving like this.

There are alot of ppl in, for example, San Fran who share your overall POV, but even many of them, when thinking of LA, will envision the grit & grime of streets like Broadway, & say "I sure ain't leaving my heart in that town!!"