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  #2981  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2013, 5:34 AM
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Took my 2nd rail trip around L.A. last week, and stayed in a motel on Alvarado Street, near MacArthur Park. Wow! Loved it! Took my Mexican roommate along and, having lived there in the 70's/80's, he was as pleasantly surprised/shocked as I was to see "Tijuana" on our trip: outdoor food stands, vendors and pirated DVD stands! My roomie said they never would have allowed this when he lived there! More, more, more, I say!!!

Generally, in so many cities I've visted, the older parks of the city have been well-developed, and I was puzzled why the MacArthur Park area seems lacking in mid/high rise developments. What gives? So close to downtown, I expected a more scaled-down Central Park area.

In my re-discovery of L.A. I'm now concentrating on the ethnic enclaves of L.A. which is making my trips even more exciting now, given that I used to always stay in Hollywood. I did ride the Red line, got off in Hollywood, stayed there 15 minutes, bored stiff, I couldn't wait to get back to Alvarado Street, or skip over to Chinatown, where I could spend hours shopping and eating. So if the Nimby's in Hollywood are opposed to bringing that city into the 21st century, their loss, hopefully downtown L.A.'s gain!

Looking at the developments in Santa Monica, that will save me a trip over there!

I took the Expo line to the end, and again, I was as disappointed as when I took the green line to Redondo Beach, expecting to be deposited on the beach! Let's hope some development occurs along that line, but there could be some AK-47-carrying Nimby's along that line!

Another poster commented on the lack of developments along some of the rail lines, and given the length of time the Blue Line has been in operation, I'm puzzled why there aren't developments on the Blue line heading south to Long Beach. On route back to the Airport, I got off on the Watts station and had dinner, but where's the developments besides that heavily fortified shopping center?

Next trip: Little Tokyo, Koreatown, more Chinatown, Cambodia Town in Long Beach, another stay on Alvarado, and what other ethnic enclaves are worth seeing in L.A.? No Philipino town? Does Watts have a downtown core area?
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  #2982  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2013, 6:04 AM
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Originally Posted by IMBY View Post
Next trip: Little Tokyo, Koreatown, more Chinatown, Cambodia Town in Long Beach, another stay on Alvarado, and what other ethnic enclaves are worth seeing in L.A.? No Philipino town? Does Watts have a downtown core area?
Well, a lot of the ethnic enclaves aren't reachable by rail. I suppose you could bus it, though. Anyways, in Westwood, there are a sizable amount of persian businesses. There's Little Osaka on Sawtelle and Olympic. Thai Town and Little Armenia in East Hollywood. The Orthodox Jew areas on Pico and Fairfax. Little Ethiopia on South Fairfax, and Crenshaw, which is the african-american center of L.A. I think that about covers it.
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  #2983  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2013, 6:56 AM
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Thanks for the info! I've got more places to put on my future itineraries on my next rail trips to L.A., and do realize now, I'll have to explore some bus lines as well!
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  #2984  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2013, 7:52 AM
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How would development pop up around the Green Line considering that a vast majority of it's length is in the middle of the 105? Lower your expatiation's as they are way too high. I loled at how you thought that the Green Line would drop you off at the beach.
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  #2985  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2013, 8:12 AM
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The bulk of the Chinese community is actually in the SGV. Alhambra, San Gabriel, Monterey Park, Rosemead, etc. Wealthier Chinese/Taiwanese tend to be in San Marino ("Chan Marino"), Arcadia, Diamond Bar, Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, and Walnut.

Artesia is very Indian, Gardena has a Japanese cluster, Armenians in Glendale, Russians/Ukrainians along Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, Little Saigon in Westminster/Garden Grove, and Montebello and Downey for middle class Mexicans. Westlake and neighboring Pico-Union, where you stayed, are primarily working class and Central American. Santa Monica has a decent-sized British expat community, too. There are a few other enclaves that currently slip my mind, but do bear in mind that the majority of these areas are best visited by car.
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  #2986  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2013, 4:18 PM
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Originally Posted by ThreeHundred View Post
How would development pop up around the Green Line considering that a vast majority of it's length is in the middle of the 105? Lower your expatiation's as they are way too high. I loled at how you thought that the Green Line would drop you off at the beach.
I know. I had this vision of someone getting off the train covered in suntan lotion with a sand bucket and wearing one of those duck life preservers.
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  #2987  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2013, 6:10 PM
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Originally Posted by IMBY View Post
I took the Expo line to the end, and again, I was as disappointed as when I took the green line to Redondo Beach, expecting to be deposited on the beach! Let's hope some development occurs along that line, but there could be some AK-47-carrying Nimby's along that line!
I don't think the Expo Line lack of development is due to NIMBYs. At least the first phase - some of the Westside neighborhoods might have more NIMBY-ism. Right now the middle portion of the line (Expo / Western - Expo / Crenshaw) is sort of a "transitional" neighborhood with a bunch of what seems to be light-industrial business scattered throughout. With the line eventually bridging Santa Monica and DTLA (plus a connection to LAX via the Crenshaw Line) I think you will see a lot more development in that central portion of the line. And I think much more than on the Blue Line and especially the Green Line.
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  #2988  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2013, 6:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Munchitup View Post
I don't think the Expo Line lack of development is due to NIMBYs. At least the first phase - some of the Westside neighborhoods might have more NIMBY-ism. Right now the middle portion of the line (Expo / Western - Expo / Crenshaw) is sort of a "transitional" neighborhood with a bunch of what seems to be light-industrial business scattered throughout. With the line eventually bridging Santa Monica and DTLA (plus a connection to LAX via the Crenshaw Line) I think you will see a lot more development in that central portion of the line. And I think much more than on the Blue Line and especially the Green Line.
The Expo Line has received a very substantial amount of development, especially compared to Metro's previous light rail lines. Santa Monica and Culver City have lined up multiple projects to surround their stations. There are a handful of projects proposed for the portions running through LA as well.

The Expo/Crenshaw station will likely receive a lot of development as the Crenshaw Line takes form.
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  #2989  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2013, 7:08 PM
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The Expo Line has received a very substantial amount of development, especially compared to Metro's previous light rail lines. Santa Monica and Culver City have lined up multiple projects to surround their stations. There are a handful of projects proposed for the portions running through LA as well.

The Expo/Crenshaw station will likely receive a lot of development as the Crenshaw Line takes form.

I agree, plus developments in downtown Culver City, and more importantly connecting the station to the downtown area. The Expo Line is looking really strong even in Phase I with ridership still climbing, Phase II is going to be great.
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  #2990  
Old Posted Feb 16, 2013, 3:49 AM
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Originally Posted by Kingofthehill View Post
The bulk of the Chinese community is actually in the SGV. Alhambra, San Gabriel, Monterey Park, Rosemead, etc. Wealthier Chinese/Taiwanese tend to be in San Marino ("Chan Marino"), Arcadia, Diamond Bar, Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, and Walnut.

Artesia is very Indian, Gardena has a Japanese cluster, Armenians in Glendale, Russians/Ukrainians along Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, Little Saigon in Westminster/Garden Grove, and Montebello and Downey for middle class Mexicans. Westlake and neighboring Pico-Union, where you stayed, are primarily working class and Central American. Santa Monica has a decent-sized British expat community, too. There are a few other enclaves that currently slip my mind, but do bear in mind that the majority of these areas are best visited by car.
I'm trying hard to restrict my travels to light rail stops, and the immediate vacinities within a 4-6 block walk, in no matter which city I take a "light rail vacation", and I see now I'm going to have to do some research on bus lines as well. No problem, as the Tap card covers both rail/bus.

So excuse my "restricted" views of L.A. at this point in time!
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  #2991  
Old Posted Feb 16, 2013, 7:54 AM
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Originally Posted by IMBY View Post
I'm trying hard to restrict my travels to light rail stops, and the immediate vacinities within a 4-6 block walk, in no matter which city I take a "light rail vacation", and I see now I'm going to have to do some research on bus lines as well. No problem, as the Tap card covers both rail/bus.

So excuse my "restricted" views of L.A. at this point in time!

The good news is I find the LA buses to be better and more user friendly than most.
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  #2992  
Old Posted Feb 16, 2013, 9:08 AM
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Originally Posted by blackcat23 View Post
The Expo Line has received a very substantial amount of development, especially compared to Metro's previous light rail lines. Santa Monica and Culver City have lined up multiple projects to surround their stations. There are a handful of projects proposed for the portions running through LA as well.

The Expo/Crenshaw station will likely receive a lot of development as the Crenshaw Line takes form.
The amount of development planned along the Expo line has been pretty incredible compared to the slow pace of the rest of the lines.

I don't know what it's going to take to jump start the blue line. It's been getting safer, so I guess that's a start. But it has a lot of things working against it. For example the neighborhoods adjacent to the blue line besides being very poor and having few amenities, the housing stock isn't very attractive. It will likely be one of the last areas of LA to get any significant investment for a variety of reasons.
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  #2993  
Old Posted Feb 16, 2013, 9:13 AM
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Originally Posted by ThreeHundred View Post
How would development pop up around the Green Line considering that a vast majority of it's length is in the middle of the 105? Lower your expatiation's as they are way too high. I loled at how you thought that the Green Line would drop you off at the beach.
That's actually a pretty common misconception. The last station is called "Redondo Beach" and evidently plenty of tourists think that they can take the green line to the beach when they see that. Who would think that it would stop so far from the ocean? Anaheim Street on the blue line in Long Beach used to be called "Anaheim" leading some to think that they could take the blue line to Disneyland.
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  #2994  
Old Posted Feb 16, 2013, 6:54 PM
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Originally Posted by Easy View Post
The amount of development planned along the Expo line has been pretty incredible compared to the slow pace of the rest of the lines.

I don't know what it's going to take to jump start the blue line. It's been getting safer, so I guess that's a start. But it has a lot of things working against it. For example the neighborhoods adjacent to the blue line besides being very poor and having few amenities, the housing stock isn't very attractive. It will likely be one of the last areas of LA to get any significant investment for a variety of reasons.
I've read that another problem with the Blue Line is that many of the station adjacent neighborhoods are only zoned for single family residences. That being said, there is a TON of potential surrounding the Blue Line. Dozens of large empty lots that could make for TODs at some point in the future. But we're probably decades away from seeing that happening.

With the Green Line, the El Segundo pretty much dropped the ball. Until recently, they've never made an effort to promote development around the stations. We're starting to see that change, but only after 20 years.

The freeway running portions will be much more difficult, although not an impossibility. Pasadena has managed to get housing built surrounding the 210 running section of the Gold Line.
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  #2995  
Old Posted Feb 17, 2013, 8:13 PM
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Last week I was in LA and was delightfully surprised to see the most amount of construction going on that I have ever seen there. Here are a few photos taken from the Hollywood reservoir.


Blvd2600 in Hollywood




something in the east hollywood area




The Vermont towers on Wilshire




Marriott Courtyard / Residence Inn just south of downtown




something north of downtown

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  #2996  
Old Posted Feb 17, 2013, 8:32 PM
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^ That last one is of the Broad Museum. There should be at least three more cranes going up in downtown in the next few months.
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  #2997  
Old Posted Feb 17, 2013, 9:05 PM
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Oh thanks, I was wondering if that was for a highrise or not. Didn't figure it was the Grand Avenue apartment tower by Related though as that only just broke ground.
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  #2998  
Old Posted Feb 17, 2013, 9:19 PM
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Oh thanks, I was wondering if that was for a highrise or not. Didn't figure it was the Grand Avenue apartment tower by Related though as that only just broke ground.
Hopefully a crane should be on THAT property in a matter of weeks.
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  #2999  
Old Posted Feb 18, 2013, 1:41 AM
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@Dylan

Those are some AMAZING pictures. What kind of camera and lens did you capture these pictures? Too bad for the smog, I think one can easily see Long Beach or San Pedro?

Either way, thank you for the nice post.
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  #3000  
Old Posted Feb 20, 2013, 6:44 AM
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,6352502.story
I know they will be downgraded, but still good news.
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