Has 3rd Street Promenade lost most of it's appeal to locals? (Glendale: lease, home)

[jm1982]

I was in Santa Monica on Saturday and was walking along 3rd street promenade.
Not sure the last time I went to 3rd street, but this time I noticed that pretty much every store is a chain store, and there's really nothing that you can find there that you can't find in the valley.

Retail rents have gotten so insane that it's only these big chains that can put up the money to open these stores and even those don't always survive.
There was a space for lease that used to be an italian place, I looked it up and they want $828,000 for the space per year!

This is the listing
1444 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, CA, 90401 - Retail (Other) Property For Lease on LoopNet.com

There were always a ton of foreign (mostly European) tourists, but now it seems like it's mostly tourists hanging out there. Like maybe 90% or so.

There is a lot of buzz over the subway going to Santa Monica, but at this point are there really that many people even excited to go there?

I know Main Street has more independent type places and is less touristy, but that also doesn't really have that much appeal or seem that cool really.

What do you guys think?
I'm not saying I hate Santa Monica, but maybe just from hanging out there a lot when I was younger it seemed like more interesting place.

[Astral_Weeks]

Yeah, third street promenade is not terribly exciting. Essentially a mall without a roof.

S.M. did do a nice job of creating a pedestrian oriented environment. Not always easy to do in LA County. Other than that, not really much to pull me over there.

Also, the vistas along Palisades Park are great and that does make it a nice place to walk around.

The Expo line will serve more than the Promenade and tourist oriented attractions. There is a large employment base in S.M. I know someone who lives close to Downtown LA who just took a job in S.M. He uses the Expo line 3 days a week to get to work.

[jm1982]

Yeah , I could see locals going there more for work versus recreationally.
That's good that more people will be able to take the metro to work. Could save people a lot on wear and tear, traffic headaches, gas costs , parking,etc.

[I Love Buildings]

3rd street Promenade is not different than the Glendale Mall or Victoria Gardens in the Inland Empire. It's just too suburbany and soccer mom friendly zone.

[disgruntled la native]

i mean it is where the big stores are. downtown SM in general. also, lots of locals enjoy the palisades park, pier, and dining in downtown SM. just not particularly on the 3rd st proemnade.

[nightlysparrow]

Originally Posted by Astral_Weeks

Yeah, third street promenade is not terribly exciting. Essentially a mall without a roof.

Yep. And not the only one. The Venice beachwalk is much more eclectic.

[Exitus Acta Probat]

3rd Street is old news. It was a fun novelty when it was rehashed more than 20 years ago, but these days it's too much of a tourist trap and it has too many creeps from the other side of town ogling females without any discretion.

[JustMike77]

I'd much rather go to The Grove. Better shops & restaurants and there's Farmer's Market to wander through.

[Astral_Weeks]

^Not me. I HATE the grove. Faux urbanism to the extreme....it really is just a mall with no roof. The 3rd Street promenade is at least a real street connected to the rest of Santa Monica's grid.

[jaminhealth]

The 3rd St still has a smaller town feeling. I came to SM over 50 yrs ago before promenade for sure, I loved it when I arrived. I'm older for sure and stay home a lot, HATE crowds and pushing/shoving of it all. Even my adult daughter and her teens are tired of it, the noise of it all. 15 yr old talks about moving to Maui after college...we'll see if that happens.