Los Angeles needs much more scyscrapers/buildings ! (San Diego, San Francisco: city hall, condos)

[PalmBch]

Los Angeles is U.S. second largest city - and has very small skyline and lack of scyscrapers & buildings for its population and size.
Other smaller cities, such as Miami, Atlanta, Boston etc. has more scyscrapers and nicer downtown area than LA.

A such a nice & beautiful city like LA deserve having nicer downtown!

[Gtownoe]

Even with more buildings it's downtown would still be dead.

LA is an auto-centered city. People drive where they need to go. It'll never have the foot traffic that cities like NY, Chicago, Boston, San Fran have. In order to increase its foot traffic it'd have to rework its entire city structure.

LA is more like a collection of cities then a densely compact city with lots of foot traffic. What makes it so bad is that the weather is so nice!

[tijlover]

Only a masochistic skyscraper developer would contemplate building something in any California city. I would love to see the stacks and stacks of buildings proposed for Southern California that never saw the light of day and the developers took their proposals to cities that would level their city halls to get them built.

Just along the anti-highrise California coast, for one. If the developers had the freedom to build high rises like they have had on the southeast coast of Florida, you'd see 30-40 story highrises starting from Malibu and going all the way down to Dana Point. Never, ever will you see that happen. Too many selfish people who want the whole coast to themselves.

It isn't much different in downtown L.A. or Wilshire. If you get onto Emporis.com you will see various visionary buildings for downtown L.A. and lots of proposals. But let's first consult those in the Hollywood and Beverly Hills to make sure a particular high rise isn't going to block their views of this or that. And the rabid historical preservationists who will go to great lengths to get a historical listing for some one-story restaurant that some famous movie star frequented 50 years ago. And where are the big high-rises in downtown Hollywood? Nope! Won't happen! There might be an old gas station that some famous movie star used to frequent that has historical value.

A developer would probably have more luck with San Diego, despite the height restrictions. San Francisco? You might be dead before the first shovel goes into the ground.

[PalmBch]

Originally Posted by Gtownoe

Even with more buildings it's downtown would still be dead.

LA is an auto-centered city. People drive where they need to go. It'll never have the foot traffic that cities like NY, Chicago, Boston, San Fran have. In order to increase its foot traffic it'd have to rework its entire city structure.

LA is more like a collection of cities then a densely compact city with lots of foot traffic. What makes it so bad is that the weather is so nice!

When I went to Downtown LA for the first time last year, it was dead!
Very few people, and "ghetto" - lots of Hispanics.
But it looked somewhat similar to Manhattan the atmosphere.

[8palmtrees]

My guess why LA does not have skyscrapers is because of the earthquakes. Good God, can you imagine being in a 6+ earthquake and being on the top floor of a skyscraper, talk about being more sick than being sea sick on a small boat with rough sea's.

[uptown_urbanist]

For those of you saying downtown LA doesn't have any traffic, have you ever been on Broadway? Santee Alley? Toy District on a weekend?

Some of these areas don't have a lot of white people, but last I checked Hispanic people (and those of every other background) count as people, too. As a white person I absolutely loved visiting downtown LA for its bustling, vibrant street life.

Those who say LA doesn't have street life or foot traffic are not visiting the right neighborhoods. Like all cities, some areas are auto-centric and have little foot traffic, but other neighborhoods are not. I lived in Hollywood (tons of foot traffic), as well as spent a lot of time downtown, and loved the activity.

And, fun fact, you probably see downtown LA all the time in movies, commercials, and TV shows, but don't realize it's downtown LA; they film there all the time, often for shows set in other cities such as NYC.

Parts of downtown LA are not as friendly to foot traffic as others, but it's starting to change. And LA does have skyscrapers, although they do look a bit different than what you find in many cities. They're built with earthquakes in mind, although I admit that when my husband worked in one it still made me nervous.

[EastSideMKE]

Originally Posted by 04glow

My guess why LA does not have skyscrapers is because of the earthquakes. Good God, can you imagine being in a 6+ earthquake and being on the top floor of a skyscraper, talk about being more sick than being sea sick on a small boat with rough sea's.

The threat of earthquakes doesn't seem to stop Tokyo and Hong Kong from constructing massive skyscrapers.

[LauraC]

Why would you want big ugly buildings blocking beautiful blue skies?

I'm not a fan of LA because of its traffic but it certainly is a lot better outdoors-looking/more inviting than NY, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia. I think its look matches its attitude.

[tijlover]

Originally Posted by 04glow

My guess why LA does not have skyscrapers is because of the earthquakes. Good God, can you imagine being in a 6+ earthquake and being on the top floor of a skyscraper, talk about being more sick than being sea sick on a small boat with rough sea's.

The earthquake zone entails all areas along the Pacific rim from Alaska south to the end of Chile, and on the other side of the Pacific as well. Even here in Nevada, where we have the 1149' Stratosphere Tower, a 6.5+ is likely here as well.

A 7.1 struck Seattle back in 2002 or so and they have that tall Columbia Tower there, no damage. Mainly the old dome of the capital building suffered damage in that one.

Even the Madrid fault line in the Midwest is capable of shaking up Chicago with its Sears and Hancock Towers.

Santiago, Chile, which suffered a blasting 8.0 back in the late 80's, has not been deterred and has put up the tallest skyscraper in South America.

[miamiman]

Originally Posted by tijlover

Only a masochistic skyscraper developer would contemplate building something in any California city. I would love to see the stacks and stacks of buildings proposed for Southern California that never saw the light of day and the developers took their proposals to cities that would level their city halls to get them built.

Just along the anti-highrise California coast, for one. If the developers had the freedom to build high rises like they have had on the southeast coast of Florida, you'd see 30-40 story highrises starting from Malibu and going all the way down to Dana Point. Never, ever will you see that happen. Too many selfish people who want the whole coast to themselves.

It isn't much different in downtown L.A. or Wilshire. If you get onto Emporis.com you will see various visionary buildings for downtown L.A. and lots of proposals. But let's first consult those in the Hollywood and Beverly Hills to make sure a particular high rise isn't going to block their views of this or that. And the rabid historical preservationists who will go to great lengths to get a historical listing for some one-story restaurant that some famous movie star frequented 50 years ago. And where are the big high-rises in downtown Hollywood? Nope! Won't happen! There might be an old gas station that some famous movie star used to frequent that has historical value.

A developer would probably have more luck with San Diego, despite the height restrictions. San Francisco? You might be dead before the first shovel goes into the ground.

What's the purpose of having highrises just for the sake of having highrises? Skyscrapers along the Pacific coast WOULD ruin Los Angeles. Who in the world wants to go to Manhattan Beach with an endless row of 35 story condos cascading over the beach? No thanks. Let's not even talk about the devaluation of the homes on the bluffs that face the ocean.

I think Downtown Los Angeles' skyline looks fine. There are several centers of urbanization across Los Angeles. That is just a result of Los Angeles' spread out nature.