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I don't find the Staples Center area to be all that walkable either. It is in downtown LA but is a pretty weak representation of the rest of the neighborhood. It's like going to Time Square and assuming the rest of Manhattan is Disney-in-the-city.
what part of the neighborhood is walkable? I see nothing in the area but a sea of parking lots, rivers of automobile traffic and a bunch of office buildings. I can't imagine anyone who wants to walk in such an environment except the office workers in the financial district getting a bite to eat on their lunch break. but they're walking only because they are compelled by hunger, and because they work there. which doesn't mean muchg. at nights and weekends the area is completely dead. it's just not a walking type of environment except for the suits working there. pedestrian activity is a utilitarian function. no one walks there for pleasure.
what part of the neighborhood is walkable? I see nothing within a 2 mile radius but a sea of parking lots - and rivers of automobile traffic. and some office buildings in the CBD. I can't imagine anyone who wants to walk in such an environment. except the office workers in the CBD walking to get a bite to eat on their lunch break. but they're only walking because they are compelled by hunger. most of the time they prefer to drive. it's just not a walking type of environment.
Are you kidding?!? Did you even look at the link? Here's an idea -- go down to Broadway and 7th sometime (take the subway or bus -- don't just drive past downtown LA on the freeway and think you've seen it all) and walk around. You may not like DTLA, but Broadway is always bustling. Another tip: that's not even really central business district area. I haven't been down there for a few years (and I am assuming it's even more bustling than it was when I was a downtown regular) but the sidewalks were often packed. (Also kind of fun: guys used to stand on boxes with microphones in the doors of some of the stores trying to get those passing by to stop in and buy whatever they were selling; not sure if they still do that.)
Seriously, get out of the car. You'll discover a whole new walkable world out there. And bring some lunch money; you may scoff at downtown visitors and workers walking to lunch, but you won't be laughing after you walk yourself over to Grand Central Market (located a few blocks down, also on Broadway).
People say that Los Angeles is "suburban" because it's spaced out. While I don't think it's suburban, I do understand why people say that. This is a streetview just a couple of clicks down the street in the link you posted.
By lacking a dense, built environment that sustains itself over several square miles, the urban corridors in Los Angeles provide somewhat of a superficial urban experience. Sure, Hollywood Boulevard is nice, but it sorta kills the vibe to make a right off the corridor and end up seeing strip malls, parking lots, SFHs, industrial zones and free-standing fast food joints.
"Developed" but "Spread Out" is better than the situation in Detroit, where you can go from one block of densely built homes/commercial structures to urban prairies in the next.
"Developed" but "Spread Out" is better than the situation in Detroit, where you can go from one block of densely built homes/commercial structures to urban prairies.
It is a beautiful 3-storey 1890s building with 20 apartments above a very nice row of shops at street level. It fills the width of its site but only about 1/2 the depth of its lot and has no parking. The remaining space appears to be a shady back yard. It is a wonderful building that people in the neighborhood love. It adds great character and vibrance to the street but, as with other buildings of this type in Buffalo, it cannot be replicated by law.
I don't know, it sounds like almost-literally the only residential population in DTLA previous to the Adaptive Reuse was homeless people. The Historic Core (Spring / Main / Broadway) in LA used to be the CBD but now it is more residential / mixed use neighborhood than a CBD.
I have this hazy memory from when I was in college in Thousand Oaks going to the Orpheum Theater (I think this was 2007) for a Comedy Central screening of some stand up special, it was the only time I had ever been to DTLA and the only time I had been until I moved here two years ago. I can't say it looked completely different, and it was pouring, but the place seems like night and day even 5 years later.
Well the video I showed was from the 1940s, before you can remember. The residential area shown was Bunker Hill and maybe somewhere west.
I didn't mean residential population is irrelevant, just not the only factor on how important a downtonwn is. Midtown Manhattan has 28,000 residents and Downtown LA has 45,000 today. Downtown LA is a larger area, so not an exact comparison. The residential population in Midtown is insignficant compared to the volume of outsiders passing through, regardless of time of day. Not sure what the appeal of living in Midtown Manhattan is, it feels like a horrible place to live. A co-worker of my mother's lived there in the 80s because it cheap for Manhattan back then. She said it was a bit "interesting" though not really dangerous. A friend's girlfriend takes the light rail to work in downtonwn LA (they live in pasadena and chose an apartment complex near a light rail stop on purpose) but when she works late nights my friends picks her up sometimes because she finds the walking downtown sketchy.
It is a beautiful 3-storey 1890s building with 20 apartments above a very nice row of shops at street level. It fills the width of its site but only about 1/2 the depth of its lot and has no parking. The remaining space appears to be a shady back yard. It is a wonderful building that people in the neighborhood love. It adds great character and vibrance to the street but, as with other buildings of this type in Buffalo, it cannot be replicated by law.
That's why mass transit is an essential part of urban development.
You just can't have dense, walkable corridors if you must cater to the automobile.
I think cisco kid's threshold of walkability is "Are there big crowds there?" which is too high a bar in my opinion. My neighborhood is highly walkable, but there are very seldom, if ever, big crowds in my neighborhood, unless there is some sort of street festival going on.
I think cisco kid's threshold of walkability is "Are there big crowds there?" which is too high a bar in my opinion. My neighborhood is highly walkable, but there are very seldom, if ever, big crowds in my neighborhood, unless there is some sort of street festival going on.
I went to see a movie with a friend in DTLA once. the movie theater was located in the financial district. I dont remember the name of the theater, but to get into it you had to first enter a multi-level parking structure.
you would think on a saturday evening there would be a lot of pedestrian activity around. even though the area the theater was in tehre seemed to be nothing but bland office buildings. it was kind of weird that there was a movie theater in the middle of the financial district. the thing that struck me was there was ZERO pedestrian actiivity at all anywhere in the area. but there WAS a massive long line of cars all apparently waiting in line to enter the parking structure so they could see the movie.
that's pretty much LA in a nutshell. according to a UCLA study someone posted in another thread, LA has the highest concentration of cars and parking spaces then anywhere else in the country, and probably the world. so this image everyone has of LA as being the car and sprawl capital of the world isn't just a stereotype its based on fact. it's also based on people's experiences because you see it and you know it when you go there. those who claim otherwise, I don't know what planet they're living on.
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