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The one thing that I am excited about is the river revitalization plan, but only god knows if I will even be alive when that project is finished
Me too. It will have to be done piecemeal, involving many jurisdictions in the public sector, each of which under budgetary pressure. But its a great long term vision.
For those that are familiar with dt LA isn't it great that its renaissance is not concentrated to one or two areas but all over dt LA. And Broadway, finally new life! For Broadway its almost unbelieveable!
Yes, Spring Street today is night and day compared to 5 or 10 years ago.
Give Broadway another 3 to 5 years and it will be coming back to life. Projects on the way that will help transform it: United Artists Theatre (boutique hotel + reactived theatre), Figaro's French Bistro (broadway near 6th), Clifton's, Ross-Dress-For Less, etc. Let's just hope the momentum continues b/c this is LA's most under valued urban street. The potential here is HUGE.
Especially to those who remember what it was like only 20 years ago. And this has come about despite operating in a brutal regional economy. Its pretty obvious its going to go off once the country and state pull out of this.
I agree. I'd only add that you can say it has drastically changed in just the last 10 years. The first loft conversions opened in about 2001/2002, at 4th and Main. The population has doubled in that time period.
And it really does boggle the mind how the progress has continued in the last 2 or 3 years in the face of a very tough local economy.
Yes, Spring Street today is night and day compared to 5 or 10 years ago.
Give Broadway another 3 to 5 years and it will be coming back to life. Projects on the way that will help transform it: United Artists Theatre (boutique hotel + reactived theatre), Figaro's French Bistro (broadway near 6th), Clifton's, Ross-Dress-For Less, etc. Let's just hope the momentum continues b/c this is LA's most under valued urban street. The potential here is HUGE.
Also an Ace Hotel is going in the United Artists theater (the "Jesus Saves" building, they are also restoring the ground floor theater, which was kept in excellent condition by the church tenants.) It is the first Ace Hotel in LA and I believe the only one outside of Palm Springs and NYC.
As far as the Red Line to the Arts district, there are rail lines that lead to a maintenance yard adjacent to where the One Santa Fe development will go. The the stops would be Pershing Square > Union Station > Arts District. All they need to build is a station because the tracks are already there. What I have heard is that it is part of the development deal for One Santa Fe, so the developer will build the station in exchange for reduced parking (or maybe increased density, not sure). It may actually just be a rumor so I'm not sure on the timeline for it.
I thought Downtown LA wasn't vibrant. (According to what I've heard from the people that live in LA)
Quote:
Originally Posted by nslander
And when the person lived there.
I have to chime in here as well. In a sense it depends on when the person lived here. But downtown LA has never been completely dead, even doing it's worst days. The Fashion District, and Broadway has always been packed with shoppers, and especially on the weekends. Actually as downtown LA has come on the scene once again, I'm have notice that Broadway Avenue (which was probably the busiest with pedestrians and buses) has now thinned out a bit. Still not dead, but not that long ago the sidewalks was so crowded one could barely get past each other without bumping, and pushing through the crowds of people coming towards you.
I like downtown Dallas and visit each time I visit this city, but it is really dead. A regular business day in Dallas would be like a how it feels in downtown LA on a holiday. That's just how different the vibrancy is of the two downtowns.
Granted this past visit about two weeks ago to Dallas, I have to admit I seen more people walking around (residents walking dogs) as compared to my many other visits. I was really happy to see much more activity because Dallas downtown has the bones already in place and can be great. It really is quite large, but yet it is still very very quiet in comparison.
When two of my cousins came to visit LA, different times and different years. I took them to downtown LA on a tour. They both were surprised at how busy LA downtown is in comparison to their own city. I wouldn't go that far in my opinion but they thought this looks like NYC. Neither one has ever been to New York, but I suspect their opinion is based on what they've seen on T.V/Movies
For me I know better as NYC crowds will blow us away. Well maybe not the Fashion District because it can get extremely crowded on weekends, and especially during the christmas shopping holiday.
I think that Dallas is much more like LA than Phoenix. And from what others have said, maybe Houston. Haven't been there to know for sure.
I agree. Downtown Phoenix looks nothing like DT Los Angeles. DT Phoenix goes completely dead after 6 or 7 in the evening and the tiny skyline is a joke. Looking at pics of Phoenix, you couldn't even tell that it has over 1 million people- looks like a massive sprawling hick town, and it has very little to offer except golf and sun. Yawn! Los Angeles is very sprawling too and it's far from perfect, but at least it has fun things to see and do- Hollywood, Universal Studios, the beaches, et al. Phoenix has none of that. No comparison to Los Angeles at all except maybe the dirty air, crime, and bad traffic. At the very least, Phoenix is a little easier to drive around in and the air is a little cleaner but that doesn't say too much in the big picture.
I have to chime in here as well. In a sense it depends on when the person lived here. But downtown LA has never been completely dead, even doing it's worst days. The Fashion District, and Broadway has always been packed with shoppers, and especially on the weekends. Actually as downtown LA has come on the scene once again, I've noticed that Broadway Avenue (which was probably the busiest with pedestrians and buses) has now thinned out a bit. Still not dead, but not that long ago the sidewalks was so crowded one could barely get past each other without bumping, and pushing through the crowds of people coming towards you.
I agree with the above observation. I think Broadway has been hit with a double whammy:
1) Other shopping districts (like Huntington Park) now compete for the largely immigrant shopping base that has traditionally flocked to Broadway.
2) The recession has slowed business and the ground floor vacancy rate has climbed compared to better times.
Spring Street (just one block east) now has nightlife acivity on weekend nights thought to be unimaginable 5 or 10 years ago. Of course, Broadway's activiity was always a DAYTIME crowd. But I think the current investors/developers who have invested on Broadway see what has happened on Spring Street and see the potential for Broadway to capture a piece of the action.
Also an Ace Hotel is going in the United Artists theater (the "Jesus Saves" building, they are also restoring the ground floor theater, which was kept in excellent condition by the church tenants.) It is the first Ace Hotel in LA and I believe the only one outside of Palm Springs and NYC.
As far as the Red Line to the Arts district, there are rail lines that lead to a maintenance yard adjacent to where the One Santa Fe development will go. The the stops would be Pershing Square > Union Station > Arts District. All they need to build is a station because the tracks are already there. What I have heard is that it is part of the development deal for One Santa Fe, so the developer will build the station in exchange for reduced parking (or maybe increased density, not sure). It may actually just be a rumor so I'm not sure on the timeline for it.
I had no idea the Arts District has a subway station in waiting. That will be great to open up that part of downtown to rail...will make it seem much less isolated.
Yes, I referenced the Ace Hotel in an earlier post. In my view, this is the BIGGEST news for Broadway of any of the current projects. Because of its scale and since it involves the reactivation of an old theatre. This can set an example and tone for other theater owners (current or future). But the UA Theatre is somewhat unique in that it has the old office bldg/hotel component which makes the economics work far easier than if it was just an old theater.
I had no idea the Arts District has a subway station in waiting. That will be great to open up that part of downtown to rail...will make it seem much less isolated.
Yes, I referenced the Ace Hotel in an earlier post. In my view, this is the BIGGEST news for Broadway of any of the current projects. Because of its scale and since it involves the reactivation of an old theatre. This can set an example and tone for other theater owners (current or future). But the UA Theatre is somewhat unique in that it has the old office bldg/hotel component which makes the economics work far easier than if it was just an old theater.
Sorry bout that, I realized you had posted about it right after I did!
I'm not 100 percent sure the station is getting built but it is definitely on the table. The One Santa Fe development is definitely getting built and is breaking ground this month in fact, so I suppose we will find out soon enough.
Houston has the 3rd TALLEST US skyline & Miami has the 3rd largest.
LA has one building a measly 16 feet taller than Houston's tallest, but the rest in Houston are much taller than LA.
Los Angeleles is the third tallest being the us bank and soon wilshire grand will be tied in height with the empire state, so houston will look up to wilshire grand and downtown los angeles
also los angeles is the third largest, skyscraperpage says it all
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Los Angeles is very sprawling too and it's far from perfect, but at least it has fun things to see and do- Hollywood, Universal Studios, the beaches, et al. Phoenix has none of that. No comparison to Los Angeles at all except maybe the dirty air, crime, and bad traffic. At the very least, Phoenix is a little easier to drive around in and the air is a little cleaner but that doesn't say too much in the big picture.
