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The aspect that I knew eventually someone would respond to the statement and ask why.
I voted for fun, just as most people do. LA is its own city, I can feel the tension in this thread from Angelenos wanting to stick to a comparison with SF or Miami, in a condescending way I feel they think the rest of the choices are hick and will pivot tooth and nail to distance themselves from the rest.
I don't think LA is like anywhere in the country, instead some aspects similar to Mexico City but even then it's still and always will be a stretch.
Ahh..ok. lol. I was wondering if that were the case.
I try and let lots of the negative stuff slide because I know that often people are saying it to get a rise. Plus the LA threads always turn into debates about density versus urban form where I'm sure that both sides can find some agreement, yet choose not to.
How are you going to compare a city that was mostly orange groves 100 years ago to Barcelona, a city that was founded before Christ?! No offense, but even our nation's most urban city looks downright homely compared to it.
LA county had half a million people 100 years ago. Barcelona city proper was half a million, not sure the metro population but many of the very densely populated suburbs (L'Hospitalet de Llobregat for example barely existed 100 years ago). The core of Barcelona is obviously older than LA, but much of the rest of the city and metro isn't.
Ahh..ok. lol. I was wondering if that were the case.
I try and let lots of the negative stuff slide because I know that often people are saying it to get a rise. Plus the LA threads always turn into debates about density versus urban form where I'm sure that both sides can find some agreement, yet choose not to.
Yeah basically.
LA is LA. It's always going to be LA, that doesn't mean people should mock it for being different nor mean Angelenos should mock other cities, especially young ones coming onto their own either.
Some cities will give you a coastline but not mountains, others will give you mountains but no coastline. Some cities will give you Spanish revival but no 19th or 20th century architecture, others will give you 19th and 20th century but no Spanish revivals. Some cities will give you pleasant winters but harsh summers, others will give you pleasant summers but harsh winters. Some will give you the economic power but not the glamour, others will give you the glamour but not the economic power.
To live the good life in LA, the higher your view the better your house is. The closer to the coast the better.
None of the cities on this poll offer more than half of what LA offers and that's being generous.
The most similar places to LA are SF Bay Area, San Diego, NYC, and maybe Chicago.
Similar landscapes, they certainly could have built that way. Why not? NYC is more urban than Barcelona. I'm not talking about how old, just the layout. If the U.S. was settled from West to East I bet it would look pretty similar. They are living in something aren't they? They could have had better city planning, I think they do NOW and are filling in for poor foresight of the past 50 or so years between the street car era and post ww2 suburban buildup.
For "pedestrian friendliness" our cities do not compare to Europe's. That includes NYC. Their walkability was born of necessity. Likewise, L.A.'s continuing urbanization is also born out of necessity. However, I don't see the accomodations that were made for the automobile as a flaw. The strip malls and surface lots, yes. They're eyesores. But overall no. The automobile is one of mankind's greatest inventions. Making it a hassle to own one when it isn't necessary wasn't logical then, and it isn't logical now.
Nassau St is closed to cars, and the cross-streets have light traffic which can't move very fast anyway (the jaywalking pedestrians help). Note the view of the new World Trade Center a short distance away.
Probably Santa Monica is a spot out-of-towners are familiar with and has some structural density in the touristy sections. No one visiting Philadelphia would bother visit any area more than maybe 1-2 miles from Center City. Manayunk or Chestnut Hill might nice enough but they're usually off the radar. You almost did the same thing previously. You mentioned Beverly Hills as adding to LA's density as you add to 50 square miles. I started going through the numbers. Beverly Hills may be pedestrian friendly and structurally dense in its commercial areas and it has some relatively dense residential tracts. Ditto, but maybe not as much for Pasadena. But Beverly Hills isn't one of the densest neighborhoods of the city; they're mostly a ring going from the west to south of downtown. Most of these areas are rather poor. I'm not going to argue poor people = less urban but having the fact most of these are low-income suggests they're not considered all that desirable places to live and there's a relatively lower demand for these neighborhoods, and also not neighborhoods people pay lots of attention to. Koreatown and Hollywood get some attention but otherwise? Pico-Union? Westlake?
Most other cities have a similar situation but not as extreme. NYC has Harlem, Washington Heights, the West Bronx and some poorer parts of Brooklyn among its denser neighborhoods, but plenty of its more urban neighborhoods are rather well-off, which gives out-of-towners a partially misleading view of the city.
I brought up Beverly Hills because it squeezes into that 50 sq mile area, and it highlights the point I was making, that L.A. starts to pick up steam starting from Hollywood. Not in the far flung suburbs. Westlake and Pico Union are poor neighborhoods that have thus far resisted gentrification. They will not compare to Russian Hill, Center City, etc. Other areas like DTLA and Echo Park have picked up steam though, and these are denser, inner city neighborhoods. Koreatown not too long ago was in the same boat as Westlake--it was one of the flashpoint neighborhoods of the L.A. Riots. Its starting to dust itself off. Hollywood itself was pure seediness 15 years ago. It has picked itself up. Westlake will gentrify eventually. I dont find the idea of American Apparels and Starbucks on Alvarado and Wilshire very appealing, but it is what it is. An inevitability.
Last edited by RaymondChandlerLives; 02-07-2013 at 09:51 PM..
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