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1) both have architecturally historic cores that declined in the 2nd half of the 20th century.
2) both have pockets of grit that are being gradually being transformed into yupster hangouts.
2) both have seen massive construction booms over the past 10-15 years with a heavy focus on residential/hotels over office space.
3) both are massive activity centers, but neither are the undisputed heart of their massive cities.
Well downtown LA is more of the city's heart since most of its civic headquarters are located there, along with being the hub of its transit network, and has quite an office component in its western section. Even Wilshire Boulevard's beginning is a little like Broadway in lower Manhattan, but on a somewhat smaller scale. And downtown is quite a bit larger than Brooklyn's (around three square miles vs. Brooklyn's one or so). Brooklyn really competes with Downtown/waterfront Jersey City. That said, Brooklyn's downtown is more compact and especially in its southern section, contains more transit options. At least if you miss LA's Mexican food, there's Rocco's Tacos & Tequila Bar there. It does have a skid rowish-area just to the east between LIU Brooklyn/Fort Greene and the BQE lined with projects, but it seems to be nicer and safer than LA's counterpart. But I'd still pick downtown LA, it combines a lot of different "wards" while still being downtown, from the civic center to the historic quarter to the financial district to the entertainment quarter (Staples/Convention Center/LA Live area) to the arts/cultural center around Bunker Hill to Little Tokyo to the fashion district to Chinatown to the Union Station/old town section (especially now that the 101 is going to capped, essentially make it much more tangible to being downtown). It never plays "second fiddle" to Manhattan in a way that Brooklyn always has (a lot like the Moon to the Earth), though it has a lot more "satellite downtowns" to contend with (a lot like the moons of Saturn compared to the ringed planet).
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Define your boundaries of downtown Brooklyn—are you including or excluding Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg, DUMBO, etc?
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpdivola
DTLA and Brooklyn have a lot of similarities
1) both have architecturally historic cores that declined in the 2nd half of the 20th century.
2) both have pockets of grit that are being gradually being transformed into yupster hangouts.
2) both have seen massive construction booms over the past 10-15 years with a heavy focus on residential/hotels over office space.
3) both are massive activity centers, but neither are the undisputed heart of their massive cities.
Downtown Los Angeles's actual boundaries are quite large (5 miles long, 3 miles at widest). It isn't a specific neighborhood, but rather a region of LA. Like Lower Manhattan or Midtown. A lot of smaller neighborhoods/districts that make up Downtown area.
Districts/Neighborhoods - Civic Center, Financial District, South Park, City West, Figueroa Corridor, Arts District , Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Flower District, Fashion District, Historic Core, Jewelry District, Theater District, Toy District, Produce District and many more warehouse/wholesale/light industrial districts that make up Downtown.
I was just in Brooklyn but didn’t visit downtown and haven’t been there in a few years. I would guess that the two areas are hard to compare as DTLA is really a collection of neighborhoods and some are very large. Most larger than downtown Brooklyn. DTLA likely has more of everything, maybe a lot more, but doesn’t have any one place that has as much going on as downtown Brooklyn.
Right now Downtown Brooklyn is the better urban environment as there's better transit, more residents, more streetlife, more bustling connected neighborhoods, and is generally a lot less sketchy (though still sketchy in parts).
Downtown LA has a larger economic base, I think, and is the civic heart of the city in a way that Brooklyn is less so due to being a borough within a much larger city. I do like the
I agree with the OP that they're similar in a lot of ways. One thing I like about Downtown LA is the hills it has which I think are really interesting. However, I really dislike how it's hemmed in by the freeways on all sides. There's a proposal to cap at least a small portion of it, but it's still kind of blegh.
Well downtown LA is more of the city's heart since most of its civic headquarters are located there, along with being the hub of its transit network, and has quite an office component in its western section. Even Wilshire Boulevard's beginning is a little like Broadway in lower Manhattan, but on a somewhat smaller scale. And downtown is quite a bit larger than Brooklyn's (around three square miles vs. Brooklyn's one or so). Brooklyn really competes with Downtown/waterfront Jersey City. That said, Brooklyn's downtown is more compact and especially in its southern section, contains more transit options. At least if you miss LA's Mexican food, there's Rocco's Tacos & Tequila Bar there. It does have a skid rowish-area just to the east between LIU Brooklyn/Fort Greene and the BQE lined with projects, but it seems to be nicer and safer than LA's counterpart. But I'd still pick downtown LA, it combines a lot of different "wards" while still being downtown, from the civic center to the historic quarter to the financial district to the entertainment quarter (Staples/Convention Center/LA Live area) to the arts/cultural center around Bunker Hill to Little Tokyo to the fashion district to Chinatown to the Union Station/old town section (especially now that the 101 is going to capped, essentially make it much more tangible to being downtown). It never plays "second fiddle" to Manhattan in a way that Brooklyn always has (a lot like the Moon to the Earth), though it has a lot more "satellite downtowns" to contend with (a lot like the moons of Saturn compared to the ringed planet).
Right now Downtown Brooklyn is the better urban environment as there's better transit, more residents, more streetlife, more bustling connected neighborhoods, and is generally a lot less sketchy (though still sketchy in parts).
Downtown LA has a larger economic base, I think, and is the civic heart of the city in a way that Brooklyn is less so due to being a borough within a much larger city. I do like the
I agree with the OP that they're similar in a lot of ways. One thing I like about Downtown LA is the hills it has which I think are really interesting. However, I really dislike how it's hemmed in by the freeways on all sides. There's a proposal to cap at least a small portion of it, but it's still kind of blegh.
I have a pet peeve against people defining DTLA based on freeways. My definition of downtown is based as a pedestrian. On the south end the 10 fwy is elevated so it’s not so much an obstacle as an eyesore. I’d say the southern end of downtown is Washington/the blue line. On the east side, the LA river and all the railroad tracks are a huge obstacle before you get to the freeway so that’s where downtown ends for me. At the river. On the north and west since some streets do dead end at the 101 and 110 fwys I can see those being the end of downtown. Except the people that live on the other side - especially for the 110 - say that they live downtown and it feels like downtown. So those fwys suck, but I’m not sure they define downtown.
DTLA is probably more sketchy than downtown Brooklyn as you say. I’ve surprised at how safe Brooklyn seems during recent visits. NYC really. It all seems safer than LA and statistics bear that out.
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