Is LA past its heyday? (Los Angeles, San Francisco: motels, to live in, move to)

[NyWriterdude]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

LA is
I like LA, but I'd much rather like to imagine what LA could have been. I wish LA had a good two more centuries of development before the car was invented. The kind of density I wish LA had isn't like NYC's with highrises, but like London's or Paris' density, with mostly 5-7 story, wall-to-wall structures. And for purposes of transportation, they could've divided LA up into square mile blocks and at the perimeter of every square mile offer passenger rail with dedicated lanes. Something like this could've offered consistent, rapid, and easy transit throughout the entire LA Basin.

In any event, that's not the LA we were given. All we can really wish for is a couple supermarkets, parks, and shops here and there...

This doesn't sound like a LA that could host a Hollywood, the center of the US's film industry. LA was able to export movies to the rest of the world because of the lifestyle. Cool cars, nice houses, etc. And since the film industry is LA's biggest industry, LA just wouldn't have happened if it was a bunch of ugly, short, wall to wall buildings. It just wasn't mean to be. If people like London or Paris, fine, they can go there. Those are different cities with different histories.

[AnthonyCburn]

Originally Posted by Rcsligar

You probably went in going: "Whaddup man whats good, looking for a wild party tonight cuz I just love clubbin, love drinking and just want to pull an all nighter, you only live once man, sick."

Party hardy/gregarious people will be dissatisfied because seattle residents don't find it necessary to be so boisterous and obnoxious all the time.

Seattle is many things but its difficult to call boring with all the cultural opportunities available.

Your willingness to generalize or categorize people because they don't actually agree with you is very telling. "You don't like what I like, so you HAVE to be like this."



Calm down. People are different.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by NyWriterdude

This doesn't sound like a LA that could host a Hollywood, the center of the US's film industry. LA was able to export movies to the rest of the world because of the lifestyle. Cool cars, nice houses, etc. And since the film industry is LA's biggest industry, LA just wouldn't have happened if it was a bunch of ugly, short, wall to wall buildings. It just wasn't mean to be. If people like London or Paris, fine, they can go there. Those are different cities with different histories.

I don't know, I'm sure that had some of the reason. But the main reasons were incredible weather, great natural lighting for shooting films (the natural lighting is one of the most beautiful and overlooked aspects about LA), and spacious plots of land that were perfect for sprawling studios.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by NyWriterdude

This doesn't sound like a LA that could host a Hollywood, the center of the US's film industry. LA was able to export movies to the rest of the world because of the lifestyle. Cool cars, nice houses, etc. And since the film industry is LA's biggest industry, LA just wouldn't have happened if it was a bunch of ugly, short, wall to wall buildings. It just wasn't mean to be. If people like London or Paris, fine, they can go there. Those are different cities with different histories.

That didn't stop London and Paris from being film industry centers. Nor did it explain why New York was originally the center of the film industry in the US (and has retained some film activity even after the center of the action moved west)

The reason why L.A. took off was the Patents Trust issue and the great popularity of westerns in the early cinema. Westerns made America's film industry dominant worldwide, and there was no place better for shooting westerns than in the West itself.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by munchitup

I don't know, I'm sure that had some of the reason. But the main reasons were incredible weather, great natural lighting for shooting films (the natural lighting is one of the most beautiful and overlooked aspects about LA), and spacious plots of land that were perfect for sprawling studios.

It was also closer to the border in case the Patents Trust clamped down

[NyWriterdude]

Originally Posted by majoun

That didn't stop London and Paris from being film industry centers. Nor did it explain why New York was originally the center of the film industry in the US (and has retained some film activity even after the center of the action moved west)

The reason why L.A. took off was the Patents Trust issue and the great popularity of westerns in the early cinema. Westerns made America's film industry dominant worldwide, and there was no place better for shooting westerns than in the West itself.

And if you were shooting Westerns in the West itself, its nice to have OPEN SPACE to film them in, as opposed to massive high rises all around. I'll note that LA as a film center internationally surpasses both London and Paris, and blows NY out of the water. People around the world LOVE the Hollywood image. So the city LA became the perfect place to export a certain image of lifestyle around nice homes and cars. No one wants to see ugly apartment buildings and people riding public transportation. That's not a dream or fantasy life. Now of course the image that LA exports is something of a fantasy, as people watch films and tv to escape from the dullness of everyday life.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by NyWriterdude

And if you were shooting Westerns in the West itself, its nice to have OPEN SPACE to film them in, as opposed to massive high rises all around. I'll note that LA as a film center internationally surpasses both London and Paris, and blows NY out of the water. People around the world LOVE the Hollywood image. So the city LA became the perfect place to export a certain image of lifestyle around nice homes and cars. No one wants to see ugly apartment buildings and people riding public transportation. That's not a dream or fantasy life. Now of course the image that LA exports is something of a fantasy, as people watch films and tv to escape from the dullness of everyday life.

Except in Hollywood's heyday it had public transit running down its main Boulevard.

I live in a large 100+ unit that was built during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Majoun, didn't know about the Patent Trust issue, makes sense.

[NyWriterdude]

Originally Posted by munchitup

Except in Hollywood's heyday it had public transit running down its main Boulevard.

I live in a large 100+ unit that was built during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Majoun, didn't know about the Patent Trust issue, makes sense.

Except the films didn't really focus on showing people riding such public transportation, did it? No, they focused on the automobile, as that was glamorous.

[yby1]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

LA is a great, massive city and it has one of the best locations on earth. I'm just very critical about how poorly-planned LA's growth was because LA's basin and valleys offered the ultimate blank slate for city planners to design a truly masterfully-crafted city. But alas, LA grew during the advent of new technology, the automobile, and planners designed a city around this new technology without knowing the repercussions of designing a city around a car. The humble size and condition of DTLA is only a small example of the repercussions.

I like LA, but I'd much rather like to imagine what LA could have been. I wish LA had a good two more centuries of development before the car was invented. The kind of density I wish LA had isn't like NYC's with highrises, but like London's or Paris' density, with mostly 5-7 story, wall-to-wall structures. And for purposes of transportation, they could've divided LA up into square mile blocks and at the perimeter of every square mile offer passenger rail with dedicated lanes. Something like this could've offered consistent, rapid, and easy transit throughout the entire LA Basin.

In any event, that's not the LA we were given. All we can really wish for is a couple supermarkets, parks, and shops here and there...

You do realize that LA had arguably the greatest rail system in the world before it was scrapped for political reasons?

[majoun]

Originally Posted by munchitup

Except in Hollywood's heyday it had public transit running down its main Boulevard.

I live in a large 100+ unit that was built during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Majoun, didn't know about the Patent Trust issue, makes sense.

Which is why the industry didn't move to San Francisco. East Coast law firms had their West Coast branches there.

As for the films that built Hollywood, in case NY Writer Dude hasn't noticed, westerns are quite rare these days.