Why has Marina Del Rey gotten so upscale?

[ExeterMedia]

Originally Posted by thelopez2

Because Lincoln can handle so much more capacity.

When it's done, it will only take 45 minutes to go to the grocery store instead of the current 30.

[yby1]

Weren't they talking about adding either a street or more direct walkable paths to help alleviate congestion in MDR?

[blueleo65]

I lived in MDR from 2001 to 2007, on Tahiti Way. It was the best time of my life. I was poor, paid half my salary on rent and lived on the other half, but somehow that didn't matter. I thought it was paradise. It was beginning to change in the mid 2000's when a proposed multi use complex, including a Traders Joe's was in the plan. A couple of the restaurants along Admiralty were already closed. It seems like most of the places I frequented are gone, Souplantation, LA Fitness, AMC. I used to frequent a Family restaurant in the "Pavillion" shopping area, I think it was right behind a bagel shop, it was very nice and reasonable. I bought my stereo receiver from Goodguys and used to frequent Tower Records and Barnes and Noble, all in the same vicinity. I used a shortcut to access the beach in between buildings, and was on the beach within a 5 minute walk. I loved it when I slept with my porch sliding door open, and I could hear the waves crashing. I recently was watching All The President's Men, and to my surprise, Robert Redford's apartment was in my building, and it was a replica of my place. It was neat to see how it looked in the 70's when it was first build (dark walnut kitchen cabinets, and yellow oven). Thanks for the memories!

[Cinema Cat]

Originally Posted by John23

I still can't believe the new santa monica place, what a contrast to the old one.

I hate the new Santa Monica Place. I often visited the Old, but have only been twice to the New. The Old had character, good basic eateries, and simple stores with stuff I might wish to buy. The New is mostly high-end clothes boutiques.

And what's with the open sky? An indoor mall has air-conditioning and shade against hot, sunny days, and it's dry on the fewer rainy days.

[ashpelham]

I visited the new Santa Monica Place back in October, with my wife, just because we don't like living in Alabama anymore. It was pretty nice, but at our age, not too much just blows us away. I just really like the surrounding environment better, and generally like Santa Monica a lot, because we love the beach. I envy those of you who live there now. I also hope it doesn't price completely out of sight before I can relocate!
Sorry! I know you all don't need any more people! But it's beautiful!

[NyWriterdude]

MDR is one of the nicest parts of Los Angeles. I love it.

[John23]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Apparently they're going to level Fisherman's Village in MDR to make it more "relevant": Dated Marina del Rey to get a modern makeover - latimes.com

I think there is a fine line between "modernizing" and saving things from the past. I hope they don't completely bulldoze fisherman's village.

Why not keep some of the tahitian theme, and modernize some of it. The center on admiralty, fiji and lincoln is pretty classy. Some shopping complexes end up way too sleek. There's no character. I hope they don't do that to fisherman's village.

[Panamajack78]

Originally Posted by Cinema Cat

I hate the new Santa Monica Place. I often visited the Old, but have only been twice to the New. The Old had character, good basic eateries, and simple stores with stuff I might wish to buy. The New is mostly high-end clothes boutiques.

And what's with the open sky? An indoor mall has air-conditioning and shade against hot, sunny days, and it's dry on the fewer rainy days.

NO. The old SM Place needed to go. It was old, it was done, it had its run. The new one is beautiful. The open sky? It's because we have fantastic weather most of the year in L.A and we want to take advantage of that. Duh.

The old one had character? just because something is "old" doesn't mean it has "character". Some things are just that...OLD, and need to be replaced with newer, more contemporary and better things.

It's a much better mall. It looks great. I'm sorry that you feel out of place.

[yby1]

Not a fan of the new mall either. Offers nothing interesting.

[Tlaneloli]

Originally Posted by NyWriterdude

I think the major difference is the nice areas of Los Angeles tend to just have well off people. In Manhattan, you have luxury housing right next to the housing projects. One block can be ghetto, and a few blocks over you can have Whole Foods.

LA dumps its homeless and welfare motel facilities downtown and in South Central disproportionately, while NYC has stuff like that even in the Upper West Side (a lot of wealthy Manhattan neighborhoods have housing projects where residents pay 400 dollars a month to live there).

Oh in LA we still got our ghettos sprinkled throughout....