How is Downtown LA like in 2020? (Los Angeles, August: health insurance, employment, disposal)

[Astral_Weeks]

Originally Posted by pwright1

JohnG72 you drove down Main St at 11:30pm during the pandemic and now you're an expert? Oh please. Get real.

^This.

No need to listen to the Snake Plissken's on the board.

[MrJester]

I've heard that Downtown LA actually has pretty affordable rent compared to the entire Westside, is that true? Even more affordable than El Segundo or Redondo Beach.

[Pro1000]

Originally Posted by JohnG72

I have worked in DTLA since 2000 and lived there from 2010-2013. I was one of the biggest DTLA cheerleaders.

It’s changed for the far worse. You weren’t here in the 90’s and early 2000’s when it was a mess, and you weren’t here circa 2007 when the LAPD took down the Hill St Gang that was fueling the drug trade as well as extorting business’ along Main and Los Angeles St. That was when the change for DTLA really accelerated.

https://lapdonline.org/march_2007/news_view/34939

I do remember you starting to post a lot about DTLA once DTLA had been cleaned up. At the time there were a ton of deniers on this site.

But hey, no one needs to take my word for it. They can go there themselves. And yes driving, it’s too unsafe to walk around at night. In a very short time DTLA has reverted back 20 years.

The infrastructure and new construction is in place in DTLA way better than it was in the 90's. Get Covid under control so the restaurants, bars, clubs, shops, and museums can open up again and they'll clear a lot of the homeless out of the main areas. Its just been a bad time for DTLA from Covid shutdowns and protests from a couple of months ago. It'll be an easy fix and back roaring at full speed again once things reopen

[Finper]

Originally Posted by Pro1000

The infrastructure and new construction is in place in DTLA way better than it was in the 90's. Get Covid under control so the restaurants, bars, clubs, shops, and museums can open up again and they'll clear a lot of the homeless out of the main areas. Its just been a bad time for DTLA from Covid shutdowns and protests from a couple of months ago. It'll be an easy fix and back roaring at full speed again once things reopen

A question to ask is how many of those restaurants, bars and clubs will still be in business.

[Pro1000]

Originally Posted by Finper

A question to ask is how many of those restaurants, bars and clubs will still be in business.

Good question. I believe at least one out of every five spots will be closing due to Covid.. but the thing with places like downtown, and this is when everything reopens and is somewhat back to normal, there's a high turnover rate. A restaurant/eatery closed down then a month or two later a new one replaces it. Not every part of town can do this but DTLA is capable of this easily.


-But most of my responds was to the guy who visited downtown but acted as if we weren't in the mist of a global pandemic and everything was supposed to be fine and peachy.

[JohnG72]

Originally Posted by MrJester

I've heard that Downtown LA actually has pretty affordable rent compared to the entire Westside, is that true? Even more affordable than El Segundo or Redondo Beach.

Pre Covid downtown was cheaper than Westside but still very expensive. It was more expensive than redondo beach and el Segundo, at least as far as rents are concerned. Now post covid, downtown is cheaper than Redondo beach and el segundo.

The promenade towers were always the low water bench mark for me downtown. They are not well located, they are older, and have a reputation for not being as nice as the newer and upgraded places downtown, but not bottom basement like the Huntington, Alexandria or the Boyd.

Currently you can get in a studio in the Promenade for $1200-1300 which is probably the lowest rent in DTLA in 8 years or more.

[JohnG72]

Originally Posted by Pro1000

Good question. I believe at least one out of every five spots will be closing due to Covid.. but the thing with places like downtown, and this is when everything reopens and is somewhat back to normal, there's a high turnover rate. A restaurant/eatery closed down then a month or two later a new one replaces it. Not every part of town can do this but DTLA is capable of this easily.


-But most of my responds was to the guy who visited downtown but acted as if we weren't in the mist of a global pandemic and everything was supposed to be fine and peachy.

*Shrug*

I think the city has allowed the homeless problem to go beyond the point of no return. That’s what it comes down to. You and the others don’t. Is what it is.

[2Easy]

Originally Posted by JohnG72

I have worked in DTLA since 2000 and lived there from 2010-2013. I was one of the biggest DTLA cheerleaders.

It’s changed for the far worse. You weren’t here in the 90’s and early 2000’s when it was a mess, and you weren’t here circa 2007 when the LAPD took down the Hill St Gang that was fueling the drug trade as well as extorting business’ along Main and Los Angeles St. That was when the change for DTLA really accelerated.

https://lapdonline.org/march_2007/news_view/34939

I do remember you starting to post a lot about DTLA once DTLA had been cleaned up. At the time there were a ton of deniers on this site.

But hey, no one needs to take my word for it. They can go there themselves. And yes driving, it’s too unsafe to walk around at night. In a very short time DTLA has reverted back 20 years.

I'm familiar with downtown starting from 2004 and it's no comparison to back then. There are 10's of thousands more residents now and orders of magnitude more businesses. Back then, there was no Ralph's, no Whole Foods, way fewer restaurants, and many of the businesses back then had hours set to office worker schedules and were closed weekends.

My local area, in a central/residential part of downtown (not South Park), has far fewer homeless than pre-pandemic. But I think that we got lucky. Other parts have many more. Main Street has been bad for years. It was never nice. Even when LA was pushing homeless East, before the lawsuits stopped it, Main Street was still the border. Spring Street was nice, but not Main. But it was heading in a good direction and nicer than it is now. It has reverted in many ways. It is also weird and sad that Spring Street was probably nicer 6 years ago than it is now.

I do see why you would say that it's reverted back, because in some ways it has. The biggest difference now is that so many more people live here. Anyone that lived downtown in 2008 was a pioneer of sorts. There really weren't many reasons to live here other then the anticipation of what was to come.

[2Easy]

Originally Posted by MrJester

I've heard that Downtown LA actually has pretty affordable rent compared to the entire Westside, is that true? Even more affordable than El Segundo or Redondo Beach.

Wait right here and I'll look at rents on Trulia and report back with my findings.

[2Easy]

Originally Posted by JohnG72

*Shrug*

I think the city has allowed the homeless problem to go beyond the point of no return. That’s what it comes down to. You and the others don’t. Is what it is.

LA has never had enough beds. That's a fact. And the approach that LA took until very recently was to build market rate housing but provide it for low rates or free. We voted that in, but a billion dollars doesn't build much housing and doesn't build it quickly, especially when government is in charge. Now they are looking to build smaller, temporary homes. Thousands are on the way all over the county, but I still don't see that having a significant impact for downtown where so many suffer from addiction and mental illness. It's really not accurate to describe what we have downtown as an issue of homes not being affordable.

I'm hopeful that LA is finally figuring things out, but we're still years away.