[OMYG]

I have recently been hearing a lot of projects out there for new high rises in LA and the establishment of residential high rises, apartment complexes and many more architectural feats.

From what I've heard its and effort to make downtown LA a nightlife scene and a more urbanized area, it would help the fact that there is nothing to do in downtown after the sun has set. To me it gives the impression it is trying to become like a New York in a sense. It seems it's also demanded by a lot feminist and cubicle workers that work in the downtown area, because if you know LA half of your day can be wasted in the commute.

How is this going to affect real estate in LA? Will this downtown lifestyle live up the hype? Logistically how is this going to affect game in LA? Thoughts?

Here is a nice rundown of the projects that are up and coming and some already in progress: http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.com/2...pment.html

[CJ_W]

(02-16-2014 02:24 PM)OMYG Wrote:  

I have recently been hearing a lot of projects out there for new high rises in LA and the establishment of residential high rises, apartment complexes and many more architectural feats.

From what I've heard its and effort to make downtown LA a nightlife scene and a more urbanized area, it would help the fact that there is nothing to do in downtown after the sun has set. To me it gives the impression it is trying to become like a New York in a sense. It seems it's also demanded by a lot feminist and cubicle workers that work in the downtown area, because if you know LA half of your day can be wasted in the commute.

How is this going to affect real estate in LA? Will this downtown lifestyle live up the hype? Logistically how is this going to affect game in LA? Thoughts?

Here is a nice rundown of the projects that are up and coming and some already in progress: http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.com/2...pment.html

Well, Rents are a bit high in certian parts of Downtown, I hear that they are trying to make the drinking hours run later. . .

Thing is, L.A. is a Car-city. Before trying to make everything like new york, or Tokyo, Hong Kong etc. . . they need to get their public transportation game up to par with both of those cities, or else it will be a disaster(i.e. the reason why closing time is at 2a.m. is so that there isn't a whole bunch of drunk drivers on the road during morning rush hour)

The fact that L.A.'s public transit is horrible is something the city needs to address first, they need to seriously Take a look at these cities and take some notes. In any case, these Cities have L.A. beat on housing projects by far, so much so that its actually quite affordable to live in places like these for people with decent jobs, as there are SO many of these living complexes around. I'd say it would take like 15-20 years for L.A. to get up topar with NYC, TYO, HK etc. . .

I'd say that untill the public transit situation gets sorted here, not much will change realistically

[speakeasy]

(02-16-2014 02:24 PM)OMYG Wrote:  

I have recently been hearing a lot of projects out there for new high rises in LA and the establishment of residential high rises, apartment complexes and many more architectural feats.

From what I've heard its and effort to make downtown LA a nightlife scene and a more urbanized area, it would help the fact that there is nothing to do in downtown after the sun has set. To me it gives the impression it is trying to become like a New York in a sense. It seems it's also demanded by a lot feminist and cubicle workers that work in the downtown area, because if you know LA half of your day can be wasted in the commute.

How is this going to affect real estate in LA? Will this downtown lifestyle live up the hype? Logistically how is this going to affect game in LA? Thoughts?

Here is a nice rundown of the projects that are up and coming and some already in progress: http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.com/2...pment.html

There's lots to do in DTLA after dark these days. It's been pretty lively at night for awhile now. I no longer live there but when I was it seemed every week there was some good new restaurant or bar opening up downtown. It's good to see that L.A. is slowly turning into a real city rather than giant suburb.

(02-16-2014 02:41 PM)CJ_W Wrote:  

(02-16-2014 02:24 PM)OMYG Wrote:  

I have recently been hearing a lot of projects out there for new high rises in LA and the establishment of residential high rises, apartment complexes and many more architectural feats.

From what I've heard its and effort to make downtown LA a nightlife scene and a more urbanized area, it would help the fact that there is nothing to do in downtown after the sun has set. To me it gives the impression it is trying to become like a New York in a sense. It seems it's also demanded by a lot feminist and cubicle workers that work in the downtown area, because if you know LA half of your day can be wasted in the commute.

How is this going to affect real estate in LA? Will this downtown lifestyle live up the hype? Logistically how is this going to affect game in LA? Thoughts?

Here is a nice rundown of the projects that are up and coming and some already in progress: http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.com/2...pment.html

The fact that L.A.'s public transit is horrible is something the city needs to address first, they need to seriously Take a look at these cities and take some notes. In any case, these Cities have L.A. beat on housing projects by far, so much so that its actually quite affordable to live in places like these for people with decent jobs, as there are SO many of these living complexes around. I'd say it would take like 15-20 years for L.A. to get up topar with NYC, TYO, HK etc. . .

I'd say that untill the public transit situation gets sorted here, not much will change realistically

It will take way more than 20 years to be on the level of TYO, NYC or HK. We will be dead and long gone before it gets to that point. The L.A. metro rail system first started in the 80s. It's now 2014 and they still don't even have the purple line built along Wilshire Blvd, which is the most important corridor in the city. In that same time look what China has done:





Unbelievable that in the time it took L.A. to lay down 1 and half subway lines, China basically built an entire city(incl metro). I've heard that building subway lines in L.A. cost about a billion dollars per mile. This is in a city and state that's broke. Unless there are heavy federal subsidies, I don't see anything extensive on the horizon.

[Tex Pro]

(02-16-2014 02:41 PM)CJ_W Wrote:  

(02-16-2014 02:24 PM)OMYG Wrote:  

I have recently been hearing a lot of projects out there for new high rises in LA and the establishment of residential high rises, apartment complexes and many more architectural feats.

From what I've heard its and effort to make downtown LA a nightlife scene and a more urbanized area, it would help the fact that there is nothing to do in downtown after the sun has set. To me it gives the impression it is trying to become like a New York in a sense. It seems it's also demanded by a lot feminist and cubicle workers that work in the downtown area, because if you know LA half of your day can be wasted in the commute.

How is this going to affect real estate in LA? Will this downtown lifestyle live up the hype? Logistically how is this going to affect game in LA? Thoughts?

Here is a nice rundown of the projects that are up and coming and some already in progress: http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.com/2...pment.html

Well, Rents are a bit high in certian parts of Downtown, I hear that they are trying to make the drinking hours run later. . .

Thing is, L.A. is a Car-city. Before trying to make everything like new york, or Tokyo, Hong Kong etc. . . they need to get their public transportation game up to par with both of those cities, or else it will be a disaster(i.e. the reason why closing time is at 2a.m. is so that there isn't a whole bunch of drunk drivers on the road during morning rush hour)

The fact that L.A.'s public transit is horrible is something the city needs to address first, they need to seriously Take a look at these cities and take some notes. In any case, these Cities have L.A. beat on housing projects by far, so much so that its actually quite affordable to live in places like these for people with decent jobs, as there are SO many of these living complexes around. I'd say it would take like 15-20 years for L.A. to get up topar with NYC, TYO, HK etc. . .

I'd say that untill the public transit situation gets sorted here, not much will change realistically

Good luck with that. I used to live in LA and the city is dense as fuck. Building a really good public transport would be a nightmare. The time to have started thinking about public transportation was 30 to 40 years ago. Not now.

That said, a high-end & expensive bus system that runs at night might work but the bleeding heart liberals of the city would decry that as elitist, apartheid, etc...

[Akula]

Downtown LA just seems so dark and dingy at least when I've been there. Also so far away from Beverly Hills, Santa monica and other choice areas. I checked out the new projects and would rather live in Century City than downtown...wondering what the price differential is. I guess if you're on the 50th floor in a downtown building it could be cool though. I assume they will make these buildings 'earthquake resistant' like they do in Japan? You can't get earthquake insurance in California, right?))

[CJ_W]

(02-16-2014 02:48 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

It will take way more than 20 years to be on the level of TYO, NYC or HK. We will be dead and long gone before it gets to that point. The L.A. metro rail system first started in the 80s. It's now 2014 and they still don't even have the purple line built along Wilshire Blvd, which is the most important corridor in the city. In that same time look what China has done:


Unbelievable that in the time it took L.A. to lay down 1 and half subway lines, China basically built an entire city(incl metro). I've heard that building subway lines in L.A. cost about a billion dollars per mile. This is in a city and state that's broke. Unless there are heavy federal subsidies, I don't see anything extensive on the horizon.

OH SHI-

Mind =Blown is right.

And I was being optimistic about that haha.

(02-16-2014 02:51 PM)The Texas Prophet Wrote:  

Good luck with that. I used to live in LA and the city is dense as fuck. Building a really good public transport would be a nightmare. The time to have started thinking about public transportation was 30 to 40 years ago. Not now.

That said, a high-end & expensive bus system that runs at night might work but the bleeding heart liberals of the city would decry that as elitist, apartheid, etc...

I would be inclined to disagree as the Cities I mentioned are orders of magnitude denser than L.A. but then I thoguht about how bad the city does things, and/or allows businesses to do things here (most of the rail lines in those top-tier cities are run by private companies)
and
I realized that you're probably right.

So yeah, L.A. will never be a top tier city in our lifetimes.

[Brosemite]

It's a similar urban phenomenon in just about every American city not named NYC. What's the point of say living in Downtown Dallas or Atlanta if most pharmacies close at 6PM & then needing a car anyways if you want to do grocery shopping away from the neighborhood? It seems as if every prominent locale for young professionals is built say 10-15 minutes outside of most downtowns in the US. In the case of LA, lot of the "it" areas appear to be even farther off from downtown.

[Tex Pro]

(02-16-2014 03:10 PM)Brosemite Wrote:  

It's a similar urban phenomenon in just about every American city not named NYC. What's the point of say living in Downtown Dallas or Atlanta if most pharmacies close at 6PM & then needing a car anyways if you want to do grocery shopping away from the neighborhood? It seems as if every prominent neighborhood for young professionals is built say 10-15 minutes outside of most downtowns in the US. In the case of LA, lot of the "it" neighborhoods appear to be even farther off from downtown.

Uptown is at least somewhat walkable. I can't think of a neighborhood that is even walkable in LA.

[kosko]

Measure-R will pump at least $20 Billion into LA Transit in the next thirty years, so in time LA will see improvements. You need the connections between where people work, live, and party to make a city a real city. If you don't have options other than the car to do those things thing its not a metropolis like Tokyo, NYC, etc.

[NY Digital]

No real infrastructure improvements will occur as long as the union system is set up the way it is.

Everything just costs too much.

[Tex Pro]

(02-16-2014 03:15 PM)kosko Wrote:  

Measure-R will pump at least $20 Billion into LA Transit in the next thirty years, so in time LA will see improvements. You need the connections between where people work, live, and party to make a city a real city. If you don't have options other than the car to do those things thing its not a metropolis like Tokyo, NYC, etc.

Measure R will be wasted just like all money is wasted in LA. It is so expensive to build stuff in LA that Measure R is just a drop in the bucket. It will be used mostly to maintain and maybe expand a little bit of LA's current public transportation, but that is it.

[Brosemite]

(02-16-2014 03:15 PM)NY Digital Wrote:  

No real infrastructure improvements will occur as long as the union system is set up the way it is.

Everything just costs too much.

Good pt. And it costs even more if projects & plans are delayed once you figure inflation into the equation.

In situations like this, projects that are indeed approved can be accelerated with extra bonus money from transportation planners. Bc the extra cash given to construction companies ends up being cheaper than the aforementioned delays/inflation.

[calidude]

(02-16-2014 02:48 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

(02-16-2014 02:24 PM)OMYG Wrote:  

I have recently been hearing a lot of projects out there for new high rises in LA and the establishment of residential high rises, apartment complexes and many more architectural feats.

From what I've heard its and effort to make downtown LA a nightlife scene and a more urbanized area, it would help the fact that there is nothing to do in downtown after the sun has set. To me it gives the impression it is trying to become like a New York in a sense. It seems it's also demanded by a lot feminist and cubicle workers that work in the downtown area, because if you know LA half of your day can be wasted in the commute.

How is this going to affect real estate in LA? Will this downtown lifestyle live up the hype? Logistically how is this going to affect game in LA? Thoughts?

Here is a nice rundown of the projects that are up and coming and some already in progress: http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.com/2...pment.html

There's lots to do in DTLA after dark these days. It's been pretty lively at night for awhile now. I no longer live there but when I was it seemed every week there was some good new restaurant or bar opening up downtown. It's good to see that L.A. is slowly turning into a real city rather than giant suburb.

(02-16-2014 02:41 PM)CJ_W Wrote:  

(02-16-2014 02:24 PM)OMYG Wrote:  

I have recently been hearing a lot of projects out there for new high rises in LA and the establishment of residential high rises, apartment complexes and many more architectural feats.

From what I've heard its and effort to make downtown LA a nightlife scene and a more urbanized area, it would help the fact that there is nothing to do in downtown after the sun has set. To me it gives the impression it is trying to become like a New York in a sense. It seems it's also demanded by a lot feminist and cubicle workers that work in the downtown area, because if you know LA half of your day can be wasted in the commute.

How is this going to affect real estate in LA? Will this downtown lifestyle live up the hype? Logistically how is this going to affect game in LA? Thoughts?

Here is a nice rundown of the projects that are up and coming and some already in progress: http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.com/2...pment.html

The fact that L.A.'s public transit is horrible is something the city needs to address first, they need to seriously Take a look at these cities and take some notes. In any case, these Cities have L.A. beat on housing projects by far, so much so that its actually quite affordable to live in places like these for people with decent jobs, as there are SO many of these living complexes around. I'd say it would take like 15-20 years for L.A. to get up topar with NYC, TYO, HK etc. . .

I'd say that untill the public transit situation gets sorted here, not much will change realistically

It will take way more than 20 years to be on the level of TYO, NYC or HK. We will be dead and long gone before it gets to that point. The L.A. metro rail system first started in the 80s. It's now 2014 and they still don't even have the purple line built along Wilshire Blvd, which is the most important corridor in the city. In that same time look what China has done:





Unbelievable that in the time it took L.A. to lay down 1 and half subway lines, China basically built an entire city(incl metro). I've heard that building subway lines in L.A. cost about a billion dollars per mile. This is in a city and state that's broke. Unless there are heavy federal subsidies, I don't see anything extensive on the horizon.

I definitely agree with regarding how slow it's taking, but the difference between DTLA/Little Tokyo now compared to 10 years ago is pretty amazing. I'm only 18 but I've lived in LA my whole life (other than the last 10 months) and when I was kid DTLA used to be really sketchy and I rarely ever saw that many other white people other than starving artists and old people, but now it's alot more mainstream and safe for. There are also way less homeless with all the gentrification in DTLA and in the Expo Park area around USC. With gentrification the more "authentic" Japanese culture seems to be way less than it once was.

[Brosemite]

(02-16-2014 03:13 PM)The Texas Prophet Wrote:  

(02-16-2014 03:10 PM)Brosemite Wrote:  

It's a similar urban phenomenon in just about every American city not named NYC. What's the point of say living in Downtown Dallas or Atlanta if most pharmacies close at 6PM & then needing a car anyways if you want to do grocery shopping away from the neighborhood? It seems as if every prominent neighborhood for young professionals is built say 10-15 minutes outside of most downtowns in the US. In the case of LA, lot of the "it" neighborhoods appear to be even farther off from downtown.

Uptown is at least somewhat walkable. I can't think of a neighborhood that is even walkable in LA.

Exactly my point. Uptown is that aforementioned neighborhood a 5 minute drive away (10 minutes with traffic) from Downtown Dallas, which has some residences, a couple shitty clubs nobody even goes to, and then office buildings.

In Uptown, one can sort of walk to a grocery store, health clubs, and all the more popular gastronomic venues. In Atlanta, the comparable would be say Virginia Highlands/Midtown with Buckhead being an option farther off whereas Downtown = dead (albeit some restaurants are pretty good there though).

[NY Digital]

With all the debt we have, we should have at least high speed train system across the U.S.

Absolutely nothing is being done about the infrastructure throughout the country.

None of the money being drained from our pockets is going into something that can actually benefit the country, like improved transportation.

It's really absurd and mind-blowing how 2nd world countries have high speed trains and we don't.

And instead of using union contracts, we should have a program that can get young men involved.

They need a paycheck, they need to learn skills, they need to be useful in the workplace.

A nationwide transportation revamp can employ millions.

Instead of these pointless college degrees that benefit no one, we can teach young men actual skills that will benefit the country.

Never going to happen. Instead the money will go to waste.

[speakeasy]

(02-16-2014 03:28 PM)NY Digital Wrote:  

With all the debt we have, we should have at least high speed train system across the U.S.

Absolutely nothing is being done about the infrastructure throughout the country.

None of the money being drained from our pockets is going into something that can actually benefit the country, like improved transportation.

It's really absurd and mind-blowing how 2nd world countries have high speed trains and we don't.

I'm not sure high speed trains make any sense in a country as large as the USA. They are great for small dense nations like Japan and Germany. But a ticket from L.A. to S.F. on a high speed train would likely cost as much or more as a plane ticket on Southwest Airlines and the plane would still get there way faster. Unless the government is subsidizing the ticket cost to lower it, high speed rail offers no consumer benefit over airplanes in a country this large and spread out.

You know what I would love to see in America? The type of intercity luxury bus services you have in Latin America. I took the Via Bariloche bus in Argentina and it was like flying in first class, but on a bus. Champagne, hot meals, pastries and all. And for cheap at that. I would totally travel around the USA on those.

[NY Digital]

The reason the ticket costs so much is because the cost to create and maintain these transportation systems is currently too high.

I honestly don't believe that will change in the foreseeable future. Government, especially ours, is rather inefficient.

Future technologies will pave the way for easier transportation.

I could see fast airplane "Taxis" as a future possibility to faster and cheaper logistics. However, private companies will have to lead the way.

[Brosemite]

^^ High Speed Rail is at least talked about on an academic level every class in my program lol. Been implemented successfully in China already though with talks of it covering certain regions of Brazil in future.

Bigger delays = bigger inflation issues...

[OMYG]

(02-16-2014 03:24 PM)calidude Wrote:  

I definitely agree with regarding how slow it's taking, but the difference between DTLA/Little Tokyo now compared to 10 years ago is pretty amazing. I'm only 18 but I've lived in LA my whole life (other than the last 10 months) and when I was kid DTLA used to be really sketchy and I rarely ever saw that many other white people other than starving artists and old people, but now it's alot more mainstream and safe for. There are also way less homeless with all the gentrification in DTLA and in the Expo Park area around USC. With gentrification the more "authentic" Japanese culture seems to be way less than it once was.

Same here I'm going on 20 and I've lived in LA my whole life. When I was small I had this idealized picture of downtown LA in my head and one night when was actually there at night it didn't live up to my imagination.

I still think downtown can be improved a bit though. An example I can give would be making it more like downtown Long Beach. The vibe I get off LA at night is just sketchy where somewhere like LB it's nice to even just walk around at night and not just cause it's by the ocean but if you've been there you know what I mean.

[Veloce]

Downtown L.A. has indeed come a long way since I first moved to L.A.

My favorite bars are down there, and there are some good (not great) restaurants. Truth be told, it's probably my favorite part of L.A. as far as living here. It's an insane clusterfuck of cultures and people hustling for a living.

It's also one of the worst parts in the city for picking up girls. I don't know what it is about downtown but it's like hot chick repellent. I've logged some serious hours down there in every Cedd Moses bar (The Varnish, Las Perlas, Casey's, Golden Gopher, Honeycut, Cana, Seven Grand), at the Standard Rooftop, The Edison, Perch, Association, you name it, and the ROI for your time down there is dismal. Chicks are just fatter, uglier, and more annoying. Take one night and spend half of it in West Hollywood and the other half Downtown and you'll see what I mean.

It pains me because I like downtown so much. It's great that it's being developed to this extent and there might one day be "a real city" down there, but I have zero hope for meeting quality women there.

Edit: one other thing; there might be stuff to do after dark now, but no-one does it. I still go out midweek and lots of venues are sleepy, which is a shame because there are places like Crane's that are fucking cool bars and it's just a handful of dudes in there and maybe 3 fat chicks in their 40s.

Then on weekends you have every ratchet motherfucker from IE flooding downtown and making a mess of themselves and their surroundings. I get the sense that since downtown is such a "new" thing, venues are still trying to maximize their cash flow and they rarely turn people away. The bouncer policies are supremely retarded. It's basically first come first serve and they're incredibly strict about maintaining occupancy. Perfect example was I was at Honeycut a couple months ago, when it was still pretty hot (not sure if it is anymore) waiting for this hot Vietnamese girl I was banging. The line is packed with dudes wearing tshirts and sneakers, dumpy ass hipster chicks wearing leggings and denim jackets. I'd gotten in since I was there early. My girl shows up dressed to kill; low cut blouse, tight black leather pants, 4 inch stilettos. long jet black hair, face all dolled up. Lots of eyes on her. I come out to meet her and I walk her to the front of the line and the bouncers want her to wait in line. I had already been inside, I had a wrist stamp, and told the bouncers, "She's with me man, I was just in there." They wouldn't budge. She has to wait. I was livid. I actually made a scene, and pointed to her, saying, "You're telling me THIS girl right here, dressed like THIS, has to wait in line with THOSE fucking people (pointing at them with a look of disgust), dressed like THAT, before you let us in!?" They just nodded yes. I know that's not the best tactic but I wasn't leaving without making a scene. The look on these hipsters' faces was priceless. I just laughed and said, "All right man, fuck it." and took her to Perch.

To me this is just fucking amateur hour, especially in the context of international cities. L.A. is so far behind it's ridiculous. If venues could ditch this egalitarian, come-one come-all bullshit and actually implemented face control, the nightlife downtown would skyrocket immensely. I'd be down there twice a week, suited up, no questions asked.

I'm not getting my hopes up.

[Merenguero]

(02-16-2014 03:44 PM)OMYG Wrote:  

I still think downtown can be improved a bit though. An example I can give would be making it more like downtown Long Beach. The vibe I get off LA at night is just sketchy where somewhere like LB it's nice to even just walk around at night and not just cause it's by the ocean but if you've been there you know what I mean.

I agree. Downtown Long Beach is really well set-up and there are few, if any, homeless people or other annoyances. Plenty of people from other parts of Los Angeles County, Orange County, and other parts of Southern California go there on the weekends.

[Basil Ransom]

You're never going to get the straight story about anything unless you live it and breathe it, or know an honest no-bullshit man who will tell things you to straight up. The people who write about city venues are huge dorks, think Yelpers - they're never going to give you any real talk.

DTLA has lots of homeless people. Ask pretty white girls why they don't go downtown, and this is what they'll say.

Bars are close enough to walk to, but you'd be walking easily a mile or two over the course of a night if you bar hop. The streets in between bars are often dead and dark.

The people who go downtown, like thedude said, are the C-team. The A-team is in West Hollywood and Hollywood, or at a house party or a nice restaurant on a weekend night. Even cute white girls I meet who work downtown, who have every reason to live there, often live in West Hollywood. The dorkier she is, the more likely she is to live in DTLA.

For whatever reason, people who come from out of the city to party, the Bridge and Tunnel crew, mostly stop at downtown. They get too intimidated by the trendier places. Hipster bars are great, because the bridge and tunnel types feel least comfortable in hipster joints. Plus the B&T crowd are mostly non-white, and to me, either Asian (who I don't dig) or ugly. I'm actually fucking a Latina I met downtown, but most of the Latinas are busted, chicks you'd never want to be seen in public with, especially at the Latino-heavy joints.

People like to talk up the diversity of DTLA, but a lot of the joints are dominated by one ethnicity or another. The Mayan is all Hispanics (mostly troglodytes plus a couple hotties who are probably dating gangsters), the Belasco next door is all Asians. Hollywood is like this too I guess. Thanks to its diversity, macking downtown feels like a game of Where Is The White Girl?

Thanks to USC and FIDM, downtown does have some talent. I have two favorite bars in the city right now based on recent results, and one is downtown. I have banged a FIDM (fashion school) girl from going out downtown.

Co-sign everything the dude says. I actually hadn't thought of that or noticed that, but it sounds true. If you tried to open up a high end club in Downtown, it would become an ethnic minority haunt pretty quickly I'd bet. You'd have more luck with Thai Town or Los Feliz than downtown perhaps.

The Houston brothers have opened up a bunch of successful bars that attract talent, and they have yet to put one downtown. That's not a vote of confidence in DTLA's appeal. They have bars in East Hollywood, East Hollywood (La Descarga and Harvard & Stone), Hollywood, Hollywood, Hollywood (Pour Vous, No Vacancy, Dirty Laundry), Koreatown (Line hotel) and Marina Del Rey (in an Italian restaurant).

There are warehouse parties/raves downtown, I went to one last week. Not my scene, but I'm sure some will enjoy it, and fun for what it is. They're 'underground.'

To enhance downtown, the first thing I'd do is take care of the homeless. Put them in a shelter, arrest those who refuse, move them somewhere else, something, there's no reason they should sully the streets there. Downtown isn't Venice, it can't be full of homeless people and still look cool. to take it to the next level though is hard - it'd require attracting some hot chick job/industry magnets to the scene. WeHo and Hollywood have the entertainment industry, the Westside has the beaches, DTLA has... trains and architecture?

Downtown would also benefit from a more centralized nightlife scene - instead of a bar for every square block, put ten bars on the same street. Then again, thanks to ethnic segregation, the effect would be muted. So the bars would have to have similar demographics. The Mayan and Belasco are right next to each other, but virtually no one goes to both, I'd bet.

The funny thing - I was just walking around during the day near the beach, and I see way more talent than every bar I've been to in LA. Only high end clubs beat what you'll see walking around during the day in the hot spots. Yes, in LA Sunday brunch spots have more talent and better ratios than the bars.

A cause for celebration: White Girls Are On The Way!



Whole Foods is opening a store in DTLA in 2015. This is what DTLA needs to get some talent, not some weesh Target. My main wingman, from this forum, lives nearby and is rather excited about it

[eradicator]

They are allegedly expanding the metro rail system in los angeles, but who knows when it will be done.

[speakeasy]

(02-16-2014 04:38 PM)Basil Ransom Wrote:  

Downtown would also benefit from a more centralized nightlife scene - instead of a bar for every square block, put ten bars on the same street.

Spring street and 7th are pretty much that.

[kosko]

(02-16-2014 03:21 PM)The Texas Prophet Wrote:  

(02-16-2014 03:15 PM)kosko Wrote:  

Measure-R will pump at least $20 Billion into LA Transit in the next thirty years, so in time LA will see improvements. You need the connections between where people work, live, and party to make a city a real city. If you don't have options other than the car to do those things thing its not a metropolis like Tokyo, NYC, etc.

Measure R will be wasted just like all money is wasted in LA. It is so expensive to build stuff in LA that Measure R is just a drop in the bucket. It will be used mostly to maintain and maybe expand a little bit of LA's current public transportation, but that is it.

Measure-R is a game changer and it's locked in to transit and can't be raided for general funds.

As far as America goes no other city has handcuffed (*cough* taxed *cough*) as much money towards transit as LA. They have to play catch up but when you think about the falling apart shit in Chicago, Philly, and Boston; and the fact for all of NYCs lines it still took them 80 years to build a line under second avenue, then LA going forward looks like night and day compared to what else is going on state side.

Downtown and the main corridors will be artificially up-valued to encourage development. As far as what gets built that remains to be scene but going forward the downtown will be a focus and tremendously different in 15-20 years time.

Since there is a crackdown going on in Chjna down in regards to corruption I wouldn't be surprised if much of that money finds it's way into LA development in the near future.

I'm not on the ground there but here are just my observations having followed the measure-R situation for quite some time now.