Downtown Los Angeles Revitalized

When we 20-somethings were kids growing up in and around Los Angeles at about the age of 12, we often had a certain type of image for Downtown Los Angeles: Big. Dirty. Ugly. Homeless. Theft. Fake CDs. Cheap Swap Meet Clothing. Street Vendors. Hot Dogs. Scary People. Business People. Exclusivity. High Rise Buildings. Forlornness.

As we reach the end of 2006, Downtown Los Angeles is increasingly becoming more aware of its potential as a fun urban center, a cultural communicator, and a space which rivals other world class cities with regards to its humanistic elements, art, and architecture. Now, more than a decade later, here is how I see Downtown Los Angeles and its future: Life. Human. Sports. Art. Architecture. Fine Dining. Luxury. Color. Vibrancy. Versatility. Culture. Wit. Human.

"Live. Work. Play."

This has become the new slogan for a multi-million dollar revitalization project stemming several years ago and still well underway in Downtown Los Angeles. There is even a web site dedicated to this slogan - attempting to show all that's happening within these 21-blocks of revitalized and soon-to-be revitalized spaces in Los Angeles.

Even the weekends in downtown Los Angeles spaces used to be characterized by emptiness and a sense of paltry. No longer may this be true. For the first time, Downtown Los Angeles is consistently holding public events, many of them free, for the sake of its well-being and the diverse culture which envelopes it.

On a recent Saturday morning in October, KCRW, a local public radio station, hosted a multi-block outdoor event dedicated to the promotion of all things music, art, and culture. Outdoors and on stage were several musicians rocking the crowd, including Beck, whose popular post-modern musical arrangements may be an analogy to what is happening to Downtown Los Angeles today. One friend told me she could not remember a time that Downtown Los Angeles was so vibrant and colorful on a Saturday morning.

When taking a walking tour with my Urban Studies and Planning professor as a college sophomore several years back, he was quick to point out the fact that Downtown Los Angeles ranked amongst the lowest in public restroom accessibility among major metropolitan centers. Even worse, he pointed out that Downtown Los Angeles lacked many basic needs such as gas stations, grocery stores, and other convenience stores. His reflection clearly resembles that of Mike Davis' City of Quartz book from the early 90s in which Davis claims Downtown Los Angeles is a heavily fortified space with surveillance cameras, private security guards, and other street-discouraging elements which make Downtown Los Angeles an urban calamity.

It is comforting to know that Downtown Los Angeles has since departed from the 'lack-of-public-restroom-accessibility' category and will soon open a new 50,000 square foot Ralph's grocery store in 2007. The store will be located on 9th Street between Hope and Flower, along with several other retailers and crucial convenience stores. Almost 15 years later, I find most of the ideas presented in Davis' text to be false, fixed, or improved. Los Angeles is striving towards making Downtown a vibrant space, one that actually reflects the plush colored stencil drawings of a building with lush trees and loud street life when design architects attempt to depict a new building. In the past, these architectural sketches always turned out to be a faux once the actual building was constructed since the lush trees and lively pedestrian filled sidewalks were almost always void in Downtown Los Angeles. Today, things are different.

No longer are the grim, old buildings present. And even if they are, people certainly don't seem to mind because the eye is too busy observing the dainty and post-modern buildings which surround them. The Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Cal-Trans Building. The Grand Lofts. The Little Tokyo Lofts. The Staples Center Apartments - and this is just the beginning of a new and improved Downtown. Downtown Los Angeles is in the midst of an incredible housing boom. Since 1999, over 7,000 units have been added. Nearly 8,000 are under construction along with approximately 16,700 in the pipeline. There are now more than 9,200 market rate apartments and lofts in the central business district in Downtown Los Angeles. And if you're looking for modest looking architecture of basic concrete or wood, perhaps Downtown Los Angeles would be the wrong place to search. Nearly all of the proposed housing projects - mostly post-modern lofts for the artsy-minded - are designed by significant and exuberant architects willing to go the extra mile; and even if they're not, the buildings still look pleasing to the eye. Downtown Los Angeles will never be what it once was.

What types of people are beginning to take residence in Los Angeles? Yuppies. Young professionals - many whom are in their late twenties to thirties - coming to revitalize Los Angeles because they were sick of looking at such grim depressing spaces as a child growing up in the city of angels. Much like the vibrant and artsy Silverlake neighborhood to the north of Los Angeles which experienced much gentrification several years ago, Downtown Los Angeles' trajectory is also quite similar. And like Silverlake, the casual social scene is extremely important to the new Downtown Los Angeles. From the ultra-posh rooftop Standard Bar - ironically named Standard because it is everything but - to the popular La Ciudad, Downtowners will seldom find themselves thirsty on a Friday night.

Of course, one cannot speak of urban yuppies, bars, sky lofts, and post-modern living without mentioning the word 'art.' Indeed, Los Angeles is gradually becoming the premiere destination for all things art and Downtown Los Angeles is the heart of it all. After all, those newly designed and constructed Downtown lofts desperately need art to beautify its post-modern, refined walls.

Every second Thursday of the month, Downtown Los Angeles holds what it calls an Art Walk. The Downtown Art Walk is a self-guided tour that showcases the many art exhibition venues in Downtown Los Angeles - commercial art galleries, museums, and non-profit arts venues. Two years ago, Downtown Los Angeles had a measly collection of only three art galleries. Today, the more than 21-blocks of Downtown Los Angeles have achieved 27 art galleries. From the captivating electrical art of the M. J. Higgins Gallery to the local artists over at the Bert Green Fine Art Gallery, the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk is increasingly becoming a symbolic reminder of how versatile and human Downtown Los Angeles is and will continue to grow to be. It's no wonder Londoners have something to worry about these days.

And if art is not on the menu, fashion is. The new chain of ultra-fashionable retro-inspired clothing shops throughout Los Angeles which proudly bear the slogan Made In Downtown LA - which implicitly tries to say that it is cool to wear clothing made in Downtown Los Angeles because Los Angeles is now revitalized - is another example of how Downtown Los Angeles has opened its eyes. From modern tight-fitting track jackets to colorful yet basic short-sleeve t-shirts for young urban males with bicep tattoos, the American Apparel shops in Downtown Los Angeles attempt to be the official wardrobe supplier of the art-loving Downtown loft resident.

I often wonder whether or not the people of Downtown Los Angeles, its architectural community, its diverse artistic community, and its eclectic yuppie community, will learn to embrace the new Downtown Los Angeles. I also wonder whether or not Downtown Los Angeles will beckon the attention of other major urban centers who wish to mimic and obtain its full potential as a space where the human mind, the artistic ability, and the diverse culture will flourish for centuries to come without having another horrid identity crisis as it did during the 80s and 90s.

If any of the examples and projects above hold true, chances are the answer will be yes. After all, Los Angeles has always been the premier destination to reinvent oneself and Downtown Los Angeles may soon become a microcosm of what may occur throughout the entire region and beyond.