Yo Tumblrs, Been MIA, working on the Downtown News site, which you should make a regular read if you’re into the politics, business, culture and general news about Downtown L.A. Check the What to Do section for the most thorough culture guide for #dtla. But I’m back. Alert your followers. And, I’ve officially joined Downtown’s least-secret social club: I got a dog. 

Yo Tumblrs,

Been MIA, working on the Downtown News site, which you should make a regular read if you’re into the politics, business, culture and general news about Downtown L.A. Check the What to Do section for the most thorough culture guide for #dtla.

But I’m back. Alert your followers.

And, I’ve officially joined Downtown’s least-secret social club: I got a dog. 


via gordonncrisp: i love los angeles venues  THE SMELL

via gordonncrisp:

i love los angeles venues 

THE SMELL

(Source: prospecthummerr)

Is Downtown ready for retail? That’s an underlying question in my piece in the Downtown News this week about a new concept for the mixed use project Metropolis. Metropolis, which would occupy a 6.5-acre parking lot next to the 110 Freeway (and bound otherwise by Eighth, Ninth and Francisco streets) has been trying to get off the ground for two decades-plus. Now, the developers think they’ve got a shot to build it by stuffing it with 300,000 square feet of retail. That’s almost the size of Brookfield Properties’ nearby “Fig at 7th” shopping center, which is in the throes of a $40 million renovation, a welcome mat of sorts for Target opening in fall 2012. Metropolis officials consider Target to be a “shadow anchor” for their still very theoretical project (there’s no timeline), and they have space for another big box chain, or two. But the focus would be on small boutiques/unique retailers a la Abbot Kinney.  The logic, which is shared by the DCBID’s retail recruitment team, is simple: Downtown will struggle to become a retail destination if it’s competing against the city’s many shopping hubs, where big brands are ubiquitous. Westside residents won’t drive Downtown for Bed Bath & Beyond, but they might make a trip to visit a handful of unique shops they can’t find elsewhere. While independent stores now pepper Main and Spring streets in the Historic Core — from veterans like clothier Stella Dottir and Metropolis Books, to newer ventures such as Buzz wine shop and the furniture store I-Squared — the trend has largely evaded wider Downtown. Mark Tarczynski, a veteran Downtown broker with Colliers, said retail will come - and that it’s already happening. Target, he is convinced, is only coming because Ralphs does brisk business at Ninth and Flower. If Ralphs brought Target, and let’s say another big boxer follows Target, will those unique single proprietors follow suit? It’s usually the other way around. Only time will tell.

Is Downtown ready for retail? That’s an underlying question in my piece in the Downtown News this week about a new concept for the mixed use project Metropolis. Metropolis, which would occupy a 6.5-acre parking lot next to the 110 Freeway (and bound otherwise by Eighth, Ninth and Francisco streets) has been trying to get off the ground for two decades-plus. Now, the developers think they’ve got a shot to build it by stuffing it with 300,000 square feet of retail. That’s almost the size of Brookfield Properties’ nearby “Fig at 7th” shopping center, which is in the throes of a $40 million renovation, a welcome mat of sorts for Target opening in fall 2012. Metropolis officials consider Target to be a “shadow anchor” for their still very theoretical project (there’s no timeline), and they have space for another big box chain, or two. But the focus would be on small boutiques/unique retailers a la Abbot Kinney. 

The logic, which is shared by the DCBID’s retail recruitment team, is simple: Downtown will struggle to become a retail destination if it’s competing against the city’s many shopping hubs, where big brands are ubiquitous. Westside residents won’t drive Downtown for Bed Bath & Beyond, but they might make a trip to visit a handful of unique shops they can’t find elsewhere. While independent stores now pepper Main and Spring streets in the Historic Core — from veterans like clothier Stella Dottir and Metropolis Books, to newer ventures such as Buzz wine shop and the furniture store I-Squared — the trend has largely evaded wider Downtown.

Mark Tarczynski, a veteran Downtown broker with Colliers, said retail will come - and that it’s already happening. Target, he is convinced, is only coming because Ralphs does brisk business at Ninth and Flower. If Ralphs brought Target, and let’s say another big boxer follows Target, will those unique single proprietors follow suit? It’s usually the other way around. Only time will tell.

maxtroyla: Totes ma Goats! Angels Knoll!

maxtroyla:

Totes ma Goats! Angels Knoll!

DTLA Weekend Notebook, the best damn Downtown cultural and nightlife guide, if I may say so, is back.

FIRST, you should see a movie on Friday, and I’m not talking about Crazy, Stupid, Love or Cowboys & Aliens. I’m talkin’ bout: A new doc about the Earth Liberation Front screening at the Downtown Independent Aug. 5-7. See the trailer about some seriously ballsy environmentalists (terrorists?) above. Also on Friday, the Bootleg Theatre in City West (2220 Beverly Blvd.) screens a new documentary about Elliot Smith at 9:30 p.m. Pershing Square will melt Nazi faces with an 8 p.m.(ish) outdoor screening of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. On Saturday, the Outdoor Cinema Food Fest shows the Coen Bros. mise en oeuvre Fargo at Expo Park at 8:30 p.m., with pre-movie bands and foodtrucks, dontcha know.

SECOND: Yemen Blues and Watcha Clan at Grand Performances on Saturday. Because where else in the city are you going to hear music that blends authentic Yemenite music with funk and blues, then a band that mixes drum-n-bass with Balkan brass, for free? Don’t sleep on Grand Performances - the best free music series in the city will be gone in a few weeks. Tip: grab some bread, cheese and cured meats at Two Bits Market, and a bottle of wine or beer at Buzz to take to Cal Plaza for the BYOB event.

THIRD: This is your last weekend to see MOCA’s Art in the Streets before you have to settle for seeing art in the actual streets. At the Geffen Contemporary, 152 N. Central Ave. 


The Gap, which opened a new denim studio on Pico Blvd. in the Industrial District last year, is looking to leverage its Downtown spot for a little street cred. Can the spirit of Downtown L.A., “the last stronghold of denim” in the U.S., modernize a brand best known and perhaps most worn by Middle America soccer moms? That’s what they seem to be banking on…

via jmchung: Fact: Existing rooftop signs in Los Angeles are registered “historical landmarks”. You probably won’t see a rooftop sign in this city that was built after 1973 because of some strict (and slightly ridiculous) signage regulations. Meanwhile, I saw about three digital billboards on my way to a meeting.

via jmchung:

Fact: Existing rooftop signs in Los Angeles are registered “historical landmarks”. You probably won’t see a rooftop sign in this city that was built after 1973 because of some strict (and slightly ridiculous) signage regulations.

Meanwhile, I saw about three digital billboards on my way to a meeting.

Time on ‘Manhattanization’ of Downtown



Time Magazine is the latest national or east coast publication to learn that Downtown LA is no longer “dead after working hours.” The venerable Time, in its assessment of Downtown’s growth in the past 10 years, credits Staples Center and L.A. Live for the shift. Their evidence? This quote from AEG spokesman Michael Roth, who gets paid to tout L.A. Live and Staples Center: “Before Staples ‘nobody came downtown,’” Roth tells Time.

That’s generally accurate, but I don’t think Staples was nearly as transformative as the redevelopment of the Old Bank District and the adaptive reuse housing boom that grew the Downtown residential population from about 15,000 to 50,000 in 10 years. The Time article hinges on the question of whether Downtown is on the road to “Manhattanization.” If “Manhattanization” means a more dense, populous and active urban center, the answer is clearly, yes (I just wouldn’t use that term). And while L.A. Live and Staples were game changers that remain instrumental to the area’s regional draw, housing started Downtown’s renewal, and housing will be the lifeblood of continued growth.

Perhaps more than the skyscrapers and its envy-inspiring subway system, what makes Manhattan so distinctly urban is that its streets never sleep. If Downtown sidewalks ever get to the point of being dense with pedestrians at 3 a.m. (or even at 9 a.m. on a Sunday) the people on the street won’t be L.A. Live visitors. They’ll be residents.    

Talk about a chump coward. The LAPD is looking for a man who assaulted a 68-year-old woman in Little Tokyo, who happens to be legally blind, and ripped a jade pendant necklace off her neck. I don’t suspect any of my Tumblr peeps might recognize the perp, but, you never know. Anyone with info should call Central Division detectives at (213) 972-1251.

Rage Against the Machine is playing the Coliseum this weekend (so are El Gran Silencio, Lauryn Hill and Muse). Why is everybody not talking about this? Do you remember the last time they played Los Angeles? Hint: it was not at L.A. Live, but it kind of was. It was a day during which the Machine was very much enraged, to the point of tear gas and rubber bullets. Rage never came back. The Machine won. Or, maybe not? Have you seen this video from that last LA performance? Fast forward to 1:45. I dare you to watch it and not get goosebumps. It remains to be seen whether Rage can still inspire such collective adrenaline. What are the young people of today pissed about? The debt ceiling debate? Not that there’s nothing for young liberals or revolutionaries to lament, but there just isn’t that feeling of teenage angst like there was in the early Bush years. Then again, does any of this matter when you hear those first pulsing bass notes of Killing in the Name? 

I'm Ryan Vaillancourt. I'm a reporter for the Los Angeles Downtown News. This is the flotsam and jetsam of a city rediscovering itself. Drop me a note at ryan@downtownnews.com.