Yes, the area is definitely sterile, Buckeye. Unfortunately, much of Downtown L.A.'s business district, such as California Plaza and Bunker Hill, is pretty sterile, and buildings with huge ugly podiums like the Westin Bonaventure didn't help, either. Of course, the hilliness of the area (Bunker Hill really IS a hill!
), makes it kind of hard not to have buildings raised up, requiring skywalks and the like...
Either way, I don't find the building that ugly at all. Not everything can be as beautiful as the Library Tower (err, whatever it's called now...)!
Aaron (Glowrock)