What do you like/appreciate about the urban experience of Los Angeles?

[GlassCity]

I know LA extremely poorly, as I've only been once years ago and mostly learn about it through google maps, but yeah I think LA's pretty great. It's certainly sprawling in that it covers a massive area, but just about all of it is on a grid and there are little town centres all over the place. The central city centred on downtown, Wilshire and Beverly Hills is urban as all hell. Suburban downtowns like Santa Monica and Long Beach are nice too. I really think it's far more urban than it gets credit for, and has the best bones/potential to continue to grow in that regard.

Really not sure how it's become the poster child for sprawl where at least it's sprawl is of decent form. Outside of the hills, it seems like none of it is on the contemporary spiraly suburban street network of loops and cul-de-sacs. The roads may be wide and the destinations surrounded with parking lots, but at least walking routes are direct, and that's the hardest thing to fix. Redeveloping commercial areas and adding density is the easy stuff. Really I'd rather have a whole city look like an inner-ring suburb, as Los Angeles does, than have a more urban core that quickly transitions into outside-the-perimeter Atlanta. It's a more satisfying urban experience to begin with, and much more easily improved as well.

[LA21st]

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0736...7i16384!8i8192

I stumbled upon a walkable part of Broadway in
Lincoln hts I had no idea existed. LA's full of these type of surprises, as opposed to many sun belt cities. I dont know anythiing about Lincoln Hts, at all. It's just a very under the radar place.

[the urban politician]

^ The irony of your post being, of course, that if you didn't know about this surprise in LA, what makes you so sure such surprises do not exist in "Sunbelt" cities?

[LA21st]

It's mostly from history on these kind of sites.

When other posters from sunbelt cities mention their walkable neighborhoods, it's the same places over and over again.

A place like Lincoln Hts never comes up for LA when discussing this topic, even from LA posters.

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by LA21st

Because it's on a different level than the other sunbelt cities for density and walkability. It was a major city in the 1920s and 1930s. No other sunbelt city can say that. It has 320,000 in 1910. It's just not the same.
Los Angeles County had 2.2 million by 1930 and 4.1 by 1950.

New Orleans and Miami Beach were major cities (or developed) but point taken.

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I don't think LA is centralizing. It isn't adding transit share, and it isn't (relative to other cities) building more core housing or adding core employment.

But I do think it's better than ever.

This, it's better. Anyone that wants cheap and affordable housing moves to the Inland Empire and to a lesser extent, Ventura County or Orange County. Because enough people want to be in LA itself or close enough, it is legitimately filling in.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by ThePhun1

New Orleans and Miami Beach were major cities (or developed) but point taken.

I forgot about New Orleans. Yes, it was a major city back then. It's not a typical sun belt city either. Easily older/more historic than LA and the rest.

I don't agree with the Miami or Miami Beach thing though. It seemed to get larger in the 1940s or 50s.

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by LA21st

I forgot about New Orleans. Yes, it was a major city back then. It's not a typical sun belt city either. Easily older/more historic than LA and the rest.

I don't agree with the Miami or Miami Beach thing though. It seemed to get larger in the 1940s or 50s.

Miami Beach is pre-war. Not sure about the City of Miami when it comes to being a developed, legit major/emerging city.

[dc_denizen]

Originally Posted by ThePhun1

New Orleans and Miami Beach were major cities (or developed) but point taken.

new orleans is a 350 year old colonial city.

miami beach is a 100 year old beach town.

otherwise, very similar

[Centropolis]

let's all sing together now: new orleans is not a "sunbelt city."

[jd3189]

There are parts of Miami older than Miami Beach. Much of Coconut Grove was built in the late 19th century.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by ThePhun1

This, it's better. Anyone that wants cheap and affordable housing moves to the Inland Empire and to a lesser extent, Ventura County or Orange County. Because enough people want to be in LA itself or close enough, it is legitimately filling in.

My parents bought a condo in LA in 1990 but sold it a few years later, didn’t make a penny.

But if they had held onto in until today, it would be worth a lot more. Plus it could be a nice vacation pad for our family. Us Chicagoans need somewhere to go come January and February

[maru2501]

miami an emerging super city for sure, although it suffers from some connectivity issues way down there

[The North One]

The prewar blocks around DTLA look pretty awesome, other than that I'm uninterested in everything else in LA.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by ThePhun1

Miami Beach is pre-war. Not sure about the City of Miami when it comes to being a developed, legit major/emerging city.

Miami Beach is postwar, mostly. Most of the "historic" architecture dates from the 1950's and the like.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by LA21st

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0736...7i16384!8i8192

I stumbled upon a walkable part of Broadway in
Lincoln hts I had no idea existed. LA's full of these type of surprises, as opposed to many sun belt cities. I dont know anythiing about Lincoln Hts, at all. It's just a very under the radar place.

How funny, I (ironically, because you mentioned how walkable this stretch is) drive through this stretch of Broadway fairly regularly. I live in South Pas, and when I don't take the Gold Line to downtown LA, I drive this stretch to get to downtown as an alternative to taking the 110 (Huntington to Mission to Broadway into downtown). I drove this stretch a lot to get to Little Tokyo when my partner and I were taking meditation classes at the Soto Zen temple.

[jd3189]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Miami Beach is postwar, mostly. Most of the "historic" architecture dates from the 1950's and the like.

Still is similar to LA in that it's one of the densest versions of postwar development. Car-centric, but you can still walk around with ease, with modern architecture that is distinct from the wood, brick, and stone downtowns and inner neighborhoods that are almost all the same no matter where you go among the major prewar cities.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

How funny, I (ironically, because you mentioned how walkable this stretch is) drive through this stretch of Broadway fairly regularly. I live in South Pas, and when I don't take the Gold Line to downtown LA, I drive this stretch to get to downtown as an alternative to taking the 110 (Huntington to Mission to Broadway into downtown). I drove this stretch a lot to get to Little Tokyo when my partner and I were taking meditation classes at the Soto Zen temple.

My point wasn't too show how crazy walkable it is, it's to say LA has alot of these types of old commerical districts that are overshadowed by others. Again, that's mainly due to LA's size before 1950.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by LA21st

My point wasn't too show how crazy walkable it is, it's to say LA has alot of these types of old commerical districts that are overshadowed by others. Again, that's mainly due to LA's size before 1950.

Oh I know; there are plenty of these types of commercial districts throughout LA, that presumably many Angelenos don't even know about or have not been to. I just gave a little anecdote because I'm rather familiar with the example you provided.

[LA21st]

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.9768...7i16384!8i8192

Pacific Blvd In Hunttington Park also is very under the radar for a suburb. 10-12 miles south of downtown. There's no train station here now, but maybe decades ago.

Historic South Central is more interesting than people think too. I do wonder what it looked liked before the 92 riots though.