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  #221  
Old Posted Aug 3, 2007, 10:02 PM
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Golden Boy Buys Historic Sears Site

By DANIEL MILLER
Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

Golden boy Oscar De La Hoya is returning to a store he shopped at as a youngster.

The Los Angeles native and famous boxer is purchasing the iconic Sears warehouse and store site in Boyle Heights that he frequented with his mother while growing up in the area.
Plans call for an intensive redevelopment of the property, adding housing and retail to the site. The 22-acre property is the largest redevelopment opportunity in East Los Angeles and one of the biggest in the city.
De La Hoya agreed last week to purchase the property for more than $70 million. His company, Los Angeles-based Golden Boy Enterprises LLC, in conjunction with partners Manarino Realty and Highridge Partners Inc., both Southern California developers, purchased the property from MJW Investments Inc.
“We have always wanted to do a project with Oscar De La Hoya,” said Bud Ovrum, Los Angeles deputy mayor for economic development. “We really think that his star power will add something special to the project and perhaps make it easier to attract good tenants and good uses because of the high regard in which he is held by so many people.”
The property, which is located at Olympic Boulevard and Soto Street, includes a still-operating Sears retail store and a long-closed Sears, Roebuck & Co. distribution center in a 1.8 million-square-foot complex.
The industrial parcel, which is near the Los Angeles River, would require zone changes for a redevelopment plan to move forward. The property also lacks the necessary entitlements for a mixed-use project. Ovrum said that city subsidies will be necessary to make the property’s planned retail component – which could be between 700,000 and 900,000 square feet – pencil out economically. The property is expected to go into escrow within days and the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008. Sources say the redeveloped site could be opened in 2012.
When asked about details of the project, Bob Manarino said, “We aren’t in the position to comment yet.” His Irvine-based Manarino Realty specializes in retail development.
About 25 groups expressed interest in the site. Finalists are said to have included CIM Group Inc., Fifteen Group and Capri Capital Advisors LLC.
“It was a long process to find the right buyer,” said Mark Weinstein, who heads Santa Monica-based MJW Investments, which had owned the property since 2004 and had long planned a redevelopment of the site.
“The community is really diverse and it is important that the buyers that were selected would meet the needs of the community and have the financial wherewithal and firepower to get the project done,” he said.
Diverse mixed-use
Although the new owners’ plans are not yet clear, Weinstein said he expects the new owners to pursue a plan that would be similar to what he had envisioned.
His plans called for between 300 and 800 housing units, nearly 1 million square feet of retail space, parks and open space.
“I had envisioned a diverse, urban, mixed-use development and these developers with their resources and ties have a really great chance to make it happen,” said Weinstein, who worked with the local City Councilmember Jose Huizar and the Mayor Office’s on the project.
Golden Boy Enterprises did not return calls seeking comment. John Long, chief executive of El Segundo-based Highridge Partners and a co-founder of Golden Boy Partners, the urban development unit of De La Hoya’s company, was traveling last week and was unavailable for comment.
Redevelopment of the property has been discussed by city leaders and stakeholders for years. The warehouse is run down, but the Sears retail store does brisk business in an area that experts say is underserved.
“There is a huge void for retail in that area,” said Mark Tarczynski, a senior vice president at CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., who represented both sides of the deal.
CB Richard’s Richard Rizika also brokered both sides of the deal. “The whole Boyle Heights area and a 10-mile radius around it are so underserved by retail.”
The new owners will work with Sears Holding Corp., the parent of Sears, Roebuck & Co., to build a new Sears retail outlet at the site, Weinstein said.
The site’s 1927 warehouse building has been remodeled multiple times over the years. Its tower is a well-known part of the East L.A. skyline and the property is on the National Historic Register. Any redevelopment of the property would preserve the tower, with its distinctive Sears signs, Weinstein said.
The large retail component is expected to attract a variety of retailers. For his part, Huizar would like to see local and national retailers at the site. “I envision the project with mixed-use residential over retail, which offers mixed-income residential opportunities,” wrote Huizar in an e-mail interview conducted while he traveled in Israel last week.
Ovrum said that he’d like to see the site become more than a simple shopping plaza.
“It is really important to have a major community-building retail component,” he said. “Basically L.A. has conceded the retail market to Monterey Park and Alhambra in that area. It is more than just the sales tax for the city – which is still very important.”
Moving forward
Redevelopment of the site would be catalytic not just for Boyle Heights but also for the entire area near downtown L.A., said Carol Schatz, who heads the Central City Association, a downtown advocacy group. She called the Sears site the “eastern portal into downtown.”
“I think there will be a lot of interaction between downtown and Boyle Heights,” she said.
Several people said any redevelopment of the site would be a labor-intensive proposition.
“We understand that realizing a viable redevelopment project will take dedication, flexibility, vision, cooperation, and no small amount of political and financial willpower,” said Huizar.
The sheer size of the project, coupled with the historic nature of the site, makes it a tricky development play that will likely involve compromise between community stakeholders and city agencies, including the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles. Huizar, who took an active role in helping Weinstein choose the buyers, will continue to work closely on the project.
“The project will take a strong meeting of the minds between the City, Golden Boy and the CRA,” Huizar said.
Via his Golden Boy Partners entity, De La Hoya has built several projects in California. He co-owns the downtown mid-rise building at 626 Wilshire Blvd., among other holdings.
Weinstein, who built downtown’s Santee Village loft project, knows well that the Sears site is a tricky property. He had worked on the project for years and spent about $50 million on it.
In recent times, he came to a “crossroads on a personal level” and realized it was time to sell the property.
“We could have done it but it would have taken a lot of focus for a lot of years,” said Weinstein, who added that he has a “very serious girlfriend” and spoke of starting a family. “I was really attached to it – I loved the community.”
But Weinstein said De La Hoya made him realize that another developer does have a similar passion for the site.
“He said it was his childhood neighborhood and he wanted to restore a landmark for his community,” Weinstein said.
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  #222  
Old Posted Aug 3, 2007, 10:34 PM
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Hopefully "Golden Boy" will have some golden architects and golden designers. This project (which has been talked about for years now) is so huge that it could either turn out really well or really, really bad.
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  #223  
Old Posted Aug 4, 2007, 11:05 AM
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Is this foreal? It mentions Downtown LA as being one of the first areas to get one of these new Tescos. I hope this writer didn't mistaken Glassell Park for Downtown LA! The writer got the "lotsa development of lofts" part right, but obviously is wrong about "not having a supermarket for several miles away" part, because Ralphs just opened in the central part of DTLA. HMM.....


Tesco: The British Are Coming!
http://www.fool.com/investing/intern...re-coming.aspx

Holmes Osborne, CFA
August 3, 2007


Bangers and mash, anyone? British supermarket behemoth Tesco is making its foray into the U.S. this fall, with a grand opening in Los Angeles and other western cities. Under the banner Fresh & Easy, the 10,000-square-foot stores will cater to health-conscious shoppers, people on the go, and a variety of budgets. Investors may want to take a closer look.

Downtown Los Angeles -- once known for its poverty, but now booming with the development of lofts -- will host one of the first stores. The nearest competing supermarket will be several miles away.

While most markets carry up to 10,000 items, Fresh & Easy will offer only about 3,000. Its focus will be on healthy foods and prepared meals for busy people. How healthy? According to a Barron's article, the stores won't even carry cigarettes.

Tesco has 3,263 stores worldwide, with 1,988 of them in Great Britain. Other operations are scattered far and wide: China, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Thailand, and Turkey. Not counting its stores in the U.S., Tesco plans on opening 75% of its new stores outside the U.K. It's truly a global company, and it thrives wherever it goes.

That continued success is a result of conducting extensive market research before entering a new area. Before the Los Angeles move, Tesco went as far as opening a model store in an L.A. warehouse. Executives kept things secret by telling contractors they were using the site to shoot a movie.

Tesco does quite well going head-to-head with Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), which sometimes has a problem making its Bentonville way of doing things work overseas. For example, Seiyu, 51% owned by Wal-Mart, laid off 1,500 workers a few years ago in Japan. That didn't go over too well in the land of the rising sun -- in fact, out-of-work employees are still complaining to the media about Wal-Mart.

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) seems to like Tesco, too. Its GEICO insurance investment division, managed by Lou Simpson, owns almost 3% of Tesco's stock. And Simpson is a buy-and-hold type of investor who likes companies with strong brand names.

He's no doubt aware that revenues and earnings per share have grown 11% a year since 2002. With the British pound valued at more than 2-to-1 against the dollar, U.S. investors have seen a 200% gain since 2003. And don't forget that nice 2.45% dividend yield.

Tesco could be an appealing long-term hold. While baby boomers age in developed countries, Tesco is making a name for itself in emerging markets in Eastern Europe and Asia. Shareholders might just be able to sit back and watch Tesco eat the competition's lunch.
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  #224  
Old Posted Aug 4, 2007, 2:16 PM
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I read that too and had to read it again to make sure...

I think the writer got Ralphs Fresh Fare mixed up with Fresh & Easy. I haven't heard Tesco announce any plans for Downtown; the closest stores I've heard about are South LA, Hollywood, and Glassell Park.
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  #225  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2007, 3:35 AM
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Looks like the City Council made it official today by overwhelmingly voting for zoning changes to allow for denser development

L.A. alters rules for building downtown
Some hail the move toward denser development, others decry the rising cost of housing.

By Sharon Bernstein, Times Staff Writer
3:07 PM PDT, August 7, 2007

The Los Angeles City Council today approved sweeping changes in zoning rules allowing for larger and more dense developments in downtown Los Angeles, the city's biggest embrace yet of urban-style planning principles.

The ordinance encourages developers to build high-rises without leaving space between the buildings, allows them to reduce the size of lobbies and other communal areas, lets them build closer to sidewalks and makes it legal to build extremely small units.

Developers who reserve 15% of their units for low-income residents are now exempt from open-space requirements and can make their buildings 35% larger than current zoning codes allow.

The vote is a major victory for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and others who have argued that Los Angeles needs significantly denser zoning to keep up with demand for housing. The city is in the midst of a building boom that has seen high-density housing projects rise in downtown as well as Century City, Mid-Wilshire, West L.A. and pockets of the San Fernando Valley.

But these projects have also sparked a backlash from some residents, who say the new housing is worsening traffic and their quality of life.

Downtown business interests and others said they hoped the ordinance would help feed the residential boom that has helped transform downtown in the last five years. It could also push it south, because the rules extend the zoning past the traditional boundaries of downtown all the way to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in South L.A.

"This is an important step in the continued reinvention of downtown Los Angeles," said Carol Schatz, president of the Central City Assn. "We will finally have an urban planning code similar to what you have in Portland, Seattle and New York."

City Councilwoman Jan Perry, who represents downtown and the portion of South Los Angeles that is included in the ordinance, said the changes would encourage developers to build more affordable units so that the very poor as well as those who work downtown will be able to afford to live there.

Jane Blumenfeld, principal planner for the city, said Los Angeles was already granting variances to most developers, allowing them to build to their lot lines and take advantage of the other changes in the ordinance. But it's a process that can take up to a year and is expensive, she said.

But several affordable-housing advocates who spoke at the council hearing on the ordinance Monday said they thought the new rules amounted to a giveaway for developers, whom they feared would build luxury high-rises with relatively little construction of housing for the poor or those with moderate incomes.

Already, these advocates say, the very poor have been pushed out of downtown as luxury high-rises have gone in.

Linda Valverde, who lived on skid row while homeless and later had a tiny place downtown thanks to a sober-living program, said she has watched with sadness as hotels and other buildings where the poor lived were bulldozed or converted into condominiums.

Valverde, 57, said she now holds a part-time job downtown but lives in East Los Angeles with her grown grandson because she can't afford $400 for a room downtown.

The prices will only go up, she said, as high-end buildings continue to take over.

"I would like to be one of the working-class people who live and work downtown," she said. "It's heartbreaking when you watch all these buildings being demolished."


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  #226  
Old Posted Aug 11, 2007, 2:06 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bricky View Post
I suppose I was unfairly criticizing the developments in downtown. Of course the place has made progress, and the Ralph's, all joking aside, is an important step in what is still an emerging neighborhood. Nevertheless, given all the hype I hear on this forum and elsewhere about LA finally "getting it", the progress so far in the metro context has been incredibly and shamefully slow. Even San Diego, a much smaller and traditionally more suburban metropolis to the south, has seen its downtown progress much further than yours.

My problem, if I have any right to have one, is that people here seem so satisfied with such minor progress. The bar should be raised far higher. And it does no good to write off about half your metro as "illegals" or the also-rans of capitalism. If you treat your future (or rather current) majority population that way, your whole metro will just be a blue-collar also-ran with a small and insular Hollywood bubble thrown in. A giant San Antonio hiding behind show biz glamor.
I gotta agree with this. For example, look at what San Francisco is working on w/ their Transbay Project, with proposals that can make the San Francisco skyline as big as this (and thus, larger than L.A.'s skyline):





Quote:
The government doesn't have to subsidize anything. Latino and working-class salaries in LA are certainly at first-world levels, and can support infill that although it isn't glamorous, will do the job. I have a feeling - although perhaps this is something you guys would know better - that it's zoning regulations and approval processes all over the Southland that really prevent infill. Not low incomes. All the government has to do is get out of the way, so to speak. There are poorer places in America and certainly in the world that are seeing orders of magnitude of more construction.
Yep, L.A. does have zoning codes and they have been anti-urban for a long time. Thankfully, at least in downtown, this has just changed.
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  #227  
Old Posted Aug 11, 2007, 5:55 PM
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^^ that's awesome! By changing the zoning, the groundwork is being laid for a much bigger boom in the next decade perhaps. Once everything in downtown that can be converted is converted (and by that time the district will have a critical mass), there will probably be a lot of new towers going up.

And once downtown really gets going, and people see that the zoning changes are helping rather than hurting the city, the government might well extend and expand the new zoning to much larger swaths of the city, leading to a potentially bigger boom... I don't see any reason why LA should have less highrise or dense development than San Diego or even Miami. This is just the step that might make bigger things happen in the next upswing or two in the real estate cycle.

Oh, and it would be awesome if something like in the pictures above gets built in SF. But I personally am not holding my breath, since the (many) activists in that city have such strong NIMBY and anti-growth/change tendencies.
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  #228  
Old Posted Aug 17, 2007, 8:27 PM
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City Observed

CITY OBSERVED

Beware of Urbanphobia
NIMBYism Rears Its Head in the Arts District

by Sam Hall Kaplan

Just when it seems Downtown at last is slowly beginning to fulfill the promise of a place to live, work, shop and play, and give Southern California an urbane alternative to its pervasive sprawl, a condition I label “urbanphobia” has emerged in the debate over the city’s future.
Prompted by the recent approval by the City Council of the “Downtown Ordinance,” a measure which comprises various zoning rules and regulations intended to encourage more dense and diverse development in Downtown, a host of commentators are raising the specter of a dysfunctional center city. They cite a fabricated mold of a noxious New York or a squalid Hong Kong, replete with implied prejudices.
Simplistic constructs equating density with crowded tenement living, traffic congestion and crime are presented as reasoned scenarios, or conversely, as economically segregated enclaves in an unhealthy hardscape. This vision is contrasted to an idealized suburbia, where apparently there are no housing, traffic or schools problems, nor racial or economic segregation, in an expanse of inviting green space.
It is one thing that these questionable planning inventions are being debated on editorial pages desperate for attention, and among academics desperate for ink to pad their vitas. Their musings frankly tend to be at best diverting, if not irrelevant, to those in both the private and public sectors actually involved in the reshaping of Downtown Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, more disturbing is that the hints of urbanphobia also seem to be emerging among some Downtown denizens, in particular most recently in the Arts District.
For years, residents settling across Downtown have been clamoring at meetings, in surveys, through e-mails, letters to editors and over drinks for more amenities that lend a neighborhood convenience and character; more stores and shops, restaurants and bars, and some vest pocket parks. Their pleas have resonated in this column for years.
As Downtown’s diverse population has slowly inched to a critical mass, developers and entrepreneurs have begun to respond with a variety of commercial facilities. In addition to the recently heralded supermarket in South Park, perhaps more telling is a mix of small eateries and services, from a video store to a pet supply shop.
The list happily goes on and on and hopefully will soon include some needed green space replete with benches to sit and enjoy the passing scene. These public spaces and places are vital to fostering a sense of community and making Downtown safer and more livable, while presenting a viable alternative to the anonymity and traffic spawned by suburban sprawl.
That is why it was so disappointing to hear at a recent Arts District Business Improvement District meeting (of which I am a voting member) a smattering of residents objecting to a proposal for a restaurant, gourmet shop and a lounge bar to be located in an already designated retail building at 515 S. Molino St.
The proposal by the Kor Group was part of the ambitious plans for the area that include the 297-unit Barker Block condo project and the 91-condo Molino Lofts development. The retail had been promoted by the developer as a community amenity and already had been endorsed by, among others, the Art District Caucus, the Historic Cultural Neighborhood Council and 14th Councilman José Huizar. Everyone thought the proposal would be a slam-dunk.
Indeed, among the protesters were several long-term Arts District residents who over the years have welcomed the continual development of the area despite its isolation in a faded zone beset by pockets of homeless settlements. All that was needed was more people and more amenities, such as retail and restaurant outlets, and more green space.
But, as it turns out, not on the block where they live.
They argued that, however modest, the three commercial developments would generate ruinous traffic, cause parking problems, produce noise and generally degrade the street and negatively impact the value of their lofts.
No matter that the developer’s amiable representative Kate Bartolo offered numerous solutions, from finding extra parking and requiring valet service if needed, to restricting the hours of the restaurant and lounge. The residents were adamant in their opposition.
As for green space, Kor Group had previously offered to pay for a landscaped pocket park on the block, but withdrew it when one resident protested out of concern that it would take away several parking spots she had purloined for herself and her tenant. Apparently, self-interest can be as pervasive Downtown as in other Los Angeles neighborhoods.
The Arts District BID members mostly sat in stunned silence; what they were witnessing was a rapacious riff on the Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) syndrome common in suburbia. Except this urban manifestation might be called a Not on My Block (NOMB) mindset.
There was some sympathy expressed for the residents. Living in a city can be taxing. But, if you want the convenience of stores, shops, eateries and taverns you most likely will have to hear the rumble of delivery and garbage trucks, and the voices of patrons spilling out onto the street. Expect also to smell and breathe the smoke of those who use the street as a lounge, especially if you like keeping your windows open.
Following the harangue and catching its collective breath, the BID voted overwhelmingly to endorse the commercial proposal now pending before the Zoning Administrator. The residents left in anger, no doubt to be heard from again, as I am sure will be the critics of a denser Downtown.

Sam Hall Kaplan is the former design critic for the L.A. Times and an Emmy-award winning former reporter for Fox News. His commentaries can be heard on Kick’s Off Ramp, 89.3 FM, noon, most Saturdays.
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  #229  
Old Posted Aug 18, 2007, 9:03 PM
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^ omg. i think i'm gonna puke now. what the fuck is wrong with people. one little coffeeshop and they get their panties all twisted.
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  #230  
Old Posted Aug 19, 2007, 12:01 AM
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From today's LA Times... (perhaps Park 5th can be a catalyst for major change here).

The (d)evolution of a downtown landmark

From lush park to concrete plaza, Pershing Square has been changing, along with the city around it, for 141 years.
By Cecilia Rasmussen, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
2:47 PM PDT, August 18, 2007


Pershing Square has been on a roller coaster of grandeur and decay since its dedication 141 years ago as public space. It has been refurbished and renamed at least half a dozen times.

Once a lush green oasis, the park today is primarily concrete surrounded by skyscrapers. It boasts statues of Beethoven, a World War I doughboy and a Spanish American War soldier -- but only a plaque for the man whose name it bears.

In the 1850s, settlers camped there on the outskirts of the village of Los Angeles.

"The stream out of the Arroyo de Los Reyes [now Echo Park] crossed the southwest corner. So the confluence of the Camino Real" -- the Spanish settlers' trail -- "with the stream would have been a natural locale for a camp," Sacramento landscape architect and Los Angeles historian John Crandell said in an interview.

Early surveyors drew the acreage as 10 plots, but in practicality it was a solid five-acre piece of land. In 1866, city fathers declared the plots a public square, according to a city history. In 1867, St. Vincent's College moved in across the street, and the square informally became St. Vincent's Park. In 1870, it was officially named Los Angeles Park.

At some point -- perhaps before the land was dedicated as public space -- German immigrant and civic do-gooder George "Roundhouse" Lehman planted small cypress and fruit trees and shrubs. Lehman, who owed his nickname to the circular design of a popular beer garden he operated nearby, continued to water the greenery until his death in 1882. With Lehman's trees along the perimeter, the park became a shady oasis.

During the 1880s and '90s, it was known as 6th Street Park, and later, Central Park. A pavilion was added, attracting music lovers and soapbox orators.

The park began to play a starring role in the city's cultural life and, beginning in 1894, served as the staging area for the crowning of the queen of La Fiesta de Los Angeles, a celebration of the city's many cultures. That event endures as Fiesta Broadway.

In 1900, a life-size bronze was unveiled commemorating Spanish-American War dead. Created by an unknown artist, it honors 20 Southern California soldiers killed in the war.

The artist's model, according to a 1941 Times article, was a Spanish-American War veteran, 7th California Infantry volunteer Charlie Hammond of San Francisco. The statue, which sports a handlebar mustache and stands at parade rest, is believed to be the oldest work of public art in Los Angeles. The City Council declared it a historic-cultural monument in 1990.

In 1910, architect John Parkinson -- who later designed City Hall and Union Station -- revamped the park. His plans centered on a three-tier fountain sculpted by Johan Caspar Lachne Gruenfeld. The fountain was braced by four life-size concrete cherubs supporting a vase of cascading water. The fountain remained the park's centerpiece for more than four decades.

"Parkinson added a comfort zone [restroom], planted clumps of bamboo near the center of the park and Italian cypresses behind curved granite balustrades at all four corners," Crandell said.

In November 1918, a week after the armistice in the "War to End All Wars," the park received yet another name: Pershing Square, in honor of Gen. John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing. Pershing commanded a unit of the black 10th Cavalry Regiment of the Buffalo Soldiers, fought in the Spanish-American War in 1898 and led U.S. forces as World War I raged across Europe. But it took nearly four decades before a plaque honoring Pershing was added.

In the 1920s and '30s, when the tropical look was in vogue, banana trees and birds of paradise were planted along the park's brick-paved walks. At night, smartly dressed couples strolled during intermissions of nearby plays or concerts. During the day, spellbinding orators held court -- including preachers of old-time religion and of newer creeds such as socialism and anarchy.

In 1924, a life-size bronze of a World War I doughboy, sculpted by Humberton Pedretti, was unveiled, flanked by old cannons. In 1935, a bronze cannon from the fabled warship Constitution, known as "Old Ironsides," was added. The ship, which fought pirates in the Caribbean and the British in the War of 1812, had earned its nickname when British cannonballs bounced off its oak hull.

In 1932, a statue of Ludwig van Beethoven was added to honor William Andrews Clark Jr., founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, whose home -- the Philharmonic Auditorium -- stood across the street from Pershing Square. Today, it's a parking lot where developers hope to build a $1-billion condo complex called Park Fifth.

World War II brought a mass of rallies to the park to raise funds for war bonds and the Red Cross. In 1942, military recruiters lined up in dress uniforms as Angelenos arrived by the hundreds, volunteering their cocker spaniels and Boston terriers for war duty. Bruno, a 65-pound chow mix, was the first chosen for the K-9 Command program. Five other recruits, including a schnauzer and a German shepherd named Rin Tin Tin III -- grandson of doggy movie star Rin Tin Tin -- were commissioned on the spot. Rin Tin Tin III and his owner trained more than 5,000 dogs and handlers during the war.

(The original Rin Tin Tin, born in 1918, had been rescued from a bombed-out kennel in France during World War I and brought to the U.S., where he made 26 films. His descendants were used in the 1950s ABC-TV series "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin.") After World War II, the park shared the fate of downtown itself: abandoned by residents and businesses fleeing to the suburbs. Unsavory types moved in: As early as 1948, the city campaigned to rid the park of rats that came out at night to feed on visitors' scraps. To starve out the rodents, the city also prohibited the feeding of birds.

The park was brutally excavated in 1952 to build an underground garage. Auto ramps replaced cypress trees, and the three-tiered fountain disappeared. The site was covered with concrete and topped by a thin layer of lawn.

In 1954, Hungarian immigrant Kelly Roth, who had owned a cigar store across from the square, donated $30,000 for twin reflecting-pool fountains. Architect Stiles O. Clements, whose work in Los Angeles included the Mayan and El Capitan theaters, designed the fountains. Roth said they were meant to honor his late wife, Nellie, and to thank Los Angeles for giving him a place to work, live and rear his children.

By the 1984 Olympics, the park had become an eyesore. Beer cans and wine bottles floated in the fountains. "Drunks and a plethora of down-and-outers tarnished the Square," The Times reported. For the Games, the derelicts and pigeons were ejected for a few months, and the park was temporarily gussied up at a cost of $1 million.

In 1992, Pershing Square closed for a radical $14.5-million face lift. It reopened in 1994 with a 10-story purple bell tower, a walkway resembling an earthquake fault, a concert stage and a seasonal ice rink. At its dedication, then-Mayor Richard Riordan praised the park as "a breath of fresh air, a vision of hope."

Across 6th Street sits one of history's small but engaging ironies: St. Vincent Jewelry Center, named for the patron saint of the poor, St. Vincent de Paul. That side of the street once was home to St. Vincent's College, now known as Loyola Marymount University. Like many of its vintage neighbors, the university fled to the suburbs years ago.


L.A.'S CENTRAL PARK The space Angelenos now know as Pershing Square as it looked in 1885, looking northwest from Sixth and Hill streets. One of its early names was Central Park.


TROPICAL: Sculptor Johan Caspar Lachne Gruenfeld created this fountain for a 1910 revamp of the park. The fountain was its centerpiece for more than four decades. This photo is from 1937.


STERILE: Pershing Square as it looks today: mostly hot, hard concrete, like much of the city around it. A more leafy version of the park was excavated in 1952 to build an underground garage, and it was revamped again in the early '90s.


TREES: A photo from the late 19th century shows what was then called Central Park as a place where downtown visitors could find some welcome shade.
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  #231  
Old Posted Aug 26, 2007, 2:47 AM
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Hey I have a question...
I live in Flower Street Lofts, and next door there is the Frank Robinson building with scaffolding on it. Does anyone know what's happening over there? I'm just curious. Also, it is really nice to have a website like this to fill residents in on what is happening. Hope everyone is doing great.
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  #232  
Old Posted Aug 26, 2007, 4:30 AM
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Here's a permit description pulled today on that parcel, 1150 Flower, 90015 'DEMOLISH WAREHOUSE 2 STY URM (EXCAVATION WILL NOT UNDERMINE ADJACENT BUILDING)'

I know that, a while ago, Amacon (Vancouver developer) was looking to purchase that parcel in conjunction with the purchase of land on the 1100 block of Hope where they plan to develop a 28 story residential mixed/use. my memory is a little hazy on this one, but I believe it's something to that effect.
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  #233  
Old Posted Sep 23, 2007, 12:29 PM
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The issue here isn't just big business stepping on smaller mom-and-pops. It's about density (or lack of it in DTLA for that matter), and underutilized parking lots that operate successfully in a suburban paradigm, but not in an urban area where businesses usually rely more on pedestrian foot traffic, not park-and-shop customers like what you'd find for a big-box.

This is the caveat I mentioned many, many times before about the danger of marketing the new, residential experience in DTLA as about "THE VIEWS." Because when many suburbanites (many from Manhattan transplanted to LA who forget immediately what urbanism is about) decide to buy a place because some real estate agent sells them on the views, they'll do everything they can to protect those views and assume inaccurately that living with parking lots below their "lofts in the sky" will retain, and even INCREASE, their property values in the long-run, just as long as they have their precious parking. *vomit*

When the marketing never materializes into the fun, walkable, urban downtown LA, people will start to wonder what the heck is going on. What they'll realize is that parking lots don't work, and taller buildings (high density) with effective mass transit does work. Businesses like Bishop rely on customers who walk in from other residential complexes. However, as you can see from this picture below, the South Park Lofts (where Bishop Coffee was located) is surrounded by a sea of parking lots! What an ugly sight! And can you believe there are those who live in the Sky Lofts who may contest any tower built around it because it "blocks" their views? LOL

It has very little to do with Ralphs putting Bishop Coffee out of business, and everything to do with the lack of infill in a sea of parking lots, which surrounds Bishop. Anyone who has ever walked by there knows it's not the most pleasant experience at the moment. If you think about it, there are other coffee shops nearby that will hardly be negatively affected by Ralphs opening to great success. Mainly because they are located in areas that are already "infilled-in" and are dense enough to support multiple retail operations. If anything, most people in DTLA would be very willing to support mom-pops if Bishop was located in the right area conducive to pedestrians.




http://www.latimes.com/business/la-m...ck=1&cset=true
From the Los Angeles Times


Coffee shop ground down by new Ralphs
Bishop's was the toast of downtown loft dwellers but got filtered out after an upscale supermarket opened nearby.
By Bob Pool
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 22, 2007

It's a friendly, laid-back place -- a cozy hole in the wall where locals can gather to sip latte and share neighborhood gossip.

But the talk Friday at the tiny Bishop coffee shop in downtown Los Angeles was about how gentrification can send a business soaring. And then turn around and slam it straight into the ground.

That's what happened to the Bishop, which closed its doors Friday night -- a victim of its neighborhood's success.

The 300-square-foot shop opened two years ago in a landmark building at 816 S. Grand Ave. that was being converted from a parking garage into 49 trendy lofts.

The building's leasing agent, Suze Lewis, was so impressed with the revitalization of the 83-year-old beaux-arts building and the character of newcomers moving in that she rented part of its ground floor and turned it into the coffee shop.

The future seemed bright: More lofts and luxury apartments were opening nearby, and a Ralphs grocery store planned for the neighborhood was certain to draw more people to the area.

The long-awaited supermarket opened July 20. And the bottom fell out for Lewis and her shop.

"When I walked into Ralphs for the first time, half of me said, 'This is the coolest thing.' The other half of me said, 'Uh-oh,' " she said. "I had no idea they were going to be so upscale."

Besides groceries, the market a block away from her shop had a coffee bar, a sushi bar, a salad bar, a full deli, a sandwich counter and an Asian food bar. Within weeks, the new 50,000-square-foot Fresh Faire outlet had become one of Ralphs' top stores, doing a reported $1 million in business weekly.

Lewis' business immediately dropped by half, to about 100 patrons a day buying a cup of coffee or tea, or a sandwich or a salad.

So on Friday she spent the day saying goodbye to the customers who had stayed.

"This place has been amazing. It had become an institution," said Janessa Anderson, a music production company hospitality manager who lives in a loft above the Bishop.

"People who came here were like family," Anderson said.

Elaine Liu, a fashion design student whose apartment is across the street from Lewis' shop, said she first met people who have become her closest friends while sitting at the Bishop's small sidewalk tables.

"Here you want to sit and talk," Liu said. "Suze was one of the first 'family' members that I met when I moved to L.A."

Nursing his last coffee from Bishop's, Andrew Somerville called the tiny shop -- lined with shelves of used paperback books that Lewis set up as a "trading library" -- his second home.

"It just seems a crying shame that a place like this is closing," said Somerville, who lives in Inglewood and works downtown as an environmental noise consultant.

Barista Anthony Swindell, who is one of three Bishop employees, said he saw the end coming the first week Ralphs opened.

"I don't have any animosity. I understand the harsh realities of capitalism," he said. "But it's hard to see big business come in and destroy mom-and-pop businesses like this."

Visiting New Yorker Chris Bunatta, a musician and disc jockey who frequently travels here, said tiny shops like Lewis' add much to a city.

"A place like this brings soul, and L.A. doesn't have much of that. I'll be very curious to walk back through here three years from now and see what this place has become," Bunatta said.

"But I'm totally in love with Ralphs," he confessed. "It's a high-end experience. L.A.'s got us beat on that."

bob.pool@latimes.com
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Last edited by LosAngelesBeauty; Sep 23, 2007 at 12:50 PM.
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  #234  
Old Posted Sep 24, 2007, 5:01 AM
RAlossi RAlossi is offline
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I didn't want to start a new thread for this, but since it's related to Downtown LA, I want to mention that fridayinla is joining the Downtown blog I started a little over a year ago, angelenic.com, as a contributor/blogger.

It's tough keeping a blog updated with just one person, and I think his unique perspective (and serious photography skills) will add a lot. We're hoping angelenic will become a large source of information for those interested in Downtown in the future.

We're both really active in Downtown and the forums, so we invite you all to check out the blog and see what's going on.

More on that here.
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  #235  
Old Posted Sep 24, 2007, 10:55 PM
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The newly renovated Orchid Hotel at 819 Flower St. recently reopened for business. Customer satisfaction seems to be much higher now than it was before the renovation.


From Flickr, by fridayinla


From Flickr, by orchidla


From Flickr, by orchidla


From Flickr, by orchidla


From Flickr, by orchidla


From Flickr, by orchidla
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  #236  
Old Posted Sep 26, 2007, 5:55 PM
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LACityRat LACityRat is offline
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Frank Robinson Building . . .

Quote:
Originally Posted by marc samuel View Post
Hey I have a question...
I live in Flower Street Lofts, and next door there is the Frank Robinson building with scaffolding on it. Does anyone know what's happening over there? I'm just curious. Also, it is really nice to have a website like this to fill residents in on what is happening. Hope everyone is doing great.
I sold the building to the current owner several years ago. He is tearing it down and making it a parking lot. That said, the site is a prime development site for a tower, so don't think it will remain a parking lot forever.
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  #237  
Old Posted Sep 26, 2007, 9:33 PM
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parking lot... NOO WAY !!!!
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  #238  
Old Posted Sep 27, 2007, 11:27 AM
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^ As long as LA continues to delay a master plan for an extensive rail system that actually becomes practical to pedestrians on a daily basis, cars will continue to be the preferred mode of transit - even as traffic continues to worsen in the entire region. People are literally obsessed with parking (I once knew a guy who rejected buying into a condo project because of his fear of parking being lost down the future!) and that obsession for cars and parking translates into a lot of demand and a lot of money to be made!
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  #239  
Old Posted Sep 30, 2007, 7:14 PM
RAlossi RAlossi is offline
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The Hanover Tower/717 Olympic's green construction tarp is coming down:











More photos at angelenic here.
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  #240  
Old Posted Oct 3, 2007, 10:32 PM
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The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at the Market Lofts finally opened today. They were handing out some very tasty free samples when I walked by on my way to grab lunch at Ralph's...just a quick tidbit
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