LOS ANGELES | METRO Project Rundown 2.0 (non-downtown)

[mdiederi]

What are these things on the side of the new wing at LACMA?



A couple more shots of the building.





Kind of looks like a department store

[202_Cyclist]

pesto--

But I'm greedy: ban all billboards unless they are neon or digital (or submit the issue of billboards to district by district votes).

These are exactly the billboards that are most distracting and most dangerous to drivers. I haven't given the issue of billboards any particular thought but the absurdity of them is amazing. With all of the attention, rightly, on distracted driving, billboards are anomaly. We don't want people to eat their cheeseburger and talk on their blackberry while driving on the 405. Billboards should be no different. The explicit purpose of them is to get the attention of drivers and passengers and to advert their view from the road ahead to the advertisement. This is an issue that is looked at with greater priority now that the risks of distracted driving are becoming so clear.

[pesto]

Safety is a legitimate concern but I don't think we want Moscow or Warsaw, circa 1980: mile after mile of plain cement buildings with no ads or store identifications. I don't think you are arguing for getting rid of Times Sq. or Picadilly, etc.? Or maybe you are. Freeways are probably a bigger concern due to the higher speeds and potential sudden changes of speed.

In any event, I am only arguing on aesthetic grounds: neon and digital signs can add to the aesthetics of an area (especially at night, obviously). Billboards don't (at least not any aesthetics that I care for).

[colemonkee]

So I had lunch at Craft in Century City today (excellent food, if not a tad overpriced), and there was serious excavation happening in the lot across the street on the corner of Century Park West and Constellation. I know there were a pair of 40-ish story condo towers proposed for that site a few years ago, but I assumed that they had gone by the wayside. The excavation going on is across the majority of the site and rather deep - 2-3 stories at least. Anyone know what's going on there?

[mdiederi]

[KarLarRec1]

cole: Don't get too excited. My office looks directly down onto the big dirt hole across from Craft. Nothing new has been going on since the fall of 2007 when I moved into that office. It's a big hole with no activity.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

Originally Posted by mdiederi

That looks like an old picture of the William Morris Talent Agency in Beverly Hills...

[colemonkee]

Originally Posted by KarLarRec1

cole: Don't get too excited. My office looks directly down onto the big dirt hole across from Craft. Nothing new has been going on since the fall of 2007 when I moved into that office. It's a big hole with no activity.

There was a bulldozer moving earth and I spotted at least 4 construction pickups and several construction workers milling about at around 2:00 p.m. yesterday.

[colemonkee]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

That looks like an old picture of the William Morris Talent Agency in Beverly Hills...

Is that what's going up on the corner of Wilshire and Robertson?

[mdiederi]

Right location, wrong building. Don't know the name of the building, but it will be a four-story office building. The site always looked stalled when I moved here in June. But there are steel workers there now.

[Steve2726]

Originally Posted by mdiederi

What are these things on the side of the new wing at LACMA?

Those are the air handlers for the HVAC. They will eventually be painted bright red, to match the stairs going up the side of BCAM.

[colemonkee]

Another verbal (Kint) update as my camera is still out of commission. The first station canopies along the Expo Line have started popping up at Exposition and Western. I'll wait to reserve final judgement until they are complete, but my initial reaction is that they are uninspired to be generous. The Yellow Line station canopies in Little Tokyo are much better, IMO.

[JDRCRASH]

You mean Gold Line.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

Another verbal (Kint) update as my camera is still out of commission.

Hehe is that a Keyser Söze reference?

[colemonkee]

^ Indeed it is, sopas. You're right on top of my random pop culture references.

Good lookin' out, JDR, you are correct. I meant the Gold Line, not the Yellow Line. Which, if you see in the snow, you should not eat.

[BrandonJXN]

From Curbed:

Hammer, hammer: Another possible new building for Wilshire Boulevard. The Larchmont Chronicle reports that the Land Use Committee of the Mid City West Community Council OK'd plans for developer Hanover's 21-story residential and mixed-use tower on Wilshire Blvd, sending it to a neighborhood council for a vote on Jan. 12th. The final EIR is expected to be released later this month.

Btw..this will rise on Wilshire and Cresent Heights. One block east of Fairfax.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

^ That's great! Preparing for the demand that will exist for dense housing once the Fairfax subway station is completed.

Also, I found this on Loopnet:



It's located at 1030 N Alvarado near the Taix French restaurant.

[pesto]

Great news on the Crescent Hts. building. It has a bit of a "snapped together from little pieces" look, and the colors remind me of the old Glendale Federal building in Glendale, but I won't complain. It's high-rise and at transit.

The Alvarado building looks like a real beauty; a bit of a European look. WeHo and lots of other neighborhoods could profit from this kind of look.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

^ That's great! Preparing for the demand that will exist for dense housing once the Fairfax subway station is completed.

Also, I found this on Loopnet:



It's located at 1030 N Alvarado near the Taix French restaurant.

Now that is the kind of infill we need in LA on commercial streets!

[Infernal_Elf]

thanks for all the cool project and proposals Downtown Charlie Brown really cool.

intresting to se both highrise development and lower buildings in the future plans for Los Angeles