Quote:
Originally Posted by MplsTodd
Over the years I've really come to love Los Angeles and Southern California. Back in '80s and '90s, I wasn't as keen on it, as the older commercial strips appeared faded and the numerous downtowns (LA, Pasadena, Santa Monica) seemed pretty quiet, while the energy seemed to be in places like Irvine and Newport Beach.
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It's true, back then downtown Santa Monica, Pasadena had a lot of old mom and pop stores that didn't interest the masses it they were quiet. I wouldn't say downtown LA was quiet, as Broadway Avenue was very busy with pedestrians, in fact more back then than now. It wasn't an area visited so much by the middle-class residents, but believe me it was busy and choked full of buses and gridlock traffic, but again most of the clientele was either Latinos, or African Americans. Even the movie theaters were still running the latest shows, although the majority had gone Spanish.
At that time none of these area had a busy nightlife. For those who hung out in the city of LA, Westwood was the hangout spot, they even shut down the streets in that area because the crowds were so big during this era. The other areas was the Sunset Set strip, and even Hollywood Blvd drew large crowds, although each catered to different types of people. Westwood drew people from all over, (Whites, Blacks, Latinos) including tourist but it was also a huge draw for the college crowd. Hollywood Blvd on the other hand was for the biker crowd, Sunset Strip was the hard rockers with the long hair and very tight pants.
South Bay (Redondo, Manhattan, and Hermosa Beach) was quite busy as well and attracted the beach party crowd. Honestly I didn't even know much about Newport Beach back then, but I think most folks in LA County didn't venture too much into Orange County, even today they still don't.