Quote:
Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire
The effects of L.A.'s urbanization on those gates is sad...
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Clockwise: Wilshire east gate; Wilshire west; Olympic east, Olympic west. Not much can be done about Wilshire, but if the Fremont Place Association would be kind enough to do a little trimming around the motor and pedestrian gates on the Olympic side, we might have a feel of what these precincts looked like when first built. |
Re the "ubanization", the office and apartment buildings around the gates on the Wilshire side of Fremont Place didn't go up until the 1990's (I think it was). Before that the street frontage on both sides of Wilshire through this section was zoned R1 residential. However, there was always an expiration date on that. Developers bought the land up and sat on it, biding their time until the R1 zoning lapsed. That's why the land was undeveloped for decades and which is why it was (and still is) called the Park Mile.
Certain restrictions did apply to the finally-allowed development: no retail and minimal signage, together with a height limit. One building is taller than the others (it's to the west of the Wilshire east gate in your photo above). The LA Planning Dept approved that one by mistake, but the buildings went up so fast that there was no time to reverse the approval decision.
And Lord have mercy
GW, the Fremont Place Association isn't going to have the Olympic Blvd gates cleaned up. The overgrowth, together with the ugly tarps over the permanently-locked, chainlink swing gates between the pillars is there b/c Fremont Place types don't like their neighbors to the south. Fremont Place is purposefully trying to look anonymous and unwelcoming on their southern border. That's my take on it anyway.