Of course I can remember when it was just a pup. Has something changed?

We might all be pleasantly surprised by the next decade. With ten new skyscrapers downtown it's hard to gauge the spillover affects.

It's the hood. I used to go there after school when I went to Washington High Shool back in 2001-2003 and it was a little shady but fine. Nowadays the mall is full of brand x shops, airbrush kiosks, really the same crap you find at Desert Sky/Westridge. There are videos of youtube of people brawling in the food court, it's the carjacking capital of Arizona, and it's just an awful place. Comp USA, Trader Joe's, and everything else in that plaza to the west moved out years ago, the plaza to the south is struggling, and the mall looks like it's in shambles. Maybe I'm snobby, but when I pull into a place and the parking lot is full of weeds and potholes, it's an obvious sign that they are having trouble paying for maintenance.

Sad, truly, since I have so many good memories there. The girl I was dating at the time worked in that Paradise Bakery and I'd go get cookies and walk around being bastard teenagers with my idiot friends.

RIP My Friend
 

With the announcement of legendary Blues singer Etta James passing and as a casual but long time Blues fan, I was temped to go down to "Char's Has The Blues" on 7th Avenue.
Opening in 1985, I used to hang here in 1986/87 when I spent some extended time in Phoenix.

Nice to see it's still cookin' up some Blues. http://www.charshastheblues.com/

A tribute to an Urban classic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...v=LsSS9VcMidA#!

why is that development news?

At least he didn't post more 5 year old happy cartoons about how fun reading is.

Well.

I like to lurk around different City Development forums and couldn't help but notice that there seems to be an argument about L.A. going on in this one. phxSUNSfan seems very, very misinformed. Now, as someone who actually lives in Los Angeles, I think that I have a better idea of how it works then he does.

First off, phxSUNSfan seems to really hate decentralized cities. Ummm... why? I rather love them. Tokyo, for example, is extremely decentralized, and still manages to be an urban mecca. Actually, most of the very dense Asian and South American cities are decentralized. L.A. is very Asian and South American in its culture, so it makes sense that the city itself would follow suit. Even New York is decentralized, though to a lesser extent. Midtown and Downtown are two separate CBDs, not to mention all the new CBD popping up over in the Hudson Yards area. Seems pretty decentralized to me.


Well, don't tell that to L.A. L.A. has more subway/light rail construction right now then any other city in the United States does. Two lines are under construction right now, two more will start within the year, and another (the Purple Line extension, a full subway) will start the year after that. In fact, in 40 years, the L.A. Metro should look like this:

http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/w...ransit-Map.jpg

Looks like a pretty good metro system to me....

This is the most common misconception about L.A. Downtown Los Angeles has 55,000 residents, with a median income of $83,000. There are dozens of high-end botiques, uncountable restaurants, two movie theaters, multiple playhouses, nightclubs, bookstores, barbershops, art stores, galleries, and more. Maybe in the 90s, which to me seems like the last time you visited L.A., Downtown was empty. Now? Well, I only started going to downtown a few years ago, and have never seen it empty. Literally, hipsters everywhere, which is not a bad thing.

[QUOTE=TakeFive;5549072]Whether L.A. Live is downtown is a debate I'll leave to others /QUOTE]

From a technical standpoint, it is. Downtown is defined as the area in the middle of two freeways and the L.A. river. L.A. Live is in that area. However, some might say it is separated from downtown due to the parking lots between South Park and the Financial District. This is true, but there is always new development filling the parking lots in. For example, this March, a 22 story hotel will break ground next to L.A. Live, filling in a parking lot and bringing L.A. Live closer to the rest of downtown from an urban fabric standpoint.

This will never change, yet it has nothing to do with smog or cars. This is because L.A. is a basin, making it hard for smoke to escape. Even hundreds of years ago, the Native American tribes used to call L.A. the 'valley of smoke' because the smoke from all the campfires they had would stay in the valley.

Should have 500,000 riders? Not really. The subway only goes from Downtown to Hollywood, and the rest of the rail only goes to East L.A. At the moment, the Metro doesn't enter the most densely populated part of L.A., the Westside. With that in mind, the amount of riders we are getting is pretty great. And, as the map has shown above, the fact that the Metro doesn't enter the Westside will be remedied soon.


That's about all I will do to defend L.A. You folks can come to your own conclusions.

Peace.

Guilty... Weekend filler?
Ever been to Char's?

EDIT: (after Nuggets win 2OT thriller over Knicks at the Gawden)

It was/is my intent to mothball this creative phase. I only posted this b/c
1. It has been SOOO slow here of late
2. But more importantly "it" made me recall some "good times" I'd had at Char's. Doing a quick Google check, I see that it has gotten lots of love from Phoenix New Times and from the Yelp crowd - etc.
Still around after 25 years comes close to making it an Urban Legend. It reminds a bit of the great Dive Bar in Denver called El Chapultepec.

Fair question: Apologies.... Here's to a new year with new cranes.


http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...ra4u/Sleep.gif

Thanks for your well crafted post and opinion.

Many cities suffer from being in a basin or valley including Phoenix and Denver.

TransportPolitc is an excellent site, I enjoy it.

Personal Discovery
 

Speaking of excellent web sites, perhaps some are already familiar, even though time is typically squeezed, this appears to be very well done, a site that I just discovered.

It's called Project for Public Spaces. ... http://www.pps.org/

TakeFive, do me a favor and post those random things in the Coffee Talk thread. :) All of the cross talk lately is clouding up what *should* be a Phoenix development news forum.

In the spirit of which, did anyone know Downtown has another tower crane up? :9

Lofts at McKinley... it's starting to be a nice addition to the corner. Unfortunately it's a mini westward ho. At least the Circle K's will enjoy the new customers.

http://emvis.net/~sean/ssp/projects/.../20120122a.jpg

http://emvis.net/~sean/ssp/projects/.../20120122b.jpg

The construction company is posting regular photo updates on their website:

http://tofelconstruction.com/LoftsMc...sMcKinley.html

Metrocenter for $12.2 million? Now that was a firesale if there ever was one. LOL.

I haven't been to a mall in many months, maybe even a year. They do nothing for me.

--don

Well unfortunately in Arizona if you want any designer stuff you have to go to one. I wish old town had been developed as a shopping district like Beverly hills rather than a mall.

Nice pics of the new crane! Thanks Combusean!!!

It wasn't for the whole mall, just most of the smaller stores, none of the anchors or food court or theaters.

nobody in their right mind goes to Metrocenter.. everything you need is at Fashion Square

There is a Dillard's clearance store with some incredible deals if you look for them. You won't find that at Fashion Square.

-Someone clearly not in his right mind

Never been to the Scottsdale Fashion Mall, if I'm lucky I never will go.

Agreed.

I can't afford to breath the air in Scottsdale Fashion Square. Plus I hate getting in and out of there. Goodwill is my store of choice these days. Maybe a sale rack at Ross, otherwise I don't do malls, period.

I recently received an update on the happenings on the dirt lot between My Florist and 5th Ave. The site plan showed that there would be two new restaurant pads and parking.

The developer has apparently told the Willo neighbors that until it acquires funding, there will be a grassy area where the buildings will "eventually" go. So if you were one of the people who guessed that this lot would be parking, you get a gold star for now.

According to this article, the sale was for the entire mall, except for three anchor stores:

http://www.azcentral.com/business/re...hows-woes.html

....Metrocenter's $12.2 million sale price represents a fraction of the mall's peak value and reflects the recent difficulties mall operators have faced keeping the retail project viable. Two of the mall's anchor spaces have been vacant for years, and the Dillard's department store now sells only clearance merchandise. The sale did not include three anchor-store spaces occupied by Sears, Macy's and Dillard's, each of which is independently owned, Hackett said.

Metrocenter has been in decline for several years, but in recent months, the retail-intensive area surrounding the mall has experienced a rebirth of sorts. Retail establishments including In-N-Out, Texas Roadhouse, Raising Cane's and QuikTrip have opened in recent months in the area immediately surounding the mall. Those ventures have performed well, Hackett said, a sign that a properly repositioned Metrocenter could succeed....

--don