Was the 80s the peak of the suburban era and the nadir of cities in the US?

[ChrisLA]

Originally Posted by LA21st

That's my guess too. People here like actually going out to these stores etc.

I wondered how independent retail was surving on Ventura even during the height of covid and I guess they still had enough people walking in.

There were some that bit the dust, but not as bad as some cities. My wife, son and I just wanted to get out of the house yesterday after being couped up for the last month with some sort of flu virus. We took the streets through the valley and made a 1 1/2 hour slow trip to Old Town Pasadena to pick up my favorite Espresso beans from the Urth Cafe. We came back and took Ventura Blvd from the east valley to our place in the west valley. I can’t recall not one stretch that was dark lacking business. Where there was some closures during the pandemic, those empty stores have now been replaced with new ones. Ventura Blvd was pretty well lit up and very open.