What do we think is going to be the future of Downtown LA post pandemic?

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by ChrisLA

I was a bit sad about a year ago when I went downtown for the first time since the pandemic. I’ll admit I was surprised how bad the homeless/mentally ill problem had gotten out of hand.during the height of the pandemic. This coming from someone who isn’t shocked by much because I grew up poor back in the late 70’s. In hi school my daily commute to my high school in the valley was transferring buses at 5:30 am in downtown LA. I would exit the bus at fifth and Main Street and then walk over to eight Street to Olive Avenue and each day I would pass right by the Tower Theatre now the new Apple store.

If you know downtown than you know I would pass homeless people on my route to the next bus. So again a lot does not shock me but last year I was in shock and sad by what I seen. Thankfully I didn’t have my 5 year old son with me. Now fast forward to 7-8 months ago and my son and I went downtown and visited the new Apple Store and it was a big difference and I was pleasantly surprised how quickly the changes occurred. It’s has not bounced back to pre-Covid days but it sure was busy and I felt safe enough to walk around and push my son in the stroller. Still I can see someone like destroyecreate (formely La Jolla?) feeling a bit uneasy because he grew up in a very different environment (upper Middle-Class) and perhaps not as used to such conditions. I certainly don’t blame him, I wouldn’t want to see what he described and certainly wouldn’t want to walk down the streets and see feces or drug addicts outside my door.

Overall I see downtown getting back on track and suspect it will bounce back, as it can be seen all around there.

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

This, my friends, is gaslighting.

I agree with DestroyCreate. You mentioned a few posts back that nobody agrees with him, which is incorrect. I agree, and so does LA Sports Fan, and ChrisLA. I know my opinion doesn’t count, probably due to xenophobic ideas that non-natives don’t get an opinion.

Just because you are blindly prideful doesn’t mean you are the owner of the truth. In fact, it seems like you proudly own and promote falsehoods.

They don't agree with it's on every block.

Nobody does.

You should read their posts again. Chrisla said things have gotten better, destroycreate is taking about 2020.
And show me exactly where the horrors of downtown are exactly, outside of skid row.

Details matter.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by slock

Here's a Bloomberg national report from today on downtown LA recovery.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...?sref=h99jI6Xv

Thanks for linking to that article, which highlights relevant statistics about the future of downtown:

*Downtown added 16,000 residential units in the last decade, nearly doubling the housing stock there

*There are currently 4,700 apartments under construction downtown

*Downtown rents are up 16% since this time last year

*Downtown residential vacancies have dropped to 6.2%, from 14% in mid-2020.

*The Southern California Association of Governments forecasts the population of downtown "will more than double to 200,000 by 2040 from roughly 83,000 today."

When I add up all those facts reported by Bloomberg, I see a pretty optimistic outlook; downtown LA may well become known and experienced regionally as a significant, high-density residential area as well as a major business district with a sprinkling of retail like Macy's, Apple, etc. In the not-so-distant past, downtown was notable explicitly for its near total lack of a residential population.

[dktshb]

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

This, my friends, is gaslighting.

I agree with DestroyCreate. You mentioned a few posts back that nobody agrees with him, which is incorrect. I agree, and so does LA Sports Fan, and ChrisLA. If you don’t want to include my opinion, due to xenophobia, discounting my view as a non native born Angelino or American, fine.

Just because you are blindly prideful doesn’t mean you are the owner of the truth. In fact, it seems like you proudly own and promote falsehoods. The facts don’t lie, LA has a gigantic homeless problem and homicide has grown for two years in a row. If you chose to deny science, math, and logic- that is on you.

Yes the homeless problem is huge. Although downtown LA has seen lots of new exciting growth and attractions the problem related to the homeless population is so much worse now than it was 10-15 years ago. Anyone who claims it isn't a problem that is dire is fooling themselves. I still go downtown when I am in LA but it is never without an encounter with some homeless people at some point. I have never been concerned for my safety, but it is just frustrating. It just makes an otherwise enjoyable experience less so. I feel bad for the poor tourists. You really have to know where to navigate downtown not to endure these encounters. When I was in Boston I did not come across any homeless people. 4 days in Manhattan and I can count on one hand how many homeless people I saw. LA and San Francisco should be no different.

[Trae]

Originally Posted by ChrisLA

I was a bit sad about a year ago when I went downtown for the first time since the pandemic. I’ll admit I was surprised how bad the homeless/mentally ill problem had gotten out of hand.during the height of the pandemic. This coming from someone who isn’t shocked by much because I grew up poor back in the late 70’s. In hi school my daily commute to my high school in the valley was transferring buses at 5:30 am in downtown LA. I would exit the bus at fifth and Main Street and then walk over to eight Street to Olive Avenue and each day I would pass right by the Tower Theatre now the new Apple store.

If you know downtown than you know I would pass homeless people on my route to the next bus. So again a lot does not shock me but last year I was in shock and sad by what I seen. Thankfully I didn’t have my 5 year old son with me. Now fast forward to 7-8 months ago and my son and I went downtown and visited the new Apple Store and it was a big difference and I was pleasantly surprised how quickly the changes occurred. It’s has not bounced back to pre-Covid days but it sure was busy and I felt safe enough to walk around and push my son in the stroller. Still I can see someone like destroyecreate (formely La Jolla?) feeling a bit uneasy because he grew up in a very different environment (upper Middle-Class) and perhaps not as used to such conditions. I certainly don’t blame him, I wouldn’t want to see what he described and certainly wouldn’t want to walk down the streets and see feces or drug addicts outside my door.

Overall I see downtown getting back on track and suspect it will bounce back, as it can be seen all around there.

Yeah I agree with this. It was way worse in 2020. It was so bad it felt pretty dystopian in LA from May 2020 until March/April 2021. Now perhaps me moving to South OC for a time changed my perception of LA so when I visited during the pandemic it was a true shocker. Going from well manicured boulevards you can land a 747 on to seeing new graffiti and homeless camps everywhere in places they weren't before was a shock.

But we went back to DTLA recently, to ironically help a friend move from there, and it was not nearly as bad as it was in 2020. Echo Park also was cleaned up a lot. I will say that brown LA Care office building looked absolutely trashed on the inside. I have no idea why it looked like it did from the freeway but it set a tone for sure.

So IMO LA is definitely better now than it was during most of 2020, but there is still this eeriness in the air to me. I can't quite put my finger on it while there but the feeling is just not the same. Maybe I'm getting older.

[craigs]

Yeah, I drove around downtown LA in early June of 2020 and it was truly apocalyptic--everything was boarded up tight, graffiti everywhere. To be fair, it was like that along Wilshire all the way to Santa Monica, too, and the whole city was empty--we made the drive from Northridge to Venice in like 30 minutes. Anyway, downtown is nowhere near that bad today.

[Quixote]

Well, one of the world’s coolest Apple stores opened up in the Tower Theatre, adjacent to a Vans flagship boutique. There are already well over 1,000 residential units within a block of the Apple Store, so no reason to believe it won’t be well patroned not just by customers but also spectators (see what I did there).

I didn’t know the NoMad had shuttered; that’s certainly disappointing, but not at all surprising. The good news is that the building itself has been fully restored after being in the works for seemingly a decade. If NoMad doesn’t reopen, then another hotelier will take its place once the travel industry picks up steam.

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by craigs

Yeah, I drove around downtown LA in early June of 2020 and it was truly apocalyptic--everything was boarded up tight, graffiti everywhere. To be fair, it was like that along Wilshire all the way to Santa Monica, too, and the whole city was empty--we made the drive from Northridge to Venice in like 30 minutes. Anyway, downtown is nowhere near that bad today.

Fast forward a year later to June 2021 (the last time I was actually “in” DT and not just passing through on my commute), and my experience couldn’t have been more different. I only visited the Arts District (so I can’t comment on other areas), but the nabe was absolutely hopping to the degree that parking was hard to find. It was a late Sunday afternoon and there were people of all races (mostly middle class and higher up the socioeconomic ladder) clearly enjoying themselves — eating, shopping, visiting Hauser Wirth, snapping photos in front of murals, whatever. I was shocked… in a good way, and I’m not providing this anecdote to “counter” the melancholy or doomy accounts of others. That was actually what I experienced the last time I was there.

[dktshb]

That is really too bad about the NoMad. Looks like Bottega louie reopened. Now if only the Korean Market will finally open and something replaces the NoMad then 7th street will be pretty solid.

It is a real shame skid row is right in the middle of downtown like the hole of a donut. It is recovering nicely from covid but the homeless issue will be a thorn. It would be nice if we could keep the homeless well south and east of Los Angeles Street.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by Quixote

Fast forward a year later to June 2021 (the last time I was actually “in” DT and not just passing through on my commute), and my experience couldn’t have been more different. I only visited the Arts District (so I can’t comment on other areas), but the nabe was absolutely hopping to the degree that parking was hard to find. It was a late Sunday afternoon and there were people of all races (mostly middle class and higher up the socioeconomic ladder) clearly enjoying themselves — eating, shopping, visiting Hauser Wirth, snapping photos in front of murals, whatever. I was shocked… in a good way, and I’m not providing this anecdote to “counter” the melancholy or doomy accounts of others. That was actually what I experienced the last time I was there.

The haters think the Arts District is a "island" even though it's right across Alameda st from Little Tokyo.
It's also the largest neighborhood in the downtown area, easily.

The arts district is basically going to become LA's west loop or Fulton market with all the proposed office space and residential midrises and highrises.

[Quixote]

Regarding Skid Row:

Construction begins for L.A.'s largest supportive housing development

19-story apartment tower will rise next-door to the Weingart Center

...

The more than $164-million project - which is being developed in partnership with Chelsea Investment Corporation - replaces a surface parking lot next door to the Weingart Center headquarters at 555 S. Crocker Street. Plans call for a 19-story high-rise featuring 278 studio and one-bedroom apartments, all of which would be reserved for formerly unhoused persons save for three market-rate manager's units.

...

Completion of the Weingart Center tower is expected in December 2023, according to a news release by Project Management Advisors. Residents will be identified through the Los Angeles Coordinated Entry System.

While the new construction may be the city's largest supportive housing development yet, it is not the last which Weingart Center has planned for the neighborhood. The non-profit is also partnering with Chelsea Investment on plans for a 12-story building on an abutting site (a 104-unit development scheduled to break ground in Summer 2022), as well as a second 19-story high-rise on a surface parking lot across 6th Street.

...

https://urbanize.city/la/post/constr...ng-development


$164 million to build 274 homeless housing units — that's at least 274 tents off the street. Meanwhile, Elon Musk made $37 billion in one day last October.

[Trae]

Originally Posted by craigs

Yeah, I drove around downtown LA in early June of 2020 and it was truly apocalyptic--everything was boarded up tight, graffiti everywhere. To be fair, it was like that along Wilshire all the way to Santa Monica, too, and the whole city was empty--we made the drive from Northridge to Venice in like 30 minutes. Anyway, downtown is nowhere near that bad today.

This is true. We went to an event at The Grove in 2020, and IIRC it was the week before the George Floyd incident kicked off the Summer of Love 2020, where they let you drive through the Grove and buy a hamburger for charity at the end from your car.

It was surreal being at The Grove on a 75F degree Saturday afternoon. I have some pics I took buried somewhere I'll find. There would usually be people almost shoulder to shoulder on a day like that, but all there was were the cars in line where shoppers normally would be, and a few random folks helping the drive.

We also promptly made it back to South OC from the Grove in like 45 minutes on a Saturday afternoon.

Originally Posted by Quixote

Fast forward a year later to June 2021 (the last time I was actually “in” DT and not just passing through on my commute), and my experience couldn’t have been more different. I only visited the Arts District (so I can’t comment on other areas), but the nabe was absolutely hopping to the degree that parking was hard to find. It was a late Sunday afternoon and there were people of all races (mostly middle class and higher up the socioeconomic ladder) clearly enjoying themselves — eating, shopping, visiting Hauser Wirth, snapping photos in front of murals, whatever. I was shocked… in a good way, and I’m not providing this anecdote to “counter” the melancholy or doomy accounts of others. That was actually what I experienced the last time I was there.

I think most people's "doomy accounts" were from going through there in 2020. There has definitely been a notable positive shift in the city since summer 2021 that ramped up in the Fall. I know some people there and yy favorite LA dispensary is also right there in the Arts (City Compassionate) so I go through that area sometimes. There is a lot going on and it's definitely more lively. People are done with lockdowns.

[BrandonJXN]

Why do people think that the Arts District is some barren ghost town completely separated from downtown?

[destroycreate]

Originally Posted by BrandonJXN

Why do people think that the Arts District is some barren ghost town completely separated from downtown?

Nobody thinks that it's a "barren wasteland" - but the reality it is a bit of an island. A narrow isthmus connecting it to Little Tokyo, and then the majority of it is surrounded by a lot of crap whether it's Skid Row or super industrial areas. I'd argue it's the nicest part of greater DTLA to live in, but it's a bitch to get to from most parts of the city, at least if you're coming from the west.

[Manitopiaaa]

Originally Posted by edale

You're right, the homeless are neatly contained to just Skid Row. Stupid me

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0571...7i16384!8i8192

They're way closer than that. My mom got into a spat with one at Grand Park just in front of City Hall because she walked too close to him (10 feet away). I guess he peed in that spot and that makes it his property or something. Some black mentally ill homeless guy in his 20s who started screaming at her.

Thankfully, she grew up in Panama City in the 1980s and isn't phased by violent ghetto trash, but the fact that the city allows those miscreants to terrorize innocent people all over Downtown is appalling.

Also, Little Tokyo is becoming a tent city now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZnBV4rr3wc

Japanese Village is still safe, but probably not for much longer.

Even pics of LA are now going viral on Reddit for the wrong reasons: https://www.reddit.com/r/interesting...eles_downtown/

Can the Irvine City Government just take control at this point? LA on its current trajectory will be a national embarrassment at the 2028 Olympics.

LA has a lot of potential, and could experience a New York 2010-2020 boom if it plays its cards right. But I have no confidence in the city government to get the city there.

[Manitopiaaa]

Originally Posted by Quixote

Regarding Skid Row:



https://urbanize.city/la/post/constr...ng-development


$164 million to build 274 homeless housing units — that's at least 274 tents off the street. Meanwhile, Elon Musk made $37 billion in one day last October.

This is a good first step, but $600,000 a unit is a massive grift, and you won't tackle this problem unless you decrease that amount by at least 90%. LA doesn't have $50 billion to house everyone in units that cost twice the average American home price.

Though I'm sure the homeless industrial complex will be celebrating at the French Laundry with all their profit.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by Manitopiaaa

They're way closer than that. My mom got into a spat with one at Grand Park just in front of City Hall because she walked too close to him (10 feet away). I guess he peed in that spot and that makes it his property or something. Some black mentally ill homeless guy in his 20s who started screaming at her.

Thankfully, she grew up in Panama City in the 1980s and isn't phased by violent ghetto trash, but the fact that the city allows those miscreants to terrorize innocent people all over Downtown is appalling.

Also, Little Tokyo is becoming a tent city now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZnBV4rr3wc

Japanese Village is still safe, but probably not for much longer.

Even pics of LA are now going viral on Reddit for the wrong reasons: https://www.reddit.com/r/interesting...eles_downtown/

Can the Irvine City Government just take control at this point? LA on its current trajectory will be a national embarrassment at the 2028 Olympics.

LA has a lot of potential, and could experience a New York 2010-2020 boom if it plays its cards right. But I have no confidence in the city government to get the city there.

You're going around youtube looking for tent videos? Are you ok? That video has 500 views. You must've looked real hard for that.

This video sums up most of Fairfax County though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-GrF87b82Q&t=10s

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by Manitopiaaa

This is a good first step, but $600,000 a unit is a massive grift, and you won't tackle this problem unless you decrease that amount by at least 90%. LA doesn't have $50 billion to house everyone in units that cost twice the average American home price.

Though I'm sure the homeless industrial complex will be celebrating at the French Laundry with all their profit.

They already cleared Venice boardwalk of tents. So you can stop looking for 2020 videos.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

Nobody thinks that it's a "barren wasteland" - but the reality it is a bit of an island. A narrow isthmus connecting it to Little Tokyo, and then the majority of it is surrounded by a lot of crap whether it's Skid Row or super industrial areas. I'd argue it's the nicest part of greater DTLA to live in, but it's a bitch to get to from most parts of the city, at least if you're coming from the west.

South Park is nicer than the arts district, but the arts district is second. South Park has more apartments, hotels, restaurants, grocery stores etc.
There's not many homeless either. Nothing scary. It's basically LA's south loop and the biggest in land area.
Anyone who says it's bad is completely full of shit.

[Manitopiaaa]

Originally Posted by LA21st

They already cleared Venice boardwalk of tents. So you can stop looking for 2020 videos.

The Little Tokyo video was from January 2, 2022, and was a 2-second search. You are way too defensive and in denial about LA's homeless problem. You must work for LA Tourism and have a vested interest in lying to people XD

And yes, homeless exist in Fairfax County. There's even more in Washington, D.C. shitting in parks, flashing children by wiping their ass in broad daylight, assaulting tourists, doing drugs casually at major metro stations.

The only one here who is afraid to admit reality is you. I'm well aware of Washington's warts and have gone to many protests against a city council that never met a criminal they didn't love.

If you truly loved your city, you'd be out there calling for change, not being an armchair warrior denying reality, as if you screaming "nope, doesn't exist" is more convincing than the hundreds of videos of Youtube of locals walking through the cesspool that much of LA has become.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by Manitopiaaa

The Little Tokyo video was from January 2, 2022, and was a 2-second search. You are way too defensive and in denial about LA's homeless problem. You must work for LA Tourism and have a vested interest in lying to people XD

And yes, homeless exist in Fairfax County. There's even more in Washington, D.C. shitting in parks, flashing children by wiping their ass in broad daylight, assaulting tourists, doing drugs casually at major metro stations.

The only one here who is afraid to admit reality is you. I'm well aware of Washington's warts and have gone to many protests against a city council that never met a criminal they didn't love.

If you truly loved your city, you'd be out there calling for change, not being an armchair warrior denying reality, as if you screaming "nope, doesn't exist" is more convincing than the hundreds of videos of Youtube of locals walking through the cesspool that much of LA has become.

I think its very strange you hunt youtube videos about tents. There's only more youtube videos about LA because LA is the center of social media influence. 500 views? I doubt it came up in 2 seconds.

If NOVA was, you'd see more videos about the weird shit there. But few people care about it.