New park in downtown Los Angeles inspires grand hopes: Officials envision the renovated space stretching from the Music Center to City Hall as a draw for both nearby residents and the region. Experts says it’s an open question whether Grand Park will be widely embraced.
Downtown’s other open space about a mile south offers a cautionary tale for Grand Park. Pershing Square was redesigned with much fanfare more than two decades ago in an effort to attract more users with a dramatic tower fountain and other amenities. But the park is generally considered a dud, and the city has been talking about another redesign.
Officials said they’ve learned their lesson from Pershing Square — Grand Park has more grass and green space, and it can host a wider variety of events.
Photo: Grand Park, as seen from the top of City Hall, has been likened to a “green room” in the middle of downtown Los Angeles. Credit: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times
“Overlooking a parking lot at the busy intersection of 2nd and Hill streets, the three papier-mache deer have opened eyes to an unattended grassy slope overshadowed by the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Stanley Mosk Courthouse,” Rosanna Xia reports.
Photo: The deer sculpture at 2nd and Hill Streets. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times
… And here’s some more information on the artists!
Street art ‘sunbathers’ draw double-take in downtown L.A.: The life-size guerrilla art installation on Broadway between 1st and 2nd streets in downtown Los Angeles has been drawing attention since Tuesday, when it mysteriously appeared.
Photo: Mannequin sunbathers lay out their towels and beach chairs in a dirt pit on Broadway and 1st Street in downtown Los Angeles. Credit: Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times
test reblogged from latimes
Street art ‘sunbathers’ draw double-take in downtown L.A.: The life-size guerrilla art installation on Broadway between 1st and 2nd streets in downtown Los Angeles has been drawing attention since Tuesday, when it mysteriously appeared.
Photo: Mannequin sunbathers lay out their towels and beach chairs in a dirt pit on Broadway and 1st Street in downtown Los Angeles. Credit: Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times
Since you guys seem to like Brian van der Brug’s gorgeous aerial photo of Dodger Stadium with downtown in the background, we’ve uploaded it here at 800 pixels wide. You’re welcome!
A vibrant voice chronicles the renaissance of downtown L.A.: The human cyclone known as Ed Fuentes — photographer, muralist, blogger and more — cherishes the area’s history as much as its emerging arts community.
Photo: Andrea Alonso, a student at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, conducts a video interview about Los Angeles murals with Ed Fuentes. Credit: Larry Harnisch / Los Angeles Times
Downtown L.A. building set to go from drug den to luxury inn: A former insurance salesman and his partners plan to transform a boarded-up apartment house they bought last year near Staples Center into a hotel with as many as 60 rooms.
Photo: The developers hope to preserve the exterior brick walls while gutting and rebuilding the rest of the structure into an inn with 45 to 60 rooms, depending on how high they are allowed to build. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times
A peculiar parking pattern: Columnist Steve Lopez stakes out 4th Street and discovers that a high number of cars parked at downtown L.A. meters carry disabled placards that let owners park for free.
Photo: DMV investigators collect a disabled placard from a motorist during a sting in Beverly Hills in April. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times
LAPD botched use of downtown crime cameras: The failures kept a series of skid row stabbings from being recorded, officials admit. Some surveillance units are broken while others were never hooked up, records show.
Photo: An LAPD surveillance camera at Winston and Wall streets. Many cameras are broken or have never even been hooked up. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times
For downtown cyclists, this green also means go: The bright green bicycle lane on Spring Street is aimed at reducing collisions and to help cyclists feel safer navigating downtown Los Angeles.
This is good to know for drivers:
Motorists wanting to turn into a driveway on the bike-lane side of the street should turn from their lane, not the bike or parking lane, after yielding to cyclists, Fremaux said. Those who want to make right turns should stay in the vehicular lane until near the intersection, where there are breaks in the bicycle lane, and use recently implemented right-turn lanes, he said.
Photo: Above, Darryl Strucke, left, and Alvin Pegues of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation help paint a bright green bicycle lane along Spring Street in downtown L.A. The 1.5-mile-long lane will run from Cesar Chavez Avenue to 9th Street. “Thank you, guys, I love you!” yelled cyclist Susanna Schick as she rode past. “You’re making my commute to work a lot safer.” Credit: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times
Spotted this morning: Firing up new bike lanes near The Times building downtown. Cool!
Photo credit: Los Angeles Times Tumblr
Police have begun arresting protesters who had linked arms and set up tents, blocking an intersection in the heart of the downtown Los Angeles financial district. The protesters ignored a police order to disperse from the intersection.
Photo: Occupy protesters block the intersection at Figueroa and 4th streets. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
Formerly homeless, they know whereof they speak: Residents of apartments operated by the Skid Row Housing Trust studied storytelling, learned public speaking — all with the aim of sharing what it’s really like to be living on the street.
Theresa Winkler said she got back 11 years when she found her way off the streets. She’d been on her own since she was 12 — a prostitute and an addict. She was living in a bush without money to buy a cigarette when she decided she might as well head downtown.
She found the Skid Row Housing Trust, which began to find her help — starting with locating her birth records. She’d thought she was 53. The records showed she was 42.
Photo: Residents of the Skid Row Housing Trust share their stories of hardship and homelessness before an audience at the Last Bookstore at 5th and Spring streets in downtown Los Angeles. Credit: Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times
Oh, cool. The L.A. Metro Research Library is on Tumblr!
Broadway- late 1940s. Look North on Flickr.
Los Angeles
test reblogged from usclibraries
Downtown L.A. becomes a stage for protest and performance art: Occupy Los Angeles, inspired by Occupy Wall Street, sets up camp at City Hall. Meanwhile, the Trespass Parade makes its way through downtown L.A. with dancers, demonstrators and musicians.
Photo: Tony Rodriguez at L.A. City Hall. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times
