Downtown Los Angeles

It is almost as if an apocalyptic event happened in downtown, not so long ago, but it’s over now, and people are finally coming out of hiding to greet the sun. The street population is thin, but the infrastructure is there--wide sidewalks, stately buildings, and a steep one-block trolley ride--all signs of a once-bustling downtown. One can imagine the Los Angeles of the ‘20s and ‘30s, like many American cities of the time, as a vibrant place filled with energy.

But Los Angeles is not any American city. In fact, I have never been to another city like Los Angeles. With the arrival of the automobile, and the expansive spider-web of freeways that followed, the region has become a vast metropolis built on the low-density model. Skyscrapers do dot the landscape, but they share it with single-family homes with yards and pools, shopping malls and strip malls. Even the Santa Monica Mountains bisect Los Angeles. This construction of freeways and tract housing left downtown nearly abandoned.

Downtown is being reborn, and it is once again a vital and growing part of the city. Downtown is now one of the most important cultural centers in Los Angeles, home to the MOCA, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a booming gallery district. In 2004, Galley Row was born.

Art Walk, an event in downtown that happens every month, brings thousands of Los Angelenos to Downtown, so many people that the pedestrian scene almost feels like New York. It is an exciting event, and the artistic energy is almost palpable. As the low-density model becomes less popular, and more people and artists move into the newly converted loft spaces, downtown may once again be the beating heart of this vast landscape.