My definition of public space

Many public spaces in the center of a city have served to bring together all people of the city. Benjamin Barber, a writer for the well known magazine The Nation perfectly states the purpose of a public space by saying, “Entertainment and commerce are necessary and important, but they "work" because people are drawn into public spaces for other reasons: to play in the company of others, to watch one another and see others with fresh vision (here the fabulous red stairs atop the TKTS booth at Forty-seventh Street make a splendid start), to interact with strangers, to get out of private space and into common space.” (Barber) Also, the purpose of a public space should be to bring together a community. This idea stems from the article “If you build it, they will come” by Jay Walljasper. The article defines public space as a place to “meet, talk, sit, look, relax, play, stroll, flirt, eat, drink, smoke, people watch, read, soak in sunshine and feel part of a broader whole. They (public spaces) are the starting point for all community, commerce and democracy.” (Walljasper.) 

LA Live Observations

On Sunday February 10th from 1-2:15 pm, I went to observe LA Live as my chosen public place. Here is the website link to LA Live which describes itself as the most entertaining place on the planet on its website.

                                         LA Live at 1:30 pm Sunday, February 10th.

LA Live is located in Downtown LA which in the early 20th Century was filled with the elites. As WWII ended and the elite settled in Beverly Hills, Downtown began to deteriorate. In the 1980s though, the Downtown began to revitalize with businesses returning to LA and the US Bank building opened in 1989 which is the tallest building in Los Angeles. LA Live followed with Staples Center opening in 1999, the Espn Zone and Grammy Museum areas with the restaurants opening in the mid to late 2000s and the Ritz Carlton opening in 2010. LA Live is spread out with the Staples Center at the south end, the ice skating rink and upscale restaurants in the middle with the movie theater on the left and the planned football stadium on the northern end of LA Live. The funding  for LA Live was not from the city or even a local big business, the funding came from Wachovia, Anschutz Corp and Azteca which are big corporations from out of state and Anshcutz and Azteca are from Germany and Mexico respectively. Anschutz however owns many of other sports arenas around Los Angeles. Since these firms are not Los Angeles based, my assumption was that their focus was more on making money than improving the quality of life for Los Angeles, even though they seem to have improved the quality of Downtown LA at a first glance by transforming old warehouse and office space into LA Live.

When I visited LA Live last Sunday, it was not my first visit there. I have been to LA Live 4-5 times and they were all during the evening and the night instead of during the daytime. In the evening, I remember seeing an upscale crowd of people in their late 20s-early 30s which is not surprising because LA Live seemed to cater to that crowd. LA Live had many upscale restaurants and clubs which would appeal to younger people with money but since LA Live was loud and busy, it would not be appealing to elderly upscale people who may prefer to stay in Beverly Hills where it is a bit quieter.

When I was at LA Live though, I noticed that not everyone was welcome in LA Live. I saw an African American man in old clothing sitting down next to a wall and a police officer walked by and said, "We have to keep everyone moving, you can't just stand around." I noticed how everyone in LA Live was moving and not standing around although a few people were sitting down outside of Starbucks and having lunch (but the plaza where the ice skating rink used to be which had benches was fenced off.) Even the advertisements were redundant above the plaza which repeated itself every ten seconds, as if it expected people to hurry by and not stay around for a cycle of advertisements.

Anyway though, I found it interesting how LA Live did not seem very accommodating for some people seeing how the officers wanted people to move quickly and the only seating area seemed to be near Starbucks. Should LA Live be more open to people? Also, should it have a real central location?

Insights into Californication

When I first chose "Californication," I mostly chose it based on the metaphors in the song and how I felt they would accurately describe the truth behind the California dream. While looking at the song though, I also noticed how sarcastic and ironic the song was which I liked because it made me laugh too while I was reading the lyrics. I also did not realize how the music video had metaphors similar to the song. For example, the music video had one of the band members swimming through an ocean with sharks and then magically landing in a convertible which seems to represent how quickly one can rise in California. Also, another aspect I did not realize when first writing the paper was how the lead singer Anthony Kiedis's personal history influenced the song. His Father moved to California to pursue an acting career but the California dream was unfufilled for him and even for Kiedis, it took him eight years to finally rise in the charts with his 1991 hit "Under the Bridge." Overall, I liked all the insights of "Californication" and how it shined new light on the California dream.