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?
I liked your choice of LA Live since it's such a diverse area with a lot of activities and places to eat. Your observation of the officer asking the man with old clothes to leave is a good example that shows how restricted the area can be
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed that you selected a place you were familiar with, but had this chance to look at it with a fresh pair of eyes. Your memory of seeing staff catering to upscale crowds was most likely apparent to you this time because of our class discussions. Nice work!
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