What babies and dogs mean to Downtown L.A.

By Lara Warren

THE APPEARANCE OF BABIES AND DOGS CAN BE AN IMPORTANT SIGN—proof that a neighborhood is lively and flourishing. In downtown Los Angeles, the baby carriages and dogs are multiplying swiftly—a welcome sign for an area that, in the not-so-distant past, would have seemed an unthinkable place for the likes of children and pets.

“Every time I see someone walking a dog or pushing a baby carriage I pinch myself, because I never thought I’d live to see this day,” says Carol Schatz, president and CEO of the Central City Association and the Downtown Center Business Improvement District. Having lived and worked in downtown L.A. for more than 35 years, Schatz is helping spur its revitalization, which has taken off at an extraordinary pace over the last five years.

“We’re doing things to keep the babies here and to provide the dogs some nice green spaces to do their business,” she laughs. Downtown is even seeing pet boutiques opening up, she says. Babies and dogs—harbingers of change.

Urban Renewal
Downtown Los Angeles is in the midst of a renaissance, growing at a rate not seen for decades. This downtown rebirth was kick-started by the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance of 1999, which allowed vacant office and commercial spaces to be used residentially and creating nearly 10,000 housing units throughout downtown. As a result, the number of people living downtown has boomed from 13,000 residents in 1999 to more than 30,000 today—and the number is expected to rise to almost 40,000 by the end of this year.

The renaissance continued with the creation the most recognized symbols of downtown L.A.’s revitalization—STAPLES Center in 1999, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in 2002 and Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003.

“I think the downtown Los Angeles of today is completely different than the one that existed in the mid-’90s,” says Schatz. “Downtown L.A. was always the quintessential 9-to-5 downtown—people came to work here, and then they went home. If someone didn’t work downtown, then they just didn’t come here for anything. But today, there is a new vibrancy here. Downtown L.A. has become a destination in and of itself.”

Several new residential projects are under construction downtown, and there are many more proposed projects breaking ground in the near future. These projects, a mix of dense housing, retail and office spaces, will be located near mass transit hubs in an attempt to foster what is known as “smart growth.”

“There is a lot of talk about smart growth,” says Schatz. “Well, we’re living it downtown. More than 50 percent of downtown L.A.’s residents also work downtown—that is quintessential smart growth.” Smart growth is defined as planned development that minimizes urban sprawl by creating an environment in which cars aren’t needed and residents can walk or use mass transit easily and regularly.

The number of people working in downtown L.A. is expanding rapidly. With nearly half a million people working downtown at more than 12,500 businesses, the need for downtown housing has grown substantially. Downtown’s residential population—up 21 percent in just two years—is due largely to the fact that people simply want to live closer to where they work. Many downtown residents are finding that they rarely use their cars after moving downtown—an anomaly in a city like Los Angeles and proof that smart growth is indeed alive downtown.

An increase in residents brings an increased need for of amenities such as grocery stores, restaurants, pharmacies and coffee shops. Last summer saw the opening of Ralph’s Fresh Fare, the first supermarket to open in downtown L.A. in more than 50 years. Restaurants and shops are opening up in record numbers.

The biggest misconceptions about downtown, Schatz says, are that there is a high crime rate and widespread homelessness. On the contrary—crime is on the decrease in downtown, at its lowest rate in decades. Homelessness in downtown, which includes approximately 3,600 people living on or near the 50-block area known as Skid Row, has gone down in numbers as well. Downtown advocates say that much of that is due to increased resources for the homeless and 2006’s Safer City Initiative, which provided additional police officers downtown and improvements such as better lighting and security cameras.

The Changing Downtown Skyline
There are numerous projects underway or in the pipeline for downtown. Three of the most-talked about projects include The Grand, L.A. LIVE and Bringing Back Broadway. These three major developments will change the downtown skyline forever, becoming new icons of downtown L.A.

“It is exciting because in a few short years, downtown residents and visitors will be able to attend an opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, go to a rock concert at L.A. Live, go shopping and enjoy exquisite dining at The Grand all one weekend, all in downtown L.A.,” says Nicole Jasinskas of The Related Companies, developers of The Grand. “The different components of downtown are all now beginning to mesh and compliment one another to create a dynamic and desirable place to visit.”

The Grand Avenue Project, recently renamed The Grand, is a much-publicized project that will break ground in early 2009. Located on Grand Avenue across from Walt Disney Concert Hall on the corner of First Street and Grand Avenue, the development will feature luxury residences, world-class dining and specialty shops.

“The goal is to create a more vibrant, active and welcoming environment in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles,” says Jasinskas. The 3.6 million-square-foot mixed-use development will encompass nine acres spanning three city blocks and a 16-acre park. The development will be built in three phases. The first phase, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, will consist of an open-air plaza surrounded by a mix of street-front and upper-level shops, restaurants, a gourmet market, luxury hotel, health club, condominiums and apartments. The total estimated cost of the project is $3 billion.

The L.A. LIVE mixed-used development will be a sports and entertainment center spanning more than six city blocks and 5.6 million square feet. Promising to be a destination for both Angelenos and tourists, the $2.5 billion development will feature residential spaces, sporting venues, entertainment venues, restaurants, shopping, museums and television and radio broadcast studios. A 54–story tower will house two hotels and luxury residences. The first phase, consisting of Nokia Theatre and Nokia Plaza, opened last fall.

Plans were announced earlier this year for Bringing Back Broadway, an initiative to revitalize the Broadway corridor, home to eleven former movie palaces. The multi-million dollar project, spearheaded by City Councilman José Huizar, the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council and the Historic Downtown Los Angeles Business Improvement District, aims to create a vibrant theater and entertainment district. A centerpiece of the plan is the revival of a streetcar that will connect Broadway to other Downtown locales.

Despite all of the development downtown, the sinking economy has not gone unfelt. According to the Los Angeles Times, more than a third of the approximately 110 residential projects proposed for downtown have been delayed or put on hold due to the shaky real estate market. Several projects, including The Grand, have delayed breaking ground, pushing back their original start dates.

“We were one of the hottest housing markets prior to the housing slump, and we’re holding our own compared to many markets in the L.A. area,” Schatz says. “I think it will take off again and become a very hot market once again after this housing downturn is over.”

Artists and Designers and Change
It’s an age-old story: Artists move into a rundown and forgotten area of the city because of the cheap rents. In no time at all the area, long deemed undesirable, is flourishing as a bohemian paradise. Then, like clockwork, it happens—the area starts getting attention, more move in, rents skyrocket and the artists are priced out of the neighborhood, forced to look elsewhere for the next area to transform.

“It has been long documented that if you look around at metropolitan areas around the country, and the entire world, you observe the ability for artists to really transform neighborhoods,” says Elizabeth Currid, author of The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art, and Music Drive New York City and associate professor at USC’s School of Policy, Planning and Development department. “They move into these blighted neighborhoods and turn them into these bohemian centers that then become Meccas for the well-heeled. That in turn usually pushes the artists out—you see this process everywhere. It is the classic gentrification problem.”

Artists, long romanticized in society, provide important economic benefits to cities.
“When someone lives in a neighborhood, then they require all kinds of neighborhood-serving retail,” says Schatz “So you get galleries, restaurants, bookstores, bars and nightclubs—these are the things that create a 24-hour, vibrant downtown.” But along with this development comes higher rent prices, for residents and businesses.

“People pay premium rent to live in places that are culturally cool,” Currid says. “The bottom line is that after artists come into an area, others want to follow.”

Artist and Art Center alumna Lorraine Molina PHOT ’96 has seen the changes artists can make in an area first-hand. In 2003 Molina opened the gallery Bank with her boyfriend and business partner Jose Caballer GRPK ’96 in an area of downtown L.A. known as the Historic Core. Spanning from Main to Spring streets and from Second to Ninth streets, the area served as L.A.’s city center prior to World War II.

“We came at a time when this area of downtown L.A. was, frankly, pretty bad,” Molina says. “We were basically on Skid Row. It looked like the apocalypse here.” Molina and Caballer were living in a loft in the area when they decided to open the gallery on the ground floor of their building. At that time, in the early 2000s, developers offered cheap leases and business grants as an incentive for people to move into the Historic Core and open businesses. Molina and fellow creatives were given grants to come into these spaces, clean them up and make it into something.

“All these gorgeous, historic buildings were just sitting down here empty,” she says. “It was such a shame, because this is such a historic part of downtown, with the sort of architecture that you don’t see in Los Angeles very often.”

Less than six months after Bank opened, a coffee shop popped up on the corner. Today, Main Street is a lively and robust corridor featuring galleries, shopping and restaurants. “We didn’t realize at the time that we were part of this big revitalization of this area,” Molina says. “It’s a good feeling to back and realize that we were part of that.”

The gallery recently moved a few doors down to a late 19th century former bank building on Fourth Street. “The building is gorgeous, with 19-foot ceilings and stained glass,” Molina says. The building sat empty for 10 years before Bank opened there less than two years ago—and today there are three businesses in the building.

Flourishing Art Scene
It is now becoming common knowledge that downtown Los Angeles has one of the world’s most vibrant art communities. In 2003, a 26-block area of the Historic Core was designated “Gallery Row.” At that time, there were only three galleries in the area: Bank and Inshallah Gallery, both on Main Street and 727 Gallery on Spring Street. By late 2004, there were nine galleries on Gallery Row.

That year, Bert Green opened Bert Green Fine Art after relocating from Los Feliz. He says that he was initially drawn to move downtown for the cheaper rents.

“Downtown, I could get nine times the gallery size that I could get in Los Feliz—and for the same amount of money,” he explains. “That got me there. It was after moving downtown that I started getting excited about the revitalization going on and wanted to be a part of it.”

Green created the Downtown Art Walk the same year he opened his gallery. The Art Walk showcases various downtown art exhibition venues, ranging from commercial art galleries to museums to and nonprofit venues. Held on the second Thursday of every month, the event has grown along with the neighborhood. The first Downtown Art Walk featured a handful of galleries and less than 100 participants. Today it has grown to include approximately 40 galleries and more than 5,000 participants. A 1940s-era converted school bus serves as the Art Walk shuttle, featuring docents and other on-board entertainment while transporting guests to area galleries.

“The Downtown Art Walk has become a tool for urban revitalization, using art as the starting point,” Green says. “I never thought it’d become as huge as it has become. Still, there is a long way to go downtown—there is a lot of untapped potential here.”

A Historic Predicament
The changes happening in downtown Los Angeles are not unlike those happening in cities across the country, both presently and in the past. In mid-’60s San Francisco, the Beat Generation left gentrifying North Beach for the more affordable Haight-Ashbury district. Once considered a bohemian haven, Haight-Ashbury is now home to multi-million dollar Victorian homes and bed-and-breakfast inns. Artists have moved into—and been priced out of—various other San Francisco neighborhoods over the years such as the Lower Haight and the Mission District.

New York City has been undergoing these changes for decades as well, from the East Village to Soho to the Lower East Side to Williamsburg. New York’s gentrifying neighborhood du jour is Brooklyn’s trendy Red Hook, a 1-square-mile neighborhood of 11,000 declared the next “it” place by local media. The attention has brought in galleries, shops and restaurants, becoming the classic portrait of gentrification as those with money push out artists and lower-income residents.

Red Hook is just another in a long line of gentrifying neighborhoods of New York. The financial toll of living in one of the world’s most expensive cities began pushing artists out of Manhattan years ago. Now, as costs of living continue to rise in the other boroughs, more artists are leaving the city, moving to outlying communities such as Beacon, N.Y., Yonkers, N.Y. and Bridgeport, Conn. According to the Center for an Urban Future, a New York policy research group, “The high cost of work space and housing in New York has prompted increasing numbers of artists and creative workers to decide it’s simply not worth it to stay here—especially as other cities offer enticements to relocate.”

Currid says that that there are parallels between what is happening in New York City and downtown L.A. “In New York what you see is this rapid transformation—the artists come in and very quickly the rents go up, the artists are pushed out and now the investment bankers are living there,” says Currid. “Change is a lot more rapid and little more organic in New York; I think it’s a density thing and it’s also that the downtown area of New York has always been central in a way that L.A.’s downtown has not always been. This displacement is a little less obvious in L.A., because we have more land to play with, but it’s definitely happening here too. At a certain point, the artists will have nowhere else to go.”

A Changing Neighborhood
“I feel that there is something really historic happening in downtown L.A.,” says Andrew Ruiz, community manager of Santee Court, part of one of the largest adaptive reuse projects in downtown L.A. “I love being a part of that history.”

Ruiz says that the biggest changes that he’s seen are at night.

“The nighttime energy has shifted,” he says. “I used to advise residents to be careful when going out downtown at night, to go in groups, don’t walk alone at night, keep your guard up. It’s not like that here now. There is life after dark. People are out walking everywhere, going to galleries, bars and restaurants. There is a stong security presence now. It’s a totally different world.”

Ginny Marie Case, Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council (DLANC) Board member and Historic Core resident, agrees. She says that living downtown actually has a “small town” air about it, which caught her by surprised when she moved downtown four years ago from the Westside.

“There is such a sense of community here,” says Case. “I’ve never felt it so strong. It’s one of the things I love about downtown—you actually know your neighbors.”

Case is expecting her first child, and plans to raise him or her downtown as well. “Downtown L.A.  is a great place for children,” she says. “There are great daycares, plenty of parks and green spaces.” Plus, Case says, all of the culture and diversity is great for kids.

“We have no intention of ever leaving,” she says.

DOT magazine, 2009