Sense of Place

An interesting discussion is going on over at blogdowntown that started with a heated challenge to LA Observed.  LAO strong belief that the current hole in the ground by AEG's LA Live will not start any form of a "bustling hub" to Downtown, as a Forest City developer claims. And LAO comments directly to blogdowntowns post.

With all the micro-newspapers and neighborhood bloggers commenting on Downtown, we can admit DT is getting more than it's share of attention in comparison to other parts of L.A. Back on October 9, LAO hinted that with Huell Howser's new KCET series "Downtown", this part of L.A. had jumped the shark and was "over-covered".  (To which I say to the other hoodies not representing their district online, start blogging.)

A interesting point brought up by Kevin is:

The larger question is what's with these specious New York/Los Angeles comparisons anyway? That kind of sad search for validation has been going on here for a hundred years. (Wilshire Boulevard, for example, was going to be "the Fifth Avenue of the West Coast.")

Was that needy make-me-NY manifested by anyone local? Dare we say real estate developers have been doing the "LA as NY" pitches and hard sell's since the 1800s. Not only was Wilshire Boulevard coined as "the Fifth Avenue of the West Coast" as Kevin noted, but Spring Street was nicknamed  "Wall Street of the West", Fort Street was renamed after NY's Broadway to create a West Coast version of the "Great White Way" and Pershing Square was first known as "Central Park." Brooklyn Avenue (now Cesar Chavez Avenue) was so named to create a sense of east coast place and encourage land sales in the developing empty farmland of Boyle Heights, east of Los Angeles. Back then, naming streets to attract buyers was similar to today's naming of neighborhoods, tract homes or holes in the ground.

And it worked. Once transportation made mass migration easier, New Yorkers came in droves in the early 1900s to follow a promise of opportunity, or escape snow.  They still do. Like some of Broadway's clutter of signs in Spanish, some brought some home with them.

As long as people like Eric and Kevin are provincial voices for Los Angeles -- be it for a specific area or region as a whole –– a real identity of Los Angeles will be exposed, rather then be manufactured.

Top Pic: "New York Hats" at 5th and Main Bottom Pic: "New York Hardware" 8th near Hill. (First owner came to LA in 1910. Owners son now owns it. He is 91)