COWBOY AT CALTRANS: Brady Westwater was front and off center at Caltrans Building's Broad Plaza to hear a presention by 24 international interns working with EDAW. The big idea; the 101 freeway capped by a park. view blogdowntown + CurbedLA + LA Cowboy. + Angelenic. vfal flickr set
A few years ago, a warehouse fire like the one knocked down this morning in 30 minutes would have had very few witnesses. Now we look forward to reports from LAFD, an overview, a mention, an early on the spot essay by a former English teacher. A batch of photos that were taken but not posted because there were already reports from LAFD, an overview, a mention, and a short essay from a former English teacher. Meanwhile, by Thursday afternoon the clean up crews on Winston, between Los Angeles and Main St, were almost done.
The former English teacher noted how a parking crew member was a dauntless employee by not allowing a mere fire interfere with cash flow. He merely parked cars away from the hot spot.
Above: VFaL
Below: Big City POZ
Arts District's David Buckingham uses found metal objects as raw material to muscle them into works of art using a "bewildering array of power tools and sheer force of will." His metal sculptures document iconography and typography shaped with discarded products of industry––sheets of metal, road signs, car doors. Only the colors of the painted metal are left as is.
Like myself, he was raised on the rants and words of George Carlin and sculpted this homage last year. He passed it along in the spirit of a fellow Carlin fan. It's worth sharing. It's the ""Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television" as sculpture.
Photo: "Seven Dirty Words" and David Buckingham
What looks like Hostess Sno Balls painted green and blue are getting a lot of attention for the 9th and Main median. Eric at blogdowntown opens with Colorful Rocks. Garment & Citizen (no link) covered them. So did Downtown News. CurbedLA goes with BallWatch: Main Street's Orbs of Wonder. LAT is now in with New traffic median decorates downtown Los Angeles:
The new median "wasn't what we were thinking about, but wow," said Kent Smith, executive director of the L.A. Fashion District Business Improvement District. "It's certainly going to be eye-catching and will certainly be something you notice when you drive by. It's a real conversation starter."
Over in Boyle Heights, there's no love for a mural that was slated for LAPD new station. view [Mural Interruptus]
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A new Audi fresh off the lot was parked on Main after 4pm, when you are not suppose to park there. It was stalked by a tow truck and the driver waited for LADOT for almost 20 minutes. The driver decided to move on at 5:35 pm. Meanwhile, behind the Audi is a Honda with emergency lights flashing, and the driver is talking on the phone.
WANDERING: Tried something new at blogdowntown, and it may become a regular thing. Around the Hall will be looking at motions and movements, and hopefully get advanced information for groundbreaking and milestones around City Hall . . –– Downtown Crossroads may also be interesting to continue. . . –– Launched in April with no fanfare, LA Eastside finds itself on radar of LA's blogs and the Los Angeles Times. You may have to credit EL Chavo's online following.
George Carlin
1937-2008
Seven links after the jump:
For Laker fans it was a hard week. At least Downtown doesn't have to foot the bill for a pesky victory parade during a City of LA budget crisis (O.K., who am I kidding?). As much as I'm ready to move on, there's two connections to my former stomping grounds –– the outback known as the Inland Empire–– that's worth noting. A San Bernardino Boston Celtic fan is rewarded, and a Boston home court good luck charm has roots in Fontana:
and Tribune news researcher A subway station? In L.A.? Yeah. Right! Well, people call it La-La Land for a reason."
She's sold now. And in case Chicago hosts the 2016 Summer Olympics, she challenges the windy fathers to build a comparable system within 8 years:
Remarkably, it took only seven years to open up the 17-mile Red Line from downtown's Union Station to the North Hollywood station in the San Fernando Valley. Sixteen stations. And the rails and stations are earthquake-resistant too.
How was this possible?
Well, a lot of money was thrown into this project. About $4.5 billion.
But seven years? Sixteen stations? And earthquake-resistant?
Perhaps imagination played a part. It's also called vision—something that's sorely lacking in Chicago and Springfield.
The CTA's "Countdown to a new Brown"? How many years? How many stations? And earthquakes aren't part of our reconstruction equation. We don't open stations. We close them. We put up with slow zones, evacuations and even derailments. And then we're told to "Leave early. Leave late. Alternate."
<snip>
In a city where a good portion of the citizens actually believe the Cubs will eventually win a World Series, you can't accuse residents of not having imagination. So why not believe we can have better government for ourselves, better public transportation right now?
Despite the apologetic tone in wanting to compliment L.A., the perception that L.A.'s public transportation is a black hole with no transfer may be changing. view [Those old transit blues].
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