DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — A random bit about Downtown from an LA Times piece on the Palm steakhouse:

L.A.'s first Palm is a venerable 30-year-old outlet in West Hollywood; then there is "Downtown Palm," a newcomer near the Staples Center. The restaurant's arrival there several years ago was one of the perennial events declared by developers to be the thing that would finally revitalize that blighted stretch of Figueroa. Mightier efforts have failed. The Los Angeles Convention Center was supposed to do it when the decision was made to dump thousands of disoriented conventioneers at a desolate corner of Pico Union. Most recently, the Palm has done its bit to jump-start Lazarus. It may take a second coming. Several weeks ago, a companion said that she found the intersection of 11th and Flower streets so desolate at 7 p.m. on a Friday night that she had a mild case of heebie-jeebies.

I'd like to think that LA Live! and Elleven will do a little more for the area than just one (admittedly nice) restaurant moving in. There's a lot going on in South Park these days.