Downtown 1990

By Eric Richardson
Published: Monday, June 04, 2007, at 07:18PM

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Downtown 1990 Thirty-five years ago today the Times ran an interesting piece talking about the $250,000 Downtown plan put together by planning firm Wallace, McHarg, Roberts & Todd. The plan laid out a vision of Downtown in 1990 (pictured at right), and it’s a bit different than the Downtown of 2007.

Most interesting: the park that was supposed to give some sense to the “South Park” name. The 50-acre space was supposed to include a large lake and was to be the focal point for some dense high-rise development (you can make out the park as the low spot in the foreground of the image at right).

As nice a little space as Grand Hope Park is, it’s hard to imagine what South Park might be like if built around a green space like this. While many residential developments are adding their own green space, they hardly take the place of city-owned space like this.

Update (Tuesday): Click the image for a much higher-res version of the rendering, scanned by Dave Bullock from his secret stash of Downtown history.

For more on the plan, check the historic LA Times archive and look for “The $2 Billion Prescription to Cure Downtown’s Ills” by John Pastier.



Comments

1
David Kennedy writes:

The city should have been buying land during the early 90s when property values were cratering. Alas, none could imagine the future as they fled to Simi Valley.

# on Jun.04.2007 AT 08:15 PM
2
RobertA writes:

I have always wondered why the planning dept has not put together a park or garden district in South Park. Can you imagine if South Park were a leafy, well landscaped area…block by block? With the weather we have in LA, it should be easy. The South Park group (Eleven and Luma) is doing a nice job on landscaping that area, but it needs to be expanded and improved upon. Walk down Michigan Ave and look at the huge planter boxes with dense foliage. Why can’t South Park become the garden district of downtown? Add landscaped pocket area to the mix and see what a difference it makes in downtown!

# on Jun.05.2007 AT 04:52 AM
3
D writes:

that would be great. i always wanted more trees, flowers, and street furniture for downtown LA. so much potential with our weather. We can plant rows of Jacarandas and other colorful trees all over downtown. what a sight when they bloom.

# on Jun.05.2007 AT 01:47 PM
4
John Swartz writes:

I agree with RobertA. Look at the picture how the south park district is mostly high rises built around a park. A very urban-minded, pedestrian friendly developer thought that out. Too bad it didn’t get built. So far, we just have the park next to FIDM that has big iron gates.

# on Jun.06.2007 AT 03:03 PM

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