Faking It

Wow, the Sephora looks great in that building, even if it is only for one night. It's just a teaser of how elegant downtown could be.

^ Not until we decide that we are more than a Hollywood back lot. There. I said it.

For a moment my wife's eye twinkled of hope!

I just had lunch with the leasing agent for my building. She was so excited that Sephora was opening! She had told everyone the good news! Alas, I had to let her know it was only a movie set. She was dearly disappointed and a little embarrassed.

Well said kenarch.

Name anchor retailers like Sephora are five to ten years away in the Historic Core in my opinion.

Urban Bruin, it's quite likely Sephora might land somewhere like LA Live in the meantime.

Keep an eye out for an up-coming story in the Los Angeles Times about the film industry colliding with "new" Downtown.

When i saw the Sephora, i knew immediately it was a movie prop. But I started thinking about what it says about our society. People idealize the idea of living in a city, but in reality most Americans are scared of the dirty, rundown city and most people live in the suburbs. And I'm quite sure that most Sephora stores are inside drab air-conditioned malls that don't have any of the beauty of that building, nor the ugliness of its surroundings.

(could the city please clean the sidewalks and trim the damn trees on 6th St?)

Totally agree Nirad. Clean the sidewalks and get some decent street lighting for the nights. Even west of the historic core, walking on Grand from 5th to 7th at night has a "dangerous" feel to non-locals just because it's too dark and empty. Throughout downtown, better lighting would go a long way toward making the place feel safer and more alive.