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Everyday Living

revisiting the caltrans building

By Eric Richardson — December 26, 2004

The LA Times today comes back to the Caltrans building, talking about how some occupants think the fancy exterior led to skimping on the inside. I have heard that before, that the project’s limited budget led to the bulk of the design money going into the shell of the building, leaving little imagination to the office space inside. I don’t really...


is santa bringing more money?

By Eric Richardson — December 25, 2004

Blogging on Christmas? About actual news? Tisk tisk… Oh well. The LA Times today has an article on neighborhood council spending. It paints a (favorable) picture of how councils use their money, and quotes several council members who say that the system needs more funding. That’s a complicated issue.


Fortress Medici/Orsini

By Eric Richardson — December 15, 2004

Over at herbie the love blog (why am I so boring at naming?), kenny has good piece on the fortresses that are the Medici and Orsini. There are a pair of luxury apartment buildings in downtown LA, with more on the way, built to look like vaguely Italian-type buildings, except that they’re massive castles. They’re impenetrable from the outside except...


everybody's talking subway again

By Eric Richardson — December 15, 2004

So apparently while I was snowed under working on my project the MTA had some discussions about future subway building on Monday. An LA Times article from yesterday about busway funding included a good bit on subway talks. Tom LaBonge is the one who’s really doing the pushing right now. I agree that it’s proper for the MTA to pursue making sure all...


oops

By Eric Richardson — December 11, 2004

From a little blurb in the Downtown News about Ed Reyes getting appointed to the MTA board: The MTA oversees more than 73 miles of bus and railroad lines in Los Angeles County. That 73 miles is just about right for rail, but since what they wrote includes bus – well, there’s only so much you can include in “more than”. According to...


art walk wrapup

By Eric Richardson — December 10, 2004

Yesterday’s Downtown Art Walk was great. If you missed it definitely plan to make the rounds next time, on January 13th. I started my walk a little around 5:45pm, when I looked at the map one final time and headed for #3, the M.J. Higgins gallery in the former Inshallah building. As with several other galleries this go ‘round, they’re very...


the fine line between spam and not spam

By Eric Richardson — December 10, 2004

I got a mass campaign email from mayoral candidate Bernard Parks yesterday. It was announcing the opening of his new campaign headquarters, to take place Saturday. I was going to write a post about how I didn’t sign up to get emailed, and wonder how he got my address, but then I realized it’s listed on the DLANC contacts page. I’m guessing they...


blockbusters and borders, all via the red line

By Eric Richardson — December 09, 2004

Real quick before I pop out to the Art Walk… Today in less than two hours I successfully took the subway to two Blockbusters and to a Borders, where I bought a book I’d been looking for. I left my apartment at 3:25 and walked over to 5th/Hill. There I caught the N. Hollywood red line, and took that to Hollywood/Western. Walked upstairs, crossed Hollywood...


december downtown art walk

By Eric Richardson — December 09, 2004

This month’s Downtown Art Walk is tonight, and is definitely worth checking out. Last month I got around to 5 or 6 galleries, and I’m planning to hit up a few more tonight. To me the coolest thing looking at that map is to see the amazing concentration of galleries opening up just north of me. Look at what 5th street is becoming right there. And...


Downtown: Red Car RFP

By Eric Richardson — December 06, 2004

CRA/LA (Community Redevelopment Agency) just posted the RFP (Request for Proposals) for their downtown Red Car study. Basically, this is will be a $100,000 study to “provide recommended development approaches for the resurrection of downtown red car trolley services.” The RFP going out means that the study is about eight months away from completion...