Downtown LA is starting to turn into Portland.

There's an Ace Hotel, Stumptown and....Tanner Leather Goods coming soon. Similar kind of vibe out there too. Maybe in 5 years there will be an LA version of the Pearl district.

 

Sweet. So all the douchebags from LA can move back now?

 

No. It's basically white flight but with hipsters and yuppies.

hoop fam

 

The sprawl is so bad that L.A. is a lost cause. It's really like a bigger Phoenix in that regard.

The second biggest city in the country and the downtown area is painfully mediocre considering the size of LA.



How not to plan such a large city? I know Houston is the poster child for this but it doesn't come close to this monstrosity.

 

But on the Portland influence, stumptown is doing great with their LA location!

They also have one in NYC.

 

I actually like the separated areas. Many smaller centers of activity. Traffic blows. They are doing more rail lines though. Frank ghery is designing a new downtown hub. It's evolving very quickly

 

You mean a place where young people go to retire?

 

Yeah. LA is weird, a lot of people don't have "real" jobs here. They get by through a various networks of scams and hustles.

:MARIS61:

I mean everywhere you go during the day, people just chillin. demo is a bit older though as far as retired young folks.

 

So you're spending all your time there?

 

Maybe during the day but when the sun goes down in LA, the crackheads crawl out like the living dead everywhere. It'll never be Portland where hippies spare change you while sipping 10 dollar cups of coffee.

 

nah brah. I am usually in Venice. Abbott Kinney. Coolest block in America, but I was there before it was cool.

 

I remember about a year ago I went to meet some friends at a bar downtown. Couldn't find a cab in Little Tokyo where I was so I walked....right through Skid Row wearing a tucked in Ralph Lauren oxford. hah. Strangest scene, ran the last half of the trek there.

 

Is the chain saw juggler still there in Venice?

 

don't think so. beach is kind of ghetto. The drum circle on Sundays is pretty sweet though.

 

Venice has been cool for many, many years. How long have you been in LA?

 

since 1995.

 

Opened this thinking that only white people were moving there.

 

No. Asians too

 

Funny, I was just there a couple nights ago having sushi at wabi something. Strolling the street I was very impressed with the boutiques on it. Too bad I cant afford that shit. Next day went to Rodeo Drive. If I had had money to blow, I would rather do it on Abbott Kinney.

That street is so cool, that when we complained to the waiter that calling us "guys" was something we didn't appreciate, he had to leave for a few minutes to gather himself after notifying us that we had made him upset.

One bummer is my cousin who has lived a few blocks away for decades says longtime shops have or soon will leave as rents have sky rocketed.


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Wabi Sabi. The Tasting Kitchen a few doors down is ex-portlander Casey Lane from Clarklewis.

Its a chill street. Nice little beer/wine bar, some dive bars, great coffee, and leisure strolls on a saturday AM. Kind of like NW 23rd in a way, but less for soccer moms and more for hipsters and yoga chicks.