The Mindblowing Metamorphosis of Downtown LA

 

 

 YESTERDAY

      . . .AND TODAY!

Our hour not quite up, my lunch companion and I wandered  from City Kitchen on Olympic to 9th and Hope to see the new Ralph's Supermarket on the cusp of its grand opening tomorrow.  I looked upon it, its almost readiness, except for a ladder here and there putting the finishing touches on ceilings and lights, as a virtual piece of architectural magic. Eyewitness News must have felt the same way--the blue truck parked out front anticipating interviews.  Ok, the building looks pretty much like any other super grocery store in any big city, but the fact that it is there, complete with underground parking, in the heart of a downtown LA that is coming alive was mesmerizing. What do you bet that the reporter's question to a passerby was "What's it like finally to have a supermarket you can walk to?" Los Angeles is becoming less the terrain of empty lonely parking lots, decrepit store fronts and bad smells than a place to visit and come home to, if you happen to be ensconced in one of the earliest constructed lofts. I work in one of the first skyscrapers, which happens to be on what has been the seediest part of town. But even our building has been renovated. And I am energized. It's almost like having a new job! (Ok, that part was over the top.) But there was something tonight about walking toward my office lot as the sun was starting to set and seeing three new buildings on Grand, just south of the Staples Center glinting on the horizon. A community is growing. When I go over to Starbuck's (some might say the ultimate sign of civilization, while others might cringe) I see the same man who lives in the building above it, with his three cute sausage dogs. We are sharing a nascent neighborhood. Occasionally, we even say "hi" to each other. The coldness and desolation is gone. I am reminded of the time just before I left New York. It was 1979-1980 and I worked around Chambers and Church Streets, lower Manhattan, surrounded by warehouses and tire factories, also bad smelling. Then this little bread shop/cafe opened, in a renovated brick building which gave the place character and a little glow of impending hipness. Then a dinner/bar place where I became addicted to pna coladas of all things. I left that job and the East Coast before the residents came into what was to become Tribeca.

I am committed to staying at my job for a few more years if they'll haveme, so I should get to see the new downtown LA in full bloom. For now, I am just aching to go to the new Ralph's tomorrow. Even if I don't live in the neighborhood, I kind of feel a vested interest in its success. Go South Park!