Fun Notes from the NBG Meeting

By Eric Richardson
Published: Thursday, June 16, 2005, at 08:27PM

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — I love going to the meetings where I get to pick up fun tidbits about developments happening in the neighborhood. Such was the case tonight, when I attended a meeting for the Old Bank District Neighborhood Block Grant program. Let's just bullet point some fun things I jotted down:

  • It looks like there will be some NBG money available in this cycle for two new projects: Harlem Alley between 4th and 5th, and the storefronts of the LA Garage on Main between 5th and 6th.

  • One of the new projects presented was a DVD rental store planning to open in one of Gilmore's Old Bank buildings. They want to do a lot with cultural films, indie, foreign, etc. Their estimated pricing would be about $2.99 for a rental, and they're playing with the idea of also offering Netflix style subscriptions as well. Rough open date would be early September.

  • The PE Lofts project presented some facade work they would like to do, and in the process talked about some of the retail they have lined up. Right now they're in the paperwork phase with a gourmet market, a bar/lounge to go next to Cole's, a "bohemian coffee house", and a UPS store. Another random PE fact: the top-floor lofts have unfathomably high 38 foot ceilings.

  • Lost Souls Cafe is hoping to open in the Old Bank alley sometime this summer. Roughly 2400 sq. ft., seating for 80 - 100, featuring coffee, sandwiches, dessert, etc. They want to stay open late (2am late) and have a host of live entertainment including music and poetry.

There's definitely a lot of cool stuff going on right now.



Comments

1
Adrian writes:

I'm moving into PE soon. The bar/lounge is slated to be another Temple Bar of Santa Monica fame.

# on Jun.16.2005 AT 09:48 PM
2
jim winstead writes:

wow, it's awesome that someone is finally doing the video store thing, even if it's not me.

# on Jun.17.2005 AT 07:41 AM
3
Eric Richardson writes:

jim: I was trying to figure out a way to work into the post that your dream was getting fulfilled, but didn't end up putting it in the final copy. You were definitely the first one I thought of when I heard about the project, though. -e;

# on Jun.17.2005 AT 09:46 AM
4
Eric Richardson writes:

Adrian: Welcome to the neighborhood. If that's true about Temple Bar that's awesome. That's definitely one of the big music spots over on the westside, and I'd love to have it within two blocks of me. I'd be there all the time. -e;

# on Jun.17.2005 AT 09:49 AM
5
Ginny-Marie Case writes:

It's kind of funny to reread this post today. The rooftop at PE is usually overrun with non residents, and our ground floor doesn't yet have food. I miss Coles.

# on Jun.16.2008 AT 01:28 PM

Add Your Comment:

YOUR INFORMATION:
Name:
Email:
URL:
CONNECT:

Use your Facebook account to log in to blogdowntown and get share comments and stories straight to your social network!

Don't use Facebook but want us to remember your information? Create a blogdowntown account or log in to your account.


COMMENT GUIDELINES:
Keep it civil, everyone. If you're attacking people instead of arguments, or being overly profane, expect your comment to get deleted.
Comments should be on the topic of the post or they will be removed.
Use the live preview below to see how your comment will look before posting.

COMMENT:
FORMATTING BASICS:

blogdowntown uses Markdown formatting.

_Italics_
__Bold__
<http://url.to.link>
[link text](http://url)

PREVIEW:

Start typing...