Wright Street: Downtown's No Man's Land
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
Looking north on Wright street from Venice Blvd., one can see L.A. Live's Ritz Carlton tower just a half mile away.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — If the 110 freeway is the dividing line between Downtown and Pico Union, Wright Street sits in no man's land. The one-block spur off Venice Boulevard is entirely surrounded by freeway ramps.
As the crow flies, it's pretty close to Downtown. For people bound to the streets, it's a lot farther. One broker trying to market the 1920's Castle Hotel as the "L.A. Live Studios" is choosing to pay attention to the former, not the latter.
A brochure for the property accessible via Loopnet says that the three-story building is "probably the closest apartment building to the LA Convention Center." It also says that L.A. Live is "apprx 550 feet, walking distance."
Well, not so much.
Following streets, the building at 1340 Wright Street is actually 0.84 miles from Nokia Plaza, or a little over 4,400 feet. As a straight line, it's still a half mile.
One can certainly understand why some liberal artistic license would be necessary to sell a property in such an odd location. Five building sit on the 370 feet of Wright street. The block is entirely surrounded by ramps that connect the 10 and 110 freeways.
It would be hard to imagine a more concrete example of the divides created by the growth of Los Angeles' freeways.
The property does have some potential value: as a spot for billboards. 1340 Wright street is listed for $2.2 million, but the seller requires a percentage of all potential signage revenue.
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Phillip Cameron on September 22, 2009, at 02:03PM – #1
tear 'em down.
Robert Banuelos on September 22, 2009, at 04:33PM – #2
respiratory problems and cancer a free add on for living next to one of the busiest freeway systems. Tear it down and create a park or some other green space.
Sam Mircovich on September 22, 2009, at 06:44PM – #3
citylights on fig is the closest apt building to cc - across the street
Eva on September 22, 2009, at 07:37PM – #4
No Robert, that housing is needed. Every part of downtown means respiratory problems and cancer. How about we knock the ramps down instead, and create "green space" there?
The Dude on September 25, 2009, at 10:41PM – #5
Sure, Eva, let's just tear down every freeway and replace it with a park. Let's see how long it will now take you to go to the beach, South Bay, San Francisco, or Las Vegas without any freeways. Let's see how much the cost of living increases due to increased shipping costs. Let's see how much more limited our mobility is in general. This sounds like a great idea, why don't you start proposing the pilot project for it?