Has the Recession Made for a Better Downtown?
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
Looking north on Spring Street from 6th, a stretch that L.A. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne is calls particularly vital.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Has the recession created a better Downtown than we would have seen had the bottom not fallen out of the economic markets over the past few years?
That's the argument that L.A. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne makes today, saying that the broader economic woes have left Downtown in "a particularly appealing spot."
Hawthorne gives the recession credit for stalling the typical cycle of a revitalizing neighborhood before it could get to the Banana Republic and the Cheesecake Factory. He praises the unique neighborhoods and uniqueness that has popped up instead.
The story ties in with another by fashion editor Booth Moore, who praises the fashion scene and boutiques that have popped up in the last eight years. "If you are a creative person living in L.A. right now, downtown is the place to be," she writes.
So would that have been different if the economy had stayed hot? Would the Historic Core have gone to the chains instead? Are we really better off for having spent a couple years struggling?
Christophe Serafino on August 07, 2010, at 09:09PM – #1
I would hope for a balance. Unique and interesting shops, eateries and bars, but also a few chains wouldn't hurt the area. I know, once one or two move in, a dozen follow.... but I like to dream and wish for a balance.
Bolt Barbers on August 08, 2010, at 12:46AM – #2
We're thrilled to be part and parcel of the revitalization of DTLA. Too much of America has been franchised, suburbanized, and compromised...leaving the country without unique and individual pockets of identity that makes places unique. DTLA boosts wonderful historic architecture and a sense of community rarely found, even in the poshest of suburbs. Indeed, we're lucky to be part of such a diverse and multi cultural thriving environment. America can learn much from the revitalization of DTLA. We've thrived by building character, culture, and community in DTLA...and while Bolt Barbers will grow beyond its DTLA flagship location, you'll NEVER EVER find a Bolt Barbers in a Westfield Shopping Center nor in Sherman Oaks Strip Mall. Investors have already tried offering us funds to suburbanize and we've said.....if it's not authentic, urban, and diverse.....we're NOT interested!
Bert Green (@bgfa) on August 08, 2010, at 02:29AM – #3
Even when the economy was still hot, the closest Starbucks would come to the Historic Core was 6th & Grand and 1st & Los Angeles St. The reason? Skid Row.
These corporations do a lot of market research and have determined that the proximity to a lot of poverty is not good for their image.
Personally I think this is a good thing. What it has produced is a neighborhood that must sink or swim only on locally-run businesses, and most of the neighborhood-serving businesses in my neighborhood — the Historic Core — are owned an operated by residents.
I remember in late 2007 when landlords began to proclaim that street level retail rents would surpass $3 (monthly) per square foot. Luckily the recession put an end to that crazy talk. Most retail is paying less than $2 per foot, and many are even closer to $1 per foot. At that rate, locally owned business is feasible and should still thrive.
Yet, despite this, there is no other neighborhood in LA that has the population density of downtown and which lacks grocery stores. Ralphs and Little Tokyo Galleria are great, but the neighborhood has enough people to also easily support a Fresh and Easy and maybe even a Trader Joe's. Like Ralph's, they would probably find a downtown store to rise to the top of the pack. Ralph's downtown is one of the highest grossing in the entire chain.
Concerned Capital (@ConcernCapital) on August 08, 2010, at 08:14AM – #4
Local, community, downsized and non-corporate - the hallmarks of a alternative economic movement that's not just happening in Downtown LA - but thank God it is happening in the heart of LA.
Since the late 70's DTLA has struggled to get it right and somehow always just missed. I live there then and remember it. The great stock of affordable housing space that's always been there, either vacant or speculated on, is the foundation for established an affordable, diverse community. It can come as low-priced rents or as foreclosed properties with low prices; either way its happening now; at long last. Just as it should have from the very start. Downtown only makes sense if its affordable; that goes for merchant rents, residential rents and restaurant prices. Alternative folks attracted to alternative lifestyles work in alternative professions that don't pay mainstream salaries. Here's a niche market that CAN work for DTLA.
Guest on August 08, 2010, at 10:13AM – #5
People like Christopher Hawthorne may proclaim this or that, or what's good or bad, about Downtown, but where do so many of them end up choosing to live? Where do so many of them go at the end of the day?
Hawthorne may love sounding like a pro-populist, pro-esoteric, pro-non-conformist urbanist. But when push comes to shove, too many folks like him actually lead (and secretly prefer) rather conventional places and lifestyles. And that's assuming they don't even have young children.
For all the people who work downtown, at the LA Times building on 1st St, as one example, I'm always interested in the vast number of them who prefer living elsewhere, anywhere but near the area.
LA Times fashion writer Booth Moore is honest enough to say that "I used to make it a policy never to come downtown after the work week was over, if I could help it."
I'm sure a variety of people in the New York metro area feel the same way about Manhattan, and a variety of people in the Bay Area feel the same way about "The City" (ie, San Francisco). But such urban areas go way past the reality of gentrified---the center of New York never fell apart to begin with. So such hesitancy would be due mainly to Manhattan and San Francisco being too busy and crowded -- and ultra-gentrified, if you will -- to want to contend with.
If downtown Los Angeles, which occupies no more than a rather small amount of space in the still largely broken-down central portion of the city -- which has been in sort of a recession for decades -- ever suffers the fate of being too gentrified, than downtown Cleveland, Detroit, Dallas and Kansas City can't be too far behind.
Dixon on August 08, 2010, at 12:45PM – #6
"For all the people who work downtown, at the LA Times building on 1st St, as one example, I'm always interested in the vast number of them who prefer living elsewhere, anywhere but near the area."
But really, who can blame them? They work in Downtown all day and they know its drawbacks: the drugs and their human waste, the trash, the sooty dust that covers everything inside and out, the rats, the noise, the traffic.
Downtown is certainly not for everyone; one--especially one with a knowledge of the true nature of the area--can easily understand the preference for "rather conventional places and lifestyles."
Rich Alossi on August 08, 2010, at 03:41PM – #7
As much as I agree with #5 about the Times writers not really knowing what's going on in their own building's backyard, the general trend (not just in Los Angeles, but across the US) is for people to be moving into the city rather than out of the city. This trend will take a long time to play out, but we've been seeing it steadily in DTLA since 2000.
A couple years back, some Times writer made a big splash by announcing he was moving into the Mandel Lofts. Funny!
Bert's also right about the grocery stores. This is getting ridiculous. The recession has managed to stave off the big chains, but it's also put a dent in the availability of quality-of-life-enhancing small businesses as well, since their access to credit and capital is severely limited these days.
As the economy picks up over the next couple years and big business starts realizing profits, it will be interesting to see whether small business will be able to invest in Downtown with as much force as chains will no doubt be asserting. That's why it's truly important that we as a community support small businesses in our community.
I'm guilty of not supporting Ralphs (a megachain) over shopping at a smaller organic produce/meat market in Highland Park (an independent local one). What's better for the community in that situation?
jgmj on August 08, 2010, at 05:06PM – #8
Speaking of chains, I saw the space on the NW corner of 7th/Grand (diagonal from Bottega Louie) with a sign posted for a new Chipotle.
Russell Brown on August 08, 2010, at 06:08PM – #9
In response to comment # 6
Not sure the view from your window or the perspective of your mind, but I strongly disagree.
Daily, my life is working to provide services and projects for the neighborhood that includes the streets, sidewalks, security, homeless issues and traffic. I see the reality of a multi-culture, economically diverse community in a complicated world. I do this with many partners who do as much work, if not more, than I do.
One can choose to look at this neighborhood from the perspective of abandonment and neglect and too many complicated problems. A new isolated gated community in a brain dead world of self-centeredness may be a good escape as long as one only looks for easy and quick and clean solutions.
Let me tell you my downtown.
It is the folks DAILY that work non-stop to create their lives either through the businesses, their relationships with other neighbors and their involvement. Most are working hard each day to keep themselves busy, out of trouble and expecting a life that at least does not constantly work against them.
It is the property owners paying extra through business improvement districts providing trash pickup, security and small business support to stabilize a neighborhood. It is Downtown Neighborhood Council with almost 75 volunteers creating community events like Art Walk, parks, consensus on transportation, sustainability, Fashion Week and walk support and partnerships with Skid Row groups. All for free with unlimited criticism from many who are experts but have never attended meetings or do any of the real work.
It is a long list of over 2 dozen Skid Row leaders and another dozen Skid Row organizations trying to stabilize and encourage participation and awareness in an area most do nothing to change. Indeed, the entire containment policy was created to isolate others to the reality of the lack of support and failures of our system of allocation of resources and priorities. It is Ricky the Pirate and Andre signing his songs with his bright smile
My downtown is the monthly Art Walk where almost 100 venues are open for business and free exploration. 20,000 visitors can walk around an amazing historic district with buildings that were empty and now filling with residences, creative office, and community businesses. Remember, historic downtown was an area almost abandoned and in serious decline with little expectation of change by most. Now the major problem with Art Walk in historic downtown is crowd control not crime or too many folks sleeping on the sidewalks.
My downtown is Broadway which is so vibrant and so in need to support into a multi-ethnic retail and entertainment district (with the aspiration of a modern streetcar connecting it all). Historic theatres that are irreplaceable yet disposable in a world of down-loadable entertainment and multiplex /suburban alternatives.
Downtown is a community that the entire smorgasbord of cultures, lifestyles, economic levels and aspirations can live in close proximity in a safe environment. LAPD is a partner along with responsible individual behavior.
The Downtown I see is one where a walk down the streets means running into lots of people that I know well. The strength of the community here is amazing. Just read blogdowntown on “The Must” bar/café incidents if you think downtown is not a community-minded, passionate and loyal bunch.
It is movies and free concerts under the high rises at Pershing Square, watching Ice Skating in a 70 degree winter at LA Live and Pershing Square and it is the Lakers Victory celebration. Downtown is Obama winning the presidential election and seeing it on large screens with 400 of my neighbors in the Farmer’s and Merchant Bank (with a tour of LAPD Central Division that same night).
It is all the Little Tokyo businesses and celebrations and Cirque Bezerk in the Cornfields. It is Chinatown dim sum and noodles, Korean BBQ, Vietnamese soap at Blossom, bacon wrapped hot-dogs from street vendors and French Dip and Phillipe's and Cole's. It is the 450,000 people a day who live, work, play and visit OUR FRONT YARDS each day.
I have lived in many neighborhoods in LA and traveled through many many places. There is no neighborhood that is as interesting, complicated, never boring, open to participation and as unfinished with limitless potential as downtown LA is. I am so incredibly glad that downtown found me, because it helped me find myself.
Dixon on August 08, 2010, at 08:14PM – #10
Oh, I don't disagree or deny with anything you write, Russell. It's just that among all of that are the drugs and their human waste, the trash, the sooty dust that covers everything inside and out, the rats, the noise, the traffic. It's hard sometimes to separate that from the good you cheer about, and sometimes it's hard to see anything else.
I mean really, doesn't that sooty grime sometimes get to you too? Aren't you ever creeped out by a rat scooting across the sidewalk in front of you?
Haven't you ever had to jump over a puddle of vomit in order to get from point A to point B?
C'mon, now.
Dixon on August 08, 2010, at 08:22PM – #11
......and to be less charitable, Russell, you're guilty of rabid boosterism, the act of boosting or promoting one's town (or neighborhood) with the goal of improving public perception of it. Boosting can be as simple as talking up the entity at a party or as elaborate as establishing a visitors' bureau. It is somewhat associated with American small towns. Boosting is also done in political settings, especially in regard to disputed policies or controversial events.
In your case, you're boosting on blog---but you're definitely boosting while at the same time ignoring or downplaying some of the realities.
Russell Brown on August 08, 2010, at 08:59PM – #12
I guess when someone gets involved and works to change a neighborhood, that is discounted solely as boosterism? Boosterism to me is just saying the words, without doing any of the work. Way too many people are working on downtown to define their commitment as boosterism.
Often, Downtown LA is described as a small town with BIG skyscrapers. That is more true than most can imagine when you see who is really leading the changes and doing the work.
If folks want the easy way out, downtown is not for you, or at least the Historic Downtown neighborhood that I live in. Maybe South Park or the west side or Des Moines would be a better fit.
But where we disagree, is that your only perspective seems to be a non-stop toilet and failure. Downtown is not that by any means.
What are the controversial events or disputed policies? That Skid Row needs help and that we acknowledge that? That many old neighborhoods need work?
Most of the waste on the sidewalks now is from pets who are untrained by their owners not by throngs of unwashed destitute as you seem to refer.
Chris Loos on August 08, 2010, at 09:14PM – #13
"I mean really, doesn't that sooty grime sometimes get to you too? Aren't you ever creeped out by a rat scooting across the sidewalk in front of you?"
If you think rats and grime are limited are DTLA, you must not get out much. You'll find both in any dense city on this planet.
Nancy Richardson (@nanorich) on August 08, 2010, at 09:24PM – #14
Anybody with fruit trees in the valley has rats...
(and if you have cats, you often find headless rats on your front porch)
Guest on August 08, 2010, at 09:43PM – #15
Agreed. We could use a Trader Joe's in the area. But other than that, I love my downtown the way she is--noisy, rat infested, urine scented sidewalks and all...
Dixon on August 08, 2010, at 10:17PM – #16
I think Russell really lost me when he waxed poetic about those "bacon wrapped hot-dogs from street vendors."
I once listened as a cop described how one hot dog vendor pulled out his member, peed into a jug and then went right back to grabbing the buns and stuffing in the weenies. He had no place to wash his hands!
Russell, in your work with the BID, isn't it your job to clamp down on these unlicensed vendors? Does the splendor of it all prevent you from doing your job?
....and Chris, if you don't think the grime in Downtown is especially bad then I have to question your personal standards of hygiene.
Chris Loos on August 08, 2010, at 10:40PM – #17
@Cho Cho
And I have to question why you'd waste your time leaving comments on a website called "Blog Downtown" trying to convince readers that downtown is nothing but drugs, "soot" (What is this, 1890 London?) and human excrement. Clearly you're preaching to the wrong crowd.
But we do get it. DTLA offends your refined suburban sensibilities. That's for letting us know.
Dixon on August 08, 2010, at 10:54PM – #18
Chris, if that's all you're getting from my comments then I must question your reading skills.
Go back to the beginning and find the main point, fool.
Russell Brown on August 08, 2010, at 11:20PM – #19
No one is trying to sanitize downtown into some Matrix episode of an alternate reality, but since your images seem to be only trapped in the dysfunction, maybe there is an alternative reality that you are trapped in.
Seems to be from the film "What Dreams May Come" where hell is an individual creation which is only a presentation of your own worst fears and horrors as reality. Glad that my experience is so much different than yours.
Your comments make all of downtown sound like one homogenized pit. Downtown is not great in some locations, and amazing in others. (Hello, that is the world and reality- not just downtown).
I guess the value of the book depends on the perspective and appreciation of the reader.
Chris Loos on August 08, 2010, at 11:20PM – #20
If it walks like a troll and talks like a troll...
Guest on August 08, 2010, at 11:31PM – #21
But really, who can blame them? They work in Downtown all day and they know its drawbacks:
I resent the armchair urbanists who try to sound so idealistic and avant garde about downtown while judging it from a lofty perch. A perch located somewhere around perhaps Culver City, Venice or Santa Monica. Perhaps maybe even around Huntington Beach, Glendale or Encino.
By contrast, the people who live the experience on a daily basis, like you, Eric Richardson and Chris Loos, deserve the benefit of the doubt. But folks similar to Christopher Hawthorne are another matter.
If downtown doesn't graduate to the next level, which Hawthorne implies can be (or is) a good thing, but if it also instead ends up stagnating and then regressing to the way it was several years ago, and definitely a few decades ago, where will people like Hawthorne be at that time?
Article from the future:
"The non-gentrification of downtown Los Angeles turned out to be a wonderful thing," said Mr. Urban Affairs Writer or Mr. Design and Architecture Analyst. "The recession of 2010 made it hip and honest! The little people were greatly helped!"
His comment was made during an interview from his home in Seattle---or Boston, or Chicago, or Rome, or Hong Kong, or Sydney, or New York City, or Portland, etc.
Chris Loos on August 09, 2010, at 06:42AM – #22
Guest 21:
Can gentrification even regress one its began? Or can it only slow down? In the other cities I've lived in before I came to LA the process seems to only move forward, never backwards. However, I suppose all bets were off once the "Great Recession" began.
I would hate to see the clock turned back on downtown. But Hawthorne's point also really hits home for me, having come from Washington DC- where the gentrification is warp-speed, the rents are sky high, and the only retailers that can afford the new and newly renovated spaces are national chains. If downtown can avoid that fate, at least for a few years, that's great news in my book.
DawnC on August 09, 2010, at 08:43AM – #23
I agree, the recession saved the character of Downtown, once The Gap moves in it's all over. I can't tell you how delighted I was when the Ed Hardy store on Spring didn't make it. Yes I know we need business down here but the best thing about DTLA is that it is emerging with it's own personality instead of looking like every town USA. Where else would a DVD store actually need to expand when all the rest are closing down?
The weird thing is that there are some chain stores around but for some reason many of them exist totally off my radar. The other day I was driving down Broadway, and for the first time, noticed a Footlocker. It looked like it had been there fore years but I had no idea. I doubt I will ever shop there, I much prefer Blends on 4th street. There's also a Payless, but why the hell would you shop there when there's a much better selection of cheap knock off shoes at Santee Alley?
Every once in a while I remember that we have a Macy's. I'm not sure how Macy's stays in business, they are always having crazy sales. Last time I needed pillows they were having a two for one sale. We left with four pillows for some crazy low price feeling like we just robbed someone. The place is in desperate need of a remodel but if you just need some basics it's pretty handy.
If the housing boom had continued most of the interesting people who have been in Downtown forever would have soon been priced out and we'd just have people who couldn't buy anywhere else purchasing lofts here to get into the market. Then again, if the housing boom had continued then maybe we'd be riding unicorns to magical rainbow lands to collect pots of gold with 0% financing and no money down.
Dixon on August 09, 2010, at 09:22AM – #24
"If it walks like a troll and talks like a troll..."
....then it's probably a troll, but I love you anyway, Chris, warts and all.
Dixon on August 09, 2010, at 09:33AM – #25
"Downtown is not great in some locations..."
Oh, Russell, that's an amazing statement coming from a cheerleading booster like you. I guess maybe your work with the BID--which pretty much focuses only on problems--that helped you come to that brilliant epiphany.
Now get out there and have yourself another bacon wrapped hot dog cooked on a shopping cart!
Guest on August 09, 2010, at 10:40AM – #26
BOLD_Give me a break people.BOLD_ Are these the same people that wrote that they want the new business at 5th and Spring to go down? That they will make a living hell for the new owner. What a bunch of two faced liars. Downtown LA is hard. Whether you start a business, whether you get involved with the political scene or whatever you want to do. There are two few people helping. Too many people hurting and preventing even small business from starting up. Yes it is great for creative endeavors. But you have to have your own strength. They will try to eat you alive otherwise.
Chris Loos on August 09, 2010, at 11:14AM – #27
"Chris, if that's all you're getting from my comments then I must question your reading skills."
"Chris, if you don't think the grime in Downtown is especially bad then I have to question your personal standards of hygiene."
Yawn...get some new material.
Also, protip: logging onto a website called Blog Downtown and leaving comments about how shitty Downtown LA is just a waste of your time and ours. I'm not sure what you hope to accomplish besides making it clear that you thrive on negativity.
J-M on August 09, 2010, at 11:42AM – #28
I think you're missing the point in general. Right now, I can't think of a more creative and vibrant place to be than Downtown Los Angeles. And, yes, that's boosterism. But, at the same time, I know that people from OC and the Westside aren't going to come here and spoil my fun, because all they see is the dirt, Skid Row, rats, and problems. I see people and History with a big H. I moved Downtown, because I couldn't stop looking up at the beautiful buildings and wonder what lay behind the decrepit facades. I saw people sleeping on the streets and wondered why no-one did anything about it, when there's so much misery just a couple of blocks from City Hall. I saw other young people who didn't fit the mold you're expected to fit in the rest of Southern California. And I saw a refreshing lack of pretentiousness. Whenever I visit other parts of town, I hate the people and the attitudes, and when I get back Downtown I sigh with relief. Yes, there may be problems here, but a small bunch of committed people are working to change things, rather than just hide our heads in the sand in other parts of town. I'm rather proud that this has been my home for the past few years, and if you happen not to like it, well that's your choice. I find it interesting that people love to hate Downtown. I have good days and bad days here, but they're ALWAYS interesting. And, I've met some of the most interesting and nicest people I know here. Hawthorne's article is pretty good. The print edition section on Downtown was nice too.
Guest on August 09, 2010, at 12:12PM – #29
I have to say the comments from Cho Cho Fire are very different from the people I know who live downtown. Sounds like an unhappy soul to me. Most residents I find are happy to be living Downtown and are excited about all the positive changes that have occurred. It gets better every day. It is great to be a part of such an interesting community. The next phase of growth will bring more people on the streets, eclectic retail, great restaurants and cafes and better transportation options and I am looking forward to being a part of it.
Guest on August 09, 2010, at 01:04PM – #30
Though I am a bit uncomfortable defending Russell Brown or any of his cohorts & Cronies in The CORE.... Cho Cho must understand that daring to attack the likes of Russell Brown will bring the wrath of 5th & Main down upon his head. Regardless if right or wrong. Cho Cho seems intent in trashing local people and their love of Downtown, not a great idea since any critical comments brings the crazies out. There is a lot to love about Downtown. We are a City with issues not unlike any other World Class City. This is simple, if you don't like living here find a place you like. Contribute to change.
Guest on August 09, 2010, at 04:13PM – #31
Obvious troll is snide and rude, not to mention the very definition of a "pettifogger."
"OMG, there's rats in downtown LA!!1!! Homeless people!! No Gucci store!!one!!"
You must be the life of the party. Not.
Put a sock in it, Cho Cho Fart; we really don't care about your hygiene fixation or your morbid fear of short, furry animals. Get in your Lexus and go back to Orange County.
Guest on August 09, 2010, at 08:52PM – #32
hahahahaha
"I once listened as a cop described how one hot dog vendor pulled out his member, peed into a jug and then went right back to grabbing the buns and stuffing in the weenies. He had no place to wash his hands!"
chuchu, you NEED to find a friend that works in ANY west side restaurant, get them drunk and let then tell you stories about what happens in the kitchen.
on the other hand, maybe it's better to stay naive...
Chris Loos on August 09, 2010, at 10:38PM – #33
Where were all of you earlier today when it was just me and this troll going back and forth? :)
Guest on August 09, 2010, at 11:23PM – #34
That does make me wonder: where do food-cart vendors wash their hands? Moreover, they're always handling money at the same time they're handing out food.
E coli alert!
As for the central city of LA becoming too hot, wealthy and fashionable? Not likely. There's a built-in limiting device that will always prevent that from happening: all the low-income neighborhoods surrounding Downtown miles in each direction. Throw in the specter of crime getting out of hand and downtown to most people will forever be an island in shark-infested waters. Or, at best, a small oasis in the middle of the super parched and intimidating Sahara Desert.
Guest on August 09, 2010, at 11:44PM – #35
"at best, a small oasis in the middle of the super parched and intimidating Sahara Desert."
Yes, many things do intimidate some people and not others. Downtown Los Angeles is not for everybody. And that my young friend is the very best part of living downtown.
Chris Loos on August 10, 2010, at 10:29AM – #36
"As for the central city of LA becoming too hot, wealthy and fashionable? Not likely. There's a built-in limiting device that will always prevent that from happening: all the low-income neighborhoods surrounding Downtown miles in each direction."
I would tend to disagree. To the northwest, Echo Park/Angeleno Heights is already well into its gentrification. To the west, you have Westlake, which I see gentrifying in the next 10 years. It has fantastic housing stock, good transit access, is extremely walkable, and has the most elusive of LA amenities- a large park. It really has all the ingredients that make a great neighborhood. First hipsters priced out of Echo Park will move in, then some boutiques, and then finally the great flood of the "creative class". its just a matter of time.
Same goes for Chinatown to the North, for similar reasons I listed for Westlake. The area around USC to the southwest is seeing some development and gentrification, and this will only increase when the Expo line opens. Boyle Heights- great views, great houses, great transit access- just a matter of time until it rebounds as well.
There are large forces at work here- demographic shifts, a bigger interest in urban living, and big investments in transit. These are long term trends that are unaffected by the current recession. The same thing is playing out in every American city. 20 or 30 years down the road, I have no doubt that DTLA will be a very wealthy place, surrounded by a ring of less wealthy but still well-to-do neighborhoods.
Ankur on August 12, 2010, at 02:00PM – #37
Rent dropping 10-15% helped me a lot. The prices were so out of wack, and there was nothing to justify it but "granite countertops" and "views of downtown."
The 'hood has evolved well.