Andy Wong on May 04, 2011, at 10:08AM – #1

Full support for the Arts District park and also above Budokan in Little Tokyo!

Chris Loos on May 04, 2011, at 12:34PM – #2

Speaking of parks, can they get started on that Spring Street park already?

on May 04, 2011, at 03:12PM – #4

Please please please get this done.

Chris Loos on May 04, 2011, at 04:27PM – #5

Thanks for the update, Eric. Really looking forward to that project being completed...its really going to bring that block to life.

derblut on May 04, 2011, at 06:58PM – #6

Why does it take so long to build a park? The Spring Street park could have been long done by now.

JDRCRASHER on May 04, 2011, at 09:52PM – #7

^ Probably a classic case of too much "red tape".

John Swartz on May 05, 2011, at 09:46AM – #8

GO CRA GO! How can I help!?

John Swartz on May 05, 2011, at 09:48AM – #9

TO Chris Loos: The Spring St. Park is already approved and underway.. they are completing the design now and construction will be this year. It will take 1 year to complete from start of construction.

William Crandell on May 05, 2011, at 03:57PM – #10

What has happened with Parks & Rec making use of all of the unspent Quimby funds in Downtown?

What about the forlorn open space at the triangular southeast corner of 3rd and Main, the remaining two of the original three Coral Trees planted by Lady Bird Johnson? And what about the open lot immediately adjacent - where the Medallion Project was scaled back?

The triangle along with the lot next to it possess an extraordinary opportunity, based upon the historic content, all that has happened here. i.e. - the arrest of associates of Clarence Darrow for jury tampering in the trial of the McNamara Brothers in the infamous bombing of the L.A. Times a century ago, the glorious Sullivanesque Florence and Gray hotels which once stood at this intersection, the memory of the ineffable Robert Sundance who once managed the Florence become flophouse and the legendary saturnalias of he and his friends therein (Google Robert Sundance), the avuncular T.L. Tally and his investment in, his initiating the first dedicated cinema within a converted storefront in the western United States hereat - as well as his investment in the first constructed cinema in the west right next door - a building which still stands at the northeast corner, the memory of mayor Cameron Erskine Thom who leased the land upon which his Victorian residence had stood at the southeast corner, leased it in 1887 for construction of the world's largest cyclorama - a wee bit of irony in that cycloramas were a rudimentary form of cinema, a sequence of painted images, in this case - of The Battle of Paris, of the memory of Winfield Hancock who had once lived right where the triangle now sits - for whom Thom had built a house where Hancock and his family could reside in the year before the start of the nation's Civil War, that in The Battle of Gettysburg, that Thom had fought at Gettysburg on the Confederate side while Hancock served in command of the entire Union Second Corps there at the battle, that Confederate generals Lewis Armistead and Richard Garnett who had known and partied with Hancock at Third and Main also fought against Hancock in Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, that their shared story would come to form the haunting, emotional core of Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize winning book 'The Killer Angels', that Hancock flat out saved the union side on each of the three days of battle at Gettysburg, that there would have been no battle at Gettysburg in the first place in the wake of the fact that he had flat out saved the Union Army on the final day at The Battle of Chancellorsville two months earlier, that after the war he would reaffirm the primacy and separation of civilian control of America's armed forces with his General Orders Number 40 - a document which ranks in importance with The Bill of Rights and finally, that Hancock narrowly lost the presidential election of 1880 in what remains the closest election in the nation's history.

But then, this is a story with nothing to do with some bimbo or bimboid actor getting themself arrested somewhere on the city's west side. So many have spoken and written of L.A. as it being much like Oakland, a place with no 'There There', that we have no history and so the ghosts of our past - part and parcel to our identity - must remain unknown, ignored, lost. The editorial policy of the Sunday L.A. Times Magazine tells us not to go there. We are to remain encumbered by illusions. Style is the contemporary absolute and there are no mortgages on the past.

Ancient traditions of some cultures other than that of our present homogenizing era hold that the development of the designer, his or her estimate of spirit of place, is the foremost prerequisite for responsible design. A valid interpretation of this paradigm should not have an urban landscape as a museum of antiquities, but more artistically rather, as one of essences, hinting at both the legacy of the past and those vital new possibilities inherent to the civic future as well, along with whatever programmatic demands (park/plaza space) of the present.

I feel that we need an integral art/landscape solution as a memorial space at the southeast corner of Third and Main. NOW! - at this dispiriting point in time. Is there one or another 501-C-3 organization still in operation in Downtown which could oversee an environmental art/design competition for Third and Main? I'd love to contribute towards prize money. Come down off Bunker Hill and smell the roses, Eli! Come on - Wells Fargo! stage coach this one place, move us onward - towards a better realm.

dsinla on May 05, 2011, at 06:44PM – #11

What happen to the Spring Street park..have you been watching How long the park across from City Hall is taking? How long does it take to flatten the dirt, lay new green, put in sprinkles, build what ever seatting is going there? I did my front lawn over the course of 2 weekends.

on May 10, 2011, at 09:18PM – #12

I'd like to repeat Crandell's question, "What has happened with Parks & Rec making use of all of the unspent Quimby funds in Downtown?" I thought they had bucketloads and didn't know how to spend it?

William Crandell on May 11, 2011, at 12:49PM – #13

I'd like to repeat Karin's question: "I thought they had bucketloads and didn't know how to spend it?" and simply add that perhaps the ghost of Old Stickyfingers, the late great emperor of the Ninth Council District is still with us. No pie was left untouched by that man.

William Crandell on May 15, 2011, at 12:05AM – #14

A new story deconstructing the great Civil War legend tying Third and Main in Downtown L.A. to the greatest battle in American history is available to all, is illustrated with maps and photographs and is thoroughly footnoted (PDF format).

Please send a message to to receive a copy. Simply request to receive the story Myth of Heroes, authored by (my brother) John Crandell.

The legend used so evocatively by Michael Shaara is revealed as being a myth, having been created in 1886 by the widow of Winfield Hancock. Based upon primary sources, this new story breaks significant historical ground, repeatedly ties senator and future mayor Cameron E. Thom to the Civil war conflict and is equally as magisterial as the now-shattered legend. If you have seen the 1993 movie 'Gettysburg', this story will resonate with you!

The great connection between Los Angeles and Gettysburg remains. Hopefully, the story can spark new ideas within city hall as well as the parks and recreation department.

Robert A on May 15, 2011, at 08:51AM – #15

Can Quimby funds be used to create a linear park? With all the dogs downtown it would be great to create some streetscape that is eco-friendly...similar to what you see in front of Luma in South Park with lots of plants and flowering trees. I would love to see this on Broadway or Spring Street. Or how about removing a lane of traffic and adding a decomposed granite path with lots of trees. Time to get creative Downtown.

William Crandell on May 22, 2011, at 01:15PM – #16

Thanks to everyone who've sent messages. THANK YOU for your curiosity. Image new open space at Third and Main! Imagine the likes of an Alexis Smith or a Robert Irwin creating a new environment here. Or, imagine them working together, based upon the history of this very particular place in Downtown.

BobbyD on May 27, 2011, at 06:21PM – #17

Hey dreamers- taxes going up if any of those projects are built.