Comedy Walk Highlights Slow Progress on Main

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — D’Sean Ross (pictured) used his setting to complement good material last night while performing as part of the first Comedy Walk. ”I’m inside a garage,” Ross quipped. “Where did my career go wrong?” In fact, the evening of performances represented the first use of a retail space built in 1986 as part of the L.A. Garage project at 6th and Main.

It was only in December of 2006 that the retail spaces were “finished”, with dirt floors giving way to concrete. The build-out was largely funded using Neighborhood Block Grant funds administered by CRA. While the space has been available for lease since February of last year, it has continued to sit as an empty cinder-block shell. A listing on Loopnet shows the owner trying to get $2/mon/sf for what basically amounts to a concrete box with no facilities.

Surely this is a space that would be better served with a low-paying tenant such as a gallery than it would continuing to sit empty and lifeless. It’s been empty for twenty years – I can’t imagine they’re in a rush for the revenue.

Photo by Ed Fuentes.