Etcetera

Downtown Lens: Beautiful People

By Dave Bullock — August 24, 2008
7 Comments

Man With Pipe Walking Bunny

Every day of year the streets of Downtown Los Angeles are packed with people of all types, shapes and sizes. Each one of them has their own unique beauty. Most would love to have their picture taken. There are two options for taking photos in public. You can either take the picture without asking or ask and then shoot. Both of these methods can give good results...


Images Downtown Lens: Rule of Thirds

By Dave Bullock — August 17, 2008
2 Comments

Condemned House

Good composition is one of the key elements to making a good photograph. Great photos aren’t just about what’s in view, but also how the shot is arranged. One simple technique that anyone can understand and master is the rule of thirds. Using the rule of thirds is easy. When you look through your viewfinder, picture an overlay in the form of a tic...


New Features: Readers' Photos

By Eric Richardson — August 13, 2008

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I teased on Sunday that there were a few new features in the works, and tonight I get the chance to let you help a fun one: Readers’ Photos. A lot of you take great photos of Downtown, and we’d like to see some of them here on the site.


Images Looking Back on a Design Evolution

By Eric Richardson — August 10, 2008
4 Comments

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Every once in a while I like to give a little glimpse behind the scenes of blogdowntown. Today I happened across a folder of design mockups I had created in the process of putting together the new design we launched on April 1st of this year. This sequence of four images gives a fair representation of how the site’s look developed in the months preceding...


Downtown Lens: One Man's Trash

By Dave Bullock — August 03, 2008

Toys and Trash

Downtown Los Angeles has no shortage of trash. We commonly see it piled high on street corners and in front of businesses as the day ends. These piles exist for a number of reasons, many of them not quite proper – illegal dumping was a topic at City Hall this week. Normally when I see a pile of boxes and shipping material I don’t think too much of...


Five Blogs Added to the Downtown Sidebar

By Eric Richardson — July 22, 2008

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I have to admit to being woefully neglectful of the “3BN Blogs” section of this site’s sidebar. In an effort to make up for lost time, I today added five blogs that Downtowners should make sure to check out.


Shading from the Sun

By Eric Richardson — July 21, 2008
2 Comments

Caltrans Building

On Sunday afternoon I was bicycling past the Caltrans building when I heard an odd sound. Looking up, I saw a row of aluminum scrim panels that had been open start to close one by one. Though I was familiar with the building’s design, I believe it’s the first time I’d actually seen the panels in action.


Downtown News Names blogdowntown 'Best Website'

By Eric Richardson — July 18, 2008
11 Comments

Best Of Downtown 2008

The Downtown News’ “Best of Downtown” edition for 2008 hit the website this evening, and in it the paper honors blogdowntown with an Editor’s Choice award for “Best Website.” It’s the twentieth anniversary for the awards, and the third time we’ve been selected in the event.


Images Rockin' Joel Bloom Square

By Ed Fuentes — July 18, 2008

Drive-By Rock n Roll

Organizers of Sunday’s block party say that the event raised $1,500 to help restore Bloom’s General Store. The day featured a Joel Bloom impersonation, or two: one category of the dog competition was for the best Joel Bloom look-alike. Aside from raising money, the event was just the Arts District being itself. It was a time for a community to take...


Google Reveals Times' In-Progress Article Archives

By Eric Richardson — July 15, 2008
2 Comments

articles.latimes.com

When running a search today I ran across http://articles.latimes.com, a site that appears to be the Times’ attempt to create a search friendly index for its articles. A quick browse around reveals a good concept, but plenty of rough edges and questionable implementation ideas. It also offers an interesting view on the ebb and flow of Times coverage.