Everyday Living

Cathedral High Prepares for Game Time

By Eric Richardson — Yesterday, 08:05 PM

Cathedral High School Eric Richardson

Located on Downtown’s northern edge, the Cathedral High School Phantoms are getting set to break in a new synthetic turf field for the 2008 season.

The team features USC-commit Randall Carroll, who in June won state championships in the 100 and 200-meter events. — Continued Inside...


One Month to Train, 1500 Stairs

By Eric Richardson — Yesterday, 04:48 PM

Peggy Murphy

Those interested in one of Downtown’s most distinctive workouts have just under one month to train for this year’s Ketchum-Downtown YMCA Stair Climb to the Top. Participants in the annual fundraising event will climb the 1500 stairs from US Bank Tower’s parking garage to its 73-story high peak.


Grand Hope Park: A Primer

By Eric Richardson — Wednesday
16 Comments

Grand Hope Park

While grand plans for South Park’s titular park may not have developed, the neighborhood does have a great little pocket of green space in the 2.5 acre Grand Hope Park, located on the block bounded by 9th, Olympic, Hope and Grand. The park, which shares its block with FIDM and Renaissance Towers, has quite the interesting development history. Though owned...


Not Quite "Letting Go" Yet

By Ed Fuentes — Tuesday
16 Comments

Last Thursday, Eric announced that I was leaving Downtown. Leaving was a decision that I didn’t want to make, and the outpouring of support both here and in the neighborhood didn’t make it any easier to say goodbye. What I get to say today is a lot more enjoyable: I’m not leaving.


Time for a Trim on Hope Street

By Eric Richardson — Tuesday
5 Comments

Low Canopy

Tree cover on a sidewalk is a wonderful thing when it comes to trying to beat the L.A. heat. It’s less wonderful when it reaches down so low that pedestrians are forced to duck while traveling along the sidewalk.


We All Lose: Pershing Square Fountain Opens First

By Eric Richardson — Tuesday
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Pershing Square Fountain

Two weeks ago we asked what would open first: Lower Angels Knoll park, the Pershing Square fountain or L.A. Live. It wasn’t a particularly fair contest, but overwhelmingly your responses indicated no faith in city government and chose that L.A. Live would be first on the scene.


Using Construction to Tell the Story of a Site

By Eric Richardson — August 22, 2008
1 Comment

Construction Wall History

When L.A. Live’s construction fencing went up, it made a visual mark by featuring art from local youth organizations. It was a big step forward from the plain barriers that surround the typical construction job, but what if these barriers were used to go the next step and tell the story of a site’s history?


Downtown Delegation Heads to San Diego

By Eric Richardson — August 21, 2008

Moving Trolley

A large group from Downtown is headed south today, taking part in a Bringing Back Broadway field trip to San Diego’s Gaslamp District. Councilman Jose Huizar and Councilwoman Jan Perry headline a list of fifty-two folks taking the short trip down the coast, looking to learn lessons that can help in the revitalization of Broadway.


A Sad Farewell

By Eric Richardson — August 21, 2008
32 Comments

Ed Fuentes and Jan Perry

This is a story that I really didn’t want to write. For personal reasons, Ed Fuentes is leaving Downtown and will no longer be writing for blogdowntown. UPDATE: The script has a new page. Ed’s staying put. He explains, in Not Quite “Letting Go” Yet. Since joining the site on May 26, 2007, Ed’s written 270 stories for blogdowntown...


Today in Downtown History: Library Declared Work of Art

By Eric Richardson — August 20, 2008

Torch of Learning

Thirty-nine years ago today, on August 20, 1969, the city’s Municipal Arts Commission declared the Central Library building and grounds a work of art. The building was forty-seven years old, and the designation was part of an ultimately unsuccessful fight to keep the library from building an employee parking lot on the site now occupied by Maguire Gardens...