Everyday Living

more on the Caltrans building

By Eric Richardson — August 02, 2004

I just wanted to follow up my post from last week about the new Caltrans building downtown. I rode by the building again this morning and also had dinner the other night with a friend who's an architecture major at USC, so both of those events brought to light additional thoughts. First, this morning I got a bit of a late start, so I ended up riding past the...


the CalTrans Building and understanding architecture

By Eric Richardson — July 29, 2004

This week's Downtown News is their Best of Downtown issue. One story presents reader answers to the question, "Who Would You Vote Off the Downtown Island?" Top voter-getter was the still under construction CalTrans Building. From the article: Some have complained that, with 13 stories of metal and steel, the building resembles a futuristic fortress out...


remaking a failure

By Eric Richardson — July 28, 2004

Over the past few days the long awaited sale of 1100 Wilshire has finally completed. The synopsis background for this maligned structure is provided by an article in today's LA Times, titled "Buyers Seek a Home Life for Empty L.A. Tower": The 255,000-square-foot tower, whose construction was finished in 1986, has never been more than 10% occupied. It has...


morning troubles

By Eric Richardson — July 28, 2004

It's been a long morning. I got up, took a shower, made coffee, got in my car, started to work... only to have my car die in the intersection of 7th and Broadway. I pulled up to the red light, sat there waiting for it to turn green, it did, I started to go, the car sort of jerked once, and then it turned off. I pushed it across the intersection, into what...


more local shopping adventures

By Eric Richardson — July 24, 2004

It's days like today that make me all the more amazed with my neighborhood. In the process of moving apartments I managed to lose the cord to my electric razor. I didn't actually realize this until a couple weeks later, when the battery started to get low and I made a futile search for it. So now I've got a dead razor, and being the lazy person I am, that...


weekends downtown

By Eric Richardson — July 15, 2004

Yesterday there was a post on blogging.la asking the oft heard question: So, blogging.la, what would you say is "The" Los Angeles attraction that must not be missed? In the comments be sure to look for the suggestions of Will Campbell. His day plan sounds tiring, but amazing. But then you get a couple comments by "Mike", derriding other suggestions...


speaking of downtown

By Eric Richardson — July 14, 2004

While I'm on the topic, downtown blogger Jim Winstead has for a while now been doing some figuring and running the numbers on what it would take to open a video rental store in the area. Downtown is largely berift of options in that regard, and while being able to get DVDs from the library is cool, their selection is way too odd to be of regular help. Anyway...


the ever-evolving downtown

By Eric Richardson — July 14, 2004

Last week I mentioned that some days my bike ride seems a lot tougher than others. Today it was a breeze. The L.A. Times today has an article titled "Developers Set to Start Staples Center Project." It talks about the upcoming start of construction on LA Live, the massive entertainment/hotel/housing/shopping project to be built on the north side of Staples...


waiting their turn

By Eric Richardson — July 12, 2004

Driving up Hill this morning, I passed the Superior Court around 8:20am. Outside was a line of business-suit clad people stretching out the door, down the steps, and around the corner. I don't know if for some reason a lot of extra people needed to be there, or if a security checkpoint was malfunctioning, or what, but that didn't look like a fun line to be...


a evening of many events

By Eric Richardson — July 11, 2004

I did walk over to The Standard last night to check out Sent. I think it was my first art exhibition opening, and it was pretty clear to me on walking in the room that I am in no way part of the art scene. I didn't feel cool enough to be there, and more importantly I was wearing entirely too much color with a muted orange shirt.