A Downtown Wal-Mart?

Seem to me that the best way to open up Broadaway to becoming a starbucks old navy corridor is to bring in a walmart close by , you will run all of those people on broadway out of business who sell cheap electronics and clothing. BUt I wonder if that will work, considering they have been there a long time , but as the property values rise it may happen.

Do you really think walmart will be coming to Downtown?

I'm extremely bullish on the prospect of Broadway's existing retailers surviving the arrival of any mainstream discounters moving into the neighborhood. The notion that the customers who patronize Broadway are somehow unaware or unable to get to these kinds of stores is condescending. Broadway is a low-income Latino retail corridor. Latinos come to Broadway not just for low prices, but because they can find stuff here which they can't find anywhere else. You gonna find stuff for baptisms or quincineras at one of these discounters. Maybe. Will you buy it in a setting which you're comfortable in? Maybe. More than anything, Latinos shop on Broadway because they are comfortable here. It is their street. I really doubt they'd abandon it just because a big discounter moved it.

Frankly, I'm entirely dubious of the Broadway corridor being overrun by Gap/Old Navy/Forever 21/et al. (Although, I'm sure the power elites in the city assume this would be a good thing.) The existing business model is too strong for these retailers to come in. Their prospective customers, the fabled loft dwellers flush with cash, are MIA on Broadway. For whatever reasons, the new residents moving downtown don't shop on Broadway (or at least in sufficient numbers to allow mainstream retailers to find them). Broadway is not a dead retail strip like eastern Sunset was a few years ago; where funky retailers can find cheap rent and move in beside mom'n pop shops. Yeah, it would be great if this kind of retail mix were to happen. I just don't see it happening.

One positive effect of these big retailers moving in might be to encourage better upkeep and appearance of Broadway -- clean up the street, better store fronts and better quality display. (Over the years, I've noticed this is the trend anyways with retailers on Broadway.) The new competition might encourage the businesses to do more to keep their customers. But, would these disounters kill Broadway as we know it? I doubt it.

Years ago I was attending one of the annual Last Remaining Seats screenings on Broadway put on each June by the L.A. Conservancy and out walks Linda Dishman, Executive Director of the Conservancy, to announce their Broadway Initiative: http://www.laconservancy.org/initiatives/initiatives_broadway.php4

As she gushed about reviving Broadway I pondered that there already was an established culture existing on Broadway. The assumption that getting the "right" sort of businesses along Broadway will impropve it implies a judgement upon the existing shopping district.

Samuel Delaney in his book Times Square Red, Times Square Blue lamented what most think of as the cleaning up of Times Square. I guess to some small extent I have similar thoughts about the campaign to "save" Broadway.

While I think your contention that the street consists of "shop after shop of identically cheap stuff" is not accurate, although I can understand how you'd come to that conclusion, we'll take up that debate off-line. What I really don't understand is the notion that Broadway ought to be active 24/7. Uh, says who? It is a retail corridor. So, too, is the Fashion District and the Jewelry District. You want to talk about dead 6:30 p.m.

• 10 a.m.? Are you calling for them to be active 24/7, too? How about the Staples Center or the Music Center? These are single use facilities. They alternate between wildly busy and completely dead, too. I just not clear what causes Broadway to have this expectation thrust upon it.

Interestingly, the historic theaters along Broadway offer an excellent opportunity to activate the street with non-retail activity into the evening. Often, the call has been for the return of live theater to these venues. Despite my enjoyment of theater, I'm very dubious this will come to pass. Moreover, I'm always surprised the Mayan Theater is never held up as an example of alternate use. If you haven't been the Mayan Theater on a Saturday night, then you need to get a take a look. I'm surprised no night club impresario has converted Broadway's historic theaters to similar use. It would seem to be a natural fit for the Latinos who shop the street. Turn these theaters into modern dance clubs with a Latin beat. That would achieve your goal of activating the street into the evening hours. But, it would do it in a way which would enhance the vibrant character of the district.