A Little Spring Cleaning

It's amazing to me to see that so much dirt and grime could come off a building. It's also amazing that so many buildings have so much built up.

By the way, that guy in the top window doesn't look so happy to be getting his photo taken ;)

I am only a part time resident downtown and everytime I get back, I can't believe how many beautiful historic buildings there are. Even though there is a long way to go, each building that is renovated and cleaned up help this area become more and more livable. I also do not understand the sidwalks. Why doesn't the BID or the City sandblast them? Does anyone know what happed to the Hotel Bristol on 8th? It was supposed to become a boutique hotel and it just sits there. That buiding gets my nod for the most in need of a cleansing, especially since the Colori Kitchen and Golden Gopher have brought life to that block.

I've been thinking this for years. It is amazing what a little soap and water can do to restore the beauty and dignity of the older buildings downtown. When these buildings were constructed, there was still a strong notion of craftsmanship in their exteriors. (This skill and tradition is effectively now dead in modern architecture.) Simply cleaning these structures restores them to much of their original intent. These details can shine again with the grime removed. Yes, more of this activity should be encouraged by municipal authorities. Beauty has great virtue and should definitely be part of the planning process.

Incidentally, after WWII in Paris, the city undertook a cleaning of that city's buildings after decades of neglect. The results were equally impressive and much heralded at the time.

I seem to recall a Times article two years or so ago about the ACLU getting hot about the cleaning of the sidewalks because it apparently disturbed homeless people... does anyone know about this? If so, it truly is a travesty, and simply exacerbates the big filthy sidewalk problems we have downtown. A simple weekly steam cleaning, like they do in many parts of London, would be incredibly helpful for downtown LA's image and, umm, atmosphere.

I was walking on Spring yesterday between 5th & 4th, and one of the loft-conversion buildings - they were waterblasting - you can definitely see the difference between the two. This is the building that used to be an hotel right next to the large lot of construction vehicles and the signs that say "Non-Union Entrance". Funny enough, further down is a sign that reads" Union Entrance".

On the washing the sidewalks front, there are laws about the water run-off washing creates. basically, you need a machine to recycle the water. you can't just flush it down the storm drains.

it's something we're looking into here at the EC. we want to get our terrazzo sidewalk gleaming. some folks have even volunteered to go out there with a mop and bucket. we're trying to find out exactly what we can and cannot do legally to get our sidewalk shining.

I noticed the lovely terrazzo sidewalk, particularly on the 9th Street side of the Eastern Columbia building is in bad shape again. The trees drop stuff which makes a terrible mess.

Before the building opened, I was impressed with the considerable effort which was expended to restore these sidewalks to their former glory. Alas, the trees on 9th have made a new mess. It is unfortunate. It is also something the city should consider when planting trees.

Gee, there's those people who buff the stars on the sidewalk on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Maybe you could hire some of them.

The sidewalk in front of the EC may not have the cachet of buffing Adolphe Menjou's sidewalk star, but aesthetically it's a lot prettier than those things. Did you know that the first ones were only installed in 1960?