Globe St Looks at Downtown Retail; Details a Little Fuzzy

I think the big news in that article was the mention of LA Central breaking ground in late 2008. was that a misprint?

Crystal and I would love to open a SuperLuckyCat store downtown but it'd be a total money pit.

that's a great idea, eric. a design collective...

my experience so far is most angelenos consider traveling to downtown to be rough. so many street closures and parking disruptions...

it seems we are still at the stage where mostly businesses with local demand can thrive.

Wait until L.A. Live really gets going with the retail/movie complex in ’09 -’10. Then we’ll have a better idea of how much mass retail the downtown area can sustain. Although it would be great if they’d converted one of the large vacant buildings into a Target store. Also the City must address the parking issue before retail business can flourish.

what would be really neat, rather than big-box retailers and corporate cookie cutter, would be a critical mass of "boutique" businesses that would create a destination.

B. Green and co. have already done a great job of this with Artwalk...

and Mr green has built some parking ease into the equation by proposing filming guidelines that preclude filming during his event.

the trick would be to extend this to working hrs. and weekends especially. as it is, weekends are particularly rough sledding for people coming to downtown.

businesses are still unfeasible to a large extent. even small ones that rely on outside traffic.

Target would be the kiss of death for any sort of interesting retail. I think we'll just hold out for a good Echo Park location to open up.

Sorry to beat a dead horse...but doesn't downtown have enough parking? I mean, how much more parking are you looking at? We have over 100k parking spots. When have you spent more than "2 minutes" looking for a spot? Honestly?

Can we focus on the 'complete streets program'. Wide sidewalks, street parking, etc... Parking garages are great for destinations, but downtown is a destination itself, not a far flug "urban-faux" area (i.e. the Grove, 3rd Place Promenade, etc..) which need surrounding garages so you can walk on the ONE street with retail/activity and avoid all other streets.

exactly what i am talking about. the last thing we need is more garage space.

unfortunately, access to streets and street parking are often and unpredictably blocked, especially on the weekends. my clients always have a hard time parking close to my business. always.

this gives downtown a difficult rep.

why would anyone travel to downtown to go to a big retailer? they are everywhere and easy to reach. if the climate were better for small business, a destination could be created.

as it stands, the beautiful buildings with empty ground floor retail are not enough to attract non-residents in any quantity practical to support a business.

Blackie et al, I agree with street parking. We need a ton more street parking. The biggest stupid policy we have is "anti-gridlock" zoning. It devoids the street life, and prevents the additions of more parking garages. Garages which take up valuble land that could be used for residential/office bldgs, with pedestrian activity.

If we ask the city to build more garages, downtown LA would become like the Warner Center or Century City. I don't want to see that here.

"Also the City must address the parking issue before retail business can flourish."

I hate to say it, but parking in downtown does suck. As much as I want to visit downtown, parking is an issue sometimes. 70% of the streets are permanently redzoned because of anti-gridlock zoning. They should allow parking past 5pm and put in meters on ALL streets, but instead, the city paints huge swaths of downtown streets, red.

When I am going downtown for a movie, coffee, restaurant or a bar, I refuse to spend 8-10 on parking when almost ALL parking lots are empty. 2-4$ maybe, but 8-10$ is outrageous when I can visually see hundreds of empty parking spaces.

20$ event parking at la live is crazy. The 10$ parking 5 blocks away is equally outragous. The only reason I would pay that is to see a game, not so I can eat, bowl, or hang at Nokia plaza.

It is WAY cheaper and WAY easier to find parking in DTSF (or most parts of LA), and they have more amenities compared to DTLA. Right now, DTLA is the least congestion neighorhood in LA after business hours. Why not offer tons of cheap or free street parking? As congestion rises and businesses flourish, increase the price of parking. Meanwhile extend the redline to the westside. As time goes on, make parking extremely expensive, but have more rail coming into DTLA.

If you start by making parking a pain, no one will go downtown.

Downtown has TONS of parking, just no AFFORDABLE parking.

PS, until the expo line gets built, I have no way to get downtown by rail.

"We have over 100k parking spots. When have you spent more than "2 minutes" looking for a spot?"

Maybe I just dont know where all the free parking is, but it seems that all parking is expensive.

the parking around little tokyo fills fast. The street parking in the old bank district can evaporate fast too. Parking around WDCH is usually available, but nothing of interest is out there and I have to walk several blocks on abandoned and DARK streets with degenerates outnumbering patrons 4-to-1.

And before you jump on me about free pakring, I park for FREE in SF,hollywood, silverlake/losfeliz, santa monica, west LA, Venice, etc. I walk 4-5 blocks, but I still find free parking.

I am not saying parking should always be cheap, but it should be a function of demand and current congestion levels.

i am lucky in that my business is a "destination" business. i don't rely on foot traffic.

almost every day i run downstairs with the hand truck to pick up my clients' gear to save them the parking hassle. i also offer to cover their lot expenses if need be. and the 4-6 ban is a total drag. i offer appointments 9am-9pm 7 days to get around all the weirdness but some weekends...you can't approach the old bank from any direction.

there is NO way my clients would come here for casual shopping. nightlife is another thing, that seems feasible for now.

downtown has little else to offer. coming here is considered a drag by most. it would be silly to open anything but a coffee shop for locals or a pet store. you might do ok selling water :)

Agreed w/ the last few comments. We need STREET PARKING, not parking garages. We need to overturn anti-gridlock zoning beginning in downtown. We'd need less parking garages, where people don't see the light of day on the sidewalk (i.e. Ralphs).