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Visual and Performing Arts
High School on Grand Avenue
Is Completed |
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The new Central Los Angeles High School #9 is located in downtown Los Angeles at the northern end of Grand Avenue on the historic Fort Moore Hill, the prior site for LAUSD headquarters. By virtue of its proximity to the theater and music companies of the Los Angeles Music Center, the Colburn School Performing Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and Walt Disney Concert Hall, the site is well suited for a comprehensive high school with a focus in dance, music, theater, and visual arts. Students will select a specific course of study within the core curriculum that focuses on the performance and visual arts. Throughout the campus, spaces have been designed as opportunities for performances and exhibitions.
Project Information |
Board Member |
Monica Garcia |
Local Superintendent |
Richard Alonzo |
LA City Council |
Ed Reyes |
Comm. Outreach |
Ethel Fimbres-Lopez |
Owner's Rep. |
Moty Eisenberg |
Architect |
HMC Architects/Coop Himmelblau |
General Contractor |
PCL Construction Services, Inc. |
2-Semester Seats |
1,728 |
New Classrooms |
64 |
Site Acres |
10.26 |
Approximate Sq. Ft. |
233,505 |
CHPS Score |
38 |
Schools Relieved |
Belmont HS |
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Schedule |
Pref. Site Designated |
Q3-2000 |
DSA Approval |
Q3-2005 |
NTP Construction |
Q1-2006 |
School Occupancy |
Q3-2009 |
| Cost |
Total Budget |
$ 232,834,857 |
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Source: LAUSD
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The high school has state-of-the-art facilities dedicated to the visual arts, music, dance and theater – each containing both academic classrooms as well as specialized teaching, exhibit and performance rooms.
The school district commissioned the world-renowned architect firm of Coop Himmelb(l)au, to design the school. Coop Himmelb(l)au is headquartered in Austria and is known for their futuristic designs. |
Interior of the library, looking up |
Construction on the high school is expected to be completed in the October of 2008 with classes to begin in the Fall of 2009. It will provide an inspiring learning environment for more than 1,700 students, and will relieve the over-crowded Belmont High School.
The LAUSD's new high school for the arts is an example of the city's many projects that continue to transform Downtown L.A. into a more livable community for all generations to come.
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| Everyone's Art Walking in Downtown L.A. |
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by Dana Bean |
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Los Angeles native Jens Fleming spent his entire life ignoring promises of the rebirth of downtown with a healthy dose of skepticism. "Downtown LA always felt super seedy - like it was hit by the apocalypse," said Jens.
But last year, when he and his girlfriend decided to move to a neighborhood that offered community, creativity, and an escape from Los Angeles car culture, they were surprised to discover that downtown's Gallery Row offered everything they were looking for.
Where there were once decaying buildings and deserted streets, they discovered a buzzing community with rehabbed architectural gems, boutiques, friends dining at sidewalk cafes, joggers circling the block, and loft-dwellers walking their dogs.
This is the new downtown. Sadly neglected for over half a century, the city's historic core has experienced a startling revival during the last five years, due largely in part to its burgeoning art scene.
Dubbed "Gallery Row" in 2003, the district between Spring and Main, bordered by 2nd and 9th, is now a thriving corridor of art, commercial and residential spaces that have rapidly transformed the area into one of LA's most vibrant communities.
"It's the center of one the biggest cities in the world and it's been asleep for 60 years!" said Jens. "It's such a community now. And it has the excitement New York doesn't have - it's still creating itself."
When the Great Depression and the advent of the automobile created mass exodus in favor of the Westside and suburban Los Angeles, Broadway's marble movie palaces and Spring Street's banks were abandoned.
Thanks to this desertion, many of the city's oldest buildings withstood the harsh hand of redevelopment. "It was preservation by neglect," said Mike Sonsken (aka Mike the Poet), a Los Angeles historian and docent on the Downtown Artwalk.
Today's downtown boasts Art Deco gems the largest collection of Beaux Art Architecture in North America. Adaptive reuse has updated the interior of these buildings while maintaining the integrity of the exterior. "Developers understand that history is a commodity," said Mike.
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Mike the Poet Giving His Monthly Tour of the Artwalk |
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Bert Green, owner of Bert Green Fine Arts and founder of the Downtown Art Walk, is a pioneer of this new metropolitan vision. Bert witnessed the rapid regeneration of lower Manhattan in the 1970s and 80s, and of San Francisco's Market Street in the 1990s.
When Bert moved downtown in 2004, the area was inconvenient, inaccessible, and undesirable. But he recognized that cheap rent, open lots, and historical buildings were a recipe for incredible growth and possibility.
By 2004, the groundwork for an urban arts village had been made possible. The 1999 Adaptive Reuse Ordinance allowed residential habitation of commercial and industrial spaces, and Gallery Row was established four years later. Bert's creation of the Downtown Art Walk was the final step of ingenuity needed to transform the area.
Today, ever-bustling Gallery Row is most lively on the second Thursday of each month, when thousands gather for the Downtown Art Walk, a self-guided tour of more than 35 galleries, museums, and non-profit art venues.
The event has unified gallery owners, given Angelenos incentive to explore downtown, and created a walking culture in a city where most people rarely leave the protective bubble of their car.
"The change is remarkable regarding attitudes towards downtown," says Bert. There were a handful of galleries and only 75 visitors that attended the first art walk. Today, there are 37 participating galleries and 3,000 visitors at each monthly event."
"The first time we saw the Downtown Art Walk, it was shocking. I've never experienced anything like it!" said Jens. "The streets were packed with pedestrians. You never see that many pedestrians in L.A. unless you're on the beach."
The neighborhood is not the only thing that has changed. Inexpensive rent has attracted many first time gallery owners and an experimental set of artists, who are redefining the business model of operating an art space.
"Downtown is more DIY, people doing it by themselves without a lot of money. It has a funkier vibe - it's less slick," says Bert.
This allows for a great amount of diversity. "Within the 30+ spaces that participate in the art walk, there's everything from warehouse spaces to the Museum of Contemporary Art."
The art walk is accessible via the Civic Center and Pershing Square Metro Stations. Trains run past midnight. Street meters and paid lots are available for visitors traveling by car.
Downtown Art Walk is every second Thursday of the month, 12-9pm. For more information, visit www.downtownartwalk.com. |
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Creative Commerce |
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The DIY attitude of downtown has allowed for unconventional ways of doing business. Check out the galleries that are doing things a little differently.
Art walkers with an appetite can get their art fix while they chow down. Julie Rico Gallery and Bistro has incorporated a hot dog stand into its art space. Wine, beer, and tapas are also available.
At M.J. Higgins Fine Art and Furnishings, you’ll find incredible works by local artists alongside eco-friendly furnishings for your home.
The founders of Pharmaka believe that the success of art as a business is its very failure as art. This non-profit venue alleviates the need for high profit margins and trendy styles, and instead functions to provide a haven for creation and open discussion.
In addition to its gallery space, The Hive rents fourteen studio and exhibition spaces.
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BRINGING BACK BROADWAY |
Los Angeles City Councilmember José Huizar, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, an impressive slate of City leaders, downtown residents, civic and business organizations and property owners of the largest historic theater district west of the Mississippi, share a vision for Bringing Back Broadway. |
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The historic Broadway corridor, located in the center of downtown Los Angeles, in heart of the Historic Core, features one of the largest concentrations of historic theatres on one street in the nation. Twelve beautiful theatres are located within eight blocks, set between a bevy of beautiful architectural gems which stand in tribute to achievements in architecture and engineering constructed in the early part of the 20th century. The Broadway corridor is part of an important National Register Historic District.
Broadway enjoys a colorful history as the birthplace of vaudeville and cinematic entertainment in Los Angeles and was once considered the retail capital of the United States. It was also an important west coast center for business and commerce and was one of the most popular destinations for Angelenos and tourists utilizing the city's former streetcar system.
For its rich history and tremendous future potential, Broadway is a true treasure in Los Angeles which is not meeting its potential in a number of different ways. Right now, Broadway bustles with Latino shoppers and many others during the day, but there is an increasingly high vacancy rate among ground floor retail shops and existing retail customers are being lured away in greater and greater numbers to other municipalities which offer busy families a wider variety of goods, services and things to do in one stop. Very few of the glorious historic theaters offer entertainment programming, more than a million square feet of commercial space is currently vacant in the upper floors of Broadway's buildings, and the boulevard does not serve the needs of the downtown community especially at night. These challenges combine to threaten the long-term utility of this precious historic corridor, and also reduce the City's ability to capture revenue, create and retain jobs and sustain the viability of its urban center downtown.
To address these challenges, and provide critically importance assistance and focus on Broadway's needs from both the public and private sectors, Bringing Back Broadway was launched in January, 2008.
Bringing Back Broadway is a public-private partnership initiative focused on an ambitious ten-year plan to:
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Revitalize the historic Broadway district between 2nd and 9th streets
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Activate the theaters
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Re-active more than a million square feet of vacant commercial space
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Assist retailers and prevent further retail vacancies
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Increase parking and transit options to serve Broadway
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Encourage cultural, entertainment and retail uses on Broadway that will sustain generations
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Create a sense of place and history through urban planning, design and lighting guidelines and streetscapes
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And make the dream of riding a streetcar downtown by 2014 a reality.
As a link between the past and the future, the revitalized historic Broadway corridor will ensure that the vibrant, cultural character of Broadway remains, while helping Broadway provide something for everyone, day and night by complementing and connecting new large-scale downtown entertainment and cultural destinations, as well as galleries, restaurants, and cultural activities on Spring Street and throughout Downtown.
For more information go to www.bringingbackbroadway.com.
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The Loft Exchange, Inc.
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California Real Estate Broker's license #01363124
Copyright © 2008 The Loft Exchange, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
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