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Visual and Performing Arts
High School on Grand Avenue
Nears Completion |
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Have you been wondering, “What is that thing perched over on the 101 Freeway at Grand Avenue?” That’s the theater building of new Central Los Angeles High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, also known as High School #9.
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 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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Councilmember José Huizar Encourages Broadway Property Owners To Look To City for Capital in Hard Times Loan |
Loan program through the Community Development Department makes available up to
$150 million annually for property owners who wish to improve and renovate their buildings |
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LOS ANGELES (Nov. 12, 2008) – Councilmember José Huizar and the Community Development Department announced this week that they are encouraging Broadway Corridor property owners who wish to renovate and upgrade their buildings – but who are struggling with tight credit markets and a lack of willing commercial lenders – to look to the City as a capital loan provider.
The Section 108 Loan Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is managed for the City by the CDD and provides funding for land acquisition, construction or renovation, related costs of fixtures, equipment and other soft costs.
“We need to get creative,” said Councilmember José Huizar. “We have more than 1-million square feet of vacant or underutilized commercial space along Broadway right now – that’s a million square feet providing no jobs, and no revenue for the City. Access to capital is a lifeline for projects which can change that.”
The loan program has traditionally been used by CDD as a subordinate loan, to provide gap funding for larger scale projects. In light of the global financial crisis in which even the best credit customers are having trouble securing additional debt from commercial lenders, Huizar and the CDD are working out a plan whereby a borrower’s considerable equity – such as has been accumulated along Broadway – will allow CDD to offer the program as a primary loan initially, since the procurement of private capital has become such a challenge. Up to $150 million annually could be made available to property owners through this program.
Once the project is completed and stabilized, the borrower would be required to obtain permanent financing from a commercial lender, with the Section 108 loan then subordinated. Huizar hopes to have those details worked out and the first loan approved in early 2009, leading the way for others to take advantage of this program.
Section 108 Loan Program projects must meet specific requirements established by HUD for providing public benefits – for example projects are expected to create one job for every $35,000 borrowed, and about half of those jobs should be made available for low and moderate income workers. With no jobs in many of the upper floors right now, that should be an easily attainable goal once the floors are re-occupied. The loan program’s longer repayment schedule – up to 20 years – also has advantages for borrowers.
Last week, City Council approved the creation of a Bringing Back Broadway Commercial Reuse Task Force to create policies and procedures necessary for an ordinance along with meaningful incentives to encourage the reactivation of underutilized, often long-vacant upper floors along Broadway and in the historic core. Many of the buildings, after years or decades of vacancy cannot legally be occupied without significant and costly life-fire safety upgrades.
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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