My impression of LA. Well, not really impressed. Okay, that's not completely true. There is some great cultural experience to be had here. Outside of the actual city, the area could be stunning if not covered completely by freeways, restaurants and high density shopping malls. The transportation systems are pretty amazing but there are just too many people in a small space. I've spent time in New York City where the population density is even tighter but it doesn't have the same feeling. Why is everyone so nasty? People in restaurants don't realize their tips are based on service cause that attitude is going to get them squat. It's as if I'm putting them out by asking them to do their jobs. How does this work? The nice people we have bumped into seem to be fellow out of towners. I actually like the Burbank area except for the number of people and the general attitudes. It's small and easy to navigate. Because of the entertainment industry focus here, it's clean and well maintained for the most part. The geography is not that big down here. I was expecting many of these cities to be much further apart - again just too many people and too much traffic. Who knew it could take 30 minutes to go 10 miles? This area is prime for the European experience - bicycles, mopeds, walking. Things aren't that far away from one another but there isn't any pedestrian focus. It's actually designed to discourage pedestrians. Our hotel is next to a shopping area. How can it not be? Everything seems to be next to a shopping area but there are little if any sidewalks or crosswalks. It appears that their design doesn't account for anyone walking from one end of the very large shopping center to the other. As if they assume you will drive your car from store to store. Amazing. No wonder we're all getting fat. We live in our cars. There are just as many restaurants as there are stores. And it appears that the food locations have a lot of the business. There are several anchor stores here - Target, Lowe's, Great Outdoor Store, to name a few. Yet all the traffic seems centered around the food locations. To be fair, this is near a freeway but not an easy on/off or an obvious stop for freeway traffic. Most of this is local traffic.
It's an amazing observation when you realize our culture is completely focused on shopping and eating. The new condo complexes are being built on top of shopping centers. When is the last time you saw a skating rink, mini-golf course or other outdoor entertainment being built? Have you seen and new and interesting outdoor activity centers even created in the last 5 years? What if the put as much imagination and energy into the outdoor entertainment efforts as they do into the shopping efforts? What would happen? First, there isn't as much (if any) profit in outdoor entertainment and experiences as there are in shopping malls. Weather is a problem outside - but not in the mall. If (when) the mall is successful, you just crank the rent and really start making the cash. If it's not, you evict the tenants that aren't driving traffic and replace them with something new and trendy. When the outdoor entertainment doesn't work, you sell the land to a mall.
The circle of (retail) life.
It's an amazing observation when you realize our culture is completely focused on shopping and eating. The new condo complexes are being built on top of shopping centers. When is the last time you saw a skating rink, mini-golf course or other outdoor entertainment being built? Have you seen and new and interesting outdoor activity centers even created in the last 5 years? What if the put as much imagination and energy into the outdoor entertainment efforts as they do into the shopping efforts? What would happen? First, there isn't as much (if any) profit in outdoor entertainment and experiences as there are in shopping malls. Weather is a problem outside - but not in the mall. If (when) the mall is successful, you just crank the rent and really start making the cash. If it's not, you evict the tenants that aren't driving traffic and replace them with something new and trendy. When the outdoor entertainment doesn't work, you sell the land to a mall.
The circle of (retail) life.
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