Next to “Self-Congratulation” in the Dictionary ...
by Nathan Walpow
We hate L.A. Live, and we’re not afraid to say so. Like here ... and here ... and here. (We’re not the only ones. In our camp: L.A. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne.)
There are those who big to differ. The Downtown News, at its annual Downtowners of Distinction Awards, named the Staples-adjacent monstrosity Project of the Year.
The landmark South Park development was praised repeatedly by other attendees, including Maguire Properties CEO Nelson Rising. But Ted Tanner, AEG’s senior vice president of real estate, was quick to state that the project is not yet complete. Still to come is the 1,001-room Convention Center Hotel.
... which is that phallus-like thing rising where no skyscraper has no business rising, distracting you while you’re trying to negotiate the southbound 110 to westbound 10 interchange.
Said Ted Tanner, Anschutz Entertainment Group’s senior vice president of real estate:
Our work is not finished. In November we open up 14 cinemas, in just three months we’ll open up four more restaurants and then a year from now that little 54-story building will open up, and I think it will be a major driver of convention business and visitation Downtown.
Visitation? Like when you visit your Uncle Louie in prison? Or, according to Webster, “the visit of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth recounted in Luke and celebrated July 2 by a Christian feast”? They built this whole ugly mess so Mary would show up downtown? They could have gotten away a whole lot cheaper putting her face on a tortilla.
Sorry to go off like this, but I hate it when businesspeople invent new words and blithely subject us all to them. Hell, I’m still not over functionality.
(And don’t even get me started on “little 54-story building.”)
I’ll leave you with this gem from City Councilman Ed Reyes: “It’s one thing to zone, it’s one thing to make plans, but it’s another thing to put the shovel in the ground.”
Thanks, Ed. I’ll be sure to spread that pithy bit around next time I’m at a Christian feast.
photo by Beverley Keefe
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