For those who live on the westside of LA - is it just me or are there others out there who feel as if Venice and adjacent areas have experienced a gentrification of sorts over the past few years? I find great humor in the attempt of convincing people the developments (socially and economically) are apart of the "re-urbanization" of the community... Perhaps what perpetuates my annoyance of the situation is the traffic experienced on Abbott Kinney and surrounding streets with nothing but babbling, lost souls looking for valet parking.....For those of us who have seen the best and the worst of the westside and continued to live here regardless, and accepting of the negatives associated with a beach/art/ghetto/assault on precinct 13 neighborhood, it just is a little too demanding for those who infiltrate their way in but cannot stand the compromise it suggests.. It just seems as if there is no sense of balance of the classes anymore, which is why people are so intrigued with Venice to begin with..
in all honesty, who cares about venice etc areas anymore? there are much more interesting, affordable and ethinically mixed neighborhoods in LA than venice and the westside.
but you are right...the gentrification of venice is what has led to this strange situation, and consequent disinterest in this area of LA
Gentrification is inevitable. LA is in vogue and undergoing a rebirth. While the yuppies crowd the lower income folks and renters out, they do provide the necessary tax base to get stuff repaired, build new parks, and fund city financed affordable housing. They also bring with them new shops, restaurants, bars, AND new work for designers and architects.
The city could use a face lift and I can guarantee that the garment worker with three kids and two jobs, or the starving artists for that matter aren't going to be the ones to fund it.
speaking of the parking enforcement in that area.. i have gotten 6 parking tickets in the last month alone.
..."While the yuppies crowd the lower income folks and renters out, they do provide the necessary tax base to get stuff repaired, build new parks, and fund city financed affordable housing..."..
okay, where are the parks? Do you mean the road dividers on 4th street ..do they count? and where is the affordable housing? and for WHOM do they build the affordable housing for? people that never lived there to begin with?!! If it were for the homeless that live at Sears and City Hall thats a different story...
I do agree with the fact that it has brought in alot of revenue with new development (and jobs for architects/designers) and restaurants/bars.. This is only 1 area that is an obvious example of gentrification .. downtown and chinatown are next..slowly but surely...They are already showing signs....
3 steven ehrlich projects around venice circle were the symbols of gentrification birds indeed arrived in venice and there to stay and hatch further.
israel is right. +,- 20.
gentrification and degentrification is name of the urban game. who would know the jewish residents would leave east los angeles? i think, changes were even greater in the often ignored san fernando valley and south los angeles, bordering oc.
as i was driving by westminster park in venice ghetto yesterday, i was happy to see group of homeboys still hanging out on the picnic tables, their presence is symbolising the resistance as always did.
god forbid, i wonder if a new riot could be contained in the central areas anymore?
i've seen a lot of kids came out from venice ghetto becoming engineers, nurses, musicians, artists and teachers as well as drug dealers and in and out jail birds. yes there are a lot of lost people around valet parking drop offs who would not contribute a single positive thought for multi generational residents of venice.
venice is still the least priced beach community from malibu to hermosa beach in la county as far as the real estate is concerned, thus the birds still land.
it is a place that gets trickier, when the ideas of perfection in the shape of an artistic community complete with galleries and other related commerce is thought with inbalanced revenue distribution. in many ways, it is no different than what happened to lower east side in nyc.
one have to leave in los angeles to see how dense this city is, behind its low rise illusion.
just some cryptic thoughts..
Thx for bringing that up Israel, for those of us who went to SCIARC on Beethoven and lived in Venice or SM the skyhigh rents were already in place before you tore the place up with yr gold-plated Bentley.
A small aside. Parking tix have nothing to do with gentrification. I lived in a very shitty section of Hollywood for 2 years and got loads of tickets- including one for jaywalking while intoxicated...but thats a different thread.
I think that the problem is less about "yuppie this or yuppie that"
and more about civic governements abandonment of affordable housing. Lets face it renters are always going to be pissed because they are the most vunerable. But the government hasn't arrived at an acceptable solution other than forcing developers and landlords to shoulder the burden. City authorities need to get with the program and levy taxes to develop affordable housing (this could be done, as it has in LA, in a partnership with the private sector). And last I checked, the US isn't Sweden.
Hey POMOtrash,
I agree that govt's have generally walked away from affordable housing
'projects.', but I don't think that's the reason places like Venice, or anywhere else in nice places to live ge so expensive. Fact is tha more people want to live in SoCal than leave it. I stayed w/ a friend down on the Peninsula in Palos Verdes & we inevitably discussed real estate prices. He told me that they bought their teardown 3yrs ago for $400K, renovated i completely & today(3 YEARS LATER) can sell for $1.5M. He went on to say that even if someone offered him $3M, he wouldn't leave. Now money talks & b/s walks, but I believe him. PV is a great place to live. I guess you can't compare Venice & PV, but the underlying theme is there: If you're 'in' now, don't sell unless you never want to come back because prices will be even more ridiculous in the future. That even takes on the 'bubble' that has yet to hit.
Back to gov't's role. I'm by no means an enemy of affordable housing, or people that need it . But the whole problem is basically Supply-&-Demand. Until someone can be successful at developing affordable housing profitably (or gov't starts funding it, hopefully not),
Venice is gonna see more Bentleys & less Pintos.
Israel's Bentley was badass. He once did donuts around a very freightened Neil Denari almost every day. He lost it last year during a poker game with Zaha Hadid and Tadao Ando.
He got Andos Prada jacket tho.
MysteryMan- I think we are talking about the same thing. I am not adovcating that the govt. produce socialist utopias- just smart housing at stabilized prices. Oh and there is no good reason why the public shouldn't help out by paying an extra cent on their food or clothing.
My concern with this discussion thread is that it seems to be advocating stagnation as a form of neighborhood stability (i.e. you like your neighborhood the way it is and feel that you should pay $800.00 for rent from now untill eternity). As an designer in LA I deal with these types at every neighborhood hearing and listen to folks who have forgotten they live in a metropolitan area of 13 million.
What makes the "city" so great is that it thrives on change. It is an engine of culture because it creates new oportunities for some while recycling the careworn dreams of others. Without change the city would be...Nebraska.
Nebraska would often beat my neighborhood. I get what you're saying. I certainly don't want to give the impression that I feel a neighborhood, in order to be interesting, has to live in the past, or be a place closed off to change & new people. Not at all.
What I find disturbing about any place that is going through a re-birth, or
re-dsicovery, often by a new generation of inhabitants, is the lack of business sense of the new 'bidders', if you will. These people often get caught up in a gold-rush mentality. Before you know it, the only affordable places are those in neighboring less desirable(for awhile, at least). That can be a good thing for those areas, until this cycle starts repeating itself. Hmmm, it seems like a description of American society in general - Ravenous consumers, eating everything in sight until there's nothing left.
Once an area gets 'discovered', prices rise, often spiking to ridiculous prices. Those 'discoverers' are often the Yuppie class, throwing money into their 'investment' (I like quotes, don't I?), boosting their property values & often their neighbor's, as well. Property taxes climb, until some long-time residents have a dilema - sell & leave, or pay more tax for the same services. This is, of course, different in California, which has its own tax demons.
Once property prices get too high, like in Venice, only he well-off can afford to spur the change, which often is called gentrification. The rest of the residents are stuck in a struggle to keep their roof fixed, or A/C running. You could say that they don't share in the prosperity until they decide, or are forced to leave. Once they leave, especially in Calif, their chance of returning is low.
Bottom Line: Nothing new here. Generally, If you've got money, you can afford to live in great places. For everyone else, there's a new suburb breaking ground somewhere - it just might take you 2 hours to get there/not there. And, it won't be as interesting as a Venice.
Man I can say a lot of nothing when the work is slow.
Jul 28, 05 3:39 pm ·
·
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.
The demise of Venice
For those who live on the westside of LA - is it just me or are there others out there who feel as if Venice and adjacent areas have experienced a gentrification of sorts over the past few years? I find great humor in the attempt of convincing people the developments (socially and economically) are apart of the "re-urbanization" of the community... Perhaps what perpetuates my annoyance of the situation is the traffic experienced on Abbott Kinney and surrounding streets with nothing but babbling, lost souls looking for valet parking.....For those of us who have seen the best and the worst of the westside and continued to live here regardless, and accepting of the negatives associated with a beach/art/ghetto/assault on precinct 13 neighborhood, it just is a little too demanding for those who infiltrate their way in but cannot stand the compromise it suggests.. It just seems as if there is no sense of balance of the classes anymore, which is why people are so intrigued with Venice to begin with..
And here I clicked on this thinking it would be something about the perils of sinking into the Adriatic...
in all honesty, who cares about venice etc areas anymore? there are much more interesting, affordable and ethinically mixed neighborhoods in LA than venice and the westside.
but you are right...the gentrification of venice is what has led to this strange situation, and consequent disinterest in this area of LA
what, no gondolas?
$750,000 for a teardown....
Yeah, really. Actually that'd be a bargain. Until L.A. County refunds my $40 parking fine, Venice can burn for all I care!!
You want some whine with that cheese boy?
Gentrification is inevitable. LA is in vogue and undergoing a rebirth. While the yuppies crowd the lower income folks and renters out, they do provide the necessary tax base to get stuff repaired, build new parks, and fund city financed affordable housing. They also bring with them new shops, restaurants, bars, AND new work for designers and architects.
The city could use a face lift and I can guarantee that the garment worker with three kids and two jobs, or the starving artists for that matter aren't going to be the ones to fund it.
"....the garment worker with three kids and two jobs, or the starving artists for that matter aren't going to be the ones to fund it."
Neither are the architects/designers.
Parking tickets also pay for a lot of city services (was that my whine?).
what about my $110 J-walking ticket in Pasadena...the city doing all it can to make sure nobody walks in LA
Let's form an advocate group.
speaking of the parking enforcement in that area.. i have gotten 6 parking tickets in the last month alone.
..."While the yuppies crowd the lower income folks and renters out, they do provide the necessary tax base to get stuff repaired, build new parks, and fund city financed affordable housing..."..
okay, where are the parks? Do you mean the road dividers on 4th street ..do they count? and where is the affordable housing? and for WHOM do they build the affordable housing for? people that never lived there to begin with?!! If it were for the homeless that live at Sears and City Hall thats a different story...
I do agree with the fact that it has brought in alot of revenue with new development (and jobs for architects/designers) and restaurants/bars.. This is only 1 area that is an obvious example of gentrification .. downtown and chinatown are next..slowly but surely...They are already showing signs....
"past few years"
did you just wake up from a 20-year nap?
3 steven ehrlich projects around venice circle were the symbols of gentrification birds indeed arrived in venice and there to stay and hatch further.
israel is right. +,- 20.
gentrification and degentrification is name of the urban game. who would know the jewish residents would leave east los angeles? i think, changes were even greater in the often ignored san fernando valley and south los angeles, bordering oc.
as i was driving by westminster park in venice ghetto yesterday, i was happy to see group of homeboys still hanging out on the picnic tables, their presence is symbolising the resistance as always did.
god forbid, i wonder if a new riot could be contained in the central areas anymore?
i've seen a lot of kids came out from venice ghetto becoming engineers, nurses, musicians, artists and teachers as well as drug dealers and in and out jail birds. yes there are a lot of lost people around valet parking drop offs who would not contribute a single positive thought for multi generational residents of venice.
venice is still the least priced beach community from malibu to hermosa beach in la county as far as the real estate is concerned, thus the birds still land.
it is a place that gets trickier, when the ideas of perfection in the shape of an artistic community complete with galleries and other related commerce is thought with inbalanced revenue distribution. in many ways, it is no different than what happened to lower east side in nyc.
one have to leave in los angeles to see how dense this city is, behind its low rise illusion.
just some cryptic thoughts..
correction;
leave in los angeles = 'live' in los angeles. excuse me..
Thx for bringing that up Israel, for those of us who went to SCIARC on Beethoven and lived in Venice or SM the skyhigh rents were already in place before you tore the place up with yr gold-plated Bentley.
A small aside. Parking tix have nothing to do with gentrification. I lived in a very shitty section of Hollywood for 2 years and got loads of tickets- including one for jaywalking while intoxicated...but thats a different thread.
I think that the problem is less about "yuppie this or yuppie that"
and more about civic governements abandonment of affordable housing. Lets face it renters are always going to be pissed because they are the most vunerable. But the government hasn't arrived at an acceptable solution other than forcing developers and landlords to shoulder the burden. City authorities need to get with the program and levy taxes to develop affordable housing (this could be done, as it has in LA, in a partnership with the private sector). And last I checked, the US isn't Sweden.
Hey POMOtrash,
I agree that govt's have generally walked away from affordable housing
'projects.', but I don't think that's the reason places like Venice, or anywhere else in nice places to live ge so expensive. Fact is tha more people want to live in SoCal than leave it. I stayed w/ a friend down on the Peninsula in Palos Verdes & we inevitably discussed real estate prices. He told me that they bought their teardown 3yrs ago for $400K, renovated i completely & today(3 YEARS LATER) can sell for $1.5M. He went on to say that even if someone offered him $3M, he wouldn't leave. Now money talks & b/s walks, but I believe him. PV is a great place to live. I guess you can't compare Venice & PV, but the underlying theme is there: If you're 'in' now, don't sell unless you never want to come back because prices will be even more ridiculous in the future. That even takes on the 'bubble' that has yet to hit.
Back to gov't's role. I'm by no means an enemy of affordable housing, or people that need it . But the whole problem is basically Supply-&-Demand. Until someone can be successful at developing affordable housing profitably (or gov't starts funding it, hopefully not),
Venice is gonna see more Bentleys & less Pintos.
Israel's Bentley was badass. He once did donuts around a very freightened Neil Denari almost every day. He lost it last year during a poker game with Zaha Hadid and Tadao Ando.
He got Andos Prada jacket tho.
MysteryMan- I think we are talking about the same thing. I am not adovcating that the govt. produce socialist utopias- just smart housing at stabilized prices. Oh and there is no good reason why the public shouldn't help out by paying an extra cent on their food or clothing.
My concern with this discussion thread is that it seems to be advocating stagnation as a form of neighborhood stability (i.e. you like your neighborhood the way it is and feel that you should pay $800.00 for rent from now untill eternity). As an designer in LA I deal with these types at every neighborhood hearing and listen to folks who have forgotten they live in a metropolitan area of 13 million.
What makes the "city" so great is that it thrives on change. It is an engine of culture because it creates new oportunities for some while recycling the careworn dreams of others. Without change the city would be...Nebraska.
Nebraska would often beat my neighborhood. I get what you're saying. I certainly don't want to give the impression that I feel a neighborhood, in order to be interesting, has to live in the past, or be a place closed off to change & new people. Not at all.
What I find disturbing about any place that is going through a re-birth, or
re-dsicovery, often by a new generation of inhabitants, is the lack of business sense of the new 'bidders', if you will. These people often get caught up in a gold-rush mentality. Before you know it, the only affordable places are those in neighboring less desirable(for awhile, at least). That can be a good thing for those areas, until this cycle starts repeating itself. Hmmm, it seems like a description of American society in general - Ravenous consumers, eating everything in sight until there's nothing left.
Once an area gets 'discovered', prices rise, often spiking to ridiculous prices. Those 'discoverers' are often the Yuppie class, throwing money into their 'investment' (I like quotes, don't I?), boosting their property values & often their neighbor's, as well. Property taxes climb, until some long-time residents have a dilema - sell & leave, or pay more tax for the same services. This is, of course, different in California, which has its own tax demons.
Once property prices get too high, like in Venice, only he well-off can afford to spur the change, which often is called gentrification. The rest of the residents are stuck in a struggle to keep their roof fixed, or A/C running. You could say that they don't share in the prosperity until they decide, or are forced to leave. Once they leave, especially in Calif, their chance of returning is low.
Bottom Line: Nothing new here. Generally, If you've got money, you can afford to live in great places. For everyone else, there's a new suburb breaking ground somewhere - it just might take you 2 hours to get there/not there. And, it won't be as interesting as a Venice.
Man I can say a lot of nothing when the work is slow.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.