Poor, poor Los Angeles - always playing second fiddle to New York. They get Madonna, we settle for Randy Newman. They have SoHo, we can hardly say "WeHo" with a straight face. And now, our hometown rag suggests that LA's Grand Avenue project will have trouble measuring up to the Big Apple's Warner Center? Oh, the shame.
We wonder, why is NY's glitzy mixed-use skyscraper/advertorium/shopping mall LA's benchmark for success? Clearly, the comparison is posed due to the projects having a common developer in The Related Companies. Yet we'd hope for the sights to be set a skosh higher. The Grand Avenue Committee has boasted of transforming Grand into Southern California's Champs Elysees or Ramblas. These may be unrealistically lofty models (remember, Nobody Walks in LA), but at least they are worthy ones.
· Hello, Columbus: An L.A. Street Looks to a New York Circle [LA Times]