L.A. Live's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction, according to Ed Fuentes of blogdowntown, who believes 2009 will be a real test for the project. Meanwhile, LA Live's most significant moment might have come during the Dec. 25th Lakers-Celtics game when shots of downtown were shown to a national audience: "It may have been the bright and shiny metal tree that grabbed the attention of broadcast crews afflicted with Downtown deficit disorder. Still, it was different than the typical shots of Santa Monica beach-goers and Beverly Hills shoppers used to identify Los Angeles. As a bonus, it was even the right city." Also: LA Times' Christopher Hawthorne, who already reviewed the project, has nominated LA Live in the category of Worst Architecture of 2008. Hawthorne writes: "I mention the downtown mega-development again not to pile on but to clarify the role of criticism in and about this city. Among the scores of e-mails I received after panning the project's sterile second phase in early December was a handful of notes wondering why I had even bothered. Wasn't L.A. Live, certain readers wondered, somehow naturally immune from such criticism?...It's time to admit that we are L.A. Live, and L.A. Live is us -- and that a little self-analysis might be a productive thing in the end." [Blogdowntown/LA Times]
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