Look, that handsome guy on the cover of Los Angeles--the model who is supposed to epitomize a downtown resident for the magazine's downtown issue-- is probably not winking at his 20-something model girlfriend or grinning at his boyfriend. "We imagined a suburban dad," says Joe Kimberling, the magazine's art director, explaining the cover to Curbed.
According to Kimberling, Los Angeles did a cover story on downtown living about three years ago. "It was about young people who were moving to the downtown lofts." The cover back then: A photo of a couple in a loft with a puppy.
But puppy has grown up!
For this recent story, Kimberling said they wanted to find out what "was different about downtown" since that last issue. The general premise was that suburbanites are now moving downtown. (Yes, they are.)
Anyway, it was a suburban theme. Hence the BBQ and the "good-looking but normal-looking" model.
According to Kimberling, they looked at about a dozen models, but narrowed it down to two. The shoot took place at a Hollywood studio in May; actually shooting the cover on a downtown rooftop is too difficult because of various factors. "It's supposed to look sort of staged," he says of the cover.
As for that original Los Angeles magazine 2005 story about downtown, here's how one blogger wrote about the story. Only about a "half million" for a loft? Damn. Should have purchased back then.
"Digging the "New" Downtown" by
AOL City Guide Nightcrawler writer
Thursday, April 14, 2005:
"Did you read the recent Los Angeles Magazine cover story on the "new" downtown? Nope? Right, you already knew that the area has really blown up. The place is crawling with hipsters slurping $10 drinks on the Standard rooftop, getting their culture on at Disney Hall, and throwing their own warehouse parties. And forget about buying into a loft if you don't already have a cool half mil."
And the shot from the July Issue:
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