nick f2007
La Cienega Boulevard, 1986
Four years earlier, after a long time of construction, the leviathan shopping mall named the Beverly Center opened on La Cienega between Third Street and Beverly Boulevard on a large property that was once a park that included pony rides, a merry-go-round, and other amusements that many today still fondly remember as kids. The Beverly Center draws customers from near and far, but its windowless brown-box design has few admirers. How times change; Southern California shopping centers were once meant to be outdoor venues taking advantage of the sunny climate, but the Beverly Center comprises a half dozen windowless interior corridors. And this stretch of La Cienega is less of a "restaurant row" than it was in the fifties and sixties, with more retail stores, hotels, and other businesses replacing eateries. But some recent developments in the area, particularly one at the Burton Way/Third Street intersection (just to the left of this photo) offer hope for something more invigorating than the rather generic architecture seen here. The Hollywood Hills in the distance, which beckon alluringly at night with their twinkling lights, thankfully have not changed.
La Cienega Boulevard, 1986
Four years earlier, after a long time of construction, the leviathan shopping mall named the Beverly Center opened on La Cienega between Third Street and Beverly Boulevard on a large property that was once a park that included pony rides, a merry-go-round, and other amusements that many today still fondly remember as kids. The Beverly Center draws customers from near and far, but its windowless brown-box design has few admirers. How times change; Southern California shopping centers were once meant to be outdoor venues taking advantage of the sunny climate, but the Beverly Center comprises a half dozen windowless interior corridors. And this stretch of La Cienega is less of a "restaurant row" than it was in the fifties and sixties, with more retail stores, hotels, and other businesses replacing eateries. But some recent developments in the area, particularly one at the Burton Way/Third Street intersection (just to the left of this photo) offer hope for something more invigorating than the rather generic architecture seen here. The Hollywood Hills in the distance, which beckon alluringly at night with their twinkling lights, thankfully have not changed.