New Park in Downtown LA

[archd1]

^These were the three invited designers and the designs are still in the conceptual stage.....a lot of tweaking will be done for the final phase of the competition and of course, the community's involvement is very much encouraged. About 100 people attended the presentation.....Just think, industrial warehouses were proposed for the site a few years ago and because of the community's protests, the state purchased the land to be turned into this park.

[croyboy]

well, as long as they're tweeking

[Joey313]

did not want to start a new thread to many
so maybe it might fit in here
click on link
http://www.lacity.org/mayor/myrprasi...7_10162006.pdf

[klamedia]

I don't have an opinion.

[mohammed wong]

I think dodger stadium should stay there,
it is a great stadium,
it would be a good idea IMHO if a subway or train went there so there would be less of a need for parking lots,

the lots should be used for retail and condos,
it would be really cool,

dodger stadium has to be one of the older stadiums around
and personally i think we should have a few stadiums around from the 50-60s era, it still is just dodger stadium, right?
its nice to see a stadium that doesnt have some crappy new company name on it.
so foolish to keep destroying, it seems that people are too destroy happy.

[phattonez]

Originally Posted by mohammed wong

I think dodger stadium should stay there,
it is a great stadium,
it would be a good idea IMHO if a subway or train went there so there would be less of a need for parking lots,

the lots should be used for retail and condos,
it would be really cool,

dodger stadium has to be one of the older stadiums around
and personally i think we should have a few stadiums around from the 50-60s era, it still is just dodger stadium, right?
its nice to see a stadium that doesnt have some crappy new company name on it.
so foolish to keep destroying, it seems that people are too destroy happy.

I think Fenway is the oldest, then Wrigley, and then Dodger Stadium.

[Imperfect Ending]

NO!!! MY CORN FIELD!

[archd1]

Dodger stadium is not the oldest but it's design is distinctively Southern California modern and had always been regarded as the best stadium in the MLB by the players and managers themselves. For that reason alone it should be preserved.

However, I do not know how many people in this forum knows about the Chavez Ravine debacle in the 50's wherein thousands of original largely poor Mexican families were forcibly rooted out of their homes to accommodate the stadium. A school, church and houses--a fully functioning community--once stood in the parking lots and stadium grounds. Same thing happened in the 30's when the original Chinatown was moved to it's present location (the original Little Italy) when Union Station was built.

[Fern~Fern*]

Interesting History Archd1, you never stop amazing me!!!!

[Elsongs]

Originally Posted by mohammed wong

I think dodger stadium should stay there,
it is a great stadium,
it would be a good idea IMHO if a subway or train went there so there would be less of a need for parking lots,

its nice to see a stadium that doesnt have some crappy new company name on it.
.

The PROBLEM with Dodger Stadium staying there is that you CAN'T build a rail system there (you can't but it'll be too expensive and impractical), because Dodger Stadium is situated on a hill, and no one wants to justify building a subway station for a place that's only open 6 months in the year. That is why there is no Red Line station at the Hollywood Bowl. You want the stadium to be in a place that's accessible so even if it's not used, people can use the station for other uses -- the Coliseum is in the right spot even when it's not football season because the Metro Expo Line can serve USC or just the park.
Same with Staples Center and the Blue Line. But Dodger Stadium is out alone all by itself, so you're wrong, you CAN'T keep Dodger Stadium there and wish for a rail line to be built there, it's not going to happen.

Now I'm a HUGE Dodger Fan, but I think that's its biggest weakness, the fact that it's in an isloated area that cannot be served by rail transit. The Thomas Mayne one is a good idea in theory, provided Frank McCourt wants to cooperate (but the total design is too esoteric). Theoretically if they built a duplicate Dodger Stadium (built to the same specifications and same design) where the Cornfields site is and used Chavez Ravine for a larger Elysian Park, I'd be all for it...But it looks like the first design is the only realistic one I can see for the park.

Incidentally, when the Dodgers were owned by FOX, they were briefly considerg a plan to move the Dodgers (back) to Exposition Park and building a new Dodger Stadium on the site of the Sports Arena (which would be torn down).

[Elsongs]

Originally Posted by archd1

Dodger stadium is not the oldest but it's design is distinctively Southern California modern and had always been regarded as the best stadium in the MLB by the players and managers themselves. For that reason alone it should be preserved.

If they built a duplicate Dodger stadium with the exact same design and dimensions, I think more people would support that...I don't want a cliche HOK-designed new stadium with the dark green seats, yech.

[Elsongs]

Originally Posted by croyboy

yeah i still say it's way too much green if dodger statium was removed for this...

There's no such thing as "too much green" space in Los Angeles.

[JRinSoCal]

While I don't like the way this park is designed at all, I think moving Dodger Stadium into downtown is a great idea. I don't like way the stadium is so hidden and the traffic up there is a nightmare during a game. Wouldn't it be cool if downtown residents can just walk to a ball game?

[godblessbotox]

just put up a train stop

[croyboy]

Originally Posted by Elsongs

There's no such thing as "too much green" space in Los Angeles.

no, not as a whole city, but it is too much in one area that already has a huge park... there needs to be a park... but not one that engulfs dodger stadium

[croyboy]

Originally Posted by Elsongs

The PROBLEM with Dodger Stadium staying there is that you CAN'T build a rail system there (you can't but it'll be too expensive and impractical), because Dodger Stadium is situated on a hill, and no one wants to justify building a subway station for a place that's only open 6 months in the year. That is why there is no Red Line station at the Hollywood Bowl. You want the stadium to be in a place that's accessible so even if it's not used, people can use the station for other uses -- the Coliseum is in the right spot even when it's not football season because the Metro Expo Line can serve USC or just the park.
Same with Staples Center and the Blue Line. But Dodger Stadium is out alone all by itself, so you're wrong, you CAN'T keep Dodger Stadium there and wish for a rail line to be built there, it's not going to happen.

a tram or bus line from union station or the gold line might be good enough

[QUOTE=Elsongs;10171407]Now I'm a HUGE Dodger Fan, but I think that's its biggest weakness, the fact that it's in an isloated area that cannot be served by rail transit. The Thomas Mayne one is a good idea in theory, provided Frank McCourt wants to cooperate (but the total design is too esoteric). Theoretically if they built a duplicate Dodger Stadium (built to the same specifications and same design) where the Cornfields site is and used Chavez Ravine for a larger Elysian Park, I'd be all for it...But it looks like the first design is the only realistic one I can see for the park. QUOTE]

the hill the stadium sits on during the time it was built seemed like a cool idea becuase at the time it fit with the suburban utopia ideas of the 50s... los angeles would have been a car dependent culture (it is) so the idea seemed suitable.

[ArchiTennis]

Originally Posted by archd1

Dodger stadium is not the oldest but it's design is distinctively Southern California modern and had always been regarded as the best stadium in the MLB by the players and managers themselves. For that reason alone it should be preserved.

However, I do not know how many people in this forum knows about the Chavez Ravine debacle in the 50's wherein thousands of original largely poor Mexican families were forcibly rooted out of their homes to accommodate the stadium. A school, church and houses--a fully functioning community--once stood in the parking lots and stadium grounds. Same thing happened in the 30's when the original Chinatown was moved to it's present location (the original Little Italy) when Union Station was built.

yeah...my final project was to build a multi-use train station at the end of the cornfield...during my research i found out about the chavez ravine history...very interesting..I think the president of CRA (not sure, so don't quote me) was kicked out and fined for being racist!! anyway....this is the community that was forced out of the area...at one point the bulldozers where destroying this community while many people where still living there!!

[godblessbotox]

thats a pritty shity story. but one that has been told many times in many places. are those pictures direct from were you found them or did you shrink them?

[Elsongs]

Originally Posted by tennisguyinHtown

yeah...my final project was to build a multi-use train station at the end of the cornfield...during my research i found out about the chavez ravine history...very interesting..I think the president of CRA (not sure, so don't quote me) was kicked out and fined for being racist!! anyway....this is the community that was forced out of the area...at one point the bulldozers where destroying this community while many people where still living there!!

The blame in kicking out residents from Chavez Ravine lay on the city and not the Dodgers. In fact, the land had been eyed by the city since the 1940s as a redevelopment plot, indended for either a baseball stadium, the new L.A. Zoo or the L.A. Convention Center. The Dodgers only provided an opportunity for the city to redevelop; Walter O'Malley bought the old Wrigley Field in South Central L.A. (home of the old Los Angeles Angels) and intended it (or at least the land) for the Dodgers but later sold it when he found out the city could offer him a bigger plot of land for the stadium -- something he never would have gotten in Brooklyn.

[ArchiTennis]

godblessbotox thats a pritty shity story. but one that has been told many times in many places. are those pictures direct from were you found them or did you shrink them?

they're shrunk...there's a whole gallery of pics somewhere...i don't remember the site i found them

Originally Posted by Elsongs

The blame in kicking out residents from Chavez Ravine lay on the city and not the Dodgers. In fact, the land had been eyed by the city since the 1940s as a redevelopment plot, indended for either a baseball stadium, the new L.A. Zoo or the L.A. Convention Center. The Dodgers only provided an opportunity for the city to redevelop; Walter O'Malley bought the old Wrigley Field in South Central L.A. (home of the old Los Angeles Angels) and intended it (or at least the land) for the Dodgers but later sold it when he found out the city could offer him a bigger plot of land for the stadium -- something he never would have gotten in Brooklyn.

From what I understand, the whole land was supposed to be redeveloped into housing...there was even a Starchitect that designed the project...off course the community that was removed was never compensated and the housing never came to fruition. The land was then pitched for other ideas - the ones you mentioned.