April, 6, 2006 archives

there may be a hook in this bait, but i can’t let kevin roderick’s crack about the old bank district go unanswered it. he calls it “Tom Gilmore’s fictional creation to trick hipsters into leasing Skid Row lofts: the Old Bank District.”

but thinking about it for a day, i don’t know that he’s entirely wrong — several years ago. but where tom gilmore may have created something fictional, it is rapidly becoming real with new restaurants like blossom, the in-the-works flying tiger speakeasy-style bar (opening below pete’s), and projects like the el dorado and rowan lofts coming online soon (not to mention the nearby santa fe lofts, pacific electric lofts, and the lofts at the security building).

and it’s not skid row — it’s skid row adjacent.

the process of plopping a new police headquarters next to city hall in downtown los angeles ground a little further forward today, when the board of public works voted to approve the final environment impact report along with the waiver to go forward with unmitigated issues (like traffic).

my fiancée celia and i were there to lend our support. we tried to get one of the community members speaking to raise the example of how la gran marcha would have shut down the police headquarters at its new location, but he chose not to bring it up.

not a surprising outcome, but still a little disappointing.

(the picture is of kjell hagen, one of the founders of gallery row, addressing the board.)

hackers at mit stole the cannon that caltech stole took with permission from a prep school (more here), and that had previously been stolen in almost exactly the same manner twenty years ago by students of harvey mudd college.