Lessons from Los Angeles
Vancouver has taken design inspiration from the
California city, but there’s more we could learn
By
Michael Geller, Special to The Sun February 7, 2014
Photo of the Venice, California canals that
inspired the Lagoons, a False Creek condominium development at the entrance to
Granville Island.
I first
visited Los Angeles in 1970 as a young architectural student on a cross-America
CMHC travelling scholarship tour. In L.A., we visited houses by famous
architects and waterfront communities dotted along the Pacific Coast Highway. I
remember being impressed with the palm trees, the leisure-oriented lifestyle,
and the expansive spaghetti-like freeway system.
In the
subsequent four decades, like many Vancouver architects and developers, I
repeatedly returned to L.A. and neighbouring communities for design and real
estate inspiration. Vancouver’s description as Hollywood North can often apply
as much to real estate as it does to the movies.
The
Lagoons, a False Creek condominium development at the entrance to Granville
Island, was the result of one such trip. Its California-inspired layouts
included bedrooms accessed directly from the living areas and “open planning.”
While common today, this was a design innovation in the mid-1980s condominiums.
The 92
townhouses, stacked townhouses and apartments were sited around two man-made
water bodies, edged with semitropical landscaping, natural fountains and
patios. Unfortunately, like many California-inspired projects built in
Vancouver in the 1980s and 1990s, it suffered water penetration problems, which
had to be addressed. However, it remains one of False Creek’s most sought-after
low-rise developments.
A
subsequent trip in 1989 influenced the planning of the Bayshore community in
Coal Harbour. A year earlier, Japan’s Aoki Corp. had purchased the worldwide
Westin Hotel chain. When Aoki’s president visited Vancouver and discovered a
large parking lot on one of North America’s most magnificent waterfront sites,
he decided then and there to transform it into a world-class community.
A visit
to the exclusive Marina City Club in Marina del Rey inspired the concept of a
“waterfront residential resort” incorporating extensive amenities, water features
and lush landscaping. When the homes first went on sale in 1994, Bayshore was
marketed as a community where residents could watch their boats in the marina
and sip gin and tonics around the pool. Like Howard Hughes, one of the hotel’s
most famous guests, they, too, could enjoy California living in Vancouver.
Recently,
I returned to Los Angeles County to see how it had changed over the last
decade. While many Angelinos continue to enjoy a leisure-oriented lifestyle,
and the freeway system continues to dominate the region, there were a number of
surprises.
Despite
the pervasive signs of affluence, I was shocked to learn there are 57,735
homeless people in Los Angeles County according to the most recent count by
HUD, the U.S. federal housing agency. This is an astonishing 23 per cent
increase over last year. Only New York has a higher homeless population. Vancouver’s
homeless problems pale in comparison.
I was
pleasantly surprised by the transformation of the downtown. It used to be said
that when it came to downtown L.A., like Gertrude Stein’s statement about
Oakland, “there was no there there.” It was a place to work, but not a place to
be.
However,
since the early 2000s, downtown L.A. has undergone many changes. New zoning
regulations have encouraged conversion of under-utilized buildings into
loft-style apartments, and density bonuses have been granted for projects that
include affordable housing.
The
result is some striking highrise office and hotel buildings and considerable
new housing. There are also new shops and restaurants, along with new parks and
public transit initiatives. As an L.A. Times story put it, L.A. is moving
toward a New York-style downtown. Or, as we might say, a Vancouver-style
downtown.
While we
tend to think of Los Angeles County as “motordom,” many people rely on transit
to get around. Metro Rail consists of six lines, including two subway lines and
four light rail lines, some of which use the downtown’s historic Union Station.
To see how the system might expand in the future, watch the new movie Her and
see Joaquin Phoenix ride an elevated train, dance through a busy subway station
and emerge at the Pacific Ocean.
Another
project of potential interest to Vancouverites is the proposed new downtown
streetcar. Following an extensive planning and feasibility study that
determined a cost of $125 million for the four-mile (6.4 km) route, a campaign
was carried out to encourage benefiting commercial and residential property
owners to partly fund the system. This arrangement was overwhelmingly approved
by voters in 2012. However, subsequent studies have revealed that the cost may
be as much as $300 million, putting the project funding in some doubt.
While
staying in Beverly Hills, I discovered it was often easier to get a bus than a
taxi. Service along Wilshire Boulevard was particularly good.
Travelling
along Wilshire Boulevard, I was also impressed with many of the elegant
apartments. With their carefully manicured gardens, they reminded me of older
apartment buildings built along West Vancouver’s waterfront, near Stanley Park
and around Kerrisdale Village. Unfortunately, too many of today’s new highrise
buildings in and around Metro are at such high densities, they no longer exude
the same character. Hopefully, as more people consider a move to a larger
apartment, there will be more neighbourhoods planned to accommodate
lower-density, elegant and beautifully landscaped highrise buildings.
Finally,
Vancouver could take a lesson from L.A. when it comes to pedestrian streets.
Yes, pedestrian streets! Anyone who has recently been to Santa Monica will have
experienced its extensive Third Street Promenade. I was surprised to discover a
pedestrian street directly off famous Rodeo Drive. While its newness and faux
European facades reminded me a bit of the Krasnaya Polyana resort development
just being completed in Sochi, it, too, is a delightful place to stroll.
Improved
public transit, strikingly designed office developments, elegant apartment
buildings, comfortable pedestrian streets; Los Angeles continues to offer many
lessons for Vancouver.
Michael
Geller is a Vancouver architect, planner, real estate consultant and property
developer, and also serves on the adjunct faculty of SFU’s Centre for
Sustainable Community Development. His blog can be found at
www.gellersworldtravel.blogspot.com and he can be reached at geller@sfu.ca
©
Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Apologies to anyone who actually reads my posts, but I'm here in Palm Springs for Modernism Week and while I have seen a lot of wonderful buildings and neighbourhoods, and the Palm Springs Follies which was a most enjoyable event, I just don't seem to have had time to document the trip.
