demolition work begins on historic south park hotel
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It could have provided some historic balance to all the glass and steel of LA Live, but the city’s newest center for Vegas-style entertainment seems to have no place for older structures like the Baker Hotel.
Demolition work on the vacant, four-story building has begun, less than two months after scaffolding first appeared on site.
A small crew utilizing light machinery is already dismantling the upper levels, carefully harvesting the bricks from its 95-year-old walls.
No official plans have been announced for the soon-to-cleared site, but we expect a big announcement in the near future.
-baker hotel demolition looms; ritz tower getting clad
-scheduled demolition near la live raises questions
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25 comments
Next up the car wash.
I feel another parking lot for a while…..
Plans are for other Hotel to support LA Live
Yup lets get that car wash/gas station outta there!
Also, according to (early) renders, theres gonna be another sleek building on that lot. Something in the 20-25 floor range.
take down the car wash! i hate that place
parking is fine just put retail on the bottom
Don’t bag on that car wash! There aren’t too many businesses similar to that in central LA, and the one at Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street at least serves a useful purpose. In fact, I sometimes take my Honda there for a cleaning. Besides, it at least doesn’t shout out “Welcome to the slums !”
That honor goes to the dusty old properties north of the Baker Hotel. They’re the ones clearly visible on 9th Street, seen by thousands of people using the 9th Street offramp of the Harbor Freeway. Some of those sites include a few apartment buildings that appear to be even worse “fleabags” than the Baker.
All of that makes for a very unflattering western entryway to the downtown area, so the sooner they’re gone, the better.
I will bag on the car wash. It is a hideous eye sore and a complete waste of valuable space downtown. Get rid of it.
Also, just because something is old does not mean it is worth saving. Good riddance to the Baker.
FYI, the owner of the Car Wash has been offered Millions for the site, but he is holding out.
F***in owner he should just take the money and move his business somewhere else, or just make him take the money. We need some Italians to run our city.
Italy is one of the most corrupt, poorly run countries in the world. A shame.
What’s wrong with the car wash? Decent price for a quick wash. Gas is too high though. Although I have to say the steam clean at 6th & Main is much better, but it’s about $40 and takes hours.
The carwash has an excellent shoe shine and good Mexican food in addition to the $5 express wash. Not to mention there’s a Barry’s tickets there too don’t think they’re going anywhere.
Ah, but the Italians sure know their cooking. How about an Italian Restaurant on the car wash site?
the best carwash is the little tokyo carwash off of 1st and hewitt.
they treat me with respect and do a stellar job. check it out.
ps. the one on fig broke my friends door handle and threw it in his trunk. true story.
pps. if that wash truly is a favorite in the community, it should be able to stay.
but if the owner just likes his set-up, he should be moved.
While I agree the car wash is not the best looking building, it’s the only place my poor, dirty car gets washed at. As far as being a waste of space, how many street level parking lots do we need in this city??? I LOVE the Italian place there too.
They are clearing the land to make way for a new hotel called “The Edition” which is an Ian Shrager/Marriott joint venture. Marriott Corp. will have 4 hotels in Downtown LA when this one comes to life: Marriott, JW Marriott, Ritz Carlton, and The Edition.
Hoovton:
I don’t think that’s official yet.
It’s not “official” information to the public yet, but this is what’s happening.
Not to sound negative on these plans (“The Edition”), but is this like the “what’s happening” over at the corner of Olive and Fifth (Park Fifth)?
i.e. not much?
I remember reading that there was something called L.A. Live Phase IV…..perhaps this it?
This is depressing, another example of southern californian urbanism chewing off its feet as its attempting to make a stand. The importance of (even crappy) old buildings within the urban fabric cannot be overstated. They’re needed to establish historical reference, provide architectural variety, variety of scale, points of interest and contention (fleabag hotel…), nostalgia, etc etc. They also provide great completely unique time-worn spaces that can act as a foil against the sleek corporate mega-developments across the street. Just wait until LA Live runs its course and needs to be revamped, the entire neighborhood will be slowly pulled down with it as its scale is overpowering. This scale of development is completely in tune with the cycle of boom and bust our economic model is currently running. Not to mention that this will probably be another dead zone parking lot that remains idle for years and years as we speculate to its future…
While we all can agree that historical buildings should be maintained and restored, not all buildings carry the same value in terms of architectural significance.
I for one love the historic core but don’t mind this building being razed for the EDITION.
Agreed, this building has no historic significance nonewhatsoever, now if you are concerned about the historical content in the area (South Park), we have the Hotel Figueroa, 714 Olympic (Doheny) Standard Oil building, Variety Arts Building, Hotel O and a few nondescript buildings so there is enough balance in a general sense, if a few buildings presumibly low to mid rise could be built with facades of stone, brick, etc those would counterbalance all the glass and steel currently going up in the area.
>> The importance of (even crappy)
old buildings within the urban fabric
cannot be overstated. <<
No, it CAN be overstated, which is what you’ve done.
Your nostalgia wouldn’t be so misplaced if most of old Los Angeles had been torn down for new development, and — most importantly — if it were a city of mainly vibrant, pleasing, prosperous areas, particularly its downtown. But it isn’t, which is regrettable.
I continue to see huge numbers of people at the end of the day driving OUT of LA, to their homes in the far-flung corners of the tri- or quad-county (LA, Orange, Riverside, Ventura) area.
i think we should keep the car wash or at least give it an upgrade but i think the hotel can definitely go. maybe it will be another club me and my girls can hang out and meet hot guys lol ;o
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