could pop-culture exposure cure downtown’s perception issues?
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For those who have already discovered Downtown Los Angeles, such an implication may seem ridiculous. In the last nine years, the heart of this city has made tremendous strides to recover from a generation of neglect and abandonment.
Yes, we all know the story.
Though in a city more defined by palm trees and celebrity glamor than its urban qualities, millions of Southern Californians refuse to acknowledge — or are at least still skeptical — that vertically-challenged Los Angeles could ever sustain a thriving, dense core.
If Angelenos themselves cannot accept the concepts of mixed-use living, public transportation and minimized commutes, how will the droves of transplants and tourists who are still told that collection of skyscrapers over there is only crime-ridden dumping ground for the homeless?
Aside from 10 more years of fighting those deep-seated perceptions (without the help of our own media), area residents with the right professions should ignite a PR campaign bigger than any major newspaper article — develop a new television series set in Downtown Los Angeles which gives light to its new-wave appeal.
Sound silly? Ask the folks of Orange County how the pop-culture phenomenons Laguna Hills and The OC have forever romanticized those beach communities to starry-eyed teenagers throughout the Midwest. Or how Sex and the City has prompted young women across the country to raid Manhattan to own a pair of white Manolo Blahniks like Carrie.
Back in the 1980s, Miami Vice showcased the more attractive side of a seedy South Beach and spurred an influx of tourism that continues to this day after the 2006 feature film based on the show.
While Downtown is no stranger to the presence of production crews, it usually serves as a generic backdrop for car commercials or a location double for other cities, never being utilized for its own “character” potential with its unique architecture, diverse locales and newfound cosmopolitan lifestyle.
For someone with a fresh perspective, that could all be changed. The attention and limelight Hollywood writers can cast on a place is unrealized power of their job.
Of course, the last thing many Downtowners desire is to be portrayed as image-obsessed “Hollywood” types seen on reality shows such as The Hills, the likes of which many have tried to escape by relocating here. Those homogeneous personalities have been played out over and over again to fetch high ratings, a reason why the eclectic social makeup of LA’s new Downtown and its “unseen” streetscapes would an ideal choice for the inspiration of a hit television series.
Imagine a well-written new prime-time drama where interesting characters (with depth) sit a Broadway cafe flanked by the iconic Eastern Columbia Building and the Orpheum Theatre. The Downtown from the previous decades would no longer exist in our minds.
Luckily, we have the creative people living here who appreciate that identity and are in a position to actually make it happen. Afterall, even though we may try to differentiate ourselves from the pop-culture of it, this is still Hollywood… just a side no one has yet discovered.
-la times takes ignorant stance on the downtown market
-new film festival to boost downtown’s star power
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18 comments
Great article. I have often thought the same thing. You would think that a city like LA would be all over a chance for shameless self-promotion, but maybe it needs a good kick in the butt to get going.
And one quick followup…
The people I talk to who are most guilty of having an outdated perception of what downtown is are the “elite” Hollywood westsider types. Maybe all these industry events moving to the Nokia theater might help the powers that be with a clearer picture of what kind of setting downtown LA actually is.
Okay, so you’re looking to expand the Angelenic brand. Good for you! I like moxy and ambition.
As for the suggestion at hand — a drama set in downtown Los Angeles — I’m sure it will happen. Hollywoods search for story material is like a shark on the hunt. It never ends. So this idea will come up someday.
The real question is can it be done well? And I mean ‘done well’ as in with any sense of authenticity. I am completely skeptical. Downtown L.A. is an oxymoron to the SoCal psyche. At this point, despite all the progress of the past decade, the notion is truly incomprehensible. The recent moronic ruminations about downtown in the erstwhile L.A. Times is what passes for thoughtful analysis. “Suburb good. Downtown not suburb. Hmm, downtown bad. Ugga-ugga.”
Remember, a TV series is a collective enterprise. Yes, the vision is guided by a strong creative presence. But, day in and day out, writers have to do the work. Frankly, I have a hard time imagining that there is sufficient writing talent that has any authentic clue about downtown. Even worse, imagine the suits and their dim-witted notions sticking their fingers into the creative mix. Egads! Heartbreaking to think about.
I’d also ask what would be the existential point of such a drama? Miami Vice is a cop show. Ergo cops chase crooks. Sex in the City. Ergo girls bed boys. Star Trek has a space ship travelling to different planets. These plot devices generate story arcs on a regular basis as the weekly format TV requires. What would be the meta-narrative or story arc of a downtown series? Here I wonder with some trepedidation. Hipster-dipsters try to get laid as they engage in an endless adolescence? God helps us if Skid Row is at the heart of such a series. That would be the kiss of death.
But, enough of my grousing. In terms of your larger point, absolutely, a successful TV drama set in downtown would do wonders for overcoming the negative perceptions. Frankly, this is the way to do it. I spend a lot of time slugging it out with locals on TripAdvisor.com giving advice to tourists about visiting downtown L.A. After a few years of effort, at least downtown as a place to visit is grudgingly accepted. But, in their hearts, Angelenos find the idea deeply, deeply unsettling. They really wish the whole notion would just go away.
Anyways, if you guys are serious about getting this notion off the ground, call my agent and let’s do lunch!
“What would be the meta-narrative or story arc of a downtown series?”
The difference between Downtown LA and Sex and the City, the OC, Laguna Beach, Miami Vice, etc… is that, let’s be honest, all those places have more going on. I mean what was probably the biggest most exciting even for people living Downtown last year? The opening of Ralphs grocery story. If they were ever to make a Laguna Beach style reality series about Downtowner’s, it’d almost have to be a mockumentary as it’s almost laughable how excited we all were (and are) about a damn supermarket.
But anyways, if you are looking for story ideas here’s a few:
- The other night we had a guest in town, it was a Monday night, about 8:30pm. We wanted to eat dinner, every place was closed except the place with the $18 burger and the other place with $14 “small plates”!
-Last week my roommates and I left our loft at 3am armed with various tools to go downtown rat hunting. We spent the next two hours snooping around various locations downtown trying to catch a rat. No luck.
-I saw a bunch of FIDM babes at Ralphs. If there’s any potential story for a downtown show it has to do with FIDM babes and Ralphs.
is that, let’s be honest, all those places have more going on.
But, by the same token, places like Laguna Beach are relatively vacuous when it comes to cultural or educational amenities. Or the kinds of advantages or assets that a suburban “philistine” may not care about. Even Miami Beach has gotten a big splat on its face recently because of publicized struggles in finding enough audience support for its new and very expensive performing-arts center.
There are plenty of less expensive places open late, a few subways, dennys, ihop, pantry (24 hrs), a noodle shop in little tokyo open till 3. Well who cares, once LA live ph II opens up things will be different. It will get plenty of exposure.
Personally, the last thing I’d want to see is a TV show about what Hollywood wants to project onto Downtown. Luckily for us, it’s at least a few years away.
All of these shows do not reflect the reality of the places they are set, they reinforce other stereotypes. All we’d be doing is replacing the old stereotypes with new ones.
The L Word and Moonlight are/were set in LA. I think Moonlight featured the downtown LA cityscape nicely, but who knows if that show will continue. I agree that if downtown is to be plastered all over the media it should be done with authenticity and respect to the city’s unique and eclectic personality. I live just 2 blocks from Staples Center and was horrified when all the black limos rolled in for Grammys night. That is not what I want downtown to become. I felt like a stranger in my own neighborhood. Let Hollywood be Hollywood and downtown LA be it’s own creature.
Fred:
I don’t agree that Orange County or Laguna Hills has more going on than downtown LA, not by a long shot. Those places may seem more “commercial,” but as places, they are far less interesting.
As David Kennedy said, downtown is an oxymoron to the SoCal psyche, precisely why I think it could be fresh and interesting as a tv show backdrop.
The whole point of this article was to plant a seed for interest - stereotypes are never a good thing, but the benefits of publicity are undeniable.
Please, no. We don’t need another bad LA neighborhood soap to add to 90210, Melrose Place, Pasadena (was on FOX), Lincoln Heights (on ABC Family), The OC, The Hills, Laguna Beach, etc etc.
“I don’t agree that Orange County or Laguna Hills has more going on than downtown LA, not by a long shot. Those places may seem more “commercial,” but as places, they are far less interesting.”
Basically by “more going on” I mean “more people”. And people are stories. I love Downtown, and I adore its potential, but it still has a ways to go.
“There are plenty of less expensive places open late, a few subways, dennys, ihop, pantry (24 hrs), a noodle shop in little tokyo open till 3.”
Subway and Dennys!
It’s just always funny to me when something like that happens (wandering downtown at 8:30 on a weeknight with no luck), because it is a bit disappointing that this is the second largest city in the United States and well… my only option for some cheap “good” food is Subway. But things they are a changin’…. I remember when I first moved here a year and a half ago, the Subway at the Shell Station was my only option for food, cheap or otherwise, pretty much every night after 6pm.
I think anything produced by committee from H0llywood would only drive people further away. And also a suggestion like that, a strange desire for a hack writer to homogenize the Downtown demographic in order to create a character archetype accessible enough for almost everyone, doesn’t speak well of you. So who’d want to move next to someone like that? Doesn’t that show about the geek who works at a faux-Best Buy on NBC take place in Echo Park, anyway? And there was another show a couple years back with Denise Richards that used Silver Lake as its setting. Yeah, both of those shows really permeated the culture and left an indelible impression to the point where I can’t remember their names. So a TV show? Yeah! That will work! Downtown would be doing better had it been organically gentrified by the artists and great thinkers of the city, but instead it was done by developers and marketed to upper-middle class professionals first. Had it been done the way it’s been done all throughout history everywhere else in the world you wouldn’t go apeshit over the next Pinkberry or Subway to open… you’d be lamenting that your favorite, independent eatery was closing because of the Pinkberry and Subway. I’m not trying to be an asshole but please acknowledge the selfish reasons behind what this is all really about: to protect your investment by wanting to see your neighborhood thrive, which is what everyone would want. Don’t talk shit about the L.A. Times because of a story that actually had the gall to look critically at Downtown. They’re not working for developers nor in public relations. Look at criticisms from the press diplomatically and not as a personal attack just to tell you what a shit decision you’ve made. As someone who has lived in L.A. all their life and who eats, works, and visits friends downtown every day , I took that story as a fair assessment of Downtown in its current state. Not tomorrow or in five years, but Downtown as it is now. Who knows, maybe it galvanized some readers to want to be among the first to live in DT and thus help creative a new(ish) community.
The whole point of this article was to plant a seed for interest - stereotypes are never a good thing, but the benefits of publicity are undeniable.
The downtown skyline is the most photographed and most recognizable skyline in the world. How do I know that? Wikipedia. Also, it’s in every other commercial, music video, TV show, and movie I see. So how much more publicity does it need? And in case you haven’t yet, please also somehow find Los Angeles Plays Itself and you’ll thank me. BTW, people in Minnesota or even in the Valley don’t look at the skyline and think: “No one lives there, I could never live there.” I don’t know any of these aggressors who are out to smear Downtown or remind anyone of its reputation.
“Downtown would be doing better had it been organically gentrified by the artists and great thinkers of the city, but instead it was done by developers and marketed to upper-middle class professionals first.”
Um, do you really know anything about downtown? The upscale marketing is a recent, and niche phenomenon. Not everybody downtown goes “apeshit” over chain retail, that’s another niche. The area has been organically gentrified for years by the creative community. The real estate developers are the newcomers, who entered the market after the creative people did the first pass.
I agree with you about the vacuity of TV, but the LA Times article was a biased hit job. Most people downtown know that. The problem with most SoCal people’s attitudes towards downtown is one of fear of urban space. The LA Times is also guilty of that. They can’t see past the price of condos, and equate home prices with culture. Sad.
fidm babes @ ralphs bedding various southpark lofts dudes plz thx
Great idea Stephen. it could help. But like others have said already. Hollywood and “show business” is all about in committee/group projects and money and profits.
I’d rather see the project runaway’s runner-up Rami Kashou (sex on a stick mmm) as he lives and works in downtown LA.
And even though ABC’s Brothers and Sisters is “set in Pasadena” it should have Kevin Walker move to the Historic Core. After all he is a lawyer and lots of law firms in downtown LA.
I think in some scenes set at his lawyers office, out the window sure looks like the view you get at 7th n Figueroa ( i sometimes think i see the Wilshire Grand hotel in the background lol).
BTW- love your site Fred a daily visitor here- great resource man.
Good idea! Plenty of young people who office in the same building as I do could contribute to a plot line of the “Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl” variety. Most of them are trying to figure out how to keep things together until they reach some pinnacle of success. There must be a thousand variations of the plot line and plenty of characters, both centered and not, if some producer wanted to hire a writer. The format could be anything from “Dallas” to “Northern Eposure.”
You know, someone should do this. Don’t wait for Hollywood, or Studio hacks, to come along and co-opt the whole Downtown scene, or vibe, or atmosphere, whatever you wanna call it.
Somebody grab a Hi-Def video camera, write some scripts, and make your own video podcast. Post it up on You Tube. 10 minute long episodes, once a week. Somewhat easier to produce, cast some locals in some kind of edgy docu-drama about Downtown artists, Financial District denizens, City Hall bureaucrats, loft dwellers, dog walkers, cheap CD player sellers, etc.
Or, become the Huell Howser of Downtown (yeh, I know he actually did a series of shows here).
Or, how about a show that takes place at a Pantry-like greasy spoon (Cheers milked that idea for a decade), with people of all stripes coming in and out.
Fire up those MacBooks and get those scripts together, people! Hey, Script Frenzy is in April! (scriptfrenzy.org)
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