city west speaks: “light our historic street lamps!”
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Clamoring to transform the streets west of the 110 Freeway into a residential hub for the Financial District, it seems city officials overlooked one key component -- Wilshire Boulevard has no street lighting at night.
Does that seem impossible for one of Downtown's most booming strips on the city's grandest boulevard? Well, believe it.
In recent years, several large-scale projects including 1100 Wilshire, Vero, Medici, GLO and now 1010 Wilshire have brought in thousands of new residents. Retail businesses, sidewalk vendors, high-rise proposals and building facade improvements are reshaping this once-stark landscape of City West, allowing many who moved here early last year to warm up to the neighborhood and call it home.
"I have seen more people on the streets since moving in over a year ago," says Vero resident Scott Bogash. "With the rest of LA Live coming on board this year, there should be a lot more people walking from City West, especially in the evenings."
Not to mention people walking within the neighborhood.
Starbucks at Wilshire and Bixel responded to steady traffic recently by extending their business hours during the week to 11:00pm, and the new Subway at Wilshire and Witmer debuted yesterday with the same.
While those active storefronts (more on the way) bring a sense of security and safety to otherwise dark sidewalks, effective street lighting is a necessity to establish a healthy pedestrian environment, in addition to linking this growing residential hub with the rest of Downtown.
"A well-lit, safe passage to the Financial District is imperative as more residences come online west of the 110, while restaurants, bars and other businesses are popping up east of the 110," contests Bogash, who is rallying his neighbors to file requests with the city's Bureau of Street Lighting.
Also, as Bogash points out, street lighting after 8:00pm may do more than just strengthen pedestrian life. "It might be a selling point to filling up empty retail space. As a consumer, I hope that street lighting will also help support later business hours. I work Monday through Friday and don’t get home until 7:00pm at the earliest.”
Possibly the biggest injustice in the situation is due to the historical nature of the street lights in question. Stretching from the 110 Freeway to MacArthur Park, these vintage sidewalk lanterns are rare remnants of a classy 1920s-era Los Angeles.
Most of the mini architectural landmarks remain in excellent physical condition, and according to some accounts, are still operable — leaving many to beg the question, why not just flick the on switch?
Bureau of Street Lighting, can someone shed some light here?
-Street Lighting Service Request Form
-waves of change envelop city west’s wilshire corridor
Wilshire Boulevard at Night in City West - Notice the Dark Street Lamps
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9 comments
OK everyone fill out the above linked service request form. If we get 100s of requests maybe we’ll get some action on this.
It’s possible that the wiring for those street lights was stolen, rendering them inoperable, either recently or some time ago.
There are reports from all over the US (if not Europe too) about thieves going to extreme lengths to grab material made out of various metals, copper in particular, and selling them to recycling centers. In fact, a major power outage occurred in the Cerritos/Buena Park area yesterday because wiring had been ripped off from an Edison power substation.
I’ve noticed the globe lamp posts on 7th are dark as well and have been for months. I remember reading something a year or so ago that those lights are not provided by the city and that local businesses, like macy’s plaza, must foot the bill. I wonder if they have stopped paying to keep them lit.
I don’t know what the arrangements are currently for whether the city is responsible for lighting the Wilshire lamps but the city certainly has been for years and I’ve never heard that the responsibility for those lamp posts shifted to businesses or landowners. Many of the older more decorative lamp posts like those on Wilshire were decommissioned and replaced by the the modernist style arching street lamps in the 1950’s and 60’s.
On the other hand, Macy’ s Plaza or rather the Broadway Plaza when it first opened in ‘72 had those lamps in front put in place, in the 70’s.
Street Lights are on tonight!!! That was fast!
I sent in a service request…
Thanks David - apparently this post had an effect, the lights were on last night! We’ll see if they stay lit.
They were turned on a few months ago because I sent a tip into Curbed LA (you can check their archives) and the response was just as fast to turn them on. I drive past there almost every day (live in Koreatown) and had seen the lights on for a bit, then they turned off again. I’m hoping they stay turned on this time.
Might want to include a shot with the lights now on. Good work.
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