Lyft Will Be Able to Pick Up Passengers at LAX for the Holidays
It's a Christmas miracle! App-based ride-hailing services Lyft and Uber were in the long, arduous race to the airport together but looks like Lyft has pulled ahead. Lyft has been cleared to pick up passengers at LAX starting Wednesday, reports the LA Times—making it the first service of its kind to be allowed to get travelers from the airport. Previously, Uber and Lyft were only allowed to drop off, meaning the airport was one of the last holdouts of taxi supremacy in Los Angeles.
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills's Yolanda Foster Has Bought a Fancy Condo in Westwood
Westwood's tony, celeb-magnet condo complex The Carlyle Residences where Candy Spelling famously holed up while her Century City penthouse was undergoing an intense renovation can add yet another celebrity to its roster. A kindly tipster tells us Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Yolanda Foster is moving into the Carlyle after downsizing from a huge, lavish mansion in Malibu. (It sold in the fall.) Ms. Foster has posted a few Instagrams indicating that she's found a new home, and those photos match with the amenities and views afforded in this posh 3,950-square-foot Wilshire Corridor condo.
The 25 Best Los Angeles Maps of 2015
It's the end of December, when according to tradition we make up a bunch of awards and hand them out to all the best, worst, and shitshowiest of things that happened in Los Angeles this year. These are your 2015 Curbed Awards.
Maps are the greatest. They can tell you where you are, where you're going, where the Red Cars used to run, where the Metro trains will run in a decade, where Cher totally paused at that stop sign in Clueless, which neighborhoods will be flooded by global warming, and who gets what in Los Angeles. We mapped all that and so, so much more in the year in Los Angeles cartography, and we've combed through it all to bring you 25 of our very favorite maps of 2015. Have fun!
The Five Biggest Los Angeles Cliffhangers of 2015
It's the end of December, when according to tradition we make up a bunch of awards and hand them out to all the best, worst, and shitshowiest of things that happened in Los Angeles this year. These are your 2015 Curbed Awards.
↑ The NFL's Return to Los Angeles
Talk about building suspense! 2015 was dominated by news about the very real possibility that the NFL might actually, finally come back to LA. (Sorry Farmers Field, but we officially lost faith in you a while ago.) Rams owner Stan Kroenke officially announced in January his intention to use the Inglewood site he bought in 2014 to build an 80,000-seat football stadium, which was followed in February by an announcement that the Chargers and Raiders wanted to join forces at a dual stadium in Carson. And then things got really wild. Inglewood's even said it wouldn't mind having two teams play in its stadium, which could mix things up again.
Talk about building suspense! 2015 was dominated by news about the very real possibility that the NFL might actually, finally come back to LA. (Sorry Farmers Field, but we officially lost faith in you a while ago.) Rams owner Stan Kroenke officially announced in January his intention to use the Inglewood site he bought in 2014 to build an 80,000-seat football stadium, which was followed in February by an announcement that the Chargers and Raiders wanted to join forces at a dual stadium in Carson. And then things got really wild. Inglewood's even said it wouldn't mind having two teams play in its stadium, which could mix things up again.
But it seems like the NFL owners are split over which team(s), if any, should relocate, and there are plenty of reasons why each of them should just stay put too. Team owners are expected to vote on a move in January 2016, so hopefully LA won't have to wait too long to find out how this one ends.
Curbed Cup Elite Eight: Inglewood (10) vs. Boyle Heights (2)
Half the field is OUT in the 2015 Curbed Cup race for the Los Angeles Neighborhood of the Year. This week we'll have two match-ups apiece on Monday and Tuesday, and by next week only four contenders will be left vying for the prestigious golden jpeg. Voting for each poll ends 24 hours after opening (and will be watched closely for any shenanigans). Let the eliminations continue!
Boyle Heights via Michael Locke
Boyle Heights via Michael Locke
Inglewood's 2015 was mostly spent in a ridiculous pursuit of an NFL stadium (it took out NFL stadium competitor Carson in round one). They pushed the plan through, using a popular vote to circumvent the state's onerous environmental review laws and committing an enormous amount of public money to "reimburse" megarich stadium developer Stan Kroenke (rich on his own and ALSO married to a Walmart heiress). But the best part was when the people behind the now-defunct Downtown LA stadium plan hired former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge to call the Inglewood plan a terrorist target. Joke was on us later in the year, though, when the FAA said the stadium plan was both too high and too shiny. Regardless, Inglewood has pressed ahead—the old Hollywood Park Racetrack was demolished in June to make way for the stadium.
The Downtown gentrifiers set their sights last year, and this year the battle for Boyle Heights truly began. The year began with a chilling spotting of a "gentrification fence," but by late January the neighborhood had repelled an unsatisfactory Metro plan to redevelop Mariachi Plaza. Meanwhile, a small hotel was proposed for an empty lot and the creepy old Linda Vista Community Hospital brightened upto become senior affordable housing. The Sixth Street Viaduct closed to make way for an "iconic" new bridge that'll bring lots of new public space with it, and a new movie scrutinized the history and threat of gentrification in the neighborhood. The X factor will be the redevelopment of the huge old Sears complex.
California Might Lower Water Cutback Goals in Some Places
Photo via Robyn Beck / Getty Images
Most of California has been really good about meeting the mandatory water cutbacks that have been in place since earlier this year (though there have been some notable LA-area failures), and perhaps that's encouraged the state's water board to be a bit more open to the idea of slightly easing the restrictions in some palces. The LA Times reports that the State Water Resources Control Board has suggested easing the restrictions after "a number of water districts complained that their individual targets failed to take into account regional climate or other factors." In light of that, regulators want to reduce the originally mandated 25 percent cuts to 22 percent.
Curbed Cup Elite Eight: West Adams (11) vs. Frogtown (3)
Half the field is OUT in the 2015 Curbed Cup race for the Los Angeles Neighborhood of the Year. This week we'll have two match-ups apiece on Monday and Tuesday, and by next week only four contenders will be left vying for the prestigious golden jpeg. Voting for each poll ends 24 hours after opening (and will be watched closely for any shenanigans). Let the eliminations continue!
West Adams via Michael; Frog Spot by William Preston Bowling
West Adams via Michael; Frog Spot by William Preston Bowling
West Adams rallied its troops in round one and won a pretty close race with North Hollywood. The neighborhood is not just one of the classiest architectural areas in the city, it's also transit accessible, and now it's even getting a grocery store. A developer announced plans this year to build an enormous complex by the Expo Line's Jefferson/La Cienega stop; it's set to have the tallest tower around and an enormous supermarket, among lots of other stuff. The 'hood also has a nice little arts scene, with Gallery 38 opening this year and The Landing moving into a new space. West Adams also joined its nearby neighbors in University Park protesting oil drilling in the neighborhood.
Frogtown had no trouble dispatching with Hollywood's not-at-all-gentrified Donut Time District in the last round. In contrast, Frogtownwas a neighborhood on the brink in 2015. With revitalization of the LA River now a given, gentrifiers have moved in in force, not just flipping houses but also proposing huge, fancy developments. In response, the long-time residents have banded together and are working with the city to keep new development respectful to the area.
Fly Through the Ritzy Open-Air Mall of South Park's Oceanwide Plaza Megaproject
Oceanwide Plaza (The Development Formerly Known as Fig Central) is one of a handful of South Park megaprojects springing up around LA Live—it'll come with a mall, a five-star hotel, and residential space all packed into to a trio of high-rises between 40 and 49 stories. A videofrom the company leasing out the 150,000 square feet of retail space in the new complex (via Urbanize LA) offers a closer look at the shopping gallery and the new public spaces that Oceanwide Plaza will bring with all its buildings.
Weirdly High Number of People Sneaking Onto the Unopened Expo Line Track in Santa Monica
The opening of the Expo Line light rail's second phase, which will run between Culver City and Santa Monica, is prepping to open this spring, so there are still some final tweaks being done as the construction authority finishes up testing on the line and hands it over to Metro to operate. After first deciding not to put up fencing along the route, Santa Monica City Council officials changed their minds last week, in large part because of stats in a staff report from this fall that show a disquieting amount of people on foot, on bikes, and on skateboards crossing onto the tracks, says the Santa Monica Lookout. "During this testing phase, these staff and law enforcement agencies have recorded a large number of pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists consistently trespassing in the Light Rail guideway, raising serious safety concerns," the report says.
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Signs of the Times: Designing the Gender-Neutral Bathroom
The United States has witnessed a sea-change in the visibility of the transgender community over the last few years. From the prominence of celebrities such as Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox to increasing acceptance of and accommodations for transgender youth, the fuller, more fluid range of gender identity is being expressed and welcomed in the public sphere more than ever. But in the midst of so many doors opening, there's one, the bathroom door, that's often awkward, unavailable, and occasionally risky to enter. A world where restrooms are typically broken down along a male or female binary (as opposed to just gender-neutral facilities) presents a privacy and safety challenge for transgender individuals, and a design challenge for architects and others.
Handsome Studio City Cottage Comes With B-Movie Backstory
This 1926 charmer in Studio City comes with quite the backstory. Apparently, it originally belonged to the chairman of Republic Pictures (the B-movie studio put out the John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara classic The Quiet Man and the Wayne flick Sands of Iwo Jima) and "was used to house visiting actors from New York." Back then, it was known as The Gate House, as the listing copy's story goes. The property includes the main house and a guesthouse for a total of 3,277 square feet of livable space. The three-bedroom, three-bathroom residence also features exposed beam ceilings, wood floors, wine storage, and a backyard with a fire pit and circular built-in seating surrounding it. The gated property is asking $1.65 million.
Beyoncé, Kylie, Supervillains, Drones, and Dystopia: the Top Curbed LA Stories of 2015
It's the end of December, when according to tradition we make up a bunch of awards and hand them out to all the best, worst, and shitshowiest of things that happened in Los Angeles this year. These are your 2015 Curbed Awards.
What were Curbed LA readers reading most this year? According to our metrics, it was stories about celebrities, supervillain lairs, Kardashians acting rude, and various other rich people acting crazy. But it was also stories of gorgeous architecture and housing unaffordability and renters' rights. Something for every Angeleno (and beyond), we like to think. In case you missed one, here's the full list of Curbed LA's 10 most-read stories of 2015.
Los Angeles Millennials Can Afford to Spend $111k on a House
Oh, Millennials. Those selfie-taking, '90s-rememberin' Millennials. Will they ever get their way? If we're talking about owning a house in Los Angeles ... probably not. Turns out Twitter followers doesn't translate to real buying power in today's real estate market. SmartAsset has gathered recent US Census data on the median incomes of Millennials in Los Angeles in order to calculate the average housing price that would be affordable to the under-35 set. You WON'T BELIEVE what happens next (You will believe what happens next). They found that the average Los Angeles Millennial earns $33,667, and thus can afford to spend $111,000 on buying a home in the region, or a max monthly mortgage payment of $1,010.
Curbed Cup Elite Eight: Crenshaw (5) vs. Skid Row (13)
Half the field is OUT in the 2015 Curbed Cup race for the Los Angeles Neighborhood of the Year. This week we'll have two match-ups apiece on Monday and Tuesday, and by next week only four contenders will be left vying for the prestigious golden jpeg. Voting for each poll ends 24 hours after opening (and will be watched closely for any shenanigans). Let the eliminations continue!
Expo Line's Crenshaw stop via John Moyers; Skid Row via Tom Andrews
Expo Line's Crenshaw stop via John Moyers; Skid Row via Tom Andrews
In a few years, Crenshaw—which defeated University Park in round one—will be one of the most train-accessible neighborhoods in town. It already has the Expo Line running along its northern border (which will get residents to Santa Monica starting next year) and the Crenshaw Line is now under construction on its eastern border (which will eventually get residents to LAX!). Meanwhile, the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw Plaza mall is being transformed from an old-school, car-centric maze into a pedestrian-friendly mixed-use community with housing, shopping, and offices. Just up MLK, the long-blighted Santa Barbara Plaza is finally being redeveloped, with a Kaiser medical building/community center. That edge of the neighborhood is also set to get new medians, bus shelters, crosswalks, and lighting. The only problem is that all the improvements are drawing in gentrifiers, and the community (much of which dates back quite a ways) is getting nervous about being pushed out.
Skid Row beat out True Detective star Vernon in round one, even though it actually had a pretty rough year. As homelessness in LA has risen sharply, the City Council passed a law allowing the city to seize property left on sidewalks and issue tickets on top of that; it came out that the majority of money the city spends on homelessness is actually spent on criminalization of the homeless; and an LAPD cop admitted that Downtown's rich gentrifiers are encouraging the force to hassle the homeless out of their long-time neighborhood. But the community is remarkably cohesive—they proposed a neighborhood council for the area this year, which would give them formal power to advise the city on matters that are important to Skid Row. Meanwhile, the homeless nonprofit Weingart Center has proposed its own answer to encroaching gentrification: a 14-story tower of permanent supportive housing.
Elysian Park Has Turned Into a Dry, Dangerous 'Zombie Forest'
At nearly 130 years old, Elysian Park is one of Los Angeles's largest and most famous parks, but it's now facing a complex web of problems that are putting its future in jeopardy. The same drought that's killing off trees across LA is hitting Elysian Park hard, compounded by the fact that the park's irrigation system, which long "sustained" the groves of trees and vegetation, is broken; on top of the thirst, the weakened trees are also being hit by hungry pests. The overall effect is that Elysian is now "a zombie forest of angular dead twigs." But there is a plan that could possibly help the park, or at least usher it into a new, more sustainable stage of its life, says the LA Times. Unfortunately, there's no real timeline or, more importantly, funding to put that plan into effect.
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