Foot traffic in L.A.’s office buildings was up 12.4% last month compared to July of last year. That reflects an overall return-to-the-office movement; foot traffic nationwide was up 16% last month.
But it’s an unhurried movement, according to Placer.ai; foot traffic in office buildings still remains well below pre-pandemic levels. If you compare July’s foot traffic to the same month in 2019, it was down more than 47% in Los Angeles. (Placer.ai only tracks people on ground floors of 800 office buildings, not mixed-use or other buildings, in 11 cities including Los Angeles.)
“Return to the office mandates appear to be slowly but surely moving the needle,” Placer.ai said in its latest report; even Zoom recently asked its workers to return to the office. However, Placer said that “the future still seems to be hybrid.” Recent research suggests that the hybrid model helps productivity.
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When Robert Senske Jr. was 14, he began consigning his paintings of Long Beach scenes to a local gallery, and the fourth-generation Long Beach native soon became a well-known local artist, producing many beach scenes and cityscapes. A couple of years ago, Senske, who is now 58, was commissioned to produce 21 murals that line the concourse of the Long Beach airport.
His latest project is a painting of Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital with a view toward downtown and the ocean beyond. It was commissioned by Bob Funari, a supporter of the hospital and its former foundation chair, who donated the painting to the hospital. It recently was installed in the main lobby of the Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital.
It turns out that Senske is not just a painter of the hospital but a former patient, too.
“Every moment I’ve spent in this hospital has felt comfortable and familiar,” Senske said. “I was happy to provide my artistic services when the Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children’s & Women’s Foundation asked to capture its impact in a painting.”
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Californians spend more on home improvements than people in most other states. The average household in California spends an estimated $4,268 on home improvements a year, which amounts to 5% of the median household income. That puts the Golden State in sixth place nationwide.
At least, that’s according to the Contractor Growth Network, a Charlotte, North Carolina, marketer for home contractors, which put out the study recently.
Interestingly, the top states are on the East Coast. New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts and Connecticut came out No. 1 through No. 4, respectively, in the study.
The Insider is compiled by Editor-in-Chief Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].
