What are the biggest changes you’ve noticed downtown since you started working there?
I started working in downtown over 15 years ago. The biggest thing missing from downtown at that time was a good bar. It wasn’t until the Golden Gopher opened that downtown had a decent place to get a drink. This is a reflection of the way downtown was used at the time. It was a place to work 9 to 5 then get out of as fast as possible at the end of the workday. There were no updated market-rate residential buildings, a low number of hotels, out-of-date retail, and not much of a restaurant scene.
Business: Los Angeles Athletic Club
Neighborhood: Jewelry District
Title: Assistant General Manager
Years working downtown: 15
Why does it make sense for your business to be located downtown?
Our business was started in downtown in 1880. We have as much history in downtown as any business. Also, when you look at the historic private clubs of the country, you will find all of them located in the city center.
What are your favorite things about downtown?
I like how distinctive and dynamic each of the neighborhoods in downtown is becoming. You can go to South Park for a Kings, Clippers, Lakers game or a concert; the Old Bank District for art walk, great bars, cool residential buildings, the Music Center with the Broad, concert hall, MOCA and Dorothy Chandler Pavilion; the Arts District with amazing coffee shops, breweries, restaurants, and now a distillery; Little Tokyo for sushi; and Broadway for the historic theaters and architecture. The variety of experiences is hard to beat.
Least favorite?
I think the homeless situation is my least favorite aspect of downtown. It seems like the idea of concentrating the resources to support L.A.’s large homeless population in a small geographic area in downtown does not work and is outdated. L.A. needs more resources and more dispersion of those resources throughout the city to better address the situation.
Do you live downtown as well? If not, could you see yourself moving there?
My wife and I live in Highland Park, but we have a loft downtown that we stay in regularly also. I prefer to live outside of downtown just to be part of a second neighborhood and to break up the day.
Where do you see downtown in five years? Ten years?
I feel like downtown now has the basics of what a good downtown should have. Almost like a foundation has been built that will set the stage for downtown to be considered great as compared to the great city centers of the world. I think in the next five to 10 years it will fill in with more residential buildings, hotels, restaurants, retail, nightlife, etc., so that you could pretty much walk any part of it and not feel like you are going from island to island of activity.
– Subrina Hudson
