SAMLAND

Los Angeles is as much a state of mind as it is a physical place. Where we shop, dine, and gather is a reflection of our community and us. Los Angeles is a land where Hollywood set designers build houses, architects design movie sets, and many of our most cherished “public” spaces are privately owned and operated. In Los Angeles, anything is possible.

In 1965, architect Charles Moore declared that in Los Angeles “you have to pay for the public life.” This is a region “in terms of the traditions we have inherited” where “hardly anybody gives anything to the public realm.” Journalist Carey McWilliams called Los Angeles an “improbable” place not destined to succeed, but determined to do so.

The planners, architects, dreamers, and schemers who built this region have created entertainment retail centers where it has always been less about the location and more about the destination. They are constantly reinventing the formula to stay one step ahead of a fickle public. These facilities provide entertainment to the masses while achieving the highest possible return for its owners and developers.

Los Angeles has long been a pioneer in the development of entertainment retail centers. The addiction began early on. The Broadway-Crenshaw Center opened in 1947 and is considered one of the earliest suburban retail centers in the United States anchored by a supermarket. When the Lakewood Center opened in 1952, the region had its first mall-type shopping complex.

When Victor Gruen designed the Northland Mall near Detroit built in 1954 and the enclosed Southdale Mall near Edina, Minnesota built in 1956, he was trying to create a new kind of communal space for post-war America. Many of his imitators only saw these structures as machines for making money. Like other parts of the country, Los Angeles has seen its fair share of uninspired, boring, formula driven boxes of mass consumption.

Los Angeles always marched to a different tune. Where we choose to shop, dine, and be entertained would be no exception. The polycentric region was not built around one central commercial business district like more traditional cities. In Los Angeles, we had to invent the places we wanted to visit.

The first center that tried to break the mold was CityWalk at Universal City in 1993. German-Jewish immigrant Carl Lamellae founded Universal City in 1915 for the sole purpose of making motion pictures. The property grew from 230-acres to more then 425-acres with the additions of a popular studio tour and theme park added in 1964 and a live concert venue in 1972. Universal Studios was becoming more then just a movie studio. It was becoming a major entertainment destination.

By 1989, legendary entertainment mogul and head of Universal Studios Lew Wasserman hired architect Jon Jerde to draft a master plan for the property to capitalize on this momentum. Jerde’s reputation was growing due to his simple, yet effective architectural elements for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic as well as the Horton Plaza shopping center in the Gaslamp District in downtown San Diego. Horton Plaza would become a catalyst for the revitalization of that city’s urban core.

A major component of the master plan was an entertainment retail center to be called CityWalk. In a Los Angeles Times interview Jerde said, “I saw CityWalk as a venue for human intercourse.” He agreed with Charles Moore and said, “All America is now private except for profit centers” and only “New York and San Francisco held on to more foot driven aspects of human interaction, but most of the country has been given over to separateness and loneliness.” He wanted to create something that was different and not just another decorated shed laminated in a historical or fashionable model. Jerde said, “Our enemies are artifice and the ersatz [with] fake this and that, like those theme restaurants. But people reject it. It’s exceedingly difficult to make sure that what you do isn’t exceedingly synthetic and contrived.”
CityWalk’s first phase opened in 1993. Jerde created a two block long pedestrian “street” that was influenced by hill towns in Italy such as Tuscany as well as North Beach in San Francisco. The street is functional and connects the parking structures required by this isolated, compact hilly site to the theme park’s front gate.

Jerde said, “CityWalk had to be appropriately built on the architectural language of L.A., as opposed to New York or Paris. And the language of L.A. is that there is no language except stucco buildings and layers put upon them. So the thematic element is layering.” Juxtaposed facades, historic neon signs, and billboards frame the narrow street, which Jerde says creates “a sequential plan of orchestrated events.” The massing of the buildings came from computer-compiled traces of local architecture. No one building is replicated. Instead you have a collage of images and traits of the city. Jerde wanted a space that is “self-consciously designed” yet tries to appear to have grown organically. CityWalk does feels energetic, bordering on chaotic, as it tries to echo the visual chaos of a complete city within the space of a few yards. The street leads to a large central plaza capped by a steel-web canopy. Within this multi-story space are an interactive fountain by WET Design and a second level of nightclubs and restaurants dubbed CityLoft. CityWalk is more then just shopping and dining. More then a third of the 540,000 square foot building area is dedicated to offices and a satellite college campus.

CityWalk’s second phase opened in 2000 and is best experienced at night. Lighting is used as the signature architectural component. Los Angeles Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff suggested “the new structures offer fewer architectural quotations, leaning toward a more abstract aesthetic” with “images distilled from Los Angeles’ own peculiar landscape of fantasy.” He says, “the effect is a ‘Blade Runner’-like collage of commercial images, a tensely energetic mix of fantasy and reality.”
CityWalk is not without its detractors. Cultural critic Norman Klein said that the shopping center is “a Victorian-style separation of classes in our public life” while writer Lewis Lapham said the it was for consumers that “had no intention of going to see the original city fours miles to the south.” Scholar Mike Davis said, “It fulfills our worst prophecies.”

Jerde would depend on a sense of randomness, surprise, and disorder. Universal’s long-time competitor, The Walt Disney Company, would go in a different direction with Downtown Disney in Anaheim. The entertainment retail center opened in 2001 as part of a major expansion of the Disneyland Resort that included a new theme park and a hotel.

John Hench, 65-year Disney veteran, said, “The whole ‘malling of America,’ I think is the expression – comes from Main Street here in Disneyland. They suddenly discovered that they could build a shopping mall and make it work a lot better by observing what happened here.” However, he said, “Their observation is only partial, it didn’t penetrate too deeply, but they knew they wanted to make sense of the place.”

Hench explained that Disneyland worked “simply because every member of the thing, every facility, agrees on what the place is. One building recognizes the existence of the other. There’s plenty of diversity, but there isn’t contradiction.” He said, “Most urban environments are basically chaotic places, as architectural and graphic information scream at the citizen for attention. This competition results in disharmonies and contradictions that…cancel each other [out].” He warns, “A journey down almost any urban street will quickly place the visitor into visual overload as all of the competing messages merge into a kind of information gridlock.”

Hench taught his designers that architectural chaos “does have some stimulation to it because it’s a threat – you’re stimulated by a threat, but how long can you continue that?” He proposed, “We stimulate them with another kind of emotion, with the kind of stimulus that says, ‘You’re going to be okay.’ It’s the stimulation you get out of a party or a fiesta, or having fresh-killed game. The primitive thing – we all eat again.” The result is “not a threat, it’s the reverse.” This advice would become the model that most developers would follow.

Downtown Disney has none of the harsh edges to be found at CityWalk. Timur Galen of Walt Disney Imagineering said the district “possesses its own unique ‘sense of place,’ evoking the feeling of stepping into a garden paradise.” It features a meandering pathway dotted with planters, fountains, and deflected views. A hotel is integrated into the mall along with numerous performance spaces. The center is not as highly detailed and theatrical as Main Street inside of Disneyland. However, it does capture that spirit of reassurance that is inside of the park.

The architectural vocabulary developed at Disneyland has influenced other “invented” places. For an outstanding example, one has only to exit Disneyland and drive north along the freeway to The Grove in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles. Built in 2002, the Grove is one of the most successful shopping centers in the region. It was built adjacent to another “invented” place, the historic Farmer’s Market (built in 1934). Developer Rick Caruso considers Walt Disney a hero and said that he is “one of the true geniuses in the world.” He had already built other “lifestyle” centers in suburban locations such as The Commons at Calabasas and The Lakes at Thousand Oaks. The Grove would be his first urban infill project of this type.

Caruso said, “What we are building are downtowns. It’s not just the big ideas, it’s also the little ideas that matter” and his goal is to build “a great street.” “It’s a thousand different things you notice but you couldn’t tell what it is,” he says. “It’s the scale of buildings and the width of the street. It’s the rhythm of the trees and the lampposts. It’s eye candy that your brain pick up but you can’t really say what makes a difference.” He was inspired by the redevelopment of Rome’s Via Veneto and wanted to capture the elegance and spirit of an Italian villa. The Grove features a musical fountain designed by WET design and a double-decker trolley that was designed by former Disney Imagineer George McGinnis.

Like Disneyland, The Grove features building façades framing a narrow corridor using forced perspective. Forced perspective is a filmmaking technique that adds depth to motion pictures. Within the built environment, forced perspective can create an illusion of greater building height while maintaining an intimate atmosphere. At Disneyland, the first floor is generally nine-tenths scale while the upper floors get progressively smaller. At The Grove, the first floor is full-scale while the upper floors get progressively larger.

Caruso left nothing to chance. He even hired a feng shui expert who recommended that the main street should not be straight but feature curves. The result is a highly energized space, not as laid back as Disneyland’s Main Street but not as chaotic as CityWalk. The result is what the Los Angeles Times described as a “wildly popular amusement park-like shopping center.”

By 2001, the integration of housing within an entertainment retail center would be realized with the opening of the Paseo Colorado in Pasadena designed by Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut and Kuhn Architects. Paseo Colorado was meant to compliment the Beaux Arts-style Civic Center. Caruso would take this concept one step further with The Americana at Brand in Glendale in 2008. Americana at Brand is based on 1940s Charleston, South Carolina.

For decades, many tourists and local residents have asked themselves the same question; when you want to visit Hollywood, the movie capital of the world, where do you go? Walt Disney would capture a bit of that spirit in Anaheim with Disneyland. Universal Studios successfully opened up the front door and invited guests to peak behind the curtain. In both cases, you had to pay an admission for the experience. What if somebody built a gathering place that celebrated Hollywood that was actually in Hollywood and did not have a front gate admission? That is a question that David Malmuth kept asking himself while he worked for the development arm of The Walt Disney Company.

Malmuth had worked on the rehabilitation of the New Amsterdam Theater in New York City and he saw first hand how this investment became a catalyst in the revitalization of Times Square. Could Disney do the same thing for the heart of Hollywood – Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue?

For many, the center of Hollywood is the iconic Grauman’s Chinese Theater, famous for world premieres and the signatures, footprints, and handprints of popular motion picture personalities from the 1920s to the present day. Disney did have a vested interest in this particular block. In 1989, they acquired the El Capitan Theater as a showcase for their new entertainment offerings and reopened the facility in 1991 after an exhaustive restoration. The El Capitan Theater is only steps away from the Chinese Theater.

After Malmuth surveyed the neighborhood, he did not like what he saw. The failing Hollywood Galaxy entertainment complex was a couple of blocks to the east of the El Capitan. Across the street was the rundown Hollywood Hotel owned by Mel Simon. Much of Hollywood Boulevard was feeling the pain caused by the construction of the METRO Red Line subway. The neighborhood was in much need of help. Visitors who embraced the bigger then life myth of Hollywood would constantly walk away disappointed when they visited the actual place.

In an interview, Malmuth said, “Visitors had money, they had interest, they were looking for something special, and their expectations were not being met. He felt that the positive changes he witnessed at 42nd Street in New York could happen in Hollywood.

Malmuth’s original concept for Hollywood and Highland was to have each of the major movie studios “adopt a block” of storefronts where guests could interact with the products much the same way they do at Disneyland and Universal Studios. Each studio would have a complete floor. The storefronts would include studio themed retail stores, restaurants, and opportunities to preview upcoming films. Many of the studios such as MGM, Paramount, Warner, and Sony had already experimented with place-based entertainment venues, so he thought this would be a natural fit.

Malmuth proposed that Disney “create a place that was rooted in the soil and could not be duplicated anywhere else.” Hollywood and Highland would not be a suburban shopping mall planted in city. Instead, it would celebrate its urban presence yet become the safe, clean, gathering place for those seeking the “Hollywood” experience.

The property across the street from the El Capitan was perfect. Warner Brothers owned fifty percent of the Chinese Theater. The rest of the property was owned by the MTA as well as the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA). The CRA was trying to consolidate the remaining properties. A subway station was planned for this location. In 1995, Malmuth began working with recently elected Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg to bring the pieces together.

Confident that he was on to something big, in March 1996 Malmuth made a presentation to Disney CEO, Michael Eisner and company president, Michael Ovitz. Eisner told Malmuth that Disney only did real estate deals if it served the entertainment arm and that need was already being served with the theater. Disney passed on the deal. Soon, the other studios would loose interest and the concept would transition into a more traditional shopping mall.

In June 1996, Malmuth left Disney and brought the concept to Lou Wagman at TrizacHahn. The City of Los Angeles released an RFP for the redevelopment of the block adjacent to the Chinese Theater in April 1997. TrizacHahn partnered with Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects and won the contract. An agreement was reached in April 1998 for a project with an estimated cost of $615 million. The CRA would contribute $90 million with $30 million set aside for the Kodak Theater. The Kodak Theater was a critical piece of the project.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was looking for a new home for the Oscars. The Pantages Theater as well as the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was considered but it was decided to build a state-of-the-art facility. The City would retain ownership of the theater. Malmuth said, “What we talk about in describing our ambition here for Hollywood Boulevard is to create a place that’s authentic.” The Kodak Theater would add instant credibility.

The architectural centerpiece of the five-story entertainment retail complex is a massive interior courtyard inspired by the Babylon set from D.W. Griffith’s film Intolerance. The movie set was one of the largest ever built in Hollywood. The entire sculpture frames the Hollywood sign. Architect Vaughan Davies, who worked on the project, commented that this view is the most compelling part of the project. Tying everything together internally is a series of mosaics called “The Road to Hollywood” by Erika Rothenberg.

The exterior is laminated with billboards, which have been granted exempt status from city standards until 2022. The billboards hide the lack of quality architecture. This is a money making machine with none of the flash expected in Hollywood. Like a movie set, there is one side that is to be filmed (the interior) and another that just holds up the façade (the exterior).

However, the center is filled with compromises. The original plan to be a showcase for the studios is reflected in the confusing circulation pattern. Along with the METRO subway station in the basement, the complex has a bowling alley, nightclubs, a broadcast studio, and a 65,000 square foot ballroom.

Although critics have slammed the project, Hollywood and Highland has attracted considerable new development in the surrounding area fulfilling one of the original project goals. Today, the stars out front along the Hollywood Walk of Fame are considered the most desirable along Hollywood Boulevard.

What is the next step in the evolution of the entertainment retail center? With constant pressure to reinvent the genre, it may not be long before we find out.

What are your favorite Disney-ized spaces and magical places?

SAMLAND EVENT ALERT: We've been teasing you for weeks with Sam's upcoming event at the Huntington Gardens on July 9th. This is your last chance to secure a spot as registration must close by July 5th.

“LOS ANGELES: INVENTED SPACES OR AUTHENTIC PLACES?”
Presented by the Los Angeles Region Planning History Group in cooperation with the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West Huntington Library and Gardens

Saturday, July 9, 2011 at the Huntington Library and Gardens
Coffee & Pastries: 9:30 a.m. Colloquium and Lunch: 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

The Los Angeles region has evolved as much from out-sized dreams and inventions as from traditional rules for establishing human settlements. Carey McWilliams called Los Angeles an “improbable” place not destined to succeed, but determined to do so. As Southern California developed, the visionaries who built this region knew it was less about location and more about destination. The enormous popularity of “invented” or themed destinations – Venice of America, Olvera Street, Disneyland, Third Street Promenade, CityWalk, The Grove and many others – has provided planners, designers and developers with inspiration and lessons on both success and failure. What is the difference between those places that have a “unifying vision” and those that celebrate a “messy vitality”? Where do “invented” places end and “authentic” places begin? In a land where set designers build houses, architects design movie sets, and many of our most cherished “public” spaces are privately owned and operated, anything is possible. A distinguished panel, moderated by author and planner Sam Gennawey, will address these questions.

• David Sloane, Professor, USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development
• Hassan Haghani, Community Development Director, City of Glendale
• Vaughan Davies, Principal and Director of Urban Design, AECOM
• Tim O’Day, O’Day and Associates
• Neal Payton, Principal, Torti Gallas and Partners

Cost is $40; for students with valid student ID, $20

Fee includes coffee and pastries, lunch, parking, and day pass to the Huntington

Seating is limited; please RSVP to:
Alice Lepis, Secretary
[email protected] (preferred) or at 818.769.4179 no later than
Tuesday, July 5, 2011

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