I visited the new mixed-use development in Glendale called Americana a couple days ago. From a bit of reading and what I have learned from people some of the goals of mixed-use development are to enhance accessibility, economize on resource consumption, and create a community; among other things I imagine. Though mixed-use is not in any way a new concept, LA has not used it as much as other cities. And I think Americana is a great first step towards integrating residential and commercial spaces hopefully moving away from our "Crash"-like disconnectedness.
But as with many things in LA, it strikes me as pretentious with a lot of fru-fru, if you know what I mean. Straight up, it looks like Disneyland's newest addition: Americanaland! It seems as though no real effort was made to make Americana part of Glendale. Instead the community of Americana is itself a micro-city within a city. With its Orange Express trolley that runs along the walkway lined with shops and restaurants and theaters (mind you, not essentials like grocerys, hardware, dry-cleaners), and past the giant gold statue of, most likely, some greek god straight out of Caesars Palace, around the mini-Bellagio fountains....I could go on. The manufactured "golden era" atmosphere is hardly nostalgic nor inviting to me and made me feel more uncomfortable than relaxed as one hopes to be in an outdoors area like that. One feels more pressure to take in all the sights as if visiting a theme park than to enjoy oneself and stroll through the "neighborhood." To be sure, there were definitely more people taking pictures than were shopping or enjoying an afternoon at the "park." I did find some pretty good deals at the J.Crew though and a business idea as a result of visiting another store, so the day was pretty fruitful after all.
In the future, hopefully I can incorporate more images into these posts to provides some visual stimulation as well.
keep it fresh...
- Neil
No comments:
Post a Comment