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April 7, 2007
NoHo's Crosswalk Experiment. Do You Like It?
In the NoHo Arts District last week, the city started putting in these colored splats in lieu of the traditional crosswalk. We did some field research and went to 7-11 and asked the manager how in the hell did we miss these or were they just put in yesterday?
"They put them in last week to try them out. Do you like it?" he asked. We said yes and he responded, "Five dollars please." We walked out.
NoHo has a lot of development going on and still has a long way to go, but it will get there. We believe it will be one of those superior Los Angeles neighborhoods. It already has 6 art galleries and over 20 theatres, it is a major transit hub (future plans tell of the Red Line extending to Burbank airport) and tons of new housing. We worry, though; will all the excitement raise the rent and boot all that NoHo is out? We hope not.
Walking around NoHo, you will notice that the traffic poles are painted with a glossy turquoise -- another sign of community character. Now they are experimenting with these crosswalks. Do you like them? Should they continue?
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I saw a crew putting these in... they were blasting p-funk outta their 2 ton truck and seemed to be having fun with it.
I like the idea, though the implementation could be lots better.
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Huh, I like those... this city definitely needs more of that, just general beautification. It's a great place, but can be a bit rough around the edges, and little things like that help.
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i thought it was very thoughtful of them to do the bulk of the work on this project while i was out of town recently, so as not to disrupt my life.
but seriously, i like the idea of them, but not the design. i was just saying to someone the other night that i wish they'd gone with something less 80s. i feel like i live in a salt n'pepa video.
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I saw them the other day... they're, uh, different - but it totally works for NoHo. Unlike those wretched lime green crosswalks they had in Van Nuys a few years back, remember those? They lasted for about a week before they were painted over.
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Living in the heart of the NoHo District myself, I say UGH! Stamped asphalt is a poor man's attempt at streetscape improvement but it could be done a lot better. If you look at the buildings near these intersections it doesn't even match them - i.e. the old bank building, El Portal, Library, even Sittons. This design MIGHT work at Chandler and Lankershim near the Metro and the new NoHo Commons but I would have preferred to see something more classical.
Another point about this is that the painting was done at 5pm on a Friday (on the same day as the fire above Oakwood) so it created a traffic nightmare. Who at the city was thinking about this?
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Here is some City Nerd type trivia for you:
Speaking of the turquoise light poles, if you check out most of them, you'll see they have a lower light on the sidewalk side about 15 feet up. This is pedestrian lighting.
Mayor Sam, and I mean me not the real dead guy Yorty, was partially responsible for those lights going up about 10 years or so ago. A group I was part of got a grant to buy the lights and we successfully waged a campaign to get the property owners to agree to pay for the juice.
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They should use the money to resurface Magnolia Avenue between Lankershim and Chauenga.
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The crosswalk color srtipes are better than nothing, but I agree, it's king of shredded t-shirt 80s. One has to work hard to persuade the city to implement originality in the Valley. But the south-east valley and NoHo in particular is in the same council district as half of Silverlake and Hollywood proper. As a native of NoHo and one whose parents grew up and met in the heart of 213 (McAurthur Park), NoHo is basically the same cloth as south of Mullholand. The "East of the 405 Valley" did NOT vote for secession. I just discovered this site and love it. I'm not logged in, but mine is northhollywoodarts dot com. Another I will launch soon that will cover the more underside of this little district.
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I've always called the crossings "CSI: Sesame Street"