Isolation and authenticity in Los Angeles' Arts District neighborhood

2014-03-12“Isolation and Authenticity in Los Angeles’ Arts District” explores the various factors that isolated the Arts District neighborhood from the rest of Downtown and saved it from being demolished during urban renewal and transformed though large‐scale redevelopment. As the neighborhood was considered irrelevant for development, many of the warehouse buildings built in the early twentieth century sat abandoned or underused. In the 1960s, a steady stream of artists began to move into the neighborhood and the Arts District began to evolve from a former industrial center into a creative enclave. Over decades, small‐scale, community‐driven development allowed the Arts District to develop slowly through the participation of active residents who were concerned with preserving the neighborhood’s industrial and artistic character. As late as 2005, the Arts District was excluded from the 1999 Adaptive Reuse Ordinance in order to preserve the neighborhood for industrial use. However, the Arts District was finally recognized as being appropriate for residential development, and the neighborhood has undergone a dramatic transformation since the mid‐2000s. ❧ This thesis explores the various social, cultural, and economic issues that come with the revitalization of the Arts District, including the overall restructuring of Downtown Los Angeles, the positive and negative impacts associated with revitalization, Skid Row’s impact on the Arts District, residential use pushing out industrial use, and issues relating to historic preservation and future development. This thesis looks at the future development of the neighborhood and offers recommendations on how to best manage change as the Arts District continues to evolve