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Starting late last year, the Downtown "destination" LA Live began to host all sorts of events, including a Grand Opening celebration, a Christmas tree lighting ceremony starring Britney Spears and the Mayor, a big screen broadcast of Obama's inaguration, and the openings of specific "on campus" spots like the Conga Room and the ESPN Zone. Touting itself firmly as LA's answer to Times Square (a promo video shown to some invited bloggers last year at the Ritz Carlton sales office declared as such), the LA Live-ers asserted that the development joining Staples Center, the Nokia Theatres, Club Nokia, and the Convention Center would be both a destination and a pit stop for locals and tourists alike.
LA Observed points us to a post on the Amateur Enthusiast, who tackles the whole Times Square redux in LA issue head on--well, as LAO says, "he calls b.s. on that whole Times Square nonsense." Now, the AE also manages to find the oh-so-very corporate LA Live enclave redeeming: " Yes, LA Live is corporate. Yes, all the restaurants are chains of one size or another. Yes, there isn't what one would call "personality", unless you count glaring signs and weird climbing tree lights."
What's to like? Well, its "reluctant charms" include that it's easy (parking, finding, welcoming), non-threatening (as in you know what you're getting into when you go into the Yard House, because you've probably been in one somewhere else before), and it is full of options. Adds the AE: "The problem is that AEG tried to hard to market LA Live as 'LA's Times Square.' It's not. Those things have to develop organically and, maybe, at some point it will be." Err, well, some of us also happen to deliberately avoid Times Square when we visit NYC... Just sayin'.
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On Tuesday we went to The Grammy Museum and Lucky Strike - such a fun day. So yes, so far I like it.
And Lucky Strike has a lunch deal right now: several items on a lunch menu for $7.95 and you get to bowl a game for free.
I would say if LA has a "times square" it would be Hollywood & Highland... the area around LA Live is great though.
Because Times Square is known for its abundance of personality-filled, Mom and Pop stops.
its more like the second citywalk i never wanted. theres no charm and no flavor. theres no mid-range eateries and watering holes. (and the new movie theatre is hideous compared to the rest of the LA Live).
BUT to be fair, i live within walking distance and had hoped for something that could be not just a destination but also a local spot. i suppose its better than the big parking lot it used to be.
It's not Times Square, and never will nor should it ever be.. TS has Broadway to anchor it, plus it has a unique history.
Well, they both have ESPNZones... What is there to do in Times Square anyway? It's a bunch of tourists taking pictures of billboards. It does have retail though.
LA Live is many things. A place to eat before/after a game/concert. A space that excludes the public (MJ memorial) and also invites it in (Lakers 3-on-3 tournament). But so far, it's very event-driven. Can it be a destination in its own right? Or does it exist merely to supplement/encourage programming (concerts, conventions, games, etc.)?
Downtown has so many other great, historic, fun places. I'd much rather go to a nice restaurant a few blocks away than something at LA Live, unless I'm going to the Staples Center. So no, it probably wouldn't be a destination for me.
I don't care anything about LA Live because we all know that this will eventually become a major tourist trap (not a bad thing) once the hotel is complete. These tourists will bring money back into LA with more conventions and events proposed for next year and boost our local economy. Thats the most important thing about this project. LA needed LA Live especially downtown. It may not be perfect but its bringing back the lights and entertainment that Downtown LA used to have. With more projects to be developed around the area, who knows maybe the Times Square comparison will make more sense but LA Live by itself is NOT Times Square.