A Trip Up The Coast: Dodger Stadium Could Learn A Thing or Two

July 10, 2012 Leave a comment

This is the fourth post in a short series based on my recent trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco by train. With an overnight stop in San Luis Obispo and a weekend in San Francisco, there were some great urbanist and transit lessons to be learned.

As a baseball fan, no trip to any city is complete without a visit to the stadium. I’ve been to a game at San Francisco’s AT&T park before, but arrived late from the airport and headed straight inside. This time, I didn’t attend the game, but explored the area all around the stadium as crowds were arriving for the crossbay showdown between the Giants and the Oakland A’s.

AT&T Park in San Francisco is perhaps one of the country’s best urban baseball stadiums.

So far, San Francisco’s AT&T park and San Diego’s Petco Park are two of my favorite urban stadiums. There are many lessons for Dodger stadium to be found in them, though we also have to realize that Dodger stadium is a diametrically different kind of ballpark. It’s location on an isolated hilltop makes it much more of a suburban style stadium (surrounded completely by parking lots) than any of the country’s urban stadiums.

While some have proposed moving Dodger Stadium to a Downtown location, as a longtime baseball fan and purist I am conflicted with the idea. The urbanist in me says YES! while the fan wanting to retain as much of the history of the stadium says NO. For now, I will assume (as is most probable) that the stadium won’t be moving anytime soon. There are still many improvements that can be made in its current location.

So let’s look… What is so great about AT&T Park?

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A Trip Up The Coast: Conversations on Transit

July 9, 2012 Leave a comment

This is the third post in a short series based on my recent trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco by train. With an overnight stop in San Luis Obispo and a weekend in San Francisco, there were some great urbanist and transit lessons to be learned.

Having finally reached Oakland on the Amtrak Coast Starlight, we were picked up by a friend and drove to his apartment in the city. Two of my great friends live in the neighborhood between Pacific Heights and Nob Hill in San Francisco and were gracious enough to let us stay with them for a couple nights.

With a couple large gatherings for brunch together and late night drinks, we spent time with many of their friends. Of course, these were not all transit lovers like me, but with large groups of young urban dwellers, the conversation did turn there…

This was our homemade brunch. Good food, good friends, and good conversation.

There were two main things I noticed…

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A Multi-Modal Independence Day

July 5, 2012 1 Comment

To celebrate America’s independence, there are a few things that come to mind in Los Angeles… the beach, bike rides, fireworks, barbecues, friends, and music. I experienced all of them yesterday, while also celebrating my independence from another thing… the personal automobile.

I didn’t necessarily set out to specifically spend the day without a car, but it was actually the easier and better way to get to most of my destinations for the day, which ranged from Downtown to the beach, with roughly 19 miles in between them. By the end of the day, I had traveled a total of nearly 50 miles by heavy-rail subway, light-rail, bike, bus, and foot. I exercised on bike, had tacos and margaritas by the ocean, grilled chicken, corn, and beer on a Downtown rooftop, and watched fireworks from a lawn in the shadow of the Coliseum.

Exposition Park hosted an hour-long fireworks show, easily accessible from the Metro Expo Line.

Read on for more detail of the fantastic Independence Day celebration and how it’s possible to experience an incredible range of Los Angeles without getting in a car.

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A Trip Up The Coast: Urban Lessons from Downtown SLO

June 18, 2012 2 Comments

This is the second post in a short series based on my recent trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco by train. With an overnight stop in San Luis Obispo and a weekend in San Francisco, there were some great urbanist and transit lessons to be learned.

Downtown San Luis Obispo is certainly not an urban mecca. The population of the entire city is 45,000, which is just about the same as Downtown LA, but most of that population is outside of SLO’s retail-centric downtown. Regardless, there were some great things in SLO that can and should be taken note of when thinking of Los Angeles.

Retail Development

Similar to State Street in Santa Barbara or Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena, Higuera St. in Downtown SLO is a pedestrian heavy, retail and restaurant-centric boulevard full of both locals and tourists. It was a medium-distance walk from the train station through a residential neighborhood. Higuera Street and the surrounding blocks are a great mix of both historic and modern structures with active businesses that create a lively atmosphere. Bars, restaurants, retail, art galleries, and more are all within walking distance.

At one end of the street is a relatively new retail complex that was designed very well to fit in with the historic neighborhood. The Court Street Mall includes interior walkways and exterior facing retail that seamlessly ties into the neighborhood around it.

The Court Street Mall in Downtown SLO fits in nicely with the pedestrian streetscape and historic buildings around it.

Near the center of the retail district, on Higuera is a ROSS Dress For Less. It seems like one of the older stores on the block, and I wonder if the amount of retail and restaurants on this street is a small prophesy of what Broadway in Downtown LA could become, with a ROSS coming in there soon as well.

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