Something That Happened

I've lived in Los Angeles all of my thirtysomething years, and until now, I haven't known the name of the tallest building in my own city. Does that seem strange? Probably to you New Yorkers or denizens of the Windy City. Maybe I'm remarkable, or maybe folks in L.A. simply don't care about their skyscrapers as much. This Angeleno, for one, doesn't view our skyscrapers as symbolic of our city, or at least, not as absolutely symbolic. Like our eastern and midwestern counterparts, most of our tallest buildings are also located downtown; yet with Los Angeles being so incredibly widespread, this doesn't qualify them as suitable representatives of our great city.

Unlike New York, there is no center in Los Angeles, and the downtown area is simply one of many business centers people work in. Citizen L.A. is spread out from downtown through the Wilshire Corridor and Miracle Mile all the way to the ocean and north to the valley, east to Pasadena, south to the southbay and a multitude of locations in-between. What we refer to as L.A. is not just the City of Los Angeles; it is Los Angeles County. Downtown is just another reststop in the landscape of L.A., unlike New York, whose downtown is the city.

Perhaps another tall one would put us in the really big time, but L.A. doesn't need another skyscraper -- we've got alot of gorgeous short architecture throughout the county.

Inspired by: Proposed designs for New York's World Trade Center