Stephanie Park -- Genius Loci

caption: bike path in santa monica

This picture was taken in Santa Monica. I came across this bike path and realized how bike paths and sidewalks are rarely used in this busy city. People are always driving and complaining about the traffic, which I find to be fascinating because if you look at the other cars around you, most of the cars only have one passenger, which is the driver. This bike path really spoke to me in terms of emptiness and this idea of growth. Los Angeles is man made and even at a place like the beach, man had to touch it by building something to it...even if it's a bike path. What place in Los Angeles is really untouched and kept preserved? I can't think of any.

caption: after the sunset at lmu

This picture was taken on Jefferson. I know that it is cliche to take pictures of palm trees, but I felt as if this place was important to my definition of LA because it opened my eyes to LA. I'm originally from La Canada Flintridge, a place where I was sheltered all my life. I always had the notion that my hometown was the definition of LA. I had no idea that outside of La Canada would be so colorful and full of life.

caption: wiltern theatre and wilshire

The Wiltern Theatre has always been a place where I would drive by whenever I go to Koreatown. I particularly like this picture because it gives me a sense of the old LA. If you look behind the Wiltern Theatre, there is a metro station and a new apartment complex. built inbetween 6th and Wilshire. What I found fascinating was how Koreatown is slowly changing and improving its environment and look (gentrification) while a place like the Wiltern Theatre is kept unchanged. I love that. This picture really captures a piece of the old and a piece of the new. Even though I have never been inside the Wiltern Theatre, I definitely feel the spirit of Los Angeles by the decorative building designs that were more prominent decades back.

caption: construction site on lincoln blvd.

I took this picture the other day while I was studying in one of the Leavey study rooms. I looked outside the window and saw how much construction on this particular site has done since my freshman year. What used to be a large piece of dirt slowly is becoming a foundation for what looks like a building. Located right next to Playa Vista, I assume that this place is going to be a new apartment complex. I also thought about how construction never stops. Any piece of land that becomes available slowly vanishes as people continue to grow interest in building and growing this wonderful city of Los Angeles. When I see sites like this after taking this course, I get reminded of the literal spirit of what this place used to be before buildings are actually built on it. I wonder about places like Wilshire, where the Wiltern Theatre is located. What did the surroundings of Wilshire look like before the metro station was built or what the apartment complex was before it was built. Did it look similar to the Wiltern?

caption: americana in glendale, ca

This picture is of the newly built shopping center called the Americana. Visiting a place like this reminds me of the days when it was under construction and even the days when businesses were there prior to the blueprint of this place. Created as the replica of The Grove, I don't know how to exactly appreciate a place like this. When this shopping mall was created, I remember people complaining about their businesses being bought over. I even remember a motel or a hotel that refused to see their business in order for Americana to be bigger. I think that motel or hotel is still there...I guess Americana had to be built around that small area of land. Even though this is the definition of what gentrification looks like, I would have to say that a place like this is cliche as well, especially because this is the type of place where tourists would imagine as LA. To me, it is unfortunate how a place like this does define LA. As a native Angeleno, if I had to close my eyes and imagine how LA would look like, it would look like this...a place that attracts the eye.