[lbo-talk] Bunker Hill

Dennis Claxton ddclaxton at earthlink.net
Wed Feb 14 10:57:10 PST 2007


This will change one of my favorite ghostly things about Los Angeles. Bunker Hill used to be a working class neighborhood that was razed in the sixties after many years of benign neglect. In red scare era movies that had Mickey Spillane tracking down lowlifes standing in for commies, the Spillane character would inevitably wind up rousting someone in a Bunker Hill rooming house.

One result of the razing is that there are a couple of tunnels downtown that don't seem out of the ordinary until you look above them and realize there is nothing there. I once read someone describe it looking as if a giant bird of prey had swooped down and grabbed whatever used to be there and flew off. I take those tunnels often and after this project that nothing on top of them will be erased in its own turn.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-grand14feb14,1,5020077.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage

Despite criticism about tax breaks and land giveaways, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles City Council gave final approvals Tuesday to a sprawling mini-city atop Bunker Hill that will alter L.A.'s skyline and set a course for future development in downtown.

Elected officials and other backers of the Grand Avenue project described the vote as a turning point for Los Angeles, whose civic leaders have tried for decades without success to establish a central cultural hub downtown that would draw people from throughout the region.

"This is a historic day for Los Angeles. It changes the entire complexion of the center of our city," said civic booster Eli Broad, who is spearheading the development.

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