GAP
issue : 122003

No... it isn't about an international conglomerate, GAP, Inc. It actually doesn't quite exist on the map nor even in reality. It's not quite a street nor alley, but it is an enormous horizontal gap; a chasm between 2nd and 4th Street, below the great Grand Avenue of arts and wealth of the "center" of Downtown Los Angeles. The gap only serves as a delivery artery and parking entrance/exits for polished living/office towers above.

We often see this space in a distant reality... almost too familiar... in various Hollywood films. Why? Perhaps because of its dramatic lighting and being a such a large void with minimal traffic and no foot traffic whatsoever throughout the day or night. The gap resembles something out of Gotham City's underbelly; light pours in from the Grand Avenue and you can only see glimpses of daylight reflecting all the rising dust from within. It can be visually simple and rich in a Gothic sort of way.

Over the years, the gentrification of Bunker Hill divided and subdivided many existing downtown history of Los Angeles with series of slick representations of culture and wealth. In some ways, the redevelopment brought arts and culture to the downtown again, but simultaneously privatization of downtown resulting such a bleak Hollywood set. It's an urban killing zone... try walking anywhere near it.

:: REF ::
AJLA
Downtown Public Arts
City of Quartz
Ecology of Fear
Italian Job (v69 + 03)
Most Wanted

*free