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ksmgf
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 Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2024 8:46 pm Post subject: A question regarding downtown LA. |
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I've always wondered how come downtown LA is so far from the Pacific Ocean? Why didn't they built the city of LA close to the sea like Santa Monica or Malibu? Big cities like SF, Seattle, NY and Vancouver are all near the ocean.  |
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lakersken80
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| Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2024 9:17 pm Post subject: Re: A question regarding downtown LA. |
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| ksmgf wrote: | | I've always wondered how come downtown LA is so far from the Pacific Ocean? Why didn't they built the city of LA close to the sea like Santa Monica or Malibu? Big cities like SF, Seattle, NY and Vancouver are all near the ocean. |
Well the reason is that most of the population were based around the ranches in the area. And they were mostly inland. |
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C M B
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| Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2024 1:14 am Post subject: |
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Forget it, jake. It's Chinatown.
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DaMuleRules
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| Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2024 7:24 am Post subject: Re: A question regarding downtown LA. |
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| ksmgf wrote: | | I've always wondered how come downtown LA is so far from the Pacific Ocean? Why didn't they built the city of LA close to the sea like Santa Monica or Malibu? Big cities like SF, Seattle, NY and Vancouver are all near the ocean. |
Those cities are all port cities. LA was agriculturally based and didn’t have a port, nor did it have a natural port.
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LarryCoon
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| Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2024 8:38 am Post subject: |
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| I'm just guessing here -- it might have something to do with the location of the Spanish missions and the El Camino Real. |
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dont_be_a_wuss
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| Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2024 9:16 am Post subject: Re: A question regarding downtown LA. |
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| lakersken80 wrote: | | ksmgf wrote: | | I've always wondered how come downtown LA is so far from the Pacific Ocean? Why didn't they built the city of LA close to the sea like Santa Monica or Malibu? Big cities like SF, Seattle, NY and Vancouver are all near the ocean. |
Well the reason is that most of the population were based around the ranches in the area. And they were mostly inland. |
Yup. These ranches needed a fresh water source, which was Tha LA River, so the origins of the city are close to the river. |
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oasisdude77
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| Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2024 10:20 am Post subject: Re: A question regarding downtown LA. |
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| dont_be_a_wuss wrote: | | lakersken80 wrote: | | ksmgf wrote: | | I've always wondered how come downtown LA is so far from the Pacific Ocean? Why didn't they built the city of LA close to the sea like Santa Monica or Malibu? Big cities like SF, Seattle, NY and Vancouver are all near the ocean. |
Well the reason is that most of the population were based around the ranches in the area. And they were mostly inland. |
Yup. These ranches needed a fresh water source, which was Tha LA River, so the origins of the city are close to the river. |
Also, they wanted it far enough away to prevent pirate attacks.
| Quote: | | Because, as Rojas explains, the Laws of the Indies dictated that Spanish New World cities be constructed twenty miles from the sea ("to avoid any attacks from pirates," Rojas says), near a freshwater source ("the L.A. River") and close to a native tribe ("for labor"). |
https://www.pbssocal.org/history-society/laws-that-shaped-l-a-why-los-angeles-isnt-a-beach-town |
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lakersken80
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| Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2024 11:07 am Post subject: Re: A question regarding downtown LA. |
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| dont_be_a_wuss wrote: | | lakersken80 wrote: | | ksmgf wrote: | | I've always wondered how come downtown LA is so far from the Pacific Ocean? Why didn't they built the city of LA close to the sea like Santa Monica or Malibu? Big cities like SF, Seattle, NY and Vancouver are all near the ocean. |
Well the reason is that most of the population were based around the ranches in the area. And they were mostly inland. |
Yup. These ranches needed a fresh water source, which was Tha LA River, so the origins of the city are close to the river. |
Yep, back then the LA River was a life sustaining body of water, not the concrete lined mess that it is right now. |
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ksmgf
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| Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2024 1:04 pm Post subject: Re: A question regarding downtown LA. |
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| oasisdude77 wrote: | | dont_be_a_wuss wrote: | | lakersken80 wrote: | | ksmgf wrote: | | I've always wondered how come downtown LA is so far from the Pacific Ocean? Why didn't they built the city of LA close to the sea like Santa Monica or Malibu? Big cities like SF, Seattle, NY and Vancouver are all near the ocean. |
Well the reason is that most of the population were based around the ranches in the area. And they were mostly inland. |
Yup. These ranches needed a fresh water source, which was Tha LA River, so the origins of the city are close to the river. |
Also, they wanted it far enough away to prevent pirate attacks.
| Quote: | | Because, as Rojas explains, the Laws of the Indies dictated that Spanish New World cities be constructed twenty miles from the sea ("to avoid any attacks from pirates," Rojas says), near a freshwater source ("the L.A. River") and close to a native tribe ("for labor"). |
https://www.pbssocal.org/history-society/laws-that-shaped-l-a-why-los-angeles-isnt-a-beach-town |
That is pretty interesting. I did not know that there was a freshwater river in downtown LA. |
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Heartburn
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| Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2024 9:49 am Post subject: Re: A question regarding downtown LA. |
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| oasisdude77 wrote: | | dont_be_a_wuss wrote: | | lakersken80 wrote: | | ksmgf wrote: | | I've always wondered how come downtown LA is so far from the Pacific Ocean? Why didn't they built the city of LA close to the sea like Santa Monica or Malibu? Big cities like SF, Seattle, NY and Vancouver are all near the ocean. |
Well the reason is that most of the population were based around the ranches in the area. And they were mostly inland. |
Yup. These ranches needed a fresh water source, which was Tha LA River, so the origins of the city are close to the river. |
Also, they wanted it far enough away to prevent pirate attacks.
| Quote: | | Because, as Rojas explains, the Laws of the Indies dictated that Spanish New World cities be constructed twenty miles from the sea ("to avoid any attacks from pirates," Rojas says), near a freshwater source ("the L.A. River") and close to a native tribe ("for labor"). |
https://www.pbssocal.org/history-society/laws-that-shaped-l-a-why-los-angeles-isnt-a-beach-town |
Right. Had the English founded the city, it probably would have been centered in Long Beach or San Pedro. Some place closer to the ocean. Spanish had a different POV and laws that reflected that POV.
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Omar Little
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| Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2024 10:01 am Post subject: |
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To be fair, as someone who has been downtown in many cities large and small, LA really has no downtown.
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jodeke
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| Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2024 12:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Omar Little wrote: | | To be fair, as someone who has been downtown in many cities large and small, LA really has no downtown. |
TPTB is doing a poor job of constructing downtown LA. I get the impression their template is NY. Old LA was nice. There was an earthquake ordinance that had a 5-story limit because of earthquakes. Skid row was 5th and Main to 5th and Alameda. I thought it was quaint downtown. Progress can sometimes be unsettling.
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