Downtown Los Angeles

SIMplemente · February 17, 2012

INTRO.

Hello everybody.

I would like to recreate just a little part of Downtown Los Angeles.

Yes, I know that it has been done before here (and very well done, by the way) But since I could download for my play games some particular highrises from this website, I thought I could get through it and make my own Sim City Downtown L.A.

My work is so simple, and it features:

-NAM (dont ask me which one because I have no clue)

-SIMTROPOLIS lots for many of the Bunker Hill Highrises

-Google Earth

-Wikipedia, especially this link: List of the tallest buildings in L.A.

-LAPL photo archive and USC Digital Archive

-And finally my imagination to improvise when NAM didnt allow me to do things like I wanted to do (overpasses, viaducts, avenues, etc).

I was thinking about to begin in the last years of the 50's decade, when the CRA -the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency- started from zero 'creating' many parking lots by pulling down beautifull art-decó buildings, as well as it leveled Bunker Hill and destroyed its victorian homes to make place to a new financial district.

The next couple of pictures are going to give you an idea of what I wanted to do, and what I did. They are just trials.

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But now, enough trials...

Ladies and gentlemen, Mesdames et Messieurs, here it comes...

Downtown Los Angeles (or some sort of)

Starring:

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And, obviously: the city of angels... Los Angeles!

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Enjoy the ride!

Edited March 12, 2012 by SIMplemente

vivapanda · February 17, 2012

It looks promising! Though I would minimalise the control panel by pressing the little "-"

Good luck with your CJ!

SIMplemente · February 17, 2012

1- Building Freeways.

Now let's pretend the year is -more or less- 1950 or 1951. Developers wanted a new system of 'super highways' after the success of the Arroyo Seco Park way. So...

Civic Center (It's Oklahoma City City Hall, by the way, no LA City Hall was available here) is in the middle of the view. We can see part of the 'old Los Angeles', all that remains of El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora, la Reina de Los Ángeles, La Placita and a train station... (Let's use our imagination and let's pretend is Union Station) Also Little Tokio is visible. But coming out from the left, just crossing the LA River (not visible on the picture) there's a part of the freeway I-101 (the Hollywood Fwy) not completed yet. Also, 1st ST Bridge is at sight.

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The I-101 on its path across Downtown is a sunken highway, so works to level the land are needed. The freeway is going to cut off Los Angeles Street.

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I-101, aka the Hollywood freeway, in construction. First pic is looking west, and second is looking east:

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A section of the freeway in construction, with a viaduct (here is when I had to be very accurate with the NAM or just to improvise):

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The next set of pics are trials of the Harbor Freeway, I-110 with some of its viaducts, entrances and exits.

Southbound:

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Northbound:

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Signs show the future site of the main buildings. 'El radiador' is the way my little niece refers to the Security Pacific Bank building, now called Bank of America. I know both pics are very ugly, but both pics show the 2nd and 3rd street tunnels and the 4th st viaduct running towards Hope and Grand Ave (not seen in the pics) And of course, both avenues pretend to be Figueroa and Flower streets...

Edited February 25, 2012 by SIMplemente

SIMplemente · February 17, 2012

2- Freeways, traffic and overpasses.

So, while the I-101 was entering downtown from east, as being constructed, new viaducts had to be built. The picture shows the ones for Los Angeles St, Main and Spring St. Meanwhile, Aradia St and Aliso St, have altered their path, and now both run parallel to the freeway at a different level. At the time being, both are only simple and dusty streets.

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The I-101 joins the I-110 and the Arroyo Seco Park Way thanks to a 'magic' four level interchange. Works begun in 1949 and it opened to traffic in 1953.

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And finally the Hollywood Fwy is about to carry traffic at the early 50's. New viaducts are at sight, as well as the entry and exit in Alameda and Grand Ave. Sorry, not enough place to make and entry/exit in Broadway (which is the main avenue you see in the middle)

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Edited February 25, 2012 by SIMplemente

SIMplemente · February 17, 2012

3- Bunkerhillization and the first modern skyscraper.

This is Downtown Los Angeles, looking East. Ugly, compared of how it looks today, isn't it? The view shows the 'new' 4th St viaduct built in the last 60's as a part of the Bunker Hill redevelopment done by the CRA. Also the Central Library at west 5th St is at sight. At the time I took this picture, 'my own' Harbor Freeway wasn't finished yet, but there's a glimpse -at the upper left side of the pic- of the old Bunker Hill victorian homes. In 5th St, corner with Flower, that ugly grey building could have been the old Architect's Building, soon to be demolished to make way to new set of skyscrapers. I must say that is a pity that the old Richfield Tower is not available here.

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More of that period: 4th St new viaduct looking east, followed by the 3rd st. tunnel -next to the El radiador sign- Both viaducts run over Figueroa and Flower to Hope St, as we can see in the next pic... In real life -and unable to do it in Sim City- those viaducts, from Hope, they connect the underground part of Grand Ave, under Bunker Hill. In fact, today Grand Avenue at its path on Bunker Hill is just a two level avenue.

The picture shows a new try of the Harbor Fwy.

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And this is Bunker Hill, looking west. Any bulldozer has come there yet, but they're getting closing...

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At the end of the 60's the CRA went on with the 'bunkerhillization': the destruction of the historic neighbourhood of Los Angeles, plus the leveling of the hill, to start a new redevelopment there. As a result, the hill looked like a war zone. Many Sims have been forcibly evicted by the CRA and our City Planner, mister Parking Lot.

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Once the last bulldozer was gone, the result was more or less like this one:

Bunker Hill, looking east.

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Thanks God Angel's Flight was still there, but by the year 1968 it was demolished and put into a wharehouse, like an old piece of junk.The last 60's represents the years of the 'highrise fever', or well known as 'skyscraper mania', as developers had decided yet to built a new and modern financial district in Bunker Hill. All will be planned by the City Planner Advisor, mister Parking Lot. He is a good specialist in... Well, He really knows where and how to park a car. He represents also the CRA (Communty of Redevelopment Agency) so, he is also a good specialist in destroying historical buildings and historical neighbourhoods to create parking lots.

In 1966, the first modern highrise was built in South Grand Avenue, corner of Wilshire Blvd: The One Wilshire building.

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The One Wilshire, along with the City National Bank Building (located in 6th St and Olive, in front of Pershing Square) was the first 'skyscraper' ever built in Los Angeles since the pre-war years

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Skidmore, Owings and Merril LLP, was the architect office responsable of the design of the building: with 395 feet / 120 meters height and 30 stories, when completed had the honor to be the 'first one'. But the best was yet to come:

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Harbor freeway, southbound.

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And voilà!

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'Eggsactly'...

The Union Bank Plaza.

Completed in 1968, is in fact the first high-rise of many to come soon for the new financial district in Bunker Hill. Located in 445 South Figueroa St, faces the Harbor Fwy with 40 stories and 516 feet (157 m.) It was designed by Albert C. Martin and Associates, and by then it was the tallest structure in Los Angeles...

It is a dream come for everybody: for the City Planner,mister Parking Lot, for the Mayor, Fletcher Bowron and for the Finance Advisor, miss Golden Coin.

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The first modern skyscrapper of that new Downtown stands in front of the Harbor Freeway. It haven't been opened yet to public and we can see perfectly some other buildings in construction around. Whatever is going to happen to downtown is going to happen fast.

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Edited March 8, 2012 by SIMplemente

nathanthemayor · February 17, 2012

One suggestion is to convert your pics from pngs. to jpgs, because they load slow. Also, turning off the UDI zots and minimizing the menu wouldn't hurt. Other than that, I like how you tried accurately to recreate LA!

SIMplemente · February 18, 2012

Thank you for the suggestions, I take note of all of them!

Cob92 · February 18, 2012

A couple tips:

-If you're going for authenticity, it would be a good idea to download some period buildings to use in place of the more modern Maxis structures. Doing so will better capture what you're trying to convey.

-For intricately detailed freeway projects I recommend looking into the RHW. While the basic highway system is very useful, it is somewhat lacking in the realism department.

-Hide the UI.

Other than that, nice job so far!

vivapanda · February 18, 2012

It looks good! If you'll do what Nathan and Cobhris said it will even look better.

SIMplemente · February 18, 2012

To Nathan, Cobhris96 and VivaPanda:

-I converted all pics into JPG format, thanks for the suggestions, which it was obvious (silly me)

-I think it is impossible to recreate the old days of Downtown, I meant the old times before the Bunkerhilllization took place. In the original game there are a lot of art-decó buildings, but we can not control were to put them. Well, I wish I could. Buildings like the Richfield Tower, or the old LA Phillarmonic Auditorium deserve to be here, or some others like the Edison, The Eastern or event the Biltmore Hotel... and so many!

-I'm new here. This is the second time I ever created a city journel. First time was a fictional city, in a spanish SimCity site. Now the challenge is double: Downtown Los Angeles, which is not my city, and english language -not my natural born language-. So, I going to commit many mistakes, with the city and with my english. Be patient, and apologies for everything. (especially for my grammar or spelling mistakes)

Thanks for follow the thread.

Edited February 18, 2012 by SIMplemente

SIMplemente · February 18, 2012

4- Was it worth it?

The next office tower to be built during that time was the Crocker Bank Plaza, aka 611 Place located in 611 West 6th St, corner of Grand. Since being vacated by AT&T, there have been plans to turn its upper levels into high-end condominiums, in a re-development scheme.

I couldnt find a tower that looked like the building, so I finally had to use a total different one because I needed to fill the place with some building. Not the same, but better than nothing... Here it is still under construction.

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Here's the site of the construction, south view, of the 611 Place Building. In the foreground, there's the Central Library and the Library Square. The old Edison Building is at sight, along with a glimpse of the Biltmore Hotel:

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Pershing Square, looking west and the new 611 Place Building already completed. It's the year 1970. The new downtown keeps moving and rocking on time while the Mayor Fletcher Bowrron, the Finance Advisor, miss Golden Coin and the City Planner, mister Parking Lot are dancing the rock'n'roll for the big times.

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Behind the new Union Bank there's something rising up... But on Bunker Hill, the last bulldozers are busy working on the new pipes, while South Grand Avenue and South Olive St are close to traffic, both from 5th st to 1st St for the new redevelopment on the hill.

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Edited March 8, 2012 by SIMplemente

SIMplemente · February 18, 2012

5- The LA 'twin towers' and a crane.

City National Plaza is a twin tower high-rise complex located in 505 South Flower St. in downtown L.A., comprising City National Tower and Paul Hastings Tower. The 213.1 m (699 ft) 52 storey structures are located on the site of the Art Deco Richfield Tower, that was designed by Morgan, Walls & Clements in the 1920s.

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Here they are, looking west with a view of Bunker Hill at the right part of the image. No more homes and Sims in Bunker Hill. Now it is the kingdom of bulldozers, as works for building pipes and drain systems never stop.

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Downtown looking east. 4th St carries traffic to nowhere, because Grand and Olive are still closed to traffic.

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Now looking north. Notice that many buildings between Figueroa and Flower are being pulled down to make place to new condo towers and apartments. It seems that a normal kind of city planning, the one with a wall to a wall and a street is disappearing, leaving behind it nothing but empty spaces.

The City Hall is also at sight.

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A little bit closer:

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Figueroa and Flower St, looking south, still in 1972

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Now Downtown looking south in 1970.

Here everything looks scaring... It looks like war zone. Only the twin towers are telling you than something is changing here, and it's changing quickly...

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Meanwhile... what's going on in the City Hall? Go figure!

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Oh, and what about the media? Well, look the cover of the magaSIM

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Edited March 16, 2012 by SIMplemente

SIMplemente · February 18, 2012

6- Taller than the others.

Meanwhile in 707 Wilshire Boulevard, corner with Hope St, and in 700 South Flower, corner with Wilshire Boulevard...

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Works for a couple of new office towers had begun.

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But very close to the new Bunker Hill desert something is changing. The year is 1973.

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In 1974 the tower at 707 Wilshire Blvd was completed.

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First named United California Bank and later First Interstate Bank the building is a 62 story office tower, 262 m (860 ft) height. Two more things to say; until 1982 was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River and until 1987 was the tallest building in L.A. and the tallest in all California. Architect was Charles Luckman. Today, the tower is the Aon Center headquarters.

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Short after the completion of the First Interstate Bank Tower, now Aon Center, the construction site at 700 South Flower St turned out into this:

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It's the MCI Center, the modern skyscrapper in the foreground, completed in 1974. Designed by Luckman Partnership Architects, with its 33 floors and its 414 ft (126) it was once the Metrolink operational headquarters. Now the building accommodates some more other business, like for instance the main offices of the La Opinión newspaper. I have to say that my MCI Center has nothing to do with reality. I found that lot here on Simtropolis and I thought it could work for my recreation of the building. Who knows, in SimCity anything is possible and anything can happen.

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This is downtown in 1973-1974 looking east, with the new office towers int he foregorund. One is taller than the others. Civic Center, and the Angel's Flight are at sight around an empty Bunker Hill.

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Edited March 10, 2012 by SIMplemente

SIMplemente · February 18, 2012

7- An impossible angle.

In 1974 the sims living in downtown could see that the sickness of the City Planner Advisor, mister Parking Lot, the 'building mania' was not contagious. But far from over, it just had begun: now they were building something new very close to west exit of the 3rd St. tunnel.

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Of course, it was a new office tower and it was completed together with the First Interstate Building... That new skyscraper was the headquarters of Arco Enterprises, and later the Security Pacific Bank was its major tenant. Maybe for that reason the tower was known with this name. Located in 333 Hope Street in Bunker Hill, with its 224.03 m (735.0 ft) height and its 55 floors, the tower is a good example on how wrong things could be when we are looking for a 'super modern' redevelopment on a given landscape.

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The building was the first to be built in the 'new' Bunker Hill area.

But that tower presents a problem, in fact it's a big problem.

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The tower sits oddly in some sort of podium. In addition, the tower was built in a difference angle of 45º to the streets around. For instance, it is the same effect as we put a rhombus on a square, and the square was made of 3rd, 4th, Hope and Flower streets. Of course as far as I know, impossible to recreate in SimCity. We see that 45º difference angle in the next picture:

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Other than that, I decided that the tower looks alright to me, so I put it down on its place, and I built a park around, with threes and stuff to fill the space between the tower, Hope and 4th St, as you can see:

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Since 1992 the tower is known as Bank of America.

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And we do not forget the press...

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Definitely, it was never the favorite building of the Sims, mostly for its odd angle and for the ramps across the street and the skyscraper, not seen here, They were built just to bridge the gap or the slope of the hill.

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Anyway, here is Bunker Hill, looking west, between 1st and and 3rd St, with the 2nd st tunnel in the middle.

Now 1st street runs over Figueroa on a new overpass, while 2nd St runs in diagonal almost meeting 1st St to go ahead underneath the Harbor Freeway. The strange building at the left of the picture, with a few little canals of water and some parking lots is... Well, you ever heard of the DWP Building (Department of Water and Power)? I tried my best, there wasn't nothing similar around!

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Edited March 11, 2012 by SIMplemente

vivapanda · February 18, 2012

That a re a lot of updates after eachother! You shouldn't worry about your English, I didn't spot any mistakes, and if there were any it wouldn't really matter to me anyway. Of course you don't have to build your city excactly the way it is in reality, your city looms good, that's were it is about, good work!

SIMplemente · February 18, 2012

That a re a lot of updates after eachother! You shouldn't worry about your English, I didn't spot any mistakes, and if there were any it wouldn't really matter to me anyway. Of course you don't have to build your city excactly the way it is in reality, your city looms good, that's were it is about, good work!

Thank you very much indeed for your words. Muchas gracias de verdad, Vivapanda.

Edited February 18, 2012 by SIMplemente

AdoxxBE · February 18, 2012

Great start but please keep this in mind:

Updating your CJ.
Everbody loves updates, and it is a sure fire way to gain an audience. It shows that your are committed, rather than being a one update wonder.

However, if there have been no replies to a previous update, it is requested that another new update post is not made for at least 6 hours. If you wish to add material within this time frame then please use the edit function. There are exceptions to this, for example if you are staring a new CJ and you want to reserve some posts for future content like an index. If you are unsure then please PM one of the CJ moderators or post the question in the general CJ question / discussion thread.

Deliberately bumping your CJ several times in a short space over an evening, for example, with multiple "update" posts of just one or two new pics or other content just to keep it on page one, is not acceptable.

Edited February 18, 2012 by Adooxx

SIMplemente · February 19, 2012

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8- Gambling number 444 on Flower Street.

Between 1974 and 1976 took place the construction of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, located in 404 South Figueroa Street. During the 'bunkerhillization' period, In the lot where the hotel was built there was... nothing. But before, there were some small businesses, as we can see in the picture above, just behind the City National twin towers.

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Just because there is not anything similar to the Westin Bonaventure in all SimCity websites around the world, once again I have to improvise...

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Where the hell am I gonna find a modern and functional casino-hotel?

Easy, in the original game. You wanted, you got it.

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Confortable suites with nice views to the desolate Bunker Hill and to Downtown, in between Figueroa and Flower, it won't disappoint you: casino, swimmingpool, sports facilities, spa, and anything you need to go to work at the surrounding towers and never stress out.

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Two years later, in 1978, developers started to plan a new building commissioned by Wells Fargo. The new tower was to be located in 444 South Flower St.

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Formerly known as the 444 Flower Building, it was one of the first projects to redevelop the Library Square, and a solution on what to do with North Hope Street. Not many years ago, this section of North Hope Street ran parallel to 5th street, in front of the Central Library, to join to South Grand Avenue, running also in front of Edison Building. Now, with that new tower, North Hope Street has been 'moved out' and it joins Grand Avenue one block away, as a result of that new redevelopment on Bunker Hill. The solution came a few years later along with the upcoming of a new office tower. Was it a new park? No. Just steps. The Bunker Hill Steps.

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Designed by Albert C. Martin & Associates, the 444 S. Flower Tower is a 48 storey skyscraper 625 ft (191 m) height. Short after its completion in 1979 it became the headquarters of Wells Fargo, but once Wells Fargo moved out to a new set of towers on North Grand Ave, the major tenant was Citycorp, and now is well known as the City Group Center.

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Bunker Hill, looking south, in 1980:

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Downtown looking east, with a view in the foreground of the Library Square.

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Downtown Los Angeles, 1980. Looking west. The L.A river is visible, and in my recreation it hasn't been channelized yet. From left to right, bridges at sight are: 4th St, 1st St and the I-101, also known as the Aliso Sreet viaduct, followed by two rail bridges. Then I tried to create some sort of César Chávez bridge, but I simply forgot about the Spring Street one. Finally, north Broadway bridge, well known as the Buena Vista viaduct.

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Downtown, looking north in 1980.

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Angelus Plaza condo towers, in between east exits of the 3rd and 2nd St tunnels. The towers are actually located in South Olive Street. Here they are as viewed in 1981, just after being built. I know that by that time the Angel's Flight, visible in that recreation, wasn't there anymore. Nothing built yet in Grand Avenue or Hope Street.

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Bunker Hill, looking north. Night view.

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Old Hope Street section, before the Library Square renovation, as viewed in 1981. This section of Hope Street will be 'moved out' a block away in 1987, to make place to a new 'open space park': The Bunker Hill Steps.

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Bunker Hill looking East in 1980. Night view. In the foreground there's a glimpse of the Harbor freeway.

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Detail of the Citygroup Center south facade:

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Ready for the Wells Fargo Towers?

Edited March 12, 2012 by SIMplemente

vivapanda · February 19, 2012

It seems that something went wrong with the pictures, what I can see looks good!

SIMplemente · February 19, 2012

It seems that something went wrong with the pictures, what I can see looks good!

Hey Viva! I think I already fixed the problem. I believe something was wrong with the server at the time I was uploading the last post.

Im glad you like it.

Edited February 19, 2012 by SIMplemente

SIMplemente · February 21, 2012

9- Geometry

The next set of skyscrapers built in the early 80's were both Wells Fargo towers as a part of the upcoming Wells Fargo Center on Bunker Hill.

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The Wells Fargo Center is an office complex located in downtown Los Angeles, between 349 and 355 South Grand Avenue, at the highest point of Bunker Hill. The site occupies an entire block that corresponds to Hope Street, Grand Avenue, Third and Fourth Street. The complex includes two towers of different heights: Wells Fargo Tower and KPMG Tower, which are connected by a kind of athree-story atrium, glass-lined. This atrium houses the Wells Fargo Museum which features a wide and varied collection of modern art.

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This new office complex was designed by architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and they presented two towers of different heights, both with a ground in a trapezoid rectangle shape. As a result, and depending on the point of view to be seen, both towers appear larger, more slender and, if possible more vertical as they really are. And because both buildings are located on the highest point of Bunker Hill, this make them appear still more taller, compared with the surrounding buildings.

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The towers are:

Wells Fargo. The taller

-Height: 220 meters (720ft)

-Floors: 54

-Elevators: 26

-Works begun in 1981

-Completed: 1983

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KPMG Tower:

-Height: 171 meters (561ft)

-Plants: 45

-Underground floors: 5

-Elevators: 26

-Works begun: 1981

-Completed: 1983

Next view is Downtown looking south. Notice how around the new towers, developers have built some parking lots to fill the space where, not many years ago, there were old buildings that the CRA had pulled down. It was cheaper to knock down an old house and use the space as a parking lot, than building a large car park building. That was the way how Los Angeles lost some its old housing stok. In fact, where today stands the Wells Fargo Center, until 1960 more or less, there was beautiful victorian homes.

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The towers are not twin towers.

Short after completed, the new buildings were on the media...

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Well. I meant the serious media.

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Downtown looking north:

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The real life in 1983:

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Now looking west:

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Night views:

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Day and night, in SimCity Downtown Los Angeles:

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A view of the Hollywood Fwy, looking east, with the Civic Center in the background:

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Looking west. Notice the parking lots in South Figueroa St. In the future the Stamples Center and the Nokia Theater, along with the L.A. Live complex with hotels and and condos, all will be built there. I'm going to pay some more attention to those parking lots in the next post.

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Speaking of parking lots...

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Edited March 12, 2012 by SIMplemente

Dumanios · February 23, 2012

Neat!

GMT · February 23, 2012

frakking awesome.

especially the real life pictures are breathtaking, together with your cj progress rather a reenacting than a recreation. love it.

SIMplemente · February 25, 2012

10- A Convention Center, parking lots, and a small new black tower.

I forgot something. Silly me.

What would it be of a big city without a big and a huge Convention Center? Yeap, you know well that a Convention Center is the perfect place to steal catalogs, to be very rude, to take home whatever kind of samples, and finally, to spend the entire day standing up and not to buy anything there.

Here's our particular Convention Center.

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Built in 1970 by architect Charles Lockman it opened to public in 1971 and it was expanded between 1993 and 1998. Originally built as a rectangle, it's located between Pico Boulevard and 11th st, the section now named Chick Hearn Blvd on South Figueroa street.

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Here it is the original center, in construction, Also, the Harbor freeway and Sta Monica Freeway junction it's at sight.

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In this one, we see the Occidental Building on the lower right of the image (today the AT&T headquarters building).Notice that we today there's nothing that parking lots, there was an entire neighbourhood. Not a nice place to live, with the highway around the corner, but we see some homes and some commercial buildings.

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The northeast portion of the original Convention Center was demolished in 1997 to make way for the Staples Center. And this is a thing that I haven't considered and the time I was making my recreation on Sim City. Now, in order to see what I did, let's pretend that the original Center is the one with blue colored roof and numbers in its facade, and the expantion is the one from the original game.

Like this:

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My Convention Center is located in Pico Boulevard, but as you can see, it is not so far from South Figueroa Street.

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When it was built, in between 11st and South Figueroa St. there was only empty spaces or just parking lots:

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Here's a trial of such craziness of streets, avenues, highways and parking lots...

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Ok. Now. going back to that new 'downtown'... I remember a black tower, a small one, in front of both City National Plaza twin towers, just next side of the Union Bank building.

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I'm talking about the Manulife Plaza, a 21 storey skyscraper built in 1982 by AC Martins Architects and located at 515 S. Figueroa Street. Of course, the building you're about to see it is not the original one from Los Angeles. In fact, its orginal name is Torre Negra, and it is located in Madrid (Spain). I thought its very similar and I put it at its place...

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But back to Bunker HIll it seems that developers are busy... The year is 1984.

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Let's go now step by step

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The picture above shows Olive St and Grand Avenue looking south. Sims are busy: it seems that there is a structure in construction. Next there's the MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), which was built in the final days of 1983 commissioned by the CRA (Community of Redevelopment Agency) The question was simple: if investors and developers wanted to built something new on Bunker Hill, the CRA wanted them to pay first the construction of the museum. That's why short after the MOCA there is something rising up...

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But at the same time there was a new tower in construction in Bunker Hill. The Mellon Bank Building was built in the early days of 1984 and it is located in 400 South Hope street, and it was the structure to be built on 'new' redeveloped Hope Street, after the Wells Fargo Center, Here it is as viewed in 1984. I couldn't get the orginal skyscrapper, so I put the a US Bank building from somewhere. It is not the same shape neither the height, but it looks cool to me.

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Downtown looking north, with some cranes on the top of Bunker Hill, as viewed in 1984

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Downtown looking north as viewed in 1984. The L.A. river is at sight, and in my recreation it is not channelized yet. The industry area is perfectly seen facing the river.

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The same view, looking south.

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Edited March 12, 2012 by SIMplemente

vivapanda · February 25, 2012

I can see where you're going, good work! :thumb:

SIMplemente · February 25, 2012

11- More commercial offices.

So, here we are back again on Bunker Hill trying to guess what is being built on its top, working day and night.

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Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, for the very first time on this thread to the... California Plaza Project ...

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The California Plaza Project consist so far of two unique skyscrapers, One and Two California Plaza. The first part of this mega project begun in 1984 with the construction of the One California Plaza, the MOCA as an important part of the project, the Colburn School of Performing Arts and the Omni Hotel. The second part of the California Project had to wait until 1992.

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One of my favourite buildings of Los Angeles ever, looks cool in Sim City. It's located in 300 South Grand Avenue.

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The One California Plaza, completed in 1985 was designed by Arthur Erickson Architects, with 42 storeys and 176 me (577ft) height. When opened brought back again some urban life to this part of Bunker Hill. The picture shows the new tower, and behind it, the Colburn School of Performing Arts still in construction.

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Short after the completion of the One California Plaza, bulldozers and cranes were use to built some new buildings just next the Wells Fargo Tower.

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On the left site of the next pic the Colburn School of Perfoming Arts is at sight, along with the MOCA and the base of the One California Plaza. At the right site, the crane finally is gone and now the new condo towers are available in Grand Avenue, known as Grand Condo Towers.

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Night view.

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During 1985 two more skyscrapers are going to be built in Downtown Los Angeles Sim City. One is the Wedbush Building, located in 1000 Wilshire Boulevard, in between Wilshire, 7th St, and Fernando St.

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What about to use this one unstead of the original Wedbush? Once again, there was nothing better around.

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The crane is working on the construction site for the other building: the Ernst'n'Young Plaza.

Edited March 12, 2012 by SIMplemente

Fox · February 26, 2012

Great looking recreation. Not that familiar with LA, but it's great to see you've dug up some of those old bats and put them to good use.

:blush:

SIMplemente · February 26, 2012

frakking awesome.
especially the real life pictures are breathtaking, together with your cj progress rather a reenacting than a recreation. love it.

Thanks a lot. I guess this is all about. Glad you like it.

SIMplemente · February 27, 2012

Great looking recreation. Not that familiar with LA, but it's great to see you've dug up some of those old bats and put them to good use.

Hey, thanks a lot!

SIMplemente · February 27, 2012

I can see where you're going, good work!

Now I'm working on the research of skyscraoers like the original ones. And the US bank Tower, the icone of LA is coming soon!

Downtown Los Angeles

59 posts in this topic Last Reply November 23, 2013

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