The History Of 3rd Street Promenade
The Street promenade is the emerging shopping center and restaurant in the lower region of California. It is regarded to be major shopping center on the Westside and attracts people all over the Greater Los Angeles area. It is close to the Pacific Ocean within the climatic conditions similar to those of Los Angeles. Therefore, the area is regarded to a great tourist center for destination (Francis, Carolyn and Marcus, 69).
The growth of this center dates back to earlier years when the Third Street with three blocks was changed to be pedestrian footpath. To uplift the status, people in the region embarked to modernize and redesign it (Scott, 149). The new shopping center that was enclosed was then added towards the Promenade south end. The bond for citywide measure was then issued, and architectural firm was hired to redesign Santa Monica Mall. The Third Street Promenade later opened in 1989 and recognized up to now (Gabriel, 120). The task was an effort to redevelop comprising many blocks of the Downtown Santa Monica. The region has been renovated to modern restaurant (Marshall, 180).
The street has been successful up to now. However, the inhabitants of Santa Monica have different attitudes towards it. The main focus is on similar stores and restaurants and lack of personality that independent stores such as Midnight Special Bookstores provided (Wagenberg, 131). The street also faces cases of high traffic. This is particularly the case for various streets including Santa Monica Blvd, Wilshire Blvd, and Arizona Avenue. It is also characterized by crowding parking stalls. Measures have been adopted to ease traffic congestion. In this case, drivers can access certain sites and know availability of the parking area. The street lack local businesses as most of the people advocate sanitized chains (Čapek, Stella and Gilderbloom, 180).
Works Cited
Čapek, Stella M, and John I. Gilderbloom. Community versus Commodity: Tenants and the American City. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992. Print
Francis, Carolyn, and Clare C. Marcus. People Places: Design Guidelines for Urban Open Space. New York: Wiley, 2003. Print.
Gabriel, Louise B. Early Santa Monica. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2006. Print.
Marshall, Alex. How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000. Print.
Scott, Paula A. Santa Monica: A History on the Edge. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2004. Print.
Wagenberg, Melissa G. Fodor’s 2000 USA. New York: Fodor’s Travel Pub, 1999. Print.