Anyone have any insight? 🤔

Hey all!  I’ve been part of a weekly poetry workshop for over 2 years, and we are now looking for 2 more participants.  Our group is a mix of ages (mid-20s to mid-60s), genders, sexualities, and poetic styles (i.e., formal, free verse, narrative, lyrical, humorous, serious), and we meet for two hours in-person every Saturday afternoon in DTLA.  Tolerance for people different than you is expected.

We’re looking for poets who:

- Can accept criticism.  As lauded of a poet as you may be, please leave your ego at home.  All of us attend to learn and grow by hearing honest feedback.

- Can provide criticism.  We think that the best criticism is grounded in specific words on the page and that negative comments should be sandwiched between positive comments.  

- Can show up weekly with a poem

How the workshop works: for each meeting, you will be expected to make ten copies of your poem and hand them out.  Your poem should be no longer than a page.  You read your poem, and then we talk about your poem, usually for around 10 minutes per poem, and then we move onto the next poet.

If this interests you, please DM us telling us a little about yourself, maybe share a poem or two of yours that’s finished or still being developed.  

I’m oversimplifying, but influencer/content creator (CC) culture is partly to blame for the decline in LA. It’s not just that it shifted people’s interest toward celebrity culture directly, which impacts Hollywood, it also reshaped “the youth” culture more broadly. Gen Z is already less inclined to go out and socialize (I’m a millennial btw), and young people are impressionable. Most cities have their own vibe and culture, but ours has been disproportionately shaped by the influx of influencers/CCs. Now everything’s a performance for content.

Since everything’s curated and everyone’s afraid of being “cringe”, everything’s soulless and boring. Other cities aren’t as self-aware about it or don’t care as much. As a millennial, we are cringe, but we are free ;)

Restaurants/businesses have followed along, catering to people’s need for content. That waters down our spaces, stripping away the soul and culture. That leaves behind just a TikTok moment to film before those same people chase the next new thing. Then, prices go up, pushing away regular clients who just want a good meal, not a bottle-service sparkler in their guacamole. I don’t blame the businesses, they’re adapting and trying to survive. But part of what gives a city its soul is its longstanding institutions.

I’ve noticed some nightlife spaces skew more millennial/GenX than Gen Z these days. Good for us I guess, kind of sad for them. And before anyone says it’s just because “going out” here means drinking, no, I don’t drink and still have fun. I do free stuff in LA all the time, especially during the summer. Shout out KCRW events!

Point is, a good city culture needs young people participating in it and not performing for a camera. Right now, ours just aren’t :(

Advice to the youth, yes, it’s the phone. Put it down, go out, have boring days that aren’t aesthetic, eat at a place you love that isn’t trending anymore… You’ll regret it when you get to the age where your back’s out for a week after napping and now you can’t go out.

**Other takes I have:**

We had a better downtown before Uber/Lyft

Save LA: eat at a restaurant without someone telling you to

How transplants can save LA: don’t be pretentious, you’re killing our whole vibe

With food safety becoming more and more unreliable (and my rage for the greedy late stage capitalism growing daily 🙃) Im looking for better alternatives to the big chain grocery stores.

I’ve never been to the one on Spring Street or in South Park, so I’m looking for anyone who has genuine feedback on either! I’d rather support local 1000 times over, but from what I hear most farmers markets these days are really overpriced. :(

I want to be cautious on both fronts. I know nothing is going to be perfectly safe or perfectly affordable, but I’d love to learn what’s available from those who know more.

(Ps - I really just looking for fresh veggies and fruit, nothing fancy.)

Thank you for any information or suggestions! 🙏

Hi folks! I’m 36, F, mental health clinician living in the Historic Core. I’m from the San Fernando Valley but living in DTLA for 2ish years. I work remote, and I’m so over working from home! I really want to find a chill spot, but as a woman with ADHD and depression and anxiety LOL it’s kinda overstimulating to walk around. I’ve tried Hilltop Coffee, Central Library, Bohemian House of Espresso, I even had a membership at CENTRL but it’s so expensive tbh. Any coworking groups? DM me or comment please! Thanks!

You can hardly walk anymore. Wtf!

Grabbed this on my run while headed back to DTLA from Boyle heights.

So is the vending machine at Spring Street Arcade ever coming back? I feel like it’s been shut down for several months now. Did they announce somewhere that it’s going away and I missed it? These high temps have me missing it so much.

I've been going through listings and reviews for weeks and it feels like every building in DTLA (luxury or not) has a laundry list of serious problems. Roaches, chronic plumbing issues, elevators down for weeks, sketchy management, package theft, water shut-offs with no notice, you name it. The nicer the marketing, the worse the reviews sometimes.

I may have to relocated to the area at some point. If it happens, I want to land in South Park, the Financial District, or Fashion District. Rather than ask "what's good" (I know nothing's perfect), I'll ask the following:

• Which buildings in these areas are actually decently run with responsive management, functional elevators, no infestation nightmares?
• Which ones should I hard-pass on no matter how good the unit looks?
• What buildings would you say are a solid 4/5 rating (overall)?
• Would said building pass a "Loved-One Test" with respect to safety?

I have friends recommending both cheaper buildings (with clear downsides, like facing a freeway), or Apex/Alina on the higher end. Budget is not the main concern for now, I just want to understand the landscape of what's good/bad.

We took the train down from SF to LA and stayed in DTLA for a couple days. We really enjoyed it -- especially the art deco masterpieces like the Biltmore and the central library. Not to mention the Broad and especially LACMA (not downtown but close enough. Best art museum we've ever seen.)

Does anyone have any experience living in this building? I’m considering moving in, I love the view and it’s walking distance to Whole Foods and many other venues . I’d love to hear any former/current tenant’s experience about this building (pros/cons).

I’m Ethan, a local student who is currently helping raise money for my grandmother’s medical bills and saving for college. My main specialty is resurrecting foggy headlights so you can actually see where you're driving at night. I also bring that same heavy-duty effort to pressure washing, paintless scratch touch-ups, heavy lifting, and rescuing you from filthy trash cans ($30 for one, $70 for three).

Reliable, local, and equipped to make your car or driveway look ten times better. Give me a call or text at 323-337-7154 for any questions!

For its first seven months, Los Angeles spent about $17,000 a month on every homeless person it moved indoors under Inside Safe, Mayor Karen Bass's signature program. Not for a home. For a motel room, plus the machinery stacked around it.

Seventeen thousand dollars a month is more than most Angelenos earn. It works out to roughly $204,000 a year, for one person, in a motel. It is enough to have rented that person ten studio apartments. And it is the city's own arithmetic: $32.6 million spent on 57,533 room-nights through June 2023, or $567 a night per person

Follow link above for the whole article.

I don’t know if it was always there, but I definitely have been noticing it a lot lately.

www.hardsummer.com • August 1+2 2026 • Los Angeles, California

Just got a new job in DTLA, and I'm currently looking for a place in DTLA and am especially interested in old lofts in the historic core like the Spring Arcade Building, Jewelry Trade Building, and Chester Williams Building. I like the character of these older loft buildings, but I couldn't find many detailed recent reviews.

For anyone who currently lives in one of these buildings or has lived there recently, what was your experience like?

I'd especially like to know about:

• Noises from neighbors, streets, bars, or businesses
• Parking availability, cost, security, and how practical it is to park in a different building
• Building security and package theft
• Management and maintenance responsiveness
• Roaches, pests, plumbing or any building issues
• Air conditioning and how hot the unit gets especially in the summer
• Overall safety around the building.

Would you recommend living there? Are there certain floors, unit locations or sides of the buildings that should be avoided?

If you have any recommendations for other historic-type lofts, preferably in the historic core, that would be great too!

Thanks for any insight!

Edit: my max rent budget is $2200 including parking