Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California
Encyclopedia : P : PL : PLA : Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California
Playa Vista is a neighborhood located on 1,087 acres in southwestern Los Angeles, California. Its boundaries are approximately Lincoln Boulevard on the west, Ballona Creek on the north, McConnell Avenue on the east, and Teale Street on the south. It is bordered by the unincorporated enclave of Marina Del Rey to the northwest, by the neighborhood of Playa del Rey to the southwest, by the upland part of Westchester to the east and southeast, and by Del Rey to the northwest. Playa Vista has its own ZIP Code: 90094. [MAP]
History
Playa Vista is located on the former site of the Hughes Airport facility on land that was once part of the Ballona Wetlands. The first inhabitants of the land were the Gabrielino Native Americans. In 1769, European settlers arrived and beginning in the early 1800s, Westchester, including the lowland area now known as Playa Vista, became the site of dairy farms and agricultural fields. In the 1940s, the aviator Howard Hughes bought the site and constructed his aircraft plant, runway and hangars. He built his famous Spruce Goose at his incorrectly called "Culver City facilities" - truly located in Westchester, on the site that is now known as Playa Vista. This precursor of today's jumbo jets still holds the record for the largest wingspan of any plane ever built - 319 feet, 11 inches. This eight-engine wooden flying boat was built to hold 700 passengers. Hughes piloted the plane himself on its maiden and only flight. The Spruce Goose only traveled one mile at a height of 70 feet. Over the next 40 years, Hughes Aircraft went on to develop, build and test many successful aircraft designs on this site, which included runways for takeoffs and landings. The Hughes Aircraft company continued manufacturing at the site into the 1980s. By the mid-1990s, Hollywood converted the former Hughes Aircraft hangars, including the one that held the Spruce Goose, into sound stages. Scenes from movies such as Titanic, What Women Want, and End of Days have been filmed on location at Playa Vista.Recent developments
In 2001, former Los Angeles mayoral advisor and Parks Commissioner Steve Soboroff was hired as Playa Vista's president after finishing out of contention in that year's mayoral contest. Soboroff, described by the Los Angeles Times as a "hard charging businessman," was a driving force behind the Staples Center arena and the Alameda Corridor below-grade rail line. As a mayoral candidate, Soboroff proposed innovative solutions to Los Angeles' traffic problems including building light rail along major freeways. He also proposed breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District and recruiting kids away from gangs using after-school programs.In 2002, signaling a significant reduction in its ultimate size and scope, Soboroff unveiled new plans for the completion of development at Playa Vista. It is estimated that the plan will result in less than half the number of residential units, a third less office space and nearly 70 percent less retail area compared to the original Playa Vista master plan. Perhaps more significantly, over 70 percent of 1,087-acre Playa Vista will be dedicated to either active or passive open space. This dramatic reduction in development was made possible by Playa Vista’s agreement with the Trust for Public Land that allowed the State of California to purchase the land west of Lincoln Boulevard and north of Culver Boulevard in order to restore and preserve the Ballona Wetlands in perpetuity.
Today
- The world's leading video-game publisher, Electronic Arts, now houses more than 600 employees at its futuristic studio at Playa Vista's Water's Edge complex.
- In the spring of 2004, the Playa Vista Branch Los Angeles City Library opened and that December a city fire station broke ground.
- In December 2005, a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and a dry cleaners opened on the ground level of residential lofts in Playa Vista's "Concert Park." An Italian restaurant and Bank of America branch are expected shortly.
- In the Campus area, the Los Angeles Clippers [link] will soon begin construction on a new training facility for its players. Several Clippers players live in Playa Vista.
- A senior living facility is under construction and will provide seniors with assisted living units and accompanying recreation programs and transportation by early 2006.
- Along with the six public parks that already exist, more new parks are opening. The interactive design firm ESI, led by Edwin Schlossberg, is designing park programs and the community's signage [link].
The Village
Most of Phase 1 of the planned community has been completed as of 2005. The two sides are back in Los Angeles County Superior Court and battling over whether Phase 2, also known as The Village, should be constructed as well. The Village was approved in 2004 by the Los Angeles City Council. Phase 2 is expected to draw more traffic to the area, since it will include offices and shops. The Village will bring 2,600 new homes and a neighborhood retail center that will offer restaurants, a grocery store, bank branch and other community-serving uses. The Village will connect the homes now under construction on Playa Vista’s west side with the Campus area on the eastern end of the property.Debate
To environmentalists and residents in the nearby communities of Mar Vista, Westchester, and Venice, Playa Vista is controversial. Some oppose further expansion of Playa Vista on the ground that it will only increase traffic congestion throughout the Los Angeles Westside.The Los Angeles City Council has consistently voted in favor of further progress on the project. The development has a government-mandated blend of high-and low-income housing and the project's developers say they are committed to sustainable development. Playa Vista has been recognized by the White House as one of five P.A.T.H. (Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing) communities in the United States.
According to the Los Angeles Times, "[o]ver the last decade, government agencies and courts have ruled repeatedly in Playa Vista's favor [...] Engineers, builders and consultants for the project have joined the city of Los Angeles in saying the safety measures are the most elaborate the city has ever required" (Groves "Buyers" 2003).
Methane
Opponents of the project contend that the City of Los Angeles and Playa Vista knew for several years that explosive gas was collecting beneath Playa Vista from the Southern California Gas Company's gas storage reservoir, but did not halt development. Though the City of Los Angeles conducted a safety study of the soil at the location of the development project, it did not find any conclusive evidence that the gas posed a hazard. However, some EPA officials believe that the gas leak is a risk to human health, as high levels of hydrogen sulfide, among other neurotoxins and carcinogens, were discovered in Playa Vista's soil.Methane is prevalent throughout much of Los Angeles County. Large parts of nearby Marina del Rey and Venice face issues but lack any sort of mitigation measures altogether [link]. Developers insist the City of Los Angeles, the courts and every other government agency with oversight of Playa Vista's methane systems agree that the methane systems are working well and the people who live and work in the community are safe. They say that Playa Vista is among the most studied projects in the history of Los Angeles and that the property has been probed repeatedly by some of the nation's most prominent scientists. Playa Vista's systems in place provide are the foundation upon which the City of Los Angeles created its new citywide methane ordinance in 2004.
Liquefaction
Another concern is the potential for soil liquefaction should an earthquake strike. Thousands of truckloads of gravel and fill dirt were used to build the foundations of the land used by Howard Hughes as an airport and aerospace development facility from 1940-1985. Should a substantial earthquake rattle the LA basin, compacted dirt could crumble and separate while saturated soil below would lose its strength and turn to mud. Much of the plain on either side of the now-paved Ballona Creek has been either constant wetland or subject to flooding during heavy rains. Indeed, there are photographs that show cars in water up over their wheels as far as Venice Boulevard, several hundred yards, and uphill, to the north. The Ballona Creek (adjacent to Playa Vista) was paved, as were other L.A. waterways, by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1930s; there is little threat that Play Vista would be subject to flooding, yet the subterranean structure of the area is still that of an active wetland/floodplain.External links
- [Maps and aerial photos]
- * Street map from [Google Maps] or [Yahoo! Maps]
- * Topographic map from [TopoZone]
- * Aerial image or topographic map from [TerraServer-USA]
- * Satellite image from [Google Maps] or [Windows Live Local]
- [Playa Vista]
- [Friends of Ballona Wetlands]
- [History of Playa Vista]
- [Playa Vista Community Services]
- Groves, Martha and Roger Vincent. ["L.A.'s Urban Model; After years of setbacks and controversy, Playa Vista is officially open. Planners are studying it as an experiment in high-density housing."] Los Angeles Times 18 October, 2003.
Works Cited
- Groves, Martha. ["Playa Vista Buyers Will Test Capability of Methane Shield; Critics call high-tech safeguards unproven. Courts back experts who devised system."] Los Angeles Times 6 January, 2003.
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